Telangana at a Glance

TELANGANA AT A GLANCE

Capital City Hyderabad

Area 44,340 Sq Miles or 112,077 Sq.Kms

Population 35 Million

Urban Population 39%

GSDP ( 2019 -20 ) 6.63 Lakh Crore

Per Capita Income ( 2019 -20 ) 2.28 Lakh

Districts & Households 33 Districts & 8.3 Million households

Major Industries IT, Pharma & Biotech, Textiles, Infrastructure & Manufacturing

PINK BOOK 01 Telangana was formed in June 2014 with Hyderabad as its capital. The state is land locked by (new) Andhra Pradesh to the south and the east, Maharashtra and Karnataka to the west, and Odisha and Chhattisgarh to the north.

ADVANTAGES

Growing economy and Telangana's GSDP grew at a CAGR of 13.84% between improving infrastructure 2015-16 and 2020-21

Prominent educational universities and institutions located in hyderabad, Rich labour pool providing a massive pool of labour The State Government has announced scholarships to attract more youth to these institutions

Availability of Eay access to capital along with infrastructure which is beneﬁting readymade Capital the state Major multinational companies have production base in Hyderabad Policy and Institutional Three new policies in State, namely, Telangana IT Policy, 2016, E-Waste Support Management Policy, 2017, Telangana Excise Policy, 2017-19

KEY GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND OBJECTIVES

Telangana Excise Standardise the process of collection of certain fees from Policy 2017-19 suppliers and others

Textile and Apparel To create an enabling environment in order to encourage investment in downstream processing activites and encourage new units across the Incentive Scheme 2017 value chain Telangana Electric To make Telangana a hub for Electric Vehicles & Energy Vehicles Policy 2020-30 Storage Systems

Telangana State Food Develop capacity for processing major commodities up to Processing & Preservation Policy international standards

GOVERNMENT VISION FOR THE STATE

Quality of life of people Agriculture Governance Power Effective Technological advancement in Ensure people centric, Become a power implementation of agriculture with more research in transparent and corruption surplus state in welfare schemes and agricultural universities. Waiver of free development. To take the next three make Hyderabad a agricultural loans up to Rs 1 lakh steps to eradicate years slum free city (US$ 1,430.81) corruption

PINK BOOK 02 1.1 ECONOMY OF THE STATE Telangana is one of the fastest growing states in India posing average annual growth rate of 13.90% over the last ﬁve years. Telangana's nominal gross state domestic product for the year 2020-21 stands at ₹11.05 lakh crore (US$150 billion). Service sector is the largest contributor to the Telangana's economy with a share of about 65% in the year 2018-19. Growth in services has largely been fueled by IT services with the State holding leading position in IT & ITeS in the country in terms of production and exports.

Agriculture also forms a backbone of Telangana's Economy. Two important rivers of India, the Godavari and Krishna, ﬂow through the state, providing irrigation. Farmers in Telangana mainly depend on rain-fed water sources for irrigation. Rice is the major food crop. Other important local crops are cotton, sugar cane, mango, and tobacco. Recently, crops used for vegetable oil production, such as sunﬂower and peanuts, have gained favour. There are many multi-state irrigation projects in development, including Godavari River Basin Irrigation Projects.

The state has also started to focus on the ﬁelds of information technology and biotechnology. There are 68 Special Economic Zones in the state. Furthermore, Telangana is a mineral-rich state, with coal reserves at Singareni Collieries.

PINK BOOK 03 1.1.1 GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product)

The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) estimates are regarded to be an indicator of the health of the economy - and at a broader level, these estimates may be used as a measure of the outcome achieved through various interventions and investments towards economic development.

Telangana State, just seven years in existence, dug in, held its ground, and came up trumps even as the Covid crisis engulfed the country in the ﬁrst wave of the pandemic. Not only has Telangana’s GSDP share in national GDP at current prices jumped to an impressive 5 per cent in 2020-21, but it also recorded a 1.5 per cent growth in GSDP when contraction of economies is most widely discussed.

According to the MoSPI, Telangana’s GSDP share of national GDP at current prices increased signiﬁcantly from 4.1 per cent in 2014-15 to 4.4 per cent in 2017-18 and is placed at 5 per cent in 2020-21 despite the adverse impact of the pandemic. At constant prices, the State GSDP growth has been higher than that of the national GDP since 2015-16.

