Tejasvi Surya has more to deliver to the youth of Bengaluru
Brief Introduction:
Lakya Suryanarayana Tejasvi Surya born in November 1990 is an Indian politician, RSS swayamsevak and lawyer serving as the Member of Parliament in the 17th Lok Sabha from the Bharatiya Janata Party, representing the Bangalore South constituency. He is also the president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha since 26 September 2020.
At the age of 9, Surya sold his paintings and donated the amount to the Army’s Kargil fund while studying at the St. Paul’s High School, Belgaum. He was then awarded the National Balashree Honour in 2001 while studying at Sri Kumaran Children’s Home, Thyagarajanagar for Creative Scientific Innovation. He later graduated from Bangalore Institute of Legal Studies with a Bachelor of Academic Law and an LLB.
Tejasvi Surya in Lok Sabha:
Surya was an active member of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and was even the General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM).He had actively contributed to the Bharatiya Janata Party campaign for the 2014 Indian general election and in 2017.
The Bangalore South (Lok Sabha constituency) was represented since 1996 by former minister Ananth Kumar until his death in 2018. Tejasvi Surya was chosen to contest for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He won the elections by defeating B. K. Hariprasad of Congress by 331,192 votes, making him the youngest MP to represent the BJP, after having assumed office at the age of 28 years, 6 months, 7 days.
Surya took oath as an MP in Kannada on 17 June 2019. In June 2019, he requested the central government to revert its 2014 decision to remove the requirement of knowing the local language in the recruitment for banks. On 10 July 2019, during the Zero Hour, Surya requested the Home Minister Amit Shah to extend the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to Karnataka, citing the increasing influx of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in his state. When a holy site was vandalised in Hampi, Surya raised the issue in Parliament, urging the government to ensure better security for the country’s sacred monuments.
In October 2019, Surya expressed his concern over the short term for the city’s Mayor. He urged the Chief Minister of Karnataka to draft and pass an exclusive legislation for Bangalore, the Nava Bengaluru Act, to replace the Karnataka Municipalities Act, 1975. On the problem of garbage in Bangalore, Surya responded that he could only bring it to the notice of the authorities and suggested to admonish them. He then claimed he lacked any authority to solve the problem. This response received mixed criticism from the public.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in India, Surya launched a Bangalore South corona virus task force, which included free home delivery of essential goods, emergency medical assistance and mobile COVID-19 testing kiosks.
Work Done:
Urban Mobility
Tejasvi is actively advancing key infrastructure projects in Bengaluru. He played a pivotal role in expediting approvals for the long-pending Suburban Rail project, which had been delayed for over 40 years.
Moreover, he’s been instrumental in securing approvals for the Bengaluru Metro’s Phase 2A and 2B, set to benefit approximately 7.5 lakh riders and reach completion by 2025.Tejasvi Surya’s efforts also extend to fast-tracking Central Government approval for Phase 3 of the metro, which will traverse Bengaluru South’s Outer Ring Road.
These actions underscore his commitment to enhancing Bengaluru’s critical infrastructure and addressing longstanding transportation challenges.
Education
Issue: Lack of access to quality education
NaMo Vidyanidhi
Children of Bengaluru South fare poorly in the SSLC exams. Children dropping out at Class 10 do not return to the system again. To tackle this, Tejasvi introduced a scheme that guarantees access to quality education and provides incentives for good performance.
In response to financial constraints faced by underprivileged children aspiring for education, the ‘Namo Vidyanidhi’ initiative offers scholarships of ₹10,000 each to 10,000 meritorious students in Bengaluru South. These scholarships are paid directly to the respective schools, ensuring financial assistance reaches those who need it most.
Healthcare
Issue: Unaffordability of quality medicines
Highest Jan Aushadhi Kendras in the country
Janaushadhi Kendras provide generic medicines at almost 70-90% reduced rates, helping citizens save big on their medical requirements. In Bengaluru South, Tejasvi has made it a mission to set up a maximum number of Janaushadhi Kendras to ensure access to quality medicines and alleviate the medical expenditure of the poor.
While in 2019, there were 14 Janaushadhi Kendras in Bengaluru South Constituency, over the course of 4 years, the number of kendras has increased exponentially to 112.
Bengaluru has the highest number of these generic medicine stores in the country benefitting over 2 lakh people saving 7 crores in Bengaluru South.
Conclusion:
Tejasvi Surya is young and talented and has the capability to lead the youth. He can get support of the first time voters for his party in this Lok Sabha election too. All the work he has done for his city is crucial, one who lives in Bengaluru can understand but, people these days do not believe on paper work only, especially youth of our county, they want to see things happening in short span of time. Direct beneficiaries of any government schemes should be larger in numer in his constituency.
Tejasvi Surya is capable of transforming the work culture in political parties and with a PM like Narendra Modi who himself amazes people with sudden astonishing decisions, he could follow the same path and continue the amazing work he is doing.