Vijayawada: The P4 initiative launched by the AP govt, aimed at fighting poverty, gained traction in Saudi Arabia. In a recent event held by the Saudi Arabia Telugu Association (SATA) to mark Telugu Bahsa Dinotsavam (TBD), more than 300 NRIs came forward to adopt poor families from their respective assembly constituencies. Interestingly, a little over 30% of the NRIs, who came forward to adopt the poor, are women.Saudi Arabia, the largest country in the Middle East in terms of economy, houses significant NRIs hailing from Andhra Pradesh state. While the USA remains on top in terms of the amount of money donated to P4, new registrations have come down recently following Donald Trump’s new rules on visas and country-specific tariffs. In contrast, all new registrations are now coming from Gulf countries, with a significant number of household women showing interest in becoming Margadarshi (mentor) and adopting poor families back home in India.“Over 300 NRIs registered to become part of the scheme as mentors and expressed willingness to adopt poor families,” said Jani Basha Shaik, a native of Macharla in Palnadu district and Telugu community leader in Saudi Arabia.He said that this is the maiden awareness programme on P4 held in Gulf countries. Kondapalli Srinivas, AP minister for NRI affairs and micro, small and medium enterprises, who attended the meeting through video call, urged the NRI community to contribute to the programme by adopting poor families back home in India. The minister also narrated the state govt’s plans to introduce an NRI welfare policy on par with Punjab and Kerala.The vice-chairman of the P4 foundation, Cherukuri Kutumba Rao, said that it was surprising to see a greater number of people, especially women, coming forward from Gulf countries to participate in the P4 programme. He said that the women from Saudi, who participated in the event, are interested in supporting the education of poor students. They wanted to have their own choice of poor families from their native places and wanted to include them in the P4 programme for better coordination and accountability, he said.Akshita Chennupati of the Telugu Desam wing of Saudi Arabia said that the Telugu women in Saudi Arabia were impressed by the programme’s intent. She said that the Telugu NRI community strongly resonated with the mission.TDP leaders Ravi Radhakrishna, Gulf NRI TDP president, Khalid Saifullah, Chennupati Rajashekhar, Satti Babu, Ananta Srinivas Dadi, and Shilpa Gaddam also participated in the programme.