RESILIENT SHOW COMPARISON 12 11.6 % Telanagana GSDP 10 1.35% growth at current 8 7.9 % prices 8 % 6

National GDP 4 growth estimated to 4 % 2 1.26 % shrink by 8% at current prices 0 -2 TS economy more -4 resilient due to 17.7% growth in -6 primary sector -8 -8 % -10 20.9% In agriculture -12 sector(2020-21) 2015-16 2019-20 2020-21

TS GSDP (% growth) GSD (% growth) *At constant prices

PINK BOOK 04 While the State GSDP grew by 11.6 per cent in 2015-16, it decreased to 7.9 per cent in 2019-20 and contracted to 1.26 per cent in 2020-21 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. On the other hand, the national GDP, which grew by 8 per cent in 2015-16, decreased to 4 per cent in 2019-20 and fell sharply to minus 8 per cent in 2020-21. Furthermore, Telangana's real gross state domestic product has grown to Rs 6.63 trillion (Rs 6.63 lakh crore) in 2019-20 from Rs.8.61 lakh crore in 2018-19 (GSDP Advance Estimates released by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics). Telangana has outperformed the All-India nominal growth rate every year since its formation.

The increased GSDP can be attributed to the State’s performance in the primary sector, comprising agriculture, dairy and poultry among others, which recorded a growth of 17.7 per cent in 2020-21. The secondary and services sectors contracted to 5.2 per cent and 1.9 per cent, respectively. The agriculture sector grew by an impressive 20.9 per cent in 2020-21, cushioning the impact of Covid-19. This was due to measures taken by the State government to stimulate the rural economy. Although industrial and services growth contracted, the contraction was less severe than at the national level.

Furthermore, the per capita income stands at Rs. 2,28,216 as on 2019-20. This is much higher than the All India PCI of Rs. 1,34,432 for the same year. The state’s per capita income is growing faster than that of the country - between 2018-19 and 2019-20 Telangana grew at 11.6 percent at current prices, whereas the All India per-capita income grew only at 6.3 percent. Despite the pandemic, presently, the per capita income of Telangana is higher than the country’s per capita income by ₹99,377.

This is a testimony to the potential held by the youngest state in the nation.

₹99,377

PCI PCI 2019-20

PINK BOOK 05 1.1.2 Exports from Telangana

Telangana ranks #2 in Export Preparedness Index 2020 under Landlocked states category.

The state’s share of exports grew from 10.61 percent in 2018-2019 to 11.58 percent in 2019-2020. The overall share of Telangana in the Indian Export Growth for 2019- 20 stands at 23.53 percent. Furthermore, it is noteworthy to acknowledge that the IT exports of Telangana have grown at an ‘unprecedented rate of 17.93 percent’ compared to the national average of 8.09 per cent in recent times. A sector-wise analysis of merchandise exports reveals that the lion’s share in Telangana’s exports earnings consists of pharma and chemical products.

Even as earlier as 2015-16, the data on state-wise merchandise exports reveal that Telangana has exported Rs. 35,444 crore worth of merchandise and holds a 2.07 per cent share in the overall exports on the nation - ranking it eleventh among states and union territories. Sector-wise merchandise exports from Telangana during 2015-16:

Pharmaceutical Organic Electrical Machinery & Nuclear Reactors, Boilers, Machinery Products Chemicals Equipment and Mechanical Appliances ₹12,837 Cr 36.22% ₹11,776 Cr 33.23% ₹1,465 Cr 4.13% ₹1,359 Cr 3.83%

Salt, Sulphur, Earths & Stone, Pearls, Precious or Semi- Articles of Stone, Plaster, Aircraft, Spacecraft Plastering Materials, Lime Precious Stones / Metals Cement, Asbestos, Mica and Parts Thereof ₹699 Cr 1.97% ₹622 Cr 1.75% ₹545 Cr 1.54% ₹503 Cr 1.42%

Total Exports Preparations of Cereals, Flour, Tools and their Parts of Other 35,444 Cr Starch or Milk Base Metals Sectors ₹ ₹442 Cr 1.25% ₹423 Cr 1.19% ₹4,774 Cr 13.47% 100%

The USA is the biggest importer of merchandise products from Telangana. 30 per cent of the total merchandise is exported to the USA, followed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), China, Russia, and the United Kingdom.

