Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday said that the TDP-led NDA government will undertake a month-long awareness campaign on ‘GST 2.0’ reforms to enlighten people about the benefits they stand to derive from lower prices through the recent restructuring of the indirect tax regime.

The GST Council has approved a complete overhaul of the goods and services tax regime, slashing tax on several common use items, from hair oil to corn flakes and personal health and life insurance policies and umpteen others.

Addressing the Assembly, the chief minister said the government will organise 65,000 meetings as part of this initiative.

“The state government decided to organise 65,000 meetings starting from today till the Diwali festival. Door-to-door campaigns will be taken up to bring awareness among people about how they are benefiting from the GST cut on essential commodities, household articles, medicines and various other articles,” said Naidu.

Observing that the campaign would also be organised across educational institutions, he called upon the MLAs and ministers to play an active role in this campaign.

The CM said the reforms will benefit the country to the tune of Rs 2.25 lakh crore and Andhra Pradesh up to Rs 8,000 crore.

Moreover, Naidu highlighted that the GST reforms will help the state government achieve one family – one entrepreneur goal.

According to Naidu, the MSME sector will get a major boost. The ‘double engine sarkar’ will achieve ‘double engine growth’ with the GST reforms, he added.

Further, he underscored that the GST 2.0 reforms will strengthen the ‘Make in India’ programme and pave the way for the promotion of domestic production.

He said the reforms will promote Indian brands in global markets and enable a self-reliant economy.

The chief minister appealed to people to purchase Indian products and thereby become partners of Indian economic growth.

He expressed hope that India will emerge as the number one economy by 2047 and Andhra Pradesh as the number one state in the country.

Conveying Dasara and Diwali greetings to people, Naidu appealed to people to celebrate the festivals in a big way with the reduced prices and people-friendly GST reforms.

Later, the CM gave a presentation to the House on the state of agriculture in the southern state, noting that Andhra Pradesh is a primary sector driven economy where 62 per cent population depends on agriculture and allied sector.

With agriculture and allied activities contributing around 35 per cent to the state’s economy, Naidu said it is double that of the national average of 18 per cent.

Likewise, he highlighted that the service sector accounts for only 41 per cent of Andhra Pradesh’s economy whereas this metric stands at 55 per cent at the national level.

The CM said animal husbandry sector contributed over Rs 1.95 lakh crore to the state’s GSDP, followed by horticulture (Rs 1.7 lakh crore), fish and aquaculture (Rs 1.53 lakh crore), agriculture (Rs 65,765 crore) and forestry (Rs 10,126 crore).

Despite occupying a mammoth 52 lakh hectares of land, Naidu said agriculture was contributing only Rs 65,765 crore, compared to horticulture occupying only 18.5 lakh hectares to contribute Rs 1.77 lakh crore and fish and aquaculture using only 2.3 lakh hectares of land to generate Rs 1.53 lakh crore GSDP.

Underscoring that higher the service sector more beneficial to a state monetary-wise, the CM drove home the message that all economies graduate from agriculture to industry and then ultimately to the service sector.

He said steps will be taken to increase horticulture area up to 25 lakh hectares by 2029 to make Andhra Pradesh a horticulture hub.

Highlighting that people’s habits are altering across the world and food habits changing totally, he called for changing our agricultural practices based on those changing trends or otherwise run the risk of losing markets.

Advising farmers to change their crop and farming approach, Naidu promised that the government will facilitate and handhold them towards product perfection that leads to highest prosperity per acre.

Likewise, he promised a comprehensive vision for agriculture and implementation with proper planning and precision. He said the government is seriously considering providing value addition to agricultural products.

Naidu advised the MLAs to visit agricultural fields starting from October to interact with farmers directly to know their problems and to explain to them the steps being taken by the state government to safeguard their interests for making the agriculture sector profitable.

Observing that the state stands in second place in using fertilizers and pesticides, he said drones can be used to minimise their usage, and added that efforts are on to reduce cultivation costs using technology.

Struck by US President Donald Trump’s taxes, Naidu said the local aquaculture sector is facing a crisis as the state alone accounts for exports worth Rs 21,000 crore.

He said efforts are on to protect aquaculture farmers from the present crisis and added that focus will be laid on seaweed culture to improve marine economy, among other initiatives.

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