AP Economy Bits: AP-Socio Economic Survey 2011-12 : EMPLOYMENT & UNEMPLOYMENT

Persons categorized as working (employed) and also those who are seeking or available for work (unemployed) together constitute labour force.

The labour force participation Rate (LFPR) is defined as the number of persons in the labour force per 1000 persons.

Labour Force Participation rates both rural and urban areas of Andhra Pradesh were higher when compared with all India.

Persons who are engaged in any economic activity constitute the work force.

The number of persons employed per 1000 persons is called Work Force Participation rate (WFPR).

The work force participation rate per 1000 persons is based on current daily status.

As per the current daily status, a person is considered working (employed) for the entire day if he/she had worked for 4 hours or more during the day.

Work force participation rates in Andhra Pradesh among males in rural areas have increased, whereas that of females has decreased in 2009-10 when compared with the rates in 2004-05 while in urban areas it has decreased for both males and females.

Work force participation rates in general are high in Andhra Pradesh when compared with all India.

Around 94% of the workers in A.P. are in the unorganized sector and in fact, the state reports high incidence of employment in the unorganized/informal economy.

Andhra Pradesh has registered an annual compound growth of 1.70% in employment between 2004-05 and 2009-10 - up from 0.70% between 1999- 2000 and 2004-05, All India’s employment
growth slipped from 2.50% to 2.10% during the same reference period.

The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) provides the Unemployment estimates on the basis of the Quinquennial surveys.

Persons are considered as unemployed, if he/she was not working, but was either seeking or was available for work for a relatively longer time during the reference period.

Unemployment rate is defined as the number of persons unemployed per 1000 persons in the labour force.

The rural and urban unemployment rates in Andhra Pradesh as well as All India have increased from 1993- 94 to 1999-2000.

However, from 1999-2000 to 2004-05, the rural and urban unemployment rates in Andhra Pradesh have decreased.

The rate of decline in respect of urban unemployment (from 39 to 36) was sharper as compared to that of the rural unemployment (from 8 to 7).

The rural Unemployment rate has however increased (5 points) from 7 in 2004-05 to 12 in 2009-10 where as the urban unemployment rate has decreased by same quantum (5 points) from 36 to 31.

AP Economy Bits: AP-Socio Economic Survey 2011-12 : Poverty

Poverty is a state where a person finds it unable to maintain a minimum socially accepted level of standard of living.

As per the latest estimates of Planning Commission available for the year 2004-05, the poverty ratio for rural and urban areas of Andhra Pradesh were 11.20% and 28.00% respectively and that for the State as combined was 15.80%.

As per the latest estimates of Planning Commission available for the year 2004-05, the poverty ratio for rural and urban areas of All India were 28.30%, 25.70% for rural and urban areas and 27.50% for the Nation as combined.

In 2005, the Planning Commission appointed an Expert Group  under the Chairmanship of Prof. Suresh D. Tendulkar  to review alternate concepts of poverty and recommend necessary changes in the existing procedures of official estimation of poverty.The Expert Group submitted its report in November, 2009.

As per the Committee methodology, the estimates of poverty ratio for rural and urban areas of Andhra Pradesh for 2004-05 were 32.30% and 23.40% respectively and that for the State as combined was 29.90%.

As per the Committee methodology, the estimates of poverty ratio for rural and urban areas of All India during 2004-05 were 41.80%, 25.70% for rural and urban areas and 37.20% for combined.

The Planning Commission estimates as well as the recent Expert Groups estimates show that poverty level in AP has mostly been lower than the national average.

AP Economy Bits: AP-Socio Economic Survey 2011-12 : Information Technology and Communications.

Andhra Pradesh is at present, home for Indian IT majors such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL, Mahindra Satyam, Cognizant, Patni, Tech Mahindra, Sonata, Infotech, and others.

Andhra Pradesh is also home for MNC IT giants and Fortune 500 companies like Microsoft, Google, IBM, Oracle, DELL, Motorola, Deloitte, Convergys, UBS, Bank of America, HSBC, Honeywell, Siemens, JP Morgan, UHG and so on.

The State of Andhra Pradesh occupies 13.9% of national IT exports.

IT sector contributes to about 49% of total exports from all sectors in the Sate.

Andhra Pradesh ranked 4th position in IT performance in the Country.