PINK BOOK 06 1.1.3 Investments in Telangana

The youngest state of the nation holds immense potential for investments on account of its plethora of initiatives. Some of the key reasons why the state is becoming a destination for investment are:

Telangana's capital, Hyderabad, is a major IT hub of the country. The state also contributes nearly one-third to India’s production and one-ﬁfth to its exports in the pharmaceutical sector. As a pharma and life sciences hub, Hyderabad is poised to grow to a $100 bn business generator by 2030, up from $13 bn now. Hyderabad also accounts for approximately 20% of India's total pharma export. The state government plans to set up a pharma city and promote public private partnership to develop the state's pharma sector.

The state is one of the leading producers and exporters of horticulture crops, including lemons, oranges, and turmeric, among others. Sericulture and ﬁsheries are other sustainable sectors, with the state having the third largest pool of inland ﬁsheries resources in the country.

The state has many manufacturing units in pharmaceuticals, food processing, non-metallics minerals, plastics, and electrical equipment sectors. There are 68 notiﬁed Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in the state. The world's largest ﬁlm studio complex, Ramoji Film City, is also based out of Hyderabad.

The Central Government recently announced formation of an Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) near Hyderabad. With the establishment of the ITIR, the Government plans to generate 1.5 million direct and 5.3 million indirect jobs in the IT sector in the next ﬁve years.

In October 2020, the State Government rolled out 10-year Electric Vehicle (EV) policy with the aim to attract US$ 4 billion investments. The policy will aim to make the state a hub for electric vehicles and energy storage systems, and to create employment for 120,000 people through shared mobility, charging infrastructure development, and manufacturing activities.

According to Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), cumulative Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inﬂow in Telangana totalled US$ 1,347.74 million during October 2019 and September 2020.

PINK BOOK 07 1.2 INFRASTRUCTURE

1.2.1 Connectivity

Roads Transport The state has a road network of over 27,600 km, with 24 national highways (NH). Furthermore, to increase accessibility to the districts, there are amendments being done by way of widening to the major district roads. In this regard, 257 works were taken up, covering a length of 2,733 kms, of which, a length of 1354 kms has been completed to date.

Hyderabad is integrated into the National Highway Network of India through NH 44, NH 65, NH 163, NH 765, NH 765D, while four State Highways SH1, SH4, SH 6, SH 19 originate/terminate in Hyderabad. The Road Network in Hyderabad is characterized by a concentric network of Inner Ring Road and Outer Ring Road. The latter is an expressway stretching 158 km, built to provide orbital linkage between arterial radial roads within the city, as well as to offer connectivity the National Highways.

Telangana State Road Transport Corporation TSRTC is a state-owned corporation that runs bus transport services to and from Telangana. Many other Indian metro towns in Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Odisha and Chhattisgarh are also linked with the services of TSRTC. It serves about 1 crore passengers every day, having three zones and services operating through 97 depots. TSRTC operates several different kinds of services, both for urban transport as well as intercity and village transport.

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T . S R . T . C WEL COME WEL COME

T.S.R.T.C

PINK BOOK 08 National Highways in Telangana (Existing & Proposed)

ADILABAD KOMARAM BHEEM ASIFABAD 27,600

NIRMAL MANCHERIAL Length of existing JAGTIAL National Highways in km NIZAMABAD PEDDAPALLI

RAJANNA SIRICILLA JAYASHANKAR KAMAREDDY KARIMNAGAR BHUPALPALLI 2,733 WARANGAL MEDAK SIDDIPET URBAN WARANGAL RURAL BHADRADHRI SANGAREDDY JANGAON KOTHAGUDEM Length of proposed

MEDCHAL- MAHABUBABAD National Highways in km MALKAJGIRI YADADRI HYD BHONGIR VIKARABAD KHAMMAM RANGAREDDY

SURYAPET

NALGONDA

MAHABUBNAGAR

WANAPARTHY NAGARKURNOOL

JOGULAMBA GADWAL National Highway Existing-3340.46 KMs

National Highway Proposed-2102 KMs

Outer Ring Road (ORR)

PINK BOOK 09 Railways South Central Railway, a zone of Indian Railways, is headquartered in Secunderabad. Apart from services provided with inter-city connectivity, this zone provides suburban transport services in Hyderabad & Secunderabad through MMTS (Multi Modal Transport System), for connecting various suburbs of Hyderabad.

