May 17, 1952 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY importance is employment for the Famine Threatens Rayalaseema agricultural classes, particularly land­ (By a Special Correspondent) less labourers, whose resources have been completely exhausted on ac­ HE threat of famine in Rayala- with the exception of the Cuddapah- count of the absence of normal agri­ T seema has attracted country­ canal, the Kambam tank in cultural operations for the last three wide attention though near famine Kurnool, and the Tungabhadra chan­ years. The third is the problem of conditions are endemic to this area. nels in Bellary. The utilisation of preventing the outbreak of epide­ If the cry of distress has at last at­ the Tungabhadra waters to relieve the mics and diseases, incidental to pro­ tracted attention' it is because a con­ irrigational and drinking water pro­ longed malnutrition, undernourish­ tinuous drought for five years has pro- blems of the area will be practicable ment and the heat of summer and has produced its deadly effects on a only when the Tungabhadra project providing medical relief to the suf­ population whose economic resources is completed and the canals distri­ fering. and physical stamina have been pro­ buting .its waters begin to function. There are other irrigation projects gressively undermined by it. All the Construction and repair of roads tanks and most of the wells, which under examination to utilise the Pen­ and repair of tanks and bunds have arc the principal sources of water sup­ nar and the Krishna waters for the been the traditional methods of miti­ ply to the people, have completely benefit of the area, but none has been gating unemployment and ensuring dried up. Widespread stoppage of taken on hand, let alone being in necessary purchasing power of the all agricultural operations, scarcity of actual operation. As matters stand, poor labourer. According to the food, high prices of foodgrains, and in Rayalaseema at least, agriculture is latest figures supplied by Shri C. Raja- extensive unemployment among the a gamble in rain. gopalachariar, Chief Minister, about landless agricultural workers, who con­ a lakh of persons on the average are stitute the overwhelming bulk of the The local government and its offi­ being employed in famine works. population—all these physical mani­ cials must take the blame for their This does not, of course, exhaust the festations of famine conditions are inexcusable failure to appreciate the number of those who are without present. consequences of the drought during work but. cannot get it and for whom the preceding two years and for tak­ employment has to be found. The The susceptibility of Rayalaseema ing no heed of the warning provided number of such forced unemployed is to famine is not unknown to the by the failure of monsoon for four variously estimated at about half a authorities, and it is not as if the years. If at the first warning of the million. The problem of feeding the present calamity has come suddenly oncoming crisis, a properly planned destitute and extending gratuitous and taken the authorities or the pub­ scheme had been taken on hand for relief to the disabled and the children lic unawares, On the contrary, that deepening wells, repairing minor ir­ is a complex and costly procedure. Rayalaseema is the epicentre of the rigation works and constructing catch­ famine belt of the has ment basins for the mountain 950 centres have been opened in the long been recognised and there has streams, and other measures essential famine area at which nearly two lakh never been any dispute about it. In for mitigating the effects of drought, persons are being fed on standard a monograph Rural Problems in Mad- the worst could have been averted. gruel. Besides Government gruel ras published by and under the im­ Nor would the crisis be so overwhelm­ centres, there are a few relief centres primatur of the Madras Government ing in its incidence, if a systematic run by private agencies whose number a few years ago, it was admitted, for programme of road construction and is unascertamable, where food is dis­ instance, that " the most insecure dis­ of other emergency public works tributed, milk powder is supplied for tricts (from the point of view of liabi­ schemes had been kept ready for children and so on. Even at the in- lity to famine) are those known as implementation, and put into opera­ credibly low cost of supplying the the Deccan districts, comprising of tion as soon as the need for them be­ gruel, which works out at one anna Kurnool, Bellary, Cuddapah and came apparent. Had proper measures per head per day, expenditure on this , which have frequently been taken in time, food production item of relief alone amounts to suffered from famine during the last would not have been so poor, the eco­ Rs 14,000 per day; nevertheless, even one hundred years" To these must nomic conditions of the smaller ryots under the Famine Code, financial be added the , adja­ and landless labourers would not have considerations are inapplicable when cent to Madras, and forming for all become so deplorable as they are now the desideratum is prevention of star­ practical purposes an integral part of and the word '' famine" would not vation. In the case of a number of Rayalaseema. have been writ large on the face of persons, the gruel supplied at the Rayalaseema. feeding centres is a supplementary The four districts mentioned cover ration, adding to the food which can a total area of 27,500 sq. miles with Once the official machinery was be procured at the fair price food- a population of about five millions, lugged into motion by the demands grain shops. On the other hand, the vast majority of whom depend made upon it by the gathering from the standpoint of the people in solely on agriculture for their liveli­ volume of distress, relief measures distress, the price of rice, millets and hood. The average annual rainfall in have gone forward; but even so, it ragi at these shoos is prohibitive, and the region is 25 inches, but it is only is evident that they are not moving a proposal to sell millets, the staple once in five years that Rayalaseema at the pace they should. Red tape foodgrain of the rural population, at has an abundant monsoon instead of takes its toll and relief is distributed subsidised rates, is still under exami­ its being spread out evenly over the in terms of the provisions of the nation by the-Government. period, while in four years out of five, Famine Code which, while " protect­ the rainfall is so precarious that cul- ing the people from starvation in The Army has been pressed into tivation is extremely difficult. The times of distress " does not impose service for deepening wells and reliev­ area is drained by the Krishna and the much further obligations on the State. ing water scarcity. Under the super­ Pennar rivers and their tributaries, Outstanding among the essential needs vision of Lt.