In keeping with the tradition of dynastic succession, when Rajiv took over the reins, there was a whiff of fresh air and he genuinely tried to distance himself from the cliché and rhetoric-ridden politics. The credit goes to him for visualizing the importance of IT and youth power nearly two decades ago. Then, the turn of VP Singh came and prompted by his survival instinct, he ‘mandalised the society’ and thus brought in a paradigm shift in Indian politics. Caste system, instead of getting obliterated, got entrenched and the damage Mr Singh did to Indian political system and to the society, appears to be irreversible. Padayatri Chandrasekar was in for too short a period to do anything.

It was left to P V Narasimha Rao to completely reverse the trend. Economic reforms, considered to be a blasphemous idea and anti-poor till then, were silently introduced leading to spectacular results. He is another visionary who said that governments may come and go, but reforms are irreversible. How true! He was perhaps the first Prime Minister who cared a damn for vote bank politics though he mastered the art of survival in power. But without a mass base for himself and the party also in a shambles, he had to bow out after five years.

After the Left-sponsored regimes of two worthies which do not merit a mention created a congenial atmosphere for the right wing Bharatiya Janata Party to ascend the throne, the Indian polity took another sharp turn. Reforms roared, markets soared, middle class laughed, industry and business were on cloud nine. But when the chips were down and the party wanted to play an encore, people said “:No”. An emphatic no. But they also did not say “Yes” to the Congress combine. Anyway, the Congress imagined that nothing much was done for the villagers, i.e. farmers and it is their ire which pulped the outgoing regime. The result is the Congress has thought it fit to reacquire its old and tried image of pro-farmer or pro-poor whatever you my call, and so all the roads in India whether it is expressways or highways,are now leading to villages. Politicians, bureaucrats ,bank officials, mediamen are mostly found in villages now. Urbanites may think ‘why not a reverse migration for a change to grab the attention of the ruling class!

The Andhra Pradesh chief minister, Y S Rajasekhar Reddy has decided to spare two days in a week – Sundays and Wednesdays – to visit villages with a brand name “Rajiv Palle Bata” to understand the problems of the villagers and to solve them on the spot, wherever possible. He has also roped in the Prime Minister to visit a few AP villages along with him in July. Free power supply to the farmers was the first file he signed after he was sworn in. His followers do not garland him these days, but give him bank drafts towards free power supply. Not to be left behind, banks are offering increased credit flow for the farming community. NABARD and the regional rural banks agreed to increase credit for agriculture by 40 percent to provide necessary relief to the distressed farmers. The Chairman of the 12th Finance Commission, C Rangarajan, a most pragmatic economist, also joined the chorus and said that the Commission is planning a debt relief scheme to help the farming community.

Electronic media,adept in only sensationalizing issues which concern minorities or Gujrat,did not have time, I mean airtime, to take note of ‘trivial issues’ like farmers suicides. Now even the media has woken up, and most of the so-called national news channels started devoting considerable time for ‘village voice’. Print media has started belated investigations as to why farmers were and are committing suicides. A journlist, who specializes on rural socio-political issues,with many national awards to his credit, has started writing as if the suicides were resorted to only during the previous regime lasting for six years and that what is happening during the present regime is only a fall-out of the utter neglect of the countryside by the earlier ruler. No doubt, he is partly right. The suicides of 100 plus during the last month cannot certainly be attributed to YSR or his policies. He is inheriting a legacy. But to say that suicides took place because the earlier chief minister was busy visiting Davos or hosting Bill Gates or Clinton or pampering the urban middle class may not be correct. Andhra Pradesh is not the only state where farmers are distressed. Neighboring Karnataka, Maharashtra and distant Haryana are no exceptions. May be, S M Krishna can be clubbed with Naidu for competitive concentration on IT, reforms, foreign investments and love for urban middle class. Let us not gloss over the fact that the urban middle class also turned their back on these two ex-chief ministers.

Suicide is not a new phenomenon which can be linked to reforms. The frustration and the resultant distress of farmers was due to our faulty farm policies and a negative fallout of green revolution. Suicides were first reported way back in late eighties, when the cotton farmers in Warangal disrict of AP, in their greed to go in for cash crops switched over to cotton expecting huge profits. They resorted to excessive usage of pesticides borrowing left ,right and center from the private money lenders. That was the beginning of the sad and distressing saga of suicides. Free power and heavily subsidized fertilizers, availability of loans for borewells and pumpsets made the farmers lazy and to completely abandon organic farming. Ponds have disappeared, wells were filled up, cattles are vanishing in the countryside. Just press a button, there is water, never mind, the water table might have receded to 1000 metres. When free power is assured by YSR, it is not that they are happy. There is a cynical reaction among the farmers of Telengana that hitherto they were getting power for atleast six hours/day, when they were paying for it. When it is free, power supply might not be there even for two hours/day.

Forget the sentiments, cynicism, rhetoric and inspired reaction. What the professionals have got to say. Prof MS Swaminathan, Head of the National Commission on Farmers and the father of Green Revolution says in an interview to a national daily: “The policy of appeasement like free electricity to farmers is adding to the problem. This policy will be detrimental to our future generations. It is just not sustainable. Of course, some subsidy may be needed – like in the dry farming areas of Rajasthan where farmers are not able to pay for electricity. So there is a difference between trade-distorting subsidy, or ecology-distorting subsidy and life-supporting subsidy. What we need is life-supporting subsidy. This could be in the form of insurance – both for the farmer as well as for his crops…” Prof Swaminathan is also not happy about the usage of pesticides. He says “We still use pesticides that have long-term residual toxicity. This is affecting our food chain…”

When such a warning is coming from no less an authority on agriculture as Prof Swaminathan, should not a politician like YSR listen? No. Even when the World Bank chief said that the bank would stop all loans to the state, YSR did not budge. He sincerely believes that it is the distressed farmers of the state who were completely neglected by the previous administration, brought him to power and he must repay his debt by imposing a moratorium on rural debts (pun unintended) and ensuring free power. Let the ecology, environment and state economy go to dogs.

But, in reality who benefits from free power. According to a World Bank study it is the large farmers who benefit the most when compared with the small farmers, who are prone to suicides, and landless labourers are the most deprived lot. A communist crony remarked “Who is this World Bank. Why are they interfering in our affairs and policy framework.” He does not understand that someone who gives you money will definitely dictate his own terms. If you don’t like it, don’t take. It is as simple as that.

Besides damaging the economy through short-sighted and unsustainable agricultural policies just to appease a large and substantial section of vote bank the government is also triggering an ecological disaster. When Prof Swaminathan says that free electricity will be detrimental to our future generations what he probably foresees is the damage to ecology and environment. The irony is that while the entire world has developed a fancy for organic farming, we are going just in the opposite direction.