Hyderabad Metro Hyderabad Metro Rail project is being implemented by the Government of Telangana to address the increasing trafﬁc congestion and pollution levels in Hyderabad city. Phase-I of the project covers 3 trafﬁc corridors in the city spanning over 72 km with 64 stations. It is the world’s largest mass transit project being built in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. Started in June 2012, an overall of 96% of the metro project has been completed and all the 57 trains have arrived. The total operational length of the metro is 69 Kms, making the Hyderabad Metro - the second largest metro service after Delhi in the country.

PINK BOOK 10 Air Connectivity The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad is built in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode - a joint venture of GMR Group, Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad (MAHB), Government of Telangana and the Airports Authority of India. RGIA is an integrated domestic and international terminal, equipped with 12 contact boarding bridges, 30 remote stands, Common User Terminal Equipment (CUTE), self-check-in kiosks (Common User Self Service – CUSS) and 39 immigration counters. RGIA is designed to cater to 15 million passengers per annum (MPPA) and can be developed phase-wise to cater to an ultimate capacity of 40 MPPA.

The airport has one of the longest runway (4260 metres) in India, and caters to high passenger and cargo volumes. Hyderabad is connected with direct ﬂights to all major destinations in India, as well as to various locations in Middle East, Southeast Asia, Europe and North America. Currently, Hyderabad has ﬂights connecting either directly or intermediate stops to 13 foreign cities.

The airport has two major access points

The National Highway NH-7 and Outer Ring Road (ORR) from the western side Srisailam State Highway on the eastern side

The ﬁrst of its kind, an 11.8 km long elevated expressway (PVNR) enables passengers to reach the airport from the city center through the NH-7 Highway within 30 minutes.

Air connectivity - routes from hyderabad

PINK BOOK 11 1.2.2 Energy

The state has an installed power capacity of over 15,800 MW, with about 42 per cent contribution from green energy sources.

There is a direct relationship between economic development and energy consumption, as the power sector is one of the growth engines for the economy. Telangana is one of the highest power-intensive states in India, with per capita power consumption of 2071 units in 2019-20, which is higher than the all-India average (1208 units in FY 2019-20). Energy unmet in the state of Telangana for the years 2011-12 to 2014-15 was in the range of 4–12 per cent, with a deﬁcit of 4.2 percent (including market purchases) in FY 2014-15.

As of November 2020, the total installed power capacity in Telangana was 16,626.97 MW. Of this, 7,953.65 MW was contributed by state utilities, 6,527.82 MW (private utilities) and 2,145.50 MW (central utilities). Thermal power was the largest contributor to the state’s total installed capacity with 9,640.54 MW, followed by hydropower (2,479.93 MW), renewable energy (4,357.77 MW) and nuclear power (148.73 MW).

Telangana has made remarkable progress in improving the access to power in the State. On the day of formation of Telangana State, there was a peak demand shortage of 2,700 MW and 4-8 hours of load relief to domestic and other consumers and 2-day power holiday to industries. Since then, there has been a substantial improvement due to the measures taken by the new State in areas such as reducing Transmission and Distribution (T&D) losses, staggering of loads to 24 hours of the day, increase in generation by TSGENCO plants, entering into short term power purchase agreements and purchase from exchange. As a result, there is no load relief from 20.11.2014 onwards in the State to any category of consumers and there is marked improvement in the quality of power being supplied to all the consumers.

24 Hours Power supply to 24 Hours Power Supply to Agriculture Sector businesses and public needs 24 hours power supply is being provided from 01.01.2018 to The government is committed to provide 23.31 lakh agriculture pump sets in Telangana state out of 24.16 24x7 power supply to all households, lakhs Agricultural connections which are existing as on industry, commercial businesses, public 01.12.2019. In conjunction with the irrigation investments, this needs, lift irrigation schemes, other assurance of power for the Agriculture Sector is expected to electricity consuming entities. enhance productivity and farm incomes signiﬁcantly.

PINK BOOK 12 The government plans to meet the demand by increasing the generation capacity and enhancing the energy availability from the existing sources.

