'Wealth Is Concentrated In A Few Hands'

'The top 10 per cent of the population should adopt and handhold the bottom 20 per cent of the population as a social responsibility.'

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has flagged his concern over the increasing concentration of wealth, which India could address by adopting the 'P4' model that stands for public-private-people partnerships.

At the NITI Aayog governing council meeting on Saturday, some of Naidu's suggestions on ensuring 'zero poverty', states devising their own demographic management plans, and interlinking of rivers found mentions in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's concluding remarks at the conclave.

Naidu suggested that the Centre should prepare a road map for the interlinking of rivers and states should come up with their respective demographic management plans as India's demographic dividend will diminish by 2047.

The Andhra Pradesh chief minister said a large part of India's growth had historically been predicated on tried and tested models like public-private partnerships.

'Undoubtedly, wealth has been created, but it remains concentrated in a few hands,' he said, according to a copy of the speech he delivered at the NITI meeting.

On the 'P4 model', Naidu said: 'The top 10 per cent of the population should adopt and handhold the bottom 20 per cent of the population as a social responsibility.'

The goal, he said, should be to ensure 'zero poverty' in the short term, 'continuous empowerment in the medium term,' and the long-term aim should be to 'significantly' bridge the gap 'between the haves and have-nots'.

The Andhra Pradesh CM said the 'singular goal' of all development measures should be employment generation.

'This should be our national priority,' he said.

'Instead of how much money will be invested, we should be asking how much employment will be generated,' he said, according to a copy of the speech he delivered at the NITI Aayog meeting.

'Not only should we generate ample (employment) opportunities internally, we should emerge as the most important source of the global workforce. Ultimately, India's strength is its people,' he said.

On the linking of rivers, Naidu said the Golden Quadrilateral road network paved the way for the enhanced quality of roads and expressways in the country.

'A similar revolution in the availability of drinking water, irrigation, and flood avoidance can be achieved by interlinking of rivers,' he said.

The Andhra CM spoke about his government's plans to undertake 'a comprehensive skill Census' and the need for building marquee Indian brands.

'The survival of our manufacturing ecosystem depends upon our success in establishing market leaders across the product spectrum,' he said.

On India's demographic challenges, Naidu said the current demographic advantage would yield diminishing returns around 2047.

'There is a need to plan to manage the same today itself. States should come up with their own demographic management policies regarding how to manage demographic balance.'

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com