Farmer killer

NARA CHANDRABABU NAIDU has less than two months to complete one year as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, but he already seems to be on the course of what got him out of power in 2004—neglecting agriculture. To be fair, his preoccupation with a new “world–class” modern capital for what remains of Andhra Pradesh is understandable. He may have ample time, 10 years, going by the 2014 Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, but the friction of sharing the capital with a hostile and emboldened counterpart has not been easy.

Experts attribute this to the neglect of the sector by successive State and Central governments. “Chandrababu Naidu corporatised agriculture. His policies were against small and marginal farmers. He stopped farm and seed loans from banks. It was during his tenure that the wave of suicides began in the Telangana region in 1997,” says Sarampally Malla Reddy of the All India Kisan Sabha. However, Satya Prakash Tucker, known for his work in developing undivided Andhra’s irrigation system, defends Chandrababu Naidu’s tenure, saying, “Over 65 per cent of the watershed development in the entire country took place when he was Chief Minister.” Tucker is now heading Andhra Pradesh’s Planning Department and is the State’s Special Chief Secretary.

Drive six hours to the south-east from Hyderabad, to where Chandrababu Naidu proposes to build the State’s capital, and the sense of uncertainty is palpable. Lush plains as far as the eye can see characterise the region in Guntur district. It has some of India’s most fertile lands, where farming takes place all through the year. Chandrababu Naidu’s plans for the capital city might destroy its robust rural economy The government says it requires only 125 square kilometres in Thullur and Tadikonda mandals on the banks of the Krishna. The capital would be called Amaravathi, deriving its name from the major Buddhist pilgrimage site located close to Thullur. But the authorities are unable to explain why the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) created under the provisions of the CRDA Act, 2014, comprises a whopping 7,086 sq. km spread over 43 mandals of Krishna and Guntur districts.

They see it as a real estate trade-off. Alluri Srinivasa Rao could not have been happier. One of three siblings, his family collectively owns 12 ha and employs close to 500 men and women. But Srinivasa Rao is happy to give up farming. He says, “The city [Vijayawada] is only 17 km away; my two children are college graduates. They don’t intend to return to agriculture.” It helps that he is from the Kamma-Naidu caste and a Telugu Desam Party sympathiser, much like the rest of the residents of Rayapudi.

It is the vast majority of agricultural workers who will be affected the most as they would not only be displaced but be pushed further into poverty. Rajamma from Thullur is 60. She has tilled the fields for as long as she can remember. She earns about Rs.150 a day for packing dried chillies into gunny bags. She is worried: “Come April, I won’t make any money. The government has asked all those who have pooled their lands to stop cultivation.”

The authorities estimate that 75 per cent of the region’s population is agricultural workers, which means nearly 37,000 people in Thullur alone, which has a population of over 54,000 as per the 2011 Census. The government has proposed a monthly compensation of Rs.2,500 for every nuclear family, far short of what Rajamma makes every month now. Young workers are usually employed as construction labour. No one is able to answer what will happen to older workers.