Renewable Energy Telangana is keen on increasing the power generation from non-conventional energy. A landlocked state, Telangana has high potential to exploit non-conventional energies such as wind and solar. The state is looking for avenues to improve the energy mix by integrating solar power and other non-conventional energy. The state government has signiﬁcant capacity additions planned in the coming years in solar and wind power. To support the initiative, the Telangana Solar Power Policy 2015 is already in place. It has plans to add 5000 MW of solar power through competitive bidding processes.

The state government, as part of the Power for All program, plans to increase the renewable energy share from 2 per cent in 2014-15 to 26 per cent by 2018-19. To reach this target, tenders have been invited for 2000 MW solar power and it has entered PPAs for 1988 MW and plans to commission additional capacity by the end of the current ﬁnancial year. As of now 977.23 MW of solar projects have been commissioned in the state. Telangana has been ranked the second highest amongst the states in the country in adding solar energy capacity between 2014-15 and 2015-16.

PINK BOOK 13 1.2.3 Mines and Mineral Products Telangana has varied geology, endowed with a rich and wide variety of minerals suitable for speciﬁc mineral industries. The state has natural stores of coal, iron ore, limestone, dolomite, manganese, quartz, feldspar, stowing sand, laterite, clays, yellow ochre, barytes, uranium, black and colored granite, limestone, fuller’s earth, marble, road metaling/building stone/ballast, gravel/earth, and ordinary sand. The Government of Telangana aims to serve as a guiding force to translate the state’s mineral potential into reality with the objectives of eco-friendly and sustainable mining.

Some of the important mineral resources in the state are

Telangana is the only state in the entire southern India with vast deposits of coal, which is being The state is also endowed with extensive limestone mined by M/s Singareni Collieries Company Ltd.,

COAL deposits in Adilabad, Peddapalli, Mahabubnagar, a State Public Sector Undertaking Nalgonda, Suryapet, Vikarabad, and Mancherial districts with a total resources of around 7519 million tonnes. Limestone is being consumed in the manufacture of cement by 21 cement plants (10 major

LIMESTONE and 11 minor plants) with a capacity of 29.50 MTPA. There are estimated reserves of 11 million tonnes uranium ore in Lambapur, Pulicherla, Nammapuram and Yellapuram villages of Nalgonda district. The Uranium Corporation of India Ltd. (UCIL) has ﬁ led an application for grant of mining lease over an extent of 542 ha. It is yet to be considered for approval. The Ministry of Environment and Forests, GoI, granted EC for this project. Presently UCIL is acquiring the lands Good varieties of granite are available in the for the said project. URANIUM ORE districts of Karimnagar, Peddapalli, Jagtial, Warangal Urban & Rural, Mahabubabad, Khammam and Kamareddy. Brown Porphyry, Red Rose, Blue Brown and Tan Brown are the varieties found in Karimnagar, Peddapalli and Jagtial; Black and Sapphire Brown are the varieties in Warangal Urban The state is also endowed with a number of GRANITE & Rural, Mahabubabad and Khammam; Indian scattered medium-grade iron ore deposits in Aurora is found in Kamareddy district. Bayyaram Reserve Forest and ﬂ oat iron ore deposits in revenue and pattalands of Mahabubabad, Jayashankar, Jagtial and Warangal Urban districts. It is proposed to establish a steel plant by SAIL, as per Section 93 of the Andhra IRON ORE Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.

The establishment of cement factories, thermal plants, granite cutting, and faceting, steel and sponge iron units are the focus industries for overall growth and development of the mining sector in the state.

PINK BOOK 14 1.2.4 Digital Highway

Fiber Grid (T-Fiber) is envisioned to establish a state-of-the-art network infrastructure to facilitate the realization of 'Digital Telangana' objective by piggybacking on the Drinking Water Project - Mission Bhagiratha. It will provide Infrastructure for affordable and high-speed broadband connectivity and Digital services to “10 Zones (33Districts), 464 Mandals, 8778 Gram Panchayats, 10,128 villages, 83.58 lakh households and more than 3.5 Cr people”.

Government to deliver Government to Citizen (G2C) and Government to Government (G2G) services – by providing high speed broadband connectivity to government ofﬁces, educational institutions, hospitals, banks, and other public service institutions. Bandwidth Provision and/or infrastructure to various operators on non-discriminatory and non-monopolistic manner without entering competition.

