IN the light of severe drought conditions prevailing in Telangana and continued insensitivity and inaction of the TRS government to tackle the same, the CPI(M)’s reaction has been evident in a number of actions of conducting padayatras and surveys to study the conditions at field level, agitating before collectorates and mandal revenue offices in different districts and organising a number of  centres for providing gruel, fodder and drinking water, and conducting round-table meetings, appealing for providing help to the drought-affected people,  besides providing financial help, though on a possible limited scale, to the families of those farmers who committed suicide. The state committee of the CPI(M) demanded the government to declare the entire state as drought-affected and to take a number of measures to tackle the severe drought situation.

In the month of April, the CPI(M) conducted dharnas and picketings at mandal revenue offices twice in the districts, demanding the government to take various measures to tackle the drought situation. On May 9, the CPI(M) and other political parties conducted dharnas and picketings at collectorates in all the districts. CITU, AILU and several other mass organisations organised round-table meetings on drought situation and appealed for providing help to the drought-affected people. The CPI(M) opened  gruel centres in the districts of Medak (6 centres), Karimnagar (4), Mahabubnagar (10) and Nizamabad (4).  The Party also distributed grass for cattle through eight centres it organised in the districts of Medak, Mahabubnagar and Ranga Reddy, besides running several centres in various districts serving drinking water. In Gajwel assembly constituency in Medak district represented by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao himself, the CITU provided a financial help of Rs 5000 each to 63 families of those who committed suicide and Sarampally Mallareddy, vice president of All India Kisan Sabha and chairman of state control commission of the CPI(M), distributed the amount to the affected families.

In the month of April, the entire Party was involved in conducting padayatras and surveys in villages to study the drought situation and held agitations at mandal revenue offices in all the districts.  B V Raghavulu, member of the Polit Bureau of the CPI(M), Tammineni Veerabhadram, state secretary of the Party, S Malla Reddy, Nandyala Narsimha Reddy, state secretariat members,  state president and general secretary of CITU, Chukka Ramulu and Saibabu, secretaries of district committees of the CPI(M) and other leaders of the Party and several mass organizations participated in the programmes.

On the 3rd of this month,  Raghavulu, along with a team of CPI(M) leaders, visited several villages, including Pillalamarri, a village adopted by minister Jagadish Reddy,  in Nakrekal and Suryapet mandals in Nalgonda district, examined the field level conditions and talked to farmers and other people affected by the severe drought. Speaking on the occasion, Raghavulu termed it atrocious that the government had not come forward to the rescue of the affected farmers, others and families of those farmers who committed suicide. To protect their orchards of lemon, mousambi and mango, spending about 5-6 lakhs of rupees per acre and purchasing water through tankers, the farmers are becoming bankrupt. He demanded the government to arrange supply of water to their orchards free of cost and payment of Rs One lakh per acre to the farmers whose crops withered away due to scarcity of water. Pointing out that more than 200 people died due to sun stroke in the district, Raghavulu demanded the government to come to the rescue of their families. The workers who have been working under scorching heat of the sun are not getting even minimum wages, he pointed out and asked the government to take special steps to enhance their wages. Raghavulu asked the ministers and officers to visit villages and take up drought relief measures, instead of confining themselves to air-conditioned rooms.   Nandyala Narsimha Reddy and secretary of Nalgonda district committee of the CPI(M), Julakanti Ranga Reddy, said 250 farmers had committed suicide in the district and due to lack of work, workers have been migrating. They demanded the government to allocate Rs 15 crore per each mandal and provide adequate compensation to the farmers whose crops withered away.

For the last two decades, a large number of mandals in Telangana have been facing drought situation.  The Central Environmental Commission had declared 232 mandals in the state as perennially drought-affected. After the formation of the state of Telangana on June 2, 2014, and formation of the TRS government, no concrete steps have been taken by it to tackle the recurring drought situation. During 2014-15, the district collectors had sent reports to the government pointing out that 368 mandals were drought affected. But out of false prestige, the government did not declare them as drought-affected. Though the government had released draft of famine code in 2015, it did not implement the measures incorporated therein like input subsidy and rescheduling of dues of loans of farmers.  During 2015-16, the district collectors had sent reports to the government that 385 mandals were drought affected. After a lot of criticism from the opposition parties, mass organisations and the people and in view of the scheduled by-election to the Warangal Lok Sabha constituency, out of 464 mandals in the state, the TRS government had declared belatedly in the last week of November, 2015, only 231 mandals in seven districts, barring Hyderabad, Khammam and Adilabad, as drought affected. A central team headed by Utpal Kumar Singh which visited the drought affected areas in the state on December 7-8, 2015, had pointed out that the estimate of the loss made by the state government was on lesser side and suggested to enhance it realistically but to no avail. Against Rs 3065crore demanded by the state government towards drought relief, the government of India had sanctioned Rs 713crore only.  Out of this amount, the government has released Rs 380 crore so far towards input subsidy to the farmers and for drinking water, but only Rs 150 crore is spent. The department of agriculture and disaster management authorities are least bothered about the drought situation.