The new Information & Communications Technology (ICT) Policy 2010-15, effective from 1st July 2010, has been brought out.

Tier II Locations are Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Warangal and Tirupati.

Tier III Locations are those which are Identified in any district other than HMDA area and Tier-II locations.

Jawahar Knowledge Centers (JKC)  is a unique Human Resource promotion initiative of the Government started in 2004 and is first of its kind in the Country.

JKC program is being run by the Institute for Electronic Governance (IEG), a society under IT&C department in close coordination and association with IT Industry and Government.

JKC aims to improve the quality of education through imparting suitable skills and enable potential gainful employment to the engineering/MCA graduates.

Every institution that is registered for JKC should assist IEG in imparting employable skills to the JKC registered students of their institution, provide necessary facilities for organizing the workshops for their faculty members as well as students.

In JKCs, the students are trained in various technical skills, soft skills, project management skills and communication skills by JKC faculty members and IEG – IT Associates in parallel to their academics for a period of 2- 3 years.

Government is creating new G-G SWAN connecting the State Capital to all District head quarters (DHQs) with 8 Mbps bandwidth connecting all DHQs upto Mandal Head Quarters (MHQs) with 2 Mbps.

e-Seva was initially started in 1999 with 2 centers in the State Head Quarter Hyderabad . As on today 52 centers are functioning.

“1100” Toll-Free Call Centre –Government a Call away was Launched as agriculture call centre in July 2003 and subsequently extended to include services of all government departments from February 2004.

Based on the request of Revenue (DisasterManagement) department, a new Toll free No.1800-425-1110 accessible to subscribers of all telecom service providers, was taken at Parishkaram call centre. This number became operational w.e.f. 31.08.2009 exclusively to attend to grievance calls related to drought.

Citizen Service Centre (CSC) scheme is a Government of India initiative under National eGovernance Plan (NeGP) under the aegis of department of Information Technology, GOI. EDS is the Nodal Agency for implementing and monitoring this project in the State.

The CSC Scheme involves setting up of 4,687 ICT enable centres in rural areas covering all the districts/mandals of the State. The scheme is being implemented on a Public Private Partnership (PPP)
framework.

APOnline is an e-governance gateway for the State Government (GoAP) offering multiple services through a single window to citizens.

e-Procurement automates the procurement and purchase procedures of AP Govt., starting from demand aggregation to procurement and fulfillment of contract.

The prime objectives of e-Procurement are demand aggregation. Reduced inventory cost, consistent procurement procedures across departments, reduction in cost of procurement, transparency and effective tendering processes.

The usage of Digital Certificate is made mandatory from 1st March 2005 for conducting transactions on e- Procurement .

AP Economy Bits: AP-Socio Economic Survey 2011-12 : Tourism

Andhra Pradesh tourism is known as Koh-i-noor of India.

Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation(APTDC) is a State Government undertaking incorporated in the year 1976.

APTDC continues to strive for promotion of new tourism products such as Eco-Tourism, Beach Tourism and Cruise Tourism.

The River Cruise tourism to Pattiseema and Papikondalu on river Godavari, Nagarjunasagar to Srisailam on Krishna River have become immensely popular.

While the primary focus remains to aggressively develop world-class tourism infrastructure. Recently, it has ventured into new tourism related fields like, Heritage, Pilgrimage and Eco-tourism etc.

APTDC is the first corporation in the country to introduce Volvo coaches that has set a new level in the tourism travel.

Currently, the corporation runs 53 hotels and other tourism facilities with 1049 rooms in prime locations fostering homely ambience packages an impressive fleet of 126 buses that connect to important tourism locations with in and outside the state.

The “Haritha Hotel Chain” consists of 53 hotels with 1049 rooms located in important tourist centers provide the right ambience and the quality a tourist truly deserves.

Ropeway facility at Srisailam Pathalaganga established and commissioned in January 2005.

To show case historic and heritage monuments to the tourists, Sound and Light shows are organized at Golconda Fort, Hyderabad and Chandragiri palace near Tirupati.

APTDC has focused development in and around the three primary destinations of Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Tirupathi.

In addition, development is also centered around the 3 secondary destinations i.e. Warangal, Kurnool and Vijayawada.

AP Economy Bits: AP-Socio Economic Survey 2011-12 : Roads and Buildings

Among the different modes of domestic transportation systems, Road transport carries more than 80 percent of the Goods and Passenger traffic.

