Kiran Kumar Reddy's 'power' crisis

In popular perception Andhra Pradesh is an agrarian state with more than half of its population directly or indirectly depending primarily upon agriculture for its livelihood. That image is getting dented badly with every passing day.

Ironically, the Congress rode to power in AP under the stewardship of the  late Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy  in 2004 and 2009 on his promise  of providing free power to farmers for at least 7 hours. All through the five eventful years of his reign YSR stuck to his commitment and ushered in the Congress for another term in 2009. This time he said, his government was committed to  supply free power to farmers for 9 hours. Unfortunately for the farmers of Andhra Pradesh, the tragic demise of the former Chief Minister turned their farming activity into a sad tale of unending misery.
Andhra Pradesh is now among the worst affected states in the agriculture sector and if one were to go by statistics, more than half of its population has already shifted to other sectors. It is a sad commentary on the state of affairs that farmers no longer find agriculture lucrative in what used to be termed as the rice-bowl of the nation.

 With the government reverting to steep power cuts, the state of agriculture  is anything but encouraging and  understandably, the worst-hit are the daily wage earners.

An ominous sign of the times to come is the fact that nearly 20 lakh daily wage earners across the state have lost their jobs so far.  If the situation continues, another five lakh people are likely to be laid off. The chances of some regular workers losing their jobs too are not ruled out.

On the other side, the loss for industries is stupendous. To cite just one example, in some districts spinning mills are losing as much as 100 crores per month due to the power shortage that has gripped the state. Industrialists fear the  impact this is likely to have fallout of this on labour relations.

Evidently, the Kiran Kumar Reddy government didn't see the crisis coming. Reddy, who also holds the power portfolio, has botched up the energy scene due to utter lack of foresight and planning leading to a severe crisis affecting all sectors.
The state congress party had promised nine hours of uninterrupted power supply to farmers in the 2009 polls. That has long been forgotten by the government.
The agriculture sector now gets only three to four hours of power which is barely sufficient for their needs. To add to the woes of farmers, the CM also announced a three-hour power holiday recently.
No wonder then, that the farmers are taking to the streets in many places. They are staging dharnas and rasta rokos across the state, vexed with the continuing power shortages.
The farmers are now waiting for an opportunity to strike at the congress and the 2014 elections may well provide just that. We might well see a Congress which had come to power on the strength of free power to farmers, being shown the door by the farming community less than two years from now when elections are likely to be held!

-Siva@sakshipost