KCR outlines BRS agenda at Nanded: Constitutional, judicial, electoral reforms listed

NANDED: India requires a significant and qualitative shift. There is a political void because neither the current ruling coalition nor the proposed alternative, Congress, can give India the momentum it needs, said Telangana Chief Minister and BRS leader K. Chandrasekhar Rao in Nanded.

During his address to the media at the BRS meeting, KCR said that the national agenda needs to be changed and routine budgets year after year and usual methods and conventional thinking would not bring any major changes.

KCR addressed the 'Next practises,' saying that India needed a different direction. He said, "We are in our 75th year since independence and still we are struggling for the minimum demands. A significant percentage of our people are still uemployed and downtrodden".

KCR questioned whether we couldn't use our country's wealth and inner power, as well as its economy. What is holding us back? It is not an insurmountable issue, but it was a mindset issue, he said.

While speaking about what's required for the Country, BRS supremo said that if India is to progress, the states must be empowered. The time has arrived to recreate India by focusing on development and moving away from centralization.

We must overcome the poverty of thought and plan boldly instead of incrementally. Thinking beyond the box is important at this time, he added.

When discussing economic reforms, KCR said that we should implement policies to increase FDI inflows. These include building SEZs like China, a stable tax framework, and no retrospective legislation changes.

He said that the ease of doing business can be enhanced by reducing barriers to foreign investment and resolving challenges that impede progress. We can eliminate bottlenecks by increasing container handling capacity and turnaround time at ports, increasing average speed on NHS and freight flow on rail, reducing customs clearing time, and so forth, he added.

"The average highway speed in India is 50 kilometres per hour, compared to 80 kilometres per hour in Japan and South Korea and 95 to 115 kilometres per hour in the United Kingdom and the United States. Rail freight traffic in India moves at 24 km per hour, whereas it moves at 80 km per hour in countries such as the United States, Japan, and Australia", said KCR.

♦Let us not talk of 'Best practices'.... Let us think of 'Next practices'. The country needs a new direction as we are in 75th year since independence and still we are struggling for basic minimum needs. A significant chunk of our people are still unemployed and poor.

♦There are countries that were poorer than us but they have achieved remarkable growth by leveraging their economies to great extents. There are a few places with only brains but no resources, such as Singapore, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, which were developed after being devastated.

♦ China has consistently maintained a high growth rate from 1979 onwards with a very rapid growth from 1992 onwards continuously for more than 25 years. The GDP of China was less than that of India till 1971. Now it is 5.5 times the India GDP. Why could we not do it?

♦ East Asian countries like South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan and ASEAN countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Philippines etc achieved miraculous growth. Japan rose from ashes to become a country with one of the highest per capita income in the world. But our country is the same in that it does not think outside the box, but BRS's major goal is to explore new avenues of thinking.

♦Two National Political Parties and the present political system failed the nation with their centripetal behaviour by centralising all powers and the states are becoming worse than municipalities. According to the center's data, India has an excess of water. Why are there water battles in India? Is it necessary in India to battle for water? Why do so many Indians go without water while we have plenty?

♦What is required is what suits our country. Can't we leverage the wealth and inner strength of our country and its economy? What is stopping us? It is not an insurmountable problem, but it is a mindset issue. If we have to develop India, we have to empower the states. Time has come for reinventing India by setting a development-centric national agenda and move away from centralization.

♦We have to get rid of poverty of thought and plan big instead of incremental thinking. Out of the box thinking is the need of the hour.

♦BRS party intends to develop out-of-the-box initiatives along with important stakeholders so that no state ever suffers water shortages.

♦ The BRS party's agenda is to implement new water policies.

♦Despite having a vast wealth of natural resources, why are the people still being betrayed? Why water wars in India? All of you are sharp minds. Please educate the people.

♦There is more water than needed in the country. Whether it is for drinking or any other purpose. This is the data from the Central Water Commission. 1.4 lakh water through rains. Half of it gets evaporated. Till now, not more than 20,000 or 21,000 TMCs of water is utilised from the remaining.

♦People are in need of water. They are drinking brackish water only to be affected by kidney and other serious ailments. Do we need water wars between states?

♦When there is sufficient water available and abundant water can be given to every acre, why do we still need these water disputes?