The total R&B Road Network in the State is 70,394 Kms as on 30-09-2011.Of this,
the National Highways constitute 4,730 Kms,
the State Highways constitute 10,470 Kms,
the Major District Roads constitute 32,205 Kms and
the Rural Roads  constitute 22,989 Kms.

The density with reference to R&B Road Network in the State is 0.23 Kms per one Square Kilometer and 0.86 Kms per 1,000 persons.

As on September, 2011 there are 17 National Highways in the State covering a length of 4730 Kms, of which
four-lane and above are 2047 Kms,
two-lane are 2318 Kms ,
Intermediate lanes are 116 Kms and
Single lanes are 249 Kms.

The density of National Highways is 5.59 Kms per lakh population (2011) in the State and in terms of area coverage, a length of 17.19 Kms is available for every 1,000 Sq. Kms in the state.

The Road Development Corporation was established in the year 1998 with an objective for the development and maintenance of Roads in the State and other allied and incidental activities there to.

The total length of the rural roads under Panchayat Raj engineering department is 1,38,781 Kms in the State as on 01-04-2011. Out of this,
Other District Roads consist of 5,506 Kms,
Major District Roads 1,096 Kms and
Village roads 1,32,179 Kms.

The surface details of the road length are CC Roads 3,586 Kms; BT 36,441 Kms, WBM 26,395 Kms and Gravel 72,359 Kms.

AP Economy Bits: AP-Socio Economic Survey 2011-12 : Power

The Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board was formed in 1959.

During 1999, the APSEB has been restructured into two functionally distinct corporations viz., APGENCO & APTRANSCO.

Distribution business was segregated from APTRANSCO by formation of four distribution companies w.e.f. 01-04-2000.

Trading activities were entrusted to four Discoms w.e.f. 09.06.2005 in compliance with Electricity Act, 2003.

From 1959 to 2011-12 (upto September,2011), the installed capacity has been increased from 213 Mega Watt (MW) to 15768.14 MW.

The Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) constituted by Government of Andhra Pradesh, has been functioning w.e.f 31st March 1999.

Government of Andhra Pradesh provided free power to Agriculture Sector with effect from 14.05.2004.

The Government of India has introduced Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) programme in the year 2005 with an aim to provide access to electricity to all households in the country.

High Voltage Distribution System (HVDS) was introduced in the State which aims at reduction of loss through replacement of the low voltage network with High Voltage and installation of large number of smaller capacity 11 kV / 400 V transformers viz., 25/16 kVA for supply to agricultural consumers.

Solar Photovoltaic Power Project at Jurala HEP(1MW) is proposed under Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission(JNNSM).

The present installed capacity in the State up to the end of September 2011 (including share from Central Sector) is 15,768.14 MW.

AP Economy Bits: AP-Socio Economic Survey 2011-12 : Industries

The department of Industries was set up with the objective of establishing Cottage and Small Scale Industries, Industrial Cooperatives and extending credit to artisans.

District Industries Centres were established in 1978 to serve as the nodal agency in the District to assist the entrepreneurs for establishment of the Industries.

Government have enacted “Industrial Single Window Clearance Act” in 2002 for speedy processing and issue of various approvals / clearances / permissions required for setting up of an Industrial undertaking.

Project with investment more than Rs.250 crores are called Mega Projects as per the new Industrial Promotion Policy 2010-15.

Government of India have introduced a Credit linked subsidy programme called “Prime Minster’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) from September 2008 by merging the two schemes i.e., PMRY & REGP for generation of employment opportunities through establishment of Micro enterprises in rural as well as urban areas.

The PMEGP is a Central Sector Scheme implemented by Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and will be implemented by KVIC, a statutory body created by the Khadi and Village Industries Act, 1956 which will be the single National Level implementation agency for PMEGP.

Government of Andhra Pradesh have announced Industrial Investment Promotion Policy 2010-2015, in the year 2010 extending various incentives for the MSME Sector and Large Industries.

The AP Industrial Investment Promotion Policy 2010-2015 covers the whole of the State except in the Municipal Corporation limits of Vijayawada, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation excluding existing Industrial Estates/Parks, Industrial Estates notified/ to be notified and commence commercial production on or after 01/07/2010 but before 31/03/2015.

Mega projects i.e. projects with an investment of Rs.250 crores and above or a project that created employment to more than 2000 persons are eligible for all the incentives available for Large & Medium Scale industries.

