How the State is destroying small farmers

85% of farmers in AP and Telangana are in debt against 45% all over the nation

The farmers of Andhra Pradesh(and Telangana), known as the ‘Rice bowl of India’, are at cross roads, not for the first time. They are forced to be there, year after year, one season after another, barely surviving the times that are becoming harder and harder for small farming. Some of them thought they had enough of feeding the nation, which couldn’t feed them. The ever-growing debts made them choose death over life. And a substantial amount of them have migrated to near by or even far bound cities to work as daily wager labourers.

 

In India, small farmers (owning less than 5 acres) constitute around 85% of farming households holding a land of about 35.5% of the total land. 11.24% of them(85%) are not landowners, they depend on farming by borrowing land or by working in fields.

According to NSSO(National Sample Survey Organization) 2011 statistics(latest in this regard), 82% farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are in debt where as 45% all over India share the same fate. Andhra Pradesh(united) tops this list and that clearly is an indication the plights of farming community in our state(s). 

The national Crime Record Bureau(NCRB) records show that 2.8 lakh farmers all over India and around 36,000 in Andhra Pradesh(united) committed suicides, during the period 1995-2012...read full story@telugoos

 

The tragedy and the larger turmoil

Can we see this incident separately, unconnected to all other horrendous incidents that are happening all over India? No, not really, if we see the circumstances that lead to this tragedy: the alarms that don’t alarm, the tourist spot that wasn’t a tourist spot, the unharmed sand mafia which allegedly was the reason for the location to become a dangerous attraction for tourists, all the government authorities including tourism department which had no idea about the dangers awaiting, and the list just won’t stop. What all these show is just a common denominator among all of us: negligence, ‘gross collective negligence’.

Over the years, callousness has crept into our minds. Decades after the collective struggle for freedom, self-interests have overshadowed national interests. An Indian citizen now rarely feels that the common interests of the nation are his/her own interest too. And the government institutions are full of such selfish people(both political and bureaucratic), nowadays. That is why they are rarely proactive, usually reactive, but are always ‘reluctantly reactive,’ to the issues of ‘public importance’. They always seem to be too late and too hesitant to do the work for which they had enthusiastically taken the oath. An example is the Uttarakhand disaster, where, after one year...contd@Telugoos

Tale of 'Two States'

'Two States' has been in public terminology recently on two separate issues. One, regarding the division of Andhra Pradesh, which has been made into a 'hate affair' between two regions of people(speaking the same language), and on the other hand, a movie on Chetan Bhagat's book '2 states', an inter-state 'love affair,' which has got movie viewers' attention. I am not going into the latter one, except that it has all makings of an entertainer, nonetheless.

It's not the first time in India, a reorganization of states taking place. But, this part of the country has been struggling with the geographical borders, with one or the other region of people, always demanding some kind of reorganization, time and again. Even though, they speak same language, it is not going to address their political, economical and educational problems which are contrasting, go way back into the history, and were left unanswered mostly by leaders for far too long.

Recent History:

The Andhra and Rayalaseema regions collectively called as Seemandhra, were part of Madras Presidency and under the British rule for 200 years and continued to be so for few years after independence too till 1953, when it was divided from 'Madras State' to form a separate 'Andhra State'. All this time(Till 1948 to be exact), the Telangana region(as Hyderabad State) was under the rule of Nizam, during which it hadn't seen much development on both economical and educational fronts, of the general public, that is. But, on the contrary, The Seemandhra region, even under the british rule, got benefited from their pro-reforms policy(for their own benefits of trade, of course) that made the people there both economically and educationally better equipped for employment and industry, compared to those in Telangana region, by the time the 'two states' were combined to form 'Andhra Pradesh State' in 1956, on linguistic basis as recommended by the first State Reorganization Committee(SRC).

Is Bifurcation, the real Remedy?

As so many intellectuals and other apolitical leaders in both regions had already opined, a state division itself can never be an ultimate solution, a Zinda Tilismath, a remedy for all problems. But, it can pave ways towards a situation, where the backward regions(again in both states), which were badly ignored for years now, may get some kind of focus of the state and also public, in general. But again, that needs a political will, whose absence was the reason for the present situation, in first place.

What the 'Two States' are in for:

The two states are going into all kind of elections(Local bodies, Assembly and Lok Sabha) right away, and they are going into them unitedly, which is again a political mind game of the highest order. And as soon as the results of General Elections, 2014 gets declared on May 16, with in 15 days, on June 2, both states get separate assemblies on the basis of elections held in a combined state.

