Economic terrorism as serious as cross-border terrorism: Naidu

Time of India

08-06-2025

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu
Calling the first year in office of his fourth term as the most difficult, when compared to his last three stints as CM, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said Amaravati is poised to become the Quantum Valley of India.
In an interview with
Robin David
and
Srikanth Aluri
, Naidu spoke about AP working with the Gates Foundation to develop preventive healthcare solutions using AI and other issues. Excerpts:
How different is this first year in office when compared to your previous three stints as chief minister?
This first year, compared to the previous terms, has been very bad. Especially since we are fighting with economic terrorists.
Like cross-border terrorism, economic terrorism is also a threat to the global community, particularly India. In the last five years during the YSRCP regime, people with criminal attitudes or habituated criminals ruled the state. They looted the state by taking cover under a political party.
Even the Singapore govt, which is considered one of the most credible across the world, was harassed in the name of cases. Now, they are turning away from Andhra Pradesh.
Rs 9,000 crore public money was paid without using power due to cancellation of PPAs, Rs 55,000 crore drowned in Polavaram, Rs 1 lakh crore was destroyed in Amaravati, besides various scams, grabbing of ports, and valuable land parcels. Making a comeback after such setbacks is not easy. But we are trying to overcome all the challenges.
So, you are at minus 10 and trying to build from scratch again?
That is what I am saying.
Not minus 10, it was like minus 100 when I took over. They chased away industries like Amara Raja group. Looted money in liquor, land, sand and granite. Took over ports on benami names. As many as 98 centrally sponsored schemes were derailed because matching grants were not released from the state. They diverted money from centrally sponsored schemes. Resorting to destruction of this scale is economic crime.
As I said earlier, the Singapore govt was harassed.
They have faith in me and agreed to help in Amaravati project. But with the experiences they had with the previous YSRCP govt, they are not coming forward to collaborate with us now. They feel there is a devil in AP and are not willing to come back till that devil is gone. They may come back at some point, but it would not be according to the original understanding.
Despite these challenges, you are planning to achieve a 15% growth rate for the next 25 years. How it is possible?
Everything is possible with vision, planning and foolproof execution.
Achieving a 15% growth rate is not a big deal if we can utilise technology in an effective manner. We have historical data available on fingertips. We can get real time data with the help of satellites. With technological tools available for processing that data, we can analyse and process problems and get solutions with 90% accuracy. Either it is education or agriculture, if we can integrate technology, the processes will be automated increasing productivity.
We want to bring investments for commercialisation of technology in defence, aerospace which can create huge employment opportunities and export market for our products besides domestic utilisation. This is where I am talking about 15% growth rate. It can even go up to 20% if we have good leadership. We need global leaders to prepare more and more use cases, using technology.
What happened to your legal sanctity demand for Amravati?
We have already written to the Union govt for necessary amendments.
But even if we assume that legal sanctity is given, we will continue to fight against evil elements. After winning the elections, everybody asked me whether I am confident enough to rebuild Amaravati. I told them there are only two ways of fighting devils -- one is to fight back, and the other is to run away. I chose the first one. As Hyderabad ceased to exist as common capital after 10 years of bifurcation, a need arose to notify the capital of AP.
We wrote to the Union govt to make necessary amendments to AP Reorganisation Act by including the name of Amaravati as capital of Andhra Pradesh. The Union govt will take up the issue soon.
AP is also facing the threat of inadequate representation in Parliament post delimitation, if proportionate on the basis of population. How are you going to tackle this issue?
During Vajpayee ji's govt, the 1971 census population data was used for the purpose of delimitation.
In the delimitation that happened post 2004, the Andhra region, in the combined state, lost some assembly seats to Telangana as the population of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy increased because of migration from AP. Now people from north India are also migrating to Hyderabad. People tend to migrate with the opportunities they get.
It is high time that south India, and other states in India, too go for population management.
Only then will India stabilise. Otherwise, what happened in some countries globally, will happen to some states. Only Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are in advantageous positions in terms of population growth. We are offering incentives to have more children, and we are thinking of announcing more schemes.
You were one of the pioneers in inviting investments to the state by bringing in people like Bill Gates. Almost every second CM is now trying to do this by attending investment summits. Is it like fighting against your own model?
Any model is not a monopoly.
Any brand is also not a monopoly. As long as your brand is strong, people will be with you. Everyone will try to replicate a successful brand. It is good to see a positive spirit and I welcome that. Earlier they used to ask what CBN is doing and now they are trying to do things differently by watching what is happening globally. This is good competition, good for the country.
