Despair and Determination in Anantapur
We
had thought it would be a depressing, even emotionally draining visit.
After all, Anantapur is one of the poorest and most backward districts
not just in Andhra Pradesh but in all of South India. It has also been
one of the areas experiencing the highest number of farmers' suicides
in recent years. And we were visiting as part of the Commission on Farmers'
Welfare, specifically to investigate the causes of agrarian distress
and consider possible measures to change the situation for the better.
The
extensive crisis in rural Andhra Pradesh is now well known, and has
also been documented by some sensitive journalists and local activists
in the state. The new state government also recognises the seriousness
and urgency of the problem, which is why it is actively considering
policies that will not only reverse the damage done in the previous
period, but would actually put agriculture on a sustainable footing
in the medium term. But the problems are not only immense but complex
and varied, given the diversity of the state itself.
There is no doubt that the situation is especially dire in this particular
district. Anantapur is the largest district in Andhra Pradesh, but has
relatively sparse population and falls among the lowest per capita incomes
of all districts. The average rainfall of 521 mm per year is the lowest
in the state, and compares with the state average of 925 mm. The shallow
red soils that cover most of the area in the district have low moisture
retention capacity in any case. Despite these adverse conditions, Anantapur
is dominated by rain-fed agriculture, with only 18 per cent of the cultivated
area covered by any sort of irrigation.
In the last few years the rainfall has been even more sparse and erratic,
creating a context of continuous drought. The duration of the monsoon
has become shorter and it tends to occur later and behave more erratically
in distribution. So rainfed crops have been failing continuously for
many years now, driving farmers to search desperately for groundwater,
by digging bore wells whose failure rate has also increased dramatically
as the water table falls.
But nature has been responsible for only a few of the problems facing
Anantapur farmers. As in other parts of the state, the deterioration
and even destruction of public institutions, and the strategy of pushing
farmers to face the vagaries of market forces, were very much part of
state government policy over the previous decade. These have been critical
in increasing material insecurity and allowing for not just the persistence
of poverty but the actual worsening of some basic economic conditions.
Governmental negligence - which is evident - is only one cause. The
policy of shifting to cash crops with increasingly uncertain markets
has clearly been another cause. Until fairly recently, the district
was certainly poor, but experienced less starvation and fewer individual
economic catastrophes, because the ragi and barley that could be cultivated
in these tough conditions allowed for at least minimum survival among
the farming community.
But the shift to groundnut over the past decade - actively abetted by
state incentives - has forced farmers to much greater market dependence.
They have to buy more inputs (many of which are spurious because of
the inadequate regulation of private suppliers and traders) and then
have to sell the crop even to ensure their own food consumption. Even
when harvest failures have reduced the volumes of output drastically,
output prices have not been remunerative.
Not surprisingly, more and more farmers, even those who were earlier
relatively well-to-do, have fallen into debt. And more of that debt
has been from private sources, as public institutional credit for cultivation
has been reduced as a consequence of financial liberalisation measures.
Among the people we spoke to, health expenses were probably just as
significant in pushing families into the debt trap. The deterioration
of public health services and the promotion of private medical care
have dramatically increased the financial costs of sheer physical survival
and well-being, even among the relatively poor.
Migration has been one traditional response to the lack of local income
opportunities, but the possibilities even for this have been shrinking,
as the entire region around the district has been economically battered.
Meanwhile, unemployment and the sheer difficulty of daily life have
spawned patterns of frustration and violence among the youth. Suicide
deaths in Anantapur, even as they continue, are now outnumbered by deaths
resulting from gang wars and factional killings, adding yet another
harsh element to the complex tribulations of the area.
Given all this, it was probably only normal for us to expect to be further
depressed by the reality that we would face in Anantapur. And yet, our
interactions there also convinced us of the remarkable resilience and
tenacity of the human spirit. This is now one of the most difficult
geographical terrains in the world for viable cultivation, and the people
here face economic difficulties and uncertainties that are unmatched
even in other parts of rural India. Those who survive here have to be
tough and necessarily resistant to disaster, and it is an indication
of just how bad things have become that even some such people have been
driven to the ultimate despair of suicide.
But still, there was a lot of determination and continued hope writ
large in the faces around us. Huge expectations have been generated
by the new state government - expectations that will be difficult to
meet, but which still indicate the capacity of people to commit themselves
to trying for a better future in the face of all obstacles.
In the villages as well as in one of the mandal headquarters, ordinary
people were remarkably vocal and articulate, even the poorest people,
and especially the women. They could very clearly identify the problems,
and trace the links with official policy, much better than any of us;
they did not hesitate to assign blame even when the accused was a local
authority who was present; they had many suggestions to improve matters,
which were plausible and often imaginative. The old type of feudalism
which expressed itself even in social relations and in the lack of voice
of the poor in public spaces, seems to have been much weakened, and
there is also greater recognition of the need for a positive role played
by government.
Certainly, some of the initial measures give indications that the new
government will try to alleviate at least some of these problems. The
relief package for families of farmers who have committed suicide has
been sensitively worked out and appears to be implemented with some
sincerity at least in this district (although, surprisingly, there is
no provision for compensation for the family of a woman farmer who commits
suicide). The district administration appears to be energetic and positively
oriented. The state government has also declared its intention to bring
more canal irrigation to this district, although that it is a far more
complex issue.
In any case, addressing the problems of agricultural development in
an area like Anantapur is a hugely challenging task, since it is necessary
to consider the issues of sustainability and continued viability of
farming and also the related question of developing non-agricultural
income opportunities. The good news is that the people of Anantapur
appear to be determined not only to survive, but to seize any opportunities
for positive change that may come their way.