As a major agrarian crisis stares at Telangana, the ruling TRS and opposition BJP are involved in a blame game rather than helping the farmer. Interestingly, the problem is on account of bountiful production as there are better irrigation facilities for the farmers now than in the past.
Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao argues that the Centre has abdicated its responsibility of procuring all the raw rice produced in the state during kharif. On top of this, he faults the Centre for saying that it would not take rabi paddy in future on the grounds that it yields parboiled rice, which has no demand. But Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy, who represents Telangana in the Union Cabinet, denies that the Centre had said it would not buy all the kharif paddy and asserts that it would procure all the raw rice for which it signs an MoU every year.
For the 2021-22 kharif, the state had signed an MoU for 40 lakh tonnes in August but in October, the state had inflated the figure to 108 lakh tonnes, which he says is very unrealistic. The state now has the unenviable task of asking farmers to switch to other crops in the rabi season beginning in December, which is sure to result in a political backlash. If it does not, it would lead to a bigger problem as the farmers would be saddled with rabi rice, which would have no takers. Either way, the TRS government would be in the soup. That is probably why KCR is deftly turning the anger of farmers towards the Centre as he knows paddy is a powder keg that can go off at any time.
There is no gain from pointing fingers. It is time now for both the Centre and the state to come together and find a solution to the problem in the changed demand-supply scenario. As the Centre has advised, the state could help rice millers modernise their equipment to convert rabi paddy into raw rice or ask the farmers to go in for alternative crops in rabi or do both. In their anxiety to escape the wrath of the farmers, both the TRS and the BJP seem more interested in blaming each other, conveniently overlooking their immediate responsibility of saving the cultivators from the impending calamity.