BAGEPALLI has the distinction of having elected a CPI(M) candidate as its MLA thrice (1983, 1994, and 2004) or giving a second place in all other elections since 1985. It therefore, has a special place in the Party's electoral campaigns in Karnataka. CPI(M)’s representatives have utilised their position in the past to obtain special grants and development projects. However, successive governments in the last one and half decades have neglected the people of this backward area, which suffers from an abject lack of access to basic amenities for its people.

The Party’s state research team conducted a study in Bagepalli to get an in-depth view of the constituency and to identify the key issues faced by the people, even before the election campaign began in a full-fledged manner. This study was carried out during the second half of last year and involved gathering information from available secondary data sources at the village level, as well as detailed discussions with various groups of households. In this note, we present the methods and key findings of the study.

Bagepalli is located in the southeastern region of Karnataka, in the district of Chikkaballapura, just 100 km away from the city of Bengaluru. The constituency comprises three taluks, namely Bagepalli, Gudibanda, and Chelur (which was formed recently), and shares its borders with Andhra Pradesh. The region is prone to drought and has a semi-arid climate with low rainfall.

As per the 2011 Census, over 80 per cent of the population of Bagepalli resided in rural areas, spread across 297 villages. In terms of social groups, the Scheduled Castes (SC) accounted for 26 per cent, Scheduled Tribes (ST) accounted for 17 per cent, and Muslims accounted for 9 per cent of the population of the constituency. Taken together, these three marginalised communities constitute more than half of the population.

Our method of study comprised two components. Firstly, we analysed comprehensively the latest information from publicly available data sources, such as the village-wise data from the ministry of rural development, government of India, and the district-level administrative reports. Secondly, with the assistance of the local Party leadership and based on a preliminary visit to selected villages, we conducted detailed discussions in five villages, which comprised seven representative groups from the constituency.

We were able to reach out to various communities, including Scheduled Caste households in remote villages, households with a significant number of migrant workers, Muslim households engaged in non-agricultural self-employment, landless workers, poor peasants, medium farmer households, and landlord households. Our interactions with these groups encompassed topics related to agriculture, employment, education, health, government schemes, and general amenities.

LACK OF CONNECTIVITY AND RAMPANT CORRUPTION

What did we find from our study? Firstly, the most striking observation was the general lack of public transport facilities connecting villages and towns. The absence of public transport prevents the population, particularly those in remote villages, from accessing several basic necessities. Our data analysis revealed that approximately two-thirds of all villages in the constituency, which comprised 45 per cent of the population, did not have any bus transport.

The Bangalore-Hyderabad Highway passes through the constituency. However, regular commuting for work was not a viable option due to the weak bus links from villages to major urban centres. This situation was unlike the scenario in villages between Mysuru and Bengaluru, where we see a thriving workforce, although informal in nature, commuting to the cities for daily non-farm work.

Secondly, our interactions highlighted several cases of corruption at different levels, including in aspects like health, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), crop insurance, and housing schemes. These cases were particularly noticeable in villages with a high proportion of marginalised sections. In one of the villages, participants alleged that they had to pay two-thirds of their MGNREGS wages to the supervisor after withdrawing it from the bank. Another respondent reported an incident of paying bribes in a government hospital. Some villagers reported cases of officials demanding bribes for allotment in housing schemes.

INADEQUATE SUPPORT

Thirdly, our discussions revealed that agriculture provided very low incomes to the households and the limited non-agricultural sources of employment did not provide enough to compensate for this. Crop cultivation, such as groundnut, maize, ragi, and to a limited extent tomato, was largely confined to one season, except for a few households with access to tube wells who cultivate two seasons in a year. Our interactions pointed to a mix of factors contributing to low incomes, including increased input costs and price fluctuations.

The official data from the MGNREGS, a major non-agricultural source of employment and known to provide some relief to rural households across India, showed that a household in the constituency received on average 32-39 days of work in 2022-23. However, our discussions with participants revealed that most villages have not seen MGNREGS work being carried out in the past two-three years.

Fourthly, the educational and health infrastructure in the constituency is very poor. Access to higher education is a pressing issue as the nearest degree college is more than 10 km away for 71 per cent of all villages in the constituency. Our interactions with the locals clearly revealed their aspirations for better functioning and more accessible public educational and health facilities.

Finally, our study found that the level of government support was persistently inadequate, as noted earlier. Our data analysis showed that 16 per cent of all households still live in kuccha houses, and there is a substantial number of houseless households. While the data shows that the constituency receives some support under existing housing schemes, it also indicates a large unmet need. The only exception was access to PM-KISAN, which had generally covered all landowning cultivators, although it excluded landless cultivators by design.

The socio-economic condition of Bagepalli belies the claimed success of the "double-engine government." This constituency, with a high share of dalits, adivasis, and Muslims, has seen an abysmal performance of welfare programmes like the MGNREGS and is lacking in general infrastructure. Our study shows that Bagepalli, despite its proximity to Bengaluru, has been ignored by successive governments, and this condition needs to be reversed for its overall progress.