To make matters worse, when 4,500 of these workers went on strike for 13 days from November 27 to December 14, the administration refused to recognise them as their employees and chided them for creating a nuisance. Adding insult to injury, they were forcefully evicted from the strike spot on December 10, international Human Rights Day, on the eve of the TTD board meeting on December 11.
https://thewire.in/labour/workers-at-tirumala-tirupati-devasthanam-allege-underpayment-mistreatment
The situation was not much better before the pandemic. In 2019, the average household debt of farmers in Andhra Pradesh – Rs. 2.45 lakhs – was the highest in the country. The recently released Situation Assessment of Agricultural Households and Land and Livestock Holdings of Households in Rural India, 2019 notes that 93 per cent of agricultural households in the state were in debt that year.
https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/chittoors-tomato-farmers-at-a-thin-red-line/
The entry of corporates as the buyers of farm produce, in this case mangoes, overtaking the traditional mandi system, doesn’t seem to have benefitted the mango farmers in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. Claims to the contrary should be taken with a pinch of salt, says Mr Kumar Reddy, of the AIKS.
https://www.theindiaforum.in/letters/corporate-entry-no-help-mango-farmers-chittoor-andhra-pradesh?
“Organic farming also needs scientific approach. There is no mechanism for recognition, certification of products grown by sustainable agri practices. There is no focus from the government on offering support. If that was the case, APCNF would have been implemented through the RBKs (Rythu Bharosa Kendras),” Ramanjaneyulu said.
Explaining the dangers posed by sharing the farmers’ data, Vissa of
the AIKSCC said, “The Goods and Services Tax office will not share data
on the price that the trader sold the produce for after buying it from
the farmer. Nor does the income tax department share data on whether the
trader has incurred any expenses beyond his means which could lead to
the farmer’s payment being delayed. All of this is the private data of
individuals and firms which must remain private in a market where one
cannot be put at a disadvantage compared to others.”
https://thewire.in/agriculture/india-farmers-agristack-concerns-technology-agriculture
Low sugar prices benefit companies producing packaged food and
beverages, says Mangati Gopal Reddy, the state president of Federation
of Farmers Associations. “The prices serve the interest of the large
companies.” Companies producing soft drinks and confectionery have grown
in the last three decades in the country and changed the pattern of
sugar consumption. These bulk consumers use 65 per cent of the sugar
produced, states ISMA’s report to the taskforce.
https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/farmers-need-money-to-run-their-farms/
Allocations to education in the state have been falling since 2015-16 as a percentage of the budget. This does not augur well for Andhra Pradesh, which has a literacy (66.4%) lower than that of Bihar (70.9 percent) as per the National Sample Survey 2017-18.
The presence of a good number of Telugu techies in the IT industry, many of whom are from the state, tends to cloud this harsh reality.
https://thewire.in/government/andhra-pradesh-education-budget-government-walk-the-talk
In a pandemic year of 2020 when livelihoods have been
destroyed, the YSRCP’s strategy of giving cash handouts seems to have
worked well for it.
The YSRCP government, however, faced flak for giving the miss to long term benefits, and opting for immediate gains in all sectors
including education. In this milieu, the anti-incumbency factor needed
for people to vote against the ruling party became difficult to secure
for the opposition.
The state of Telangana has 2.5 lakh teachers who eke out their living teaching in the nearly 15,000 schools. Most teachers say they have been left to fend for themselves and have had to resort to selling vegetables and take up manual labour as schools have been closed and many of their salaries unpaid.
https://thewire.in/education/telangana-budget-2021-education-trs-teacher-covid-digital-education
Every village resident Down To Earth spoke to could remember his or her MGNREGA job card number. “The village can become self-reliant if our water woes are completely resolved,” says Narayana Reddy. He suggests digging trenches along the contours of a nearby hill range that overlooks Bandlapalli and holds a reserve forest. They can store water for long and effectively recharge the groundwater. “But we would need the Centre’s permission for this,” he adds.
In India, the practice of valuing assets – a key component of the financial system that also stretches to many casual circumstances – is a sprawling field, where many professionals take up work as a form of secondary employment.
While the industry currently has no centralised institutional and regulatory framework, professional associations have carried out self-regulation.
https://thewire.in/business/india-asset-valuation-professionals-wary-new-proposed-rules
Senior doctors could be seen goading and persuading their colleagues, citing the lack of any adverse reactions among the staff who took the vaccine shot. Some of the staff unwilling to take the jab refused to be quoted. “As of today, the district has received 41,500 vials. All doctors will be covered in a week,” M Penchaliah, district medical and health officer, Chittoor, said.
