Andhra Pradesh has begun advancing 20 of 28 priority regulatory reforms, but senior officials have directed departments to speed up implementation and remove remaining compliance delays affecting schools, universities, industries and businesses.
The progress was reviewed at a meeting at the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat on Friday by Union steel secretary Sandeep Pundrik and Andhra Pradesh chief secretary G. Sai Prasad. The review covered the second phase of measures intended to reduce regulatory burdens and simplify compliance requirements across key departments.
Officials from school education, higher education, industries, commerce and legal metrology departments participated in the review. The meeting focused on reforms that could reduce the number of approvals, licences, inspections and certificates required by institutions and businesses to begin or continue operations.
In school education, officials discussed proposals to simplify the regulations governing private schools. These included requirements related to infrastructure, playgrounds and laboratories. They also examined a proposal to replace the essentiality certificate required for school recognition with a system of self-certification.
The proposed change would shift part of the recognition process from prior departmental certification to declarations by school operators, although the supplied report does not specify the final compliance, inspection or accountability framework that would accompany the system. The officials directed departments to complete pending reforms within the stipulated deadlines.
Higher education reforms under review included measures to reduce land and endowment fund requirements for establishing private universities. The changes are intended to ease entry requirements, although no revised thresholds or implementation dates were announced at the meeting.
For industrial and commercial activity, officials called for faster reforms to reduce the number of no-objection certificates and multiple licences required to establish and operate businesses. They favoured allowing micro, small and medium enterprises to begin operations on the basis of self-declarations.
The review also covered simplified approval and inspection procedures for low-risk industries. Officials examined measures to make registrations and licence issuance easier under the Legal Metrology department, which regulates aspects of measurement and related commercial compliance.
Sai Prasad directed the departments concerned to eliminate unnecessary approvals and procedural delays to improve the ease of doing business in the state. Additional secretary Sarita Chauhan Chand also participated in the meeting.
The review leaves 28 priority reform areas at different stages of implementation, with 20 already showing progress. The next step is for the concerned departments to accelerate the pending measures and complete them within the stipulated deadlines.