Government have introduced an Interest Subsidy Scheme of “Pavala Vaddi” to reduce the financial burden for setting up of New Micro & Small Enterprises including Food Processing Industries in the State.

The “Pavala Vaddi” Scheme shall be applicable to the Term Loan availed by eligible new Micro & Small Enterprises on or after 1-7-2010.

Government has announced reimbursement of Power @ Rs.1/- per unit exclusively to the Food Processing units under Food Processing Policy of A.P .

Government have introduced the Scheme of “Industrial Infrastructure Development Fund (IIDF)” for providing financial assistance to develop infrastructure facilities at the doorstep of the proposed industrial estates/unit.

Shapoorji Pallonji Biotech Park is located at Turkapalli (Village), Shamirpet (Mandal), Ranga Reddy District in an area of 300 acres.

APIIC has also developed Biotech Park at Karakapatla (V), Mulugu (M) of Medak District in an area of 609 acres.

Government of India with a view to act as magnets for attracting industries in backward districts, have approved Growth Centers to provide best infrastructure facilities available in the country in respect of power, water, telecommunications.

The cost of each Growth Centre is Rs.30 crores.

The financing pattern of the Growth Centre is in the ratio of 2:1.

Government of India have sanctioned 4 Growth Centers to the State which are being set up at Bobbili in Vizianagaram District, Ongole in Prakasam District, Hindupur in Ananthapur District and Jadcherla in Mahabubnagar District.

The APIIC Ltd., is the implementing agency for the establishment of Growth Centres.

Integrated Infrastructural Development Centres (IIDC) is to facilitate setting up of industries in rural/backward areas and to provide stronger linkages between Agriculture and Industry.

The cost of the Centre will be financed by the Central Government by way of grant and the balance as loan from SIDBI.

Government of India have sanctioned 6 IID centres in the State which will be developed by the APIIC Ltd.

1. IIDC, Udumulapur, near Nandyal, Kurnool District.

2. IIDC, Tada, Nellore District.

3. IIDC, Keelapattu(V) Nagari, Chittoor District.

4. IIDC, Madikonda, Warangal District.

5. IIDC, Gajularamaram, Ranga Reddy District.

6. IIDC, Surampally, Vijayawada, Krishna District.


Government have introduced new scheme called ‘CIBS under which funds will be made available to the Industrial Association / Service Societies/ NGOs for the up gradation of the infrastructural facilities such as water supply, power, laying of roads, effluent Treatment Plants, etc. in the existing IEs /SSI clusters identified under the SSI cluster development programmes.

Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) is the nodal agency for the Special Economic Zones in Andhra Pradesh.

There are 114 SEZs approved by the Government of India and out of these, 75 are notified and 27 SEZs have become operational.

Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals,Government of India has accorded approval in March 2009 for development of Petroleum Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (AP PCPIR) in Visakhapatnam – Kakinada Region in an extent of 603.58 Sq.Km.

Andhra Pradesh Gas Infrastructure Corporation(APGIC)  was incorporated on 2.9.2009 as a Government Company.

APGIC is a Joint Venture of APIIC and APGENCO with 51 and 49% equity in it respectively.

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), New Delhi is the competent authority to regulate the petroleum and natural gas pipeline and other midstream and down stream activities in India.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is yardstick of measuring the Industrial growth in the State.

The IIP is estimated monthly by collecting data from the selected units of Manufacturing, Mining and Quarrying and Electricity.

The main objective is to estimate the contribution of Industrial sector to the Gross State Domestic Product.

There are 30 state level public enterprises (SLPEs) functioning in the state.

The Top five state level public enterprises in 2008-09 whose ‘Capital employed’ is highest are A.P.GENCO, Housing Corporation, A.P.TRANSCO, Singareni Colleries Co. Ltd and APSFC.

The Top five state level public enterprises in 2008-09 whose turnover is highest are - State Beverages Corporation, A.P. GENCO, Singareni Colleries Co. Ltd APSRTC, and Civil Supplies Corporation.


The Top five state level public enterprises that made profits during 2008-09 are Housing Board (Rs.1029.06 crores) APGENCO (Rs.515.20 crores), Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd.(SCCL) (Rs.248.32
crores), A.P TRANSCO (Rs.113.10 crores) and APSRTC(Rs.110.78 Crores).

