By IANS
Hyderabad : Andhra Pradesh will be a leader in human development and in quality of life and will have world-class infrastructure by 2025, says a vision document released by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here Tuesday.
The study reveals the state is poised to make significant progress on various fronts and that the younger generation is eager to make progress and is upbeat about the future.
It envisions that in 2025 the state shall ensure that the growth is inclusive, sustainable, while being sensitive to environmental issues; provide employment opportunities for all, and be a leader in all aspects of education.
It adds that Andhra Pradesh shall have world-class infrastructure, meeting the needs of both urban and rural areas, provide good governance, and maintain and enrich its cultural traditions and values.
Based on views from a cross section of society, the study was jointly done by CII and Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore. They conducted interactive workshops at Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Tirupathi and Visakhapatnam among other places.
Releasing the document, Pradipta K. Mohapatra, chairman, CII (southern region), told a news conference that the vision was created with views of cross sections of society, including politicians, bureaucrats, teachers, students, agriculturists, NGOs and industrialists.
“The views were synthesized and put together as a vision document,” Mohapatra said.
The study has recommended that economic activities be left to the private sector, people’s organisations, self-help groups and other sectors outside the government.
It said the government should focus on essential services, infrastructure, law and order and policy issues.
“Agriculture, education and governance through transparency should be the core areas of public sector intervention to achieve the vision 2025 targets.”
The Vision 2025 recommends the industry to maintain high standards of corporate governance and play a role in technical and vocational training, and education to increase the skill base of the workforce.
Vision 2025 gives the action points for CII to closely work with the government and accelerate the process of inclusive growth by having more public-private partnerships.
The document pointed out that industrial investments in the state rose to Rs.123.5 billion during the last three and half years up to 2006-07, generating additional employment to 172,616 people, against an investment of Rs.45.24 billion during 2001-04.
According to a Reserve Bank of India report released in August 2007, Andhra Pradesh ranked second among the states in the country for total investment intentions for 2006-07, next only to Gujarat.
The state recently attracted FDI equivalent to $138 million and entered the list of top five states in India. Transparency India ranks the state as fourth best in terms of corruption perception.
The IT exports reached Rs.19,000 million in 2006-07 and ranked fourth in India. The service sector already accounts for 43 percent of GSDP (gross state domestic product) and employs 20 percent of the workforce.