With severe drought conditions prevailing in the state for two consecutive years, coupled with indiscriminate use of ground water, according to one estimate, out of 17.5 lakh bore wells in the state, nearly 70 percent of them dried up due to depletion of ground water. 90 percent of tanks and other small sources of water dried up. Water for irrigation and drinking purpose could not be supplied from reservoirs like Sriram Sagar, Nagarjuna Sagar, Singur, Nizam Sagar and Gandipet.  During 2015-16, out of total arable land, crops raised in an extent of nearly 60 percent, crops in 20 percent of the extent, withered away. Most of the crops raised during rabi in a much lesser extent also withered away. Due to loss of crops on a large scale, the yield has come down so drastically that Telangana has to depend on imports of about 10 lakh tonnes of rice to meet its requirement under the public distribution system.  It is estimated that the loss of input cost alone for the crops raised is about Rs 8000 crore. In almost all the districts, the people have to trek 4 to 5 km for fetching drinking water.  Some areas in the capital city of Hyderabad also are getting drinking water once in 4-5 days. The severity of scarcity for water can be understood from some instances like postponement of marriages, declaring summer holidays for government schools one week in advance and death of 20 goats on the same day in Bantaram Mandal in Ranga Reddy district.

In the surveys conducted by the CPI(M) on drought situation in the state, several facts have come out. In the gross state domestic product for the year 2015-16, while the contribution from crops is less than 11 percent, income from milch animals and other cattle is over 4 percent.  Due to severe drought conditions and scarcity for water, out of about two crore heads of cattle in the state, nearly 30 percent have been sold away to abattoirs. For want of work and sustenance of their families, nearly 16 lakh people have migrated from Telangana. Migration of people from Mahabubnagar, Karimnagar and west Ranga Reddy districts is still going on. Due to heat wave and sun stroke, 1450 people died during the last three months. No ex-gratia has been paid by the government to the families of the deceased. After formation of the state of Telangana, 2400 people committed suicide. Though the government declared that it would provide ex-gratia of Rs 6 lakh per family, the same has been paid to only 50 to 60 families. 30 percent of women are suffering from anemia due to malnutrition. To the people affected by heat wave and related seasonal ailments, adequate facilities are not available in the hospitals of the government. The government did not pay heed to the suggestion to arrange medical vans to provide treatment to the affected people. In Medak district from where the CM is elected to the legislative assembly, though 46 mandals have been declared drought affected, no relief is provided to the affected people by the central and state governments.  In the district, CITU has organised gruel centres in Gajwel, Sangareddy, Patancheru, Andhol and Narsapur constituencies and several voluntary organisations are coming forward to come to the rescue of the affected people.

While the mandays created under MGNREGA are quite inadequate, even for the work done payment of wages has been due for the last eight weeks. For working from 8 am to 12 noon, the workers are getting a wage of about Rs 55, instead of Rs 185. There are no facilities like drinking water at work places. S Malla Reddy suggested clubbing works of mission Kakatiya (repairs of tanks) with those under MGNREGA to create more mandays for the workers, but the government did not pay heed to it.

On December 30, 2014 when 200 tmc ft of water was available in Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar reservoirs, the chief ministers of AP and Telangana, N Chandrababu Naidu and Chandrasekhar Rao competed with each other in draining out the water indiscriminately for generation of hydel power, knowing fully well the forecast of impending drought situation in both the states. As a result, both the states faced scarcity even for drinking water during 2015-16. These man-made follies are adding to the problems created by vagaries of nature.

The Telangana state committee of the CPI(M) made several suggestions to tackle the drought situation which include: setting up of committees from state level to village level to examine opportunites for using drinking water and water for cattle locally and paying compensation to farmers for using a part of water available in their bore wells for this purpose and supplying it to orchards through tankers; supply of drinking water through tankers wherever required; government has to organise camps in villages for supply of grass and fodder to cattle; immediate payment of compensation to farmers for loss of crop; rescheduling of dues of all kinds of agricultural loans of farmers, waiver of interest thereon, sanction of fresh loans for kharif; supply of inputs to small and marginal farmers free of cost for kharif and for other farmers on subsidised basis; ensure support price to the crop yield to the meager extent available; appointment of a commission in terms of the Act passed by the assembly for protecting the people affected by private loans; setting up helplines up to village level to give self-confidence to farmers to prevent their suicides; immediate payment of ex-gratia of Rs 6 lakh each to the families of the people who committed suicide, as announced by the government; immediate payment of compensation under crop insurance; doubling ration under all fair price shops in the state; temporary sanction of drought pension of Rs 1000 each; creation of work for workers under employment guarantee act continuously up to June 10, calculating the work done as double the work, providing drinking water at work place and protection from heat wave; payment of ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the people hit by heat wave; giving required preventive suggestions to the people to safeguard them from heat wave and providing medical facilities; running government offices from 7 am to 12 noon or 1 pm till June 10, barring  emergency services.

The TRS government, with its whimsical and lop-sided priorities, has been shirking its responsibility by not making allocation of funds for tackling drought situation on war-footing and not even spending the funds sanctioned by the centre. The CM has been concentrating his attention on performing ayuta chandi yagam, sanctioning hundreds of crores of rupees for development of temples like Yadagirigutta, Bhadrachalam, Vemulavada and substantial funds to other temples in the state and Nero-like spending his time at his farm house making repeated trips to it every month and to temples and he has even asked the people to pray for development on the occasion of formation of the state on June 2. It was on the 10th of this month that CM Chandrasekhar Rao, during the meeting on drought situation in the state conducted at New Delhi by prime minister Narendra Modi, has sought an immediate assistance of Rs 1000 crore from the government of India to tackle the severe drought situation in the state. He informed the PM that 22 lakh farmers have been affected by the drought, loss of crop suffered in over 13.75 lakh hectares and that conditions have been very bad in Nizamabad, Medak, Mahabubnagar and Ranga Reddy districts where the rainfall deficit was up to 46 percent against the average deficit of 14 percent in the state.