AP Economy Bits: AP-Socio Economic Survey 2011-12 : Agricultural Marketing

In Andhra Pradesh, comprehensive market legislation came into force in 1966 covering the entire state called the Andhra Pradesh (Agricultural Produce and Livestock) Markets Act 1966, after integration of the Hyderabad Agricultural Produce and Livestock Markets Act, 1930 and the Madras Commercial Crops Act, 1933.

There are 330 Agricultural Market Committees in the State under which 906 market yards are notified in the State.

Each Market Committee consists of 18 members viz., 11 members from growers, 3 from traders and the other four from the representatives of local bodies and Government Departments.

Every Market Committee has a Secretary who is the executive authority of the Market Committee.

All staff of the Market Committee are appointed by the Market Committee / Director of Marketing /Government as per AP (AP & LS) Markets Rules, 1969.

The Commissioner& Director of Agricultural Marketing is the authority at State level to supervise and control all the Market Committees for effective implementation of the Act, Rules and the Bye-laws and report to the Government about the working of the Market Committees.

The Market Committees levy and collect market fee at the rate of 1% advolerum on the sale and purchase of notified agricultural produce payable by the purchasers of the produce.

The market fee is the only source of income for the Market Committee, which is self generating and is called Market Committee Fund deposited in a scheduled bank operated through treasury.

The market fee is utilized mainly for the development of markets and creation of facilities to the users of the markets i.e., growers and traders and other functionaries and for other allied purposes specified by Government from time to time.

The Market Committees shall remit 10% of the annual income to a separate fund called Central Market Fund (CMF).

There is a network of 106 Rythu Bazars in the State.

Mobile Rythu Bazars are operating in Hyderabad and Vijayawada cities for selling graded vegetables.

A separate website has been created exclusively for Rythu Bazars for Arrivals and Prices information. (www.rythubazars.com)

AP Economy Bits: AP-Socio Economic Survey 2011-12 : Forests

Andhra Pradesh is the second largest State in forest area in the Indian Union.

Andhra Pradesh has 62.30 lakh ha. of forest area constituting 22.65 percent of the total geographical area of the State.

Out of the total forest area,
 Reserved Forest area accounted for 50,478 Sq. Kms.
 Protected forest forms 12,365 Sq. Kms and
the rest 971 Sq. Kms are unclassified.

There are 6 National Parks and 21 Wildlife Sanctuaries for in situ conservation.

There are (4) Zoological Parks and (6) Deers Parks in the State for ex situ conservation of wildlife.

Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve (Rajiv Gandhi Wildlife sanctuary) was established in the year 1979 and attained the status of Tiger Reserve in 1983.

Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve tiger reserve sprawls over an area of 3,568.09 Sq. Kms. in parts of (5) districts of Kurnool, Prakasam, Guntur, Nalgonda and Mahaboobnagar.

The Bio-diversity conservation laboratory has been setup at Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam Tiger Reserves.

 The Andhra Pradesh Forest Development Corporation was established in 1975 on the recommendations of the National Commission on Agriculture, with an objective to raise massive plantations to cater to the needs of wood based industries.

AP Economy Bits: AP-Socio Economic Survey 2011-12 : Fisheries

Andhra Pradesh ranks First in Brackish water shrimp production.

Andhra Pradesh ranks First in Fresh water prawn production.

Andhra Pradesh ranks second in Fresh water fish production.

Andhra Pradesh ranks second in total value of fish and prawn produced.

Andhra Pradesh ranks Fifth in Marine fish production.

Andhra Pradesh is contributing about Rs.3,000 Crores by way of marine exports, which is nearly 40% of the marine exports from India.

The contribution of Fisheries sector in GSDP 2011-12 as per Advance Estimates is expected to be 2.54% at constant prices.

The production of fish/prawn in the state has increased constantly from 9.41 lakh tonnes in 2004-05 to 15.60 lakh tonnes in 2010-11.

Fresh Water Aquaculture in the state of Andhra Pradesh has to be undertaken by the interested farmers duly obtaining permission from the department of Fisheries.

In order to obviate the hardship of the fishermen during fishing ban period at sea in the months of April-May, Government of Andhra Pradesh has extended Relief measure to the affected fishermen families in the form of supply of  31 Kgs. of Rice  on free of cost for the (47) days Marine Fishing Ban period.