WATER TANK

PINK BOOK 15 1.3 EDUCATION Telangana, as a newly formed state, has made signiﬁcant advancements in quality education for children, adolescents, and many adults from a wide-cross section of society, including added emphasis on implementation of Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009. It has now committed to achieving total literacy. The State of Telangana has a total of 40,597 Schools (includes Primary, Upper Primary, High Schools) with an enrollment of 58.71 Lakhs. The Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation in 2018 NSO Report has said the State of Telangana signiﬁcantly improved its Literacy rate to 72.8%.

Over the years, efforts have been made at the national and state level to achieve the goal of ‘Education for All’. The state envisages to promote education; and to provide educational opportunities to every individual. Over the years, the education system has undergone positive progression, inﬂuenced by international and national commitments. Hyderabad is a well-established investment destination in India, resulting in its mature education ecosystem at all levels, including international schools, higher learning and technical institutions, and research-based institutions. In 2020, Hyderabad’s state government allocated INR 104 billion (US$1.42 billion) for school education and INR 17.23 billion (US$235 million) for higher education in a bid to improve maintenance of student residences, fee reimbursements and scholarships. This feeds into the creation of a diversiﬁed and highly capable local talent pool, besides attracting human capital from other parts of the country.

PINK BOOK 16 Below is a list of a few of the prominent educational institutions located in Hyderabad

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Open Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University – established in 1982 University – established in and specializing in a variety of 1972 and specializing in courses engineering

Indian Institute of Technology – English and Foreign Languages established in 2008 and with courses University – established in 1958 specializing in AI, design, engineering, and specializing in language liberal arts, mathematics, and studies pure sciences

The University of Hyderabad – International Institute of established in 1974 and offers Information Technology – courses in science and technology, established in 1998 and medical sciences, humanities and specializing in technical social sciences research

Institute of Chartered Nalsar University of Law – Financial Analysts of India – established in 1998 and established in specializing in law. 1984

Schooling In Telangana, the education system is of 10+2 system before joining under graduation. First standard to Tenth standard classes is conducted by the School Education under the administration of the School Education Department and ﬁnally the Tenth Class (S.S.C.) Public examination at the state level is conducted by the Board of Secondary Education. After this two-year Intermediate Education under the administration of the Board of Intermediate Education. Furthermore, the state has several public and private schools, and these are either afﬁliated to the Board of Secondary Education Telangana or Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), ICSE, IB, IGCSE.

PINK BOOK 17 1.4 EMPLOYMENT IN TELANGANA

The Telangana state government in the last 6.5 years issued notiﬁcations to 1,32,899 jobs & has ﬁlled in 1,26,641 jobs with another 50,000 in the pipeline.

Agriculture & Allied sector is the source of employment for majority of the workers in Telangana followed by the services sector and the Industry sector. While the GSDP contribution by the agriculture sector is 14.7 per cent in 2015-16, about 54 percent of the workers are depending on this sector for employment. Similarly, 20 percent of total workers in the state are employed in services sector while is contribution to the state GSDP is about 62 percent.

In 2020, Telangana’s employment grew at 7.2 per cent, compared to the national average of 4.59 per cent, which translates to 50 per cent more in employment than the rest of the States in the country. Since the enactment of TS-iPASS, the state has received 11,857 new investment proposals with an investment outlay of Rs.1.85 lakh crore and creation of 13.08 lakh potential employment opportunities. Of the total proposals received, 9,020 units have commenced their operations with an investment outlay of Rs.85125.83 crore and creating 6.23 lakh employment opportunities.

The state government has a comprehensive plan for employment generation both in the public as well as the private sector and has launched multiple skill development initiatives to this end. All of this is to ensure that the young people in the state make the best use of opportunities in the public sector.

Unemployment rates at the time of COVID 19 The pandemic also saw a steep rise in unemployment rate and fall in business activity in Telangana, leading to a sharp contraction of the economy during the lockdown period. However, the State’s economy displayed far more resilience than the rest of the country.

Unemployment was prevalent across India during the lockdown with the national unemployment rate shooting up from 7.8 per cent in February last to 9.1 per cent in December. According to a report of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), Telangana had put up a better performance. The unemployment rate, which was 8.3 per cent in the State in February last, dropped to 7 per cent in December last.