There is no doubt that the local body elections may have some affect on the comparably bigger elections of Assembly and LS. At the same time, the effects of sentiments and anti-sentiments over division, also may effect local body elections. But, the parties like Congress and TDP, who have been maintaining organized cadre deep into the roots, are expected to gain somewhat from the local body elections, and thus increasing their prospects in Assembly and LS elections, but mostly limiting to one region(former in Telangana region & latter in Seemandhra region).

Catching up:

But, in both regions, the popular vote is going to YSRC(in Seem-andhra) and TRS(in Telangana) parties respectively, as per current equations, for voicing their regions' concerns supposedly. Also, a recent Opinion Poll by CSDS(which wasn't degraded by the recent sting on opinion polls) for CNN-IBN, clearly shows that both TDP and Congress are catching up YSRC and TRS, in Seemandhra and Telangana regions, respectively (assuming Congress and TRS don't ally with each other). But, there is still lots of time left, two months almost, which is enough to win or loose an election. 

And it still gets more interesting with the popular Super star of Tollywood, especially in the recent times, Mr.Pawan Kalyan(younger brother of Mr.Chiranjeevi, Union Minister) and the ex and last CM of the united Andhra Pradesh, Kiran Kumar Reddy, launching their own parties to come into the fray of the General Elections, 2014.

Unfortunately, even after all this drama over bifurcation, which could have been clearly handled better, most of the leaders and parties that are going to take the reigns of the new states are going to be the same persons, that were largely responsible for all the misgovernance, that had happened over the years, but in new avatars of changed colors, flags, symbols, etc.

Parliament 'united' in ditching common man's interests

The 15th Loksabha gets dissolved in a few weeks and along with it , a number of bills too bite the dust, some of which were very important under present circumstances and which had wide consensus on several fronts including major political parties. But, somehow they couldn't see the light of the day, thanks to the union cabinet's decision not to pursue the ordinance route. And that makes for the least productive Loksabha ever with most ever number of lapsing bills(68, to be exact) while 2200 crores were spent on it for the 5 years of its time.

All excuses of technicalities, complexities, apprehensions, differences and disruptions which never arose while passing the bills that were benefiting political interests or politicians's personal interests, came in the way of passing anti graft bills(grievance redressals bill ,etc.), women reservations bill, judicial accountability bill ,etc(detailed report here and archive of 15th loksabha here). How come? Did all parties which publicly supported all these bills really committed to their word? Or did they just said it for face value and are letting them lapse, while blaming each other on camera and shaking hands behind?

It was said that the Union Government rejected to go with the ordinance route on anti graft bills as the President let his displeasure known about the same. But, however they did approve the ordinance on an amendment regarding the recently passed AP Reorganization Bill. Obviously, they want us to believe that they are two different issues.How different are they really? Similar to the Telangana issue, there was consensus on the other bills too. With this decision, all the effort, time and money that was spent on these bills for the last 5 years gets trashed along with the hope to fight against corruption.

And at last, the view that passing an ordinance now would be subverting the democratic system as General Elections are near, seems to be just a rhetoric that suits the detractors when there is no other way of opposing a move that is clearly pro-people. When whole nation is crying foul on corruption and women's issues, aren't lapsing anti graft bills and women's reservations bill, etc., eligible for ordinance route? Especially when it ultimately needs the approval of the new Parliament, during which the bill can be amended/disapproved?

But, the parties play tricks around these lines, Rahul claims the credit for trying to bring in those ordinances, BJP claims Congress is trying to do all things in a hurry at the last minute and they can play this ball back and forth, long, while the real issues take back seat, as they did for years now. After all, what purpose does the constitution, laws, and technicalities serve, when they are ultimately doing disservice to people.

Unfortunately, it still takes time for a majority of us to see through these multiple disguises that parties and politicians wear, at times, and rise above petty issues of region, religion, caste, sops, liquor and money while voting. Voting for common good, not just for oneself or one group is unlike us for now. Hope we get through this phase soon enough.

For a 'change', Politics for good?

The Kejriwal's exit from governance had been a predicted one, as he was hinting at it every now and then. But, he did it almost perfectly it seems, even though there are some apprehensions from a minority of observers.

This exit may also answer, why Mr.Kejriwal took his time(48 days, to be exact) in bringing Jan Lokpal Bill(New Lokayuktha Bill for Delhi), on which he and his team were working over years even before the AAP(Aam Aadmi Party) was launched. Instead of trying to pass it as early as possible, Mr.Kejriwal concentrated more on some of the other core issues of their manifesto and ensured that at least some part of them got executed. 