♦CWC data says that there should be no water scarcity in the country for the next 50 years if the water going into seas is properly harnessed.

♦BRS has a revolutionary agenda in water resources. The document I shared with you shows the biggest dams in the world with enormous storage capacity.

♦Our country is so vast and blessed with several rivers. Every year, several states are hit by floods. Don’t we need such similar dams?

♦This is why, I say, only a government that can initiate out-of-the-box work should come into power.

♦That's why I mentioned unconventional views, whereas Indians were being fooled by the ruling party. It is high time to revise water and electricity policies.

♦ Our country's infrastructure is deplorable, and they are threatening people in the name of religion.

♦BRS will come up with a new policy for water resources that will not leave the country at the mercy of international monetary organisations like the World Bank.

♦A lot of time was wasted. It is a shame that farmers continue to die by suicide in Maharashtra, a state with many rivers.

♦India never used more than 2.15 lakh MWs of electricity as against its installed capacity of 4.1 lakh MWs.

♦No state is providing 24-hour power supply. Farmers are hassled in many states due to excruciating power cuts. Why does this situation prevail? How long can the people be betrayed by political governments with hollow promises and rhetoric?

♦We are lagging behind in every aspect. If we go to Delhi, our plane will keep hovering in the air for 45 minutes. How can you explain the situation when there is no water supply in Delhi?

♦This is the time for transformation. There are no proper roads, airports, railways or shipyards. Still, we shamelessly talk about the economy.

♦The BRS will build at least two to three multipurpose project if it came to power.

♦All policies need to change. Singapore’s perimeter is 193 km with only one port. Still, it handles 37 million containers.

♦Despite having many ports, India handles only 25 million. China has a demonstrated capacity of 200-250 million containers. How and when can we compete with these countries? There is a need to discern these realities.

♦ BRS's agenda includes changes to overall water policy, new electricity policies, and new irrigation projects

♦We can provide robust electricity. We don’t need aid from any external sources. We can give quality, 24-hour electricity. Because, India has 361 billion tonnes of coal reserves.Even if we can retrieve 40-50 percent of it, we can provide India with electricity for 120 years.

♦When the power sector is such an important thing, why should we hand it over to Ambanis and Adanis in the private sector? If we hand out the entire power sector to private players, they will blackmail one day and hold the government to ransom.

♦Under pretexts, they (the Centre) are handing over assets worth lakhs of crores of rupees to private players at throwaway rates. We are seeing the consequences in the form of Adani Group’s stock manipulation scandal.

♦In 2024, we are coming to power, so we will nationalise again all the units that were privatised by the Narendra Modi government. Around 95 percent of units will be retained in the public sector.

♦In two years, we will create ‘Illuminating India’ with quality, uninterrupted power supply. In the whole of India, Telangana is the only state where you get 24-hour supply for every sector.

♦ The prime minister frequently asserts that the government has no business to conduct. Instead of privatisation, the government should run business. Their aim is to sell enterprises that are losing money and privatise those that are doing well.

♦Centre insists on states to buy a certain percentage of imported coal. Because, it is imported by Adani’s firm from Australia. We do have abundant coal reserves. We can get our coal at Rs 4,000 per tonne. The Centre bullies us to buy the imported coal at Rs 30,000, 24,000 per tonne.

♦ Make in India – Where is the right environment in India? Have you created the ideal climate for ‘Ease of Business’? Many companies including Pfizer wanted to come to India during COVID pandemic but they were not allowed to protect the interests of a few here.

♦ The power sector is crucial to our country, but the government wants to sell it to Adani and Ambani.

♦ Even if the Modi government privatises the power sector, we will regain control.

♦ If the people of this country vote for BRS, they would have a bright India in two years.

♦ If the BRS party wins power, we vow that women will be given significant positions.

♦ Is it easy to conduct business in India? If the Make in India initiative is a good one? Is there an adequate support system in place for Make in India?

♦ Even if they privatise LIC, we will reinstate it. Be prepared to fight, LIC agents and staff. All of these significant changes will occur soon in India

♦It takes one election to bring administration and welfare implementation to a grinding halt. This has to change. We will elaborate on our policies further. Work is also going on to prepare a detailed document on judicial reform using the knowledge of several legal and judicial luminaries.

Below is the vision document of the BRS that was shared with the media during KCR's press conference in Nanded on Sunday: