Rayalaseema backwardness attributed to lack of political will

Speakers at an inaugural session of the third annual conference of Rayalaseema Economic Association (REA) held here on Sunday blamed the lack of political will and skewed vision of the politicians for the backwardness of the region.

Former UGC emeritus fellow K. Munirathnam Naidu, who inaugurated the meet, attributed the region’s development to the presence of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), which had sustained in spite of the factionalism present among power mongering groups.

“Rayalaseema lost Ballari (Karnataka) and Tiruthani (Tamil Nadu) due to the formation of States on linguistic basis. This indirectly led to loss of economic activity,” Prof. Naidu pointed out. He also called for development of each of the six districts(Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool, Anantapur, Nellore and Prakasam) into units nurturing Information Technology so as to capture the lost ground.

In his keynote address, a professor of political science and public administration at Sri Venkateswara University(SVU) M.A. Hussain observed the British and Nehruvian policies of having addressed development issues in the country, which had witnessed ups and downs during Chandrasekhar and P.V. Narasimha Rao regimes.

With the BJP government at the Centre encouraging smaller States like Telangana and Kongunadu, he saw the possibility of Rayalaseema once again raising its voice seeking Statehood.

A. Ranga Reddy, REA president and a retired professor of Economics, found factionalism on the wane due to the entry of educated offsprings and the movement of influential families to urban areas. Dravidian University professor B.Krishna Reddy saw the existence of ‘cultural poverty’ in the region. REA Secretary D. Krishnamoorthy proposed a vote of thanks.