Farmers caught in TRS-BJP crossfire

The recent decision of the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the country's principal procurement agency, to stop the receipt of the Custom Milling Rice (CMR) from the millers who supply on behalf of the Telangana state government has a very grave concern in terms of ensuring food security to the nation in general and the people of Telangana in particular. Indeed, it's the state government that has to carry the burden of this blame as the FCI alleges that the state has not supplied the free ration allotted to it under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) for two months and thus deprived the eligible beneficiaries of their rightful claim of access to food.

Unfortunately, in recent times the Telangana State has been topping the headlines for infamous reasons starting from paddy procurement to the cancellation of approximately 19 lakh ration cards, where the Hon'ble Supreme Court had reprimanded and ordered for reconsideration of the decision. The peculiar connection that links all these developments is that they are all linked with two fundamental aspects of our existence: the farmers and the food.

On paddy procurement, the state waged a futile attack on the Center that left millions of farmers in a quandary. The issue of paddy procurement had been twisted and interpreted in all possible ways to depict the Center as the villain in the whole episode. The Chief Minister himself staged a protest in the country's capital on a self-stated mission of exposing the anti-farmer policies of the center. However, the Center stood straight and strong and defended its version successfully explaining that they are not against the paddy procurement but are only refusing to procure boiled rice from Telangana and other states with prior intimation as its demand had gone down in recent times. The sad part is that many aspirational farmers who had been accustomed to cultivating paddy in the state could not go for it and many others who cultivated had to resort to distress sale. Both are attributable to the sluggish nature of the State in making the farming community aware and alert of their objectives.

In the cancellation of ration cards, the state had deprived the beneficiaries of their access to food, a statutory right as per the constitution, and the worrisome fact is that the en masse cancellation had been done without any prior notice to the card holders which is an act of extreme cruelty. In contrast, in the recent issue of non-supply of free ration which was being supplied by the Center, it has denied them the availability of the same on the pretext of some technical glitches in the distribution chain.

In a further disturbing development, the state which has gained the reputation of becoming the Food Bowl of India has stood at 15th position of 17 large states in the Food Safety Index -2022.

Despite being the youngest state, Telangana is progressing at a faster pace on various fronts, and the support of the central government in this remarkable journey is equally important.

The state that launched some novel initiatives like the Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima alongside a free 24x7 hours electricity supply to agriculture shall discard the mala fide intentions, if any, in safeguarding the interests of all those directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture as agriculture is the common culture of India. No matter how prudent and self-reliant a state may be on fiscal terms, the support of the Center is inevitable in a federal setup like ours. Politicking is relatively easier than governing. Instead of indulging in politics for politics' sake, it would do great good to the people when politics are taken up with a purpose.

Satish Reddy Kanaganti,

Tipparthy (Nalgonda)