Gruel centres across Andhra Pradesh feed the starving
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In drought-hit Andhra Pradesh, even tea and tubers are no longer available. The thin gruel doled out at various centres keeps hundreds of starving people going
Mahboobnagar: Eighty per cent of Andhra Pradesh is in the grip of drought. Gruel centres set up all over the state are helping tide over the difficult pre-monsoon months. The gruel is a concoction of ragi (a millet), water and salt.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), which first took the initiative, has been running over 175 centres since March. These are distributed all over the state, though a large number are in the worst-affected districts of Mahboobnagar and Ananthapur. After the CPM started these gruel centres, the CPI, Congress and even the TDP have jumped onto the bandwagon
The gruel centres have made a critical difference, said B V Raghavulu, state secretary, CPM, as many women and children depend on it and others use it as a supplement. "Earlier people used to live off tubers but even that is not there now. We are prepared to continue with this as long as it's needed - it all depends on the rain."
The Opposition and the media have consistently highlighted the irregularities in the government's Food for Work (FFW) programme. This year the state government was forced to continue the mid-day meal programme in schools even during the holidays, Raghavulu said.
A small group called the Citizen's Collective, comprising journalists and academicians, have also decided to set up gruel centres.
The Collective is running three gruel centres, two in Mahboobnagar district and one in Ananthapur district. They raised about Rs 50,000, mainly through friends and well- wishers. It costs Rs 10-12,000 per month to run the centres and the group hopes to keep them going till June 30 and beyond that, if possible.
At Kondapur village in Mahboobnagar district, the gruel centre run by the collective is managed by Sharanamma. Since May 4, by 6 every morning, she has prepared a large aluminium vessel of gruel and soon small children and old people queue up. This is the first time such a centre has been opened here and about 200-300 people benefit from it. Many of the scheduled castes are landless and the young have all migrated to cities, for daily wage labour.
The gruel centre is the focus of much activity every morning. Shamdamma comes clutching an aluminium pail. "My only son has migrated and my husband died many years ago." She gets Rs 50 a month as pension but mostly begs for a living. She said there is no coolie work in the last few years.
"You know we can't even afford tea," she said. "So when we get up in the morning, we have nothing to do. Now at least we wash our faces and come here to drink the gruel."
Even upper-caste villagers like Bal Reddy migrate for work every year for six months, and come back in time for sowing. In his family, there are six members -- they often have a meal of rice, but the curry is tamarind pulp and crushed onions. Most people manage a meal of boiled rice.
M Khaled, CPM Mandal secretary, Deverakadra, said that 30-35% of the population had already migrated and there was not enough rain to fill all the tanks. He added that 30 people have died of starvation in the district since December.
A report of the Farmers Commission of Experts on Agriculture in Andhra Pradesh, sponsored by the Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham, found people in Mahboobnagar suffering from starvation. Agricultural work was difficult to get and declining crop yields, poor irrigation and indebtedness had increased their penury.
In Mehboobnagar district alone, 26 officials were found to have committed various irregularities in the Food For Work programme and nine were suspended, according to the state government website. One of them issued rice in favour of sarpanches instead of fair price shop dealers. Overall in the state, in 22 districts, 457 officials have been charged with various irregularities and 160 suspended.
InfoChange News & Features, June 2003