Though the unemployment in India peaked at 23.5 per cent in April and 21.7 per cent in May during the lockdown, the increase in unemployment rate was delayed in Telangana and the peak was much lower at 14.7 per cent.

PINK BOOK 18 1.5 LIVABILITY INDEX

Hyderabad is one of the most livable metro cities according to the Mint Livability Index released in 2019. Hyderabad scores highly on account of high commute speeds, its attractiveness to migrants, low rents, and high access to social infrastructure. Hyderabad is known for its unique blend of Heritage and modern architecture.

While Hyderabad has entered the big league of top ﬁve cities for the economic potential it has been displaying, it is also a destination for investments with reputed business leaders from varied backgrounds expanding their units. With the population on the rise, the city has expanded to new corners, but Hyderabad is nowhere near the list of polluted cities as the air quality has been remarkably improving making it a safer and healthier place for people to breathe.

According to the World Air Quality Report ranking, the top polluted cities in the world, Hyderabad was ranked 249th in the world and 68th in India. Urban parks such as Bhagyanagar Nandanavanam Park, Shantivanam Park, Palapitta Cycling Park, Kandlakoya Oxygen Park, Prashanthivanam Park and Panchavati Forest Park are spread widely in acres creating major lung spaces for the citizens.

1.5.1 Healthcare The state has 1064 health facilities with 14 specialty hospitals, 31 districts hospitals, 19 area hospitals. The state has been implementing the Aarogyasri Scheme (AS), which is an inspiration for India’s Ayushman Bharat Scheme and a unique government sponsored health insurance scheme with the aim to assist families below the poverty line and protect them against a catastrophic health expenditure.

While the world is being gripped with Covid-19 pandemic, the city of Hyderabad has reinforced its position as a ‘Vaccine Hub’ for the world with as many as ﬁve vaccine manufacturing ﬁrms such as Bharat Biotech, Biological E Ltd, Aurobindo Pharma Dr Reddy's and Hetero contributing to the Global supply.

The State has been performing way ahead of India in the Key Health Indicators (Data from Sample Registration System, 2017) such as:

Neonatal Mortality Rate of Telangana is at 20 while India stands at 23. Under 5 Mortality Rate (U5MR) of Telangana is at 32 while India stands at 37. Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) of Telangana is at 29 while India stands at 33. Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) of Telangana is at 76 while India stands at 122.

Furthermore, The state is taking measures to reduce the burden of infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases. The state ranked amongst the top three states as per NITI Aayog report for two consecutive years (2018 and 2019) in providing better medical care through public sector health facilities.

PINK BOOK 19 1.5. 2 Environment Standards The State of Telangana has recorded the forest cover of 24% of its geographical area in 2020, a signiﬁcant improvement because of the State’s ﬂagship program - Telangana Ku Haritha Haram. The State’s capital, Hyderabad is known to be one of the best cities to live and work in India. Hyderabad has been recognized as the ‘Tree City’ of the world in 2020 by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the only city in India to achieve this distinction owing to the city’s commitment in maintaining the Urban Forestry.

PINK BOOK 20 1.6 TOURISM

Telangana is known for its hospitality and multicultural and pluralistic society. Hyderabad, the capital city of this state is the ﬁfth largest city in India and home to some of India's best educational institutions, Public Sector Units such as BHEL, defence companies and a thriving global services sector and ﬁlm Industry.

The popular destinations in Telangana include

Heritage Spots Charminar, Salarjung Museum, Qutub Shahi Tombs, Chowmahallah Palace, Faluknama Palace, Golconda Fort, Elgandal Fort, Jagtial Fort, Devarakonda Fort, Medak Fort, Warangal Fort, Bhongir Fort, Dhulikatta, Heritage Jail Museum

Religious Destinations Birla Mandir, Jagannath Temple, Mecca Masjid, Peddamma Temple, ST Mary’s Church, Bhadrachalam, Sammakka Saralamma Temple, Joginatha Temple, Basara, Chilkur Balaji, Sanghi Temple, Thousand Pillars Temple, Yadadri Gutta, Quilla Temple, Jain Mandir, Alampur Jogulamba Temple

Nature Discovery -Durgam Cheruvu, Hussain Sagar Lake, Lumbini Park, Kuntala Waterfalls, Pochera Waterfalls, Laknavaram, Nagarjuna Sagar, Osman Sagar Lake, Ananthagiri Hills, Manjeera Reservoir, Bogatha Waterfall, Mallaram Forest, KBR National Park, Mrugavani National Park, Mahavir Harina Vanasthali National Park, Amusement Parks and Adventure Journeys in Hyderabad.

