Jagan Mohan Reddy govt renames 'Dr.APJ' student award to 'YSR' award

In yet another controversial order, Andhra Pradesh government, on Monday, has renamed 'Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Pratibha Puraskar Awards to 'YSR Vidya Puraskaras'. The awards are presented to Secondary and Higher Secondary students on November 11 which is the birth anniversary of the former President, which is celebrated as National Education Day. The award is now renamed after the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy's father YSR Reddy.

Jagan Mohan Reddy govt renames APJ Award

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TDP slams renaming

This move has been slammed by former Andhra Pradesh CM and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu. Taking to twitter has termed the renaming as a 'shocking method of self-aggrandizement'. He stated that the YSR govt has insulted a venerated man like Dr. Kalam by renaming the award.

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Andhra govt renames schemes

The YSRCP government has passed many such controversial government orders, since taking power in June 2019. Often the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led govt has renamed the TDP government schemes after his father - YSR, most famously, Jagan Mohan Reddy renamed the  NTR Vaidya Seva to YSR Arogyasri. The govt also renamed Anna NTR Canteen to Rajanna Canteen as people used to call YSR Rajanna.

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Andhra Pradesh govt passes order to counter fake news

Earlier on October 15, the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government passed an order permitting the Special Commissioner, Information and Public Relations to lodge complaints and file defamation cases against publishers and editors. The order stated that to counter false, baseless and defamatory news, the Special Commissioner was permitted to lodge appropriate complaints and cases under appropriate sections of law. The order included news items published/telecast in Print/electronic/social media. This has been slammed by TDP and the Press Council as 'curbing press freedom'.

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