Can you tell us a bit more about Bill Gates foundation setting up an office in Amaravati?
It is a very interesting model.
I strongly believe public policies will empower societies. One public policy I brought during my earlier tenure to develop Hyderabad with technology, changed the face of Telangana. Today, we want to start at the next level in Amaravati. I am starting Quantum Valley with artificial intelligence and developing standalone computing systems. We have the advantage of Aadhaar and with that we want to prepare health profiles for every family.
By using artificial intelligence, we want to focus on preventive healthcare besides integrating the central and state schemes to provide better healthcare services to all. We are creating a proof of concept for a holistic healthcare system.
So, will the proof of concept happen in Amravati?
No. We are taking the state as a unit. A pilot is being launched in Kuppam which will be expanded to district level and across the state within two years.
Your focus now is on quantum computing, aerospace and defence?
I am more focused on commercialisation of use cases. I want Amaravati Quantum Valley to be like America's Silicon Valley. Our brains have to work to write algorithms for quantum computing. That is where we are driving AI. We are living in inspiring times where technology has matured, and knowledge is available in real time. Commercialisation of technology in defence, aerospace and space technology is what we are aiming for, because this is where jobs will be created.
This is where 15% growth rate is possible.
Are you asking HAL to come to AP?
I am not asking HAL in particular, but many companies. And I am not asking them to shift here from other states. HAL has a huge order book, which will take 5 to 6 years for them to deliver. We are offering land for scaling up their operations as they are facing space constraints. We are offering land not only to HAL but also to many such companies.
Tell us about your P-4 model and how it is doing?
P-4 is a game changer.
Earlier I promoted the PPP model which helped in creating wealth and infrastructure. Now it is giving back time. The idea is that the top 10% high net worth individuals will adopt the bottom 20% for not just financial help but also to guide them, mentor them and empower them. Our target is that 15 lakh Bangaru Kutumbalu (poor families) be adopted by Margadarsis by Aug 15. This is going to be a huge task, but we are confident of reaching the target within that time.
We are going on a campaign mode from June 20.
You talked about responsible capitalism in the CII summit. Is P-4 part of that?
Yes. P-4 is not just about creating infrastructure but to handhold co-citizens. Like Bill Gates, who gave away 90% of his assets, it's time for everyone to give back something to the society. The uniqueness of P-4 is that we are doing it through a public policy.
How far have you been successful in implementing your 'super six' promises in the first year?
We have implemented many.
I am doing everything possible despite the challenges. Rs 34,000 crore has been given for pensions alone. We are also planning to give Talliki Vandanam, financial assistance of Rs 15000 per kid, to mothers for sending their wards to school, on June 12. Annadata Sukhibhava (financial assistance to farmers) will also be given in the month of June. The free bus scheme for women will start from Aug 15.
Mega DSC notification has been issued.
Honorarium was enhanced for religious scholars, and fishermen during the ban period. We are trying to fulfil all the promises despite having severe financial constraints.
Have people started taking welfare schemes for granted. Have they started thinking of them as a right? And are govts becoming bankrupt because of this?
Govts must create wealth, and only then can they talk about welfare. I'm very clear on that. At the same time, calling welfare schemes freebies is not right.
It is our responsibility to empower the last mile continuously but not enrich the first mile.
A lot of brain drain is still happening in AP. When is the trend going to be reversed? Andhra's engineers are working for Hyderabad and Bangalore…
What is wrong in it? People are going for better opportunities. But everyone must learn to think global and act globally. Now, one can work for a US company while sitting in villages. One can even start a company in the US sitting here.
So, it doesn't matter where people are working. All that is needed is to upgrade skills and to be ready for the future.
You have big plans like quantum valley and global leadership centres. But Amaravati still lacks minimum social infrastructure. Should that not be addressed first?
Yes, 100% we have to create that. We are on the job and in another six months you are going to see everything in Amaravati. A good five-year period was lost during the previous YSRCP regime.
Now airports like the ones in Hyderabad and Bangalore will come up in Amaravati.
What is the need for another international airport when you already have one at Gannavaram, which is also a part of Amaravati? Another criticism coming from many is that everything is getting concentrated in Amaravati while Vijayawada and Guntur are getting neglected?
We had an airport in Begumpet, but see the kind difference Shamshabad airport made to Hyderabad. We need two, three airports for a city. Local people from Machilipatnam, Eluru, and Vijayawada will use Gannavaram airport. At the same time, we are not shifting anything from Vijayawada. We are creating a new ecosystem which will be useful for everybody. We are committed to the development of all regions.