PINK BOOK 21 1.7 CITIZEN FRIENDLY INITIATIVES

Telangana Government has been a frontrunner with respect to the utilization of IT for effective delivery of citizen services.

MeeSeva For delivering e-governance through a web-based platform, MeeSeva portal currently boasts of over 550 services in its platform and is one of the most widely used online G2C service delivery platforms in the country. MeeSeva centres are a front-end point of the MeeSeva platform and there are around 4500 centers scattered across Telangana. These are being governed majorly by Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) and provide an alternative to rural citizens not well versed in the usage of web-based applications.

T App Folio M-governance delivered through the T AppFolio, is a recent release of the Telangana Government and aims to radicalize service delivery in the state. With the advent of smartphones in India and its wide availability, it was deemed necessary to create an app-based service platform which will act as ready reckoner to G2C service delivery. It currently hosts around 210+ services and is in a process of rapid expansion as well.

T Wallet T Wallet is a digital wallet which citizens can use to make payments for both government and private transactions to avail services. Citizens can also use T Wallet to transfer funds to bank accounts through IMPS. As ﬁnancial inclusion tool for the rural population of Telangana, the T Wallet been made available in three languages i.e. English, Telugu and Urdu.

PINK BOOK 22 Hyderabad City Wi-Fi Project is a pilot launched to provide Wi-Fi connectivity at public locations. Over 3,000 such locations have been identiﬁed and currently, there are about 2,500 locations which have active Wi-Fi connectivity in the city.

RTA M-Wallet This is the transport department’s M-Wallet which has been developed to store statutory documents like registration certiﬁcate, driving license, etc., in digital form. The centralized data architecture of the Transport Department is utilized to fetch the details of documents on the smartphone of a user.

Annapurna GHMC provides hygienic and safe Food to underprivileged, poor, and migrant workers, at just Rs.5/- per meal. The scheme had started with 8 centers in 2014 and has now expanded to 135 Centre’s serving 25,000 people with hot and nourishing meals daily through Hare Krishna Movement Charitable Foundation.

PINK BOOK 23 1.7.1 Safety

To ensure that the safe is a safe place for the citizens, and particularly for women, several initiatives have been implemented. Some of the key initiatives for Women Safety in Telangana are enumerated below:

Telangana State Women Safety Wing (TSWSW) Giving top priority to women’ s safety and dignity, the Telangana State Police uphold their position as “Trail blazers'' in the country through the formation of a special Women’s safety Cell, an Umbrella organization encompassing different wings working with the common goal of women’s safety. Addressing all aspects of women’s safety and gender-based violence, TSWSW is a unique ‘one stop’ destination for protection and support of women unlike any other in India.

Surveillance The State capital, Hyderabad is the second-most surveilled city in the world, with 480 CCTVs per sq km and 30 for every 1,000 people.

HawkEye Emergency access to police helpline, HawkEye has an ofﬂine SOS button. If this is pressed in case of an emergency, it will still connect ofﬂine to the Police Command center for immediate response.

PINK BOOK 24 Bharosa 4.Launched in 2016 is an integrated multi-pronged one-stop Support Center to provide a slew of police, medical, counselling, legal and prosecution services for women and children who are victims of violence and sexual abuse. Either they or their family can get immediate assistance from multiple specialized services under a single roof for their relief, rehabilitation, and protection as per the requirements.

SHE Toilets SHE toilets are unique and modern electronic toilets (e-toilets) exclusively for usage by women. Several SHE toilets have been planned across the city, especially in areas where there is an expectation of maximum footfalls.

SHE TEAMS has been introduced in Telangana state with a motto to provide safety and security to women in Telangana and to make Hyderabad a safe city. The program of SHE teams was launched on 24th October 2014 with the aim of curbing eve teasing in all aspects, in all forms, at all places, providing safety and security to women in the society, facilitating healthy environment for women’s mobility thereby building up conﬁdence in women to fulﬁl the Telangana Government commitment of safe and secure Hyderabad City to women.

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