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The rice scam that
came afore, in mid-August, ripped off Chandrababu Naidu’s schemes galore. Naidu,
using his clout at the centre, took advantage of getting allotments of the
lion’s share of free rice that was meant for the drought-affected people under
the Food For Work programmes.
This year the drought
was quite severe in AP. 840 out of the 1,125 mandals were affected by drought.
The scanty rains reduced the sown area to 4 lakhs hectares out of 30 lakhs
hectares, which is usually sown in kharif seasons. There was an 85 percent
reduction in rice crops. With government supported credit facilities dwindling
to its lowest ebb, under the World Bank dictated policies, the peasantry had to
turn to private moneylenders. In the backdrop of drought, the peasantry under a
severe debt trap have been increasingly committing suicides. Two thirds of one
and half crore agricultural labourers have been the worst sufferers. There has
been big migration of rural labour in search of work.
Utilising the drought
conditions, the World Bank’s lap dog, got 15 lakhs tonnes allotted – 87% of free
rice to be distributed to all 12 drought hit districts — worth Rs.3,500 crores.
Naidu’s appetite for rice assumed gigantic proportions. In less severe
conditions, the AP government got (from January 2001 to March 2002) 16 lakhs
tonnes under Food For Work (FFW) programme out of a total of 25 lakhs tonnes
that were given to all states. In addition to that there were special
allocations meant to be distributed under the PDS scheme.
The Loot
The free rice that is
supposed to be allotted to agricultural labourers (for a manday: 10kgs rice) had
an escape route. The unscrupulous contractors, with the active connivance of
government officials and TDP functionaries, distribute the rice on paper. The
contractors sold the same rice to rice millers or to the FCI. The state
government was forced to admit that 10 – 15% of the total Rs.3,500 crores rice
was not distributed, whereas the fact would be that only 10 – 15% would have
been distributed under the FFW prgoramme, the rest is shared by contractors,
rice millers, government officials, TDP functionaries — small and big. The scam,
is a just an example, to show how Naidu’s schemes are functioning. This is how
Naidu wants to build Swarnandhrapradesh (Golden Andhra Pradesh)! Among
the 754 indicted, are 192 TDP functionaries, including a husband of a TDP MLA.
Of course bigger fish always escape the net!
Meanwhile the
People’s Guerrilla Army (PGA) of the CPI(ML) (PW) raided two different premises
in Guntur district and seized 1,500 bags of rice to be distributed to the
drought prone people in the area. Though police claimed recovery of some bags to
save face, the PGA actions were timely to highlight the tainted FFW programme.
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