He knew that he didn't had enough time to fulfill all the promises in the manifesto, since his main aim, rightly, is whole nation, not just Delhi. And he doesn't want to wait till 2019, as it is difficult to sustain the fire in the hearts of  the people against corruption till then. So, he gave a glimpse of uncompromising governance to reassure the Delhi-ites(Which seems to have worked acc. to some surveys after AAP's exit), before taking up the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Assembly, which was the main reason for his existence itself in the politics. He did say that they were working on the bill from time to time, though.

He also knew that a strong Jan Lokpal Bill providing independent investigating powers to an autonomous body may not get the approval of both the major national parties in the Assembly. But to ensure that they do reject it in someway, a day before the assembly, he showed that he is going to pursue the corruption cases by launching a FIR(First Information Report) against the biggest name and highest authorities in the country. He acted upon the complaints made to him by TSR Subramaniam, a former Cabinet Secretary and co., by using the CrPC's principal of territorial Jurisdiction, which seems to allow ACB, along with the CBI to exercise concurrent jurisdiction over corruption crimes committed by Central public servants in Delhi. And The technicality that both Congress and BJP argued missing(which wasn't a problem for them in earlier assembly bills) couldn't really be the reason for their rejection to the bill. And thus Kejriwal not only achieved his safe exit but also succeeded in demonstrating that both Congress and BJP do come together when it comes to,a strong law against corruption or big corporates.

It is a safe exit for Mr.Kejriwal and AAP on two counts. One, because he can't tour the country, campaigning for Loksabha elections, without getting slammed for leaving the governance of Delhi after mere two months, unlike Mr.Modi, who has the luxury of having governed Gujarat for 2+ terms. There could have been a divided opinion inside and outside, on whether he should stay in Delhi and govern or should he go for campaign. Two, now,they can go to the masses without the unconditional support of congress to their government in Delhi, which was considered as a compromise between AAP and Congress by a sizable citizens of India. Also, not being power hungry tag can be used when there is a need.

There is no doubt that all AAP trying to do is expose that Congress, BJP and other parties are not serious when it comes to eradicating corruption. And they are in a hurry to change it quickly, as agreed by their leaders on various occasions. As several analysts, intellectuals always say, it takes time to bring out a sustainable change. But, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't try to do it as fast as you could. AAP is a young party, and synonymous with the current youth, they want to do it quick. They should target for a sustainable change, but not a change that can be changed back.

After all this Drama or Dharna(protest) or whatever one can assume it, all AAP may get is a single digit in General Elections, 2014. But, surely the 16th Loksabha is going to have a far less number of criminals in attendance than the last 2 or may be 3 Loksabhas, thanks to AAP!!

A for Apathy, B for Business

It is testing time for an average parent in our country, as basic quality education is fast becoming the norm of private institutions only. The minimum economics involved in studying a child from KG to PG is going well out of bounds for an average indian citizen.

This heavy burden not only limits the parents' own dreams in life, but also makes them, set or even dictate the goals for their children. In some cases, It is also constraining their vision in making a career choice by opting only for the popular streams like engineering, medicine which can ensure quick job opportunities  rather than the relatively more passionate streams like arts, literature, etc.

The government's apathy towards the Gen-Next's education is highly condemnable. There has been a systematic ignorance towards government schools making the student enrollments tilt towards the private institutions. The underprepared teachers, infrastructural problems are almost part of any government school these days. There are also serious concerns over the existing underdeveloped teaching methodologies and curriculum.

Exactly This apathy is what raising doubts over a possible nexus between the political and bureaucratic heads and big corporate owners(sometimes themselves politicians) of educational institutions calling themselves as educationalists, making way for more privatization of education, which is happening all over the country at all levels from Kinder Garden to Management Schools, quietly under the mat.

It is bizarre to see the different public persons in high posts from The President of India to CMs of states among others, mentioning Takshasila's, Nalanda's and Vikramsila's, as great educational fronts and none of the contemporary institutes, which only making it clear, where our current educational system is at.

All developed nations have already learnt that it is in education that they need to focus more and spend more on. Most vibrant, creative and intellectual young minds are the real assets and engines for any nation that can help its progress. India needs to follow the suit.

The gloriously named Right-To-Education Act must be implemented in its true spirit not only by providing free education to all in government schools, but also by providing an education on par with the international standards of quality education. 

It is very important to a parent, to see his/her child get quality education. And if the state takes that burden off him/her by providing proper schooling in government institutions, (s)he can concentrate more on her/his own ambitions, building a rather vibrant and passionate indian society.