-Col Talwar and Lt.-Col but there are practically no irrigation of the affected area is recognised to be Mullenox, Army Engineers, the Army works in the area worth the name, provision of drinking water. Next in has been engaged in the- stupendous 503 May 17, 1952 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY and urgent task of fighting the famine price shops are well-stocked with Rayalaseema Relief Committee of on the water front both by deepening grains while more repair and con­ the Congress has existing wells where they had gone struction work is undertaken which collected about Rs 2 lakhs, while the dry and by utilising Army trucks and would provide employment to the '' Express " group of papers fund has water curriers to distribute drinking able-bodied, the pressure on State re­ swelled to about Rs 2 lakhs. Be­ water to the villagers in the interior, sources and public charity will re­ sides, there has been a liberal flow where its scarcity is most acute. The main undiminished. The long-range of private charity from the surplus extreme scarcity of water in this area social effects of gratuitous relief will northern Cirears districts and some renders the services of the Army doub­ also be highly deleterious. districts in the South in the shape of ly welcome The speed at which the grain and clothes and, what is equally well-digging is going on may not be The part played by private and important, food for the cattle. The as rapid as one would wish, but the philanthropic organisatinos in provid­ cattle have been as unfortunate and Army is proceeding according to a ing relief, however, deserves every helpless victims of the water and prescribed programme, beginning commendation. The State is con­ fodder famine in Rayalaseema as with Cuddapah district and extend­ cerning itself mainly with providing men, and feeding and keeping them ing its operations to Kurnool and grants for well-digging and land im­ alive through the current distress then to Anantapur districts, and re­ provement and in making subsistence period is a vital need for the agricul­ sults cannot be striking when, as has grants to enable the smaller ryots and tural economy of the area. Among been found by experience, some the middle class families to get the organisations rendering notable wells had to be deepened up to 60 through the crisis that confronts service by managing gruel centres, dis­ feet or more, before water is struck. them. While the brunt of the tributing cloth and organising other It is good to know, however, that burden of providing relief is being kinds of relief, mention must be consideration of cost is not allowed borne by the State Government, to made of the Ramakrishna Mission. to deter efforts in this direction. whom the cost cannot matter so long The climax reached by the drought Movement of foodgrains into the as distress persists, the Government in Rayalaseema this year has brought affected areas is also not as expedi­ of India have have made available a to the fore the long-neglected pro­ tious as it should be or could be; sum of Rs 2.48 crores for subsistence blem of erecting permanent barricades but in any case, unless the problems loans and financing of gruel centres. against the incursions of famine of high prices and absence of pur- Other sources for relief operations from time to time. Rayalaseema chasing power in the hands of the arc the Prime Minister's Relief Fund, teaches the terrible lesson, which is vast majority of the working popu­ from which a grant of Rs 3.75 lakhs being learnt at the cost of much lation are resolved by dispatching has so far been made, and the Gov avoidable suffering, that in dealing larger quantities of millets and ragi ernor's Relief Fund, contributions to with economically backward areas to the affected areas and the fair which total Rs 2½ lakhs now. The like it, mere palliatives are useless.

504 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY May 17, 1952

If action to relive distress is delayed would contribute directly to the pros­ Famine conditions, though not as till the crisis actually overwhelms the perity of the area, has no spectacular acute as in the five Rayalaseema dis­ people, it involves expending much achievements to its credit. The fin­ tricts, obtain also in some other larger sums of money besides, of ancial resources at the disposal of the farts of the Madras State—in parts course, much avoidable misery, than board are meagre, not commensurate of and districts, in if preventive measures are taken -well with the requirements of the situa­ South Arcot, Ramnad and Chingle- in time. Even as far back as 1938, tion and a number of its recommen­ put districts. This fact emphasise' the Madras Famine Code Revision dations has got enmeshed in depart- that about a third of the Madras- Committee prescribed the remedial mental red tape. If it is converted State experiences conditions ranging measures essential in such condi­ into a statutory corporation and suffi­ from shortage to scarcity year after tions : cient funds are placed at its disposal, year. This year, the rice production and if it is enabled to initiate and in the State is in deficit to the extent l ' State intervention has up to execute development schemes on its of a million tons and production of the present been largely designed own responsibility, it can prove an millets by about four lakh tons. to save life and mitigate suffering. effective agency for good. This deficit can be made good mainly In our opinion a bolder policy is Shri C. Rajagopalachariar, Chief by the Centre, which lias already now called for, which we trust will Minister of Madras, has said that the declared that it would supply only not only be of incalculable benefit the famine conditions in Rayalaseema about half the quantity, of which no to the people by creating much might ease by September, by which more than two lakh tons will be in needed wealth and fostering power time the area would have received the shape of rice. Fortunately, the of resistance but will in the long the benefit of the main monsoon. surplus districts had a good crop, and run save the resources of the state That is, of course, dependent on to them the Government must look from the recurring drain caused by nature and providence; but in the for fulfilling the procurement tar­ the recurring needs and continued meantime there can be no relaxation gets, which alone can obviate a great­ poverty of those districts." in the relief operations or in efforts er shortage later in the year. The to devise and push through long-range increase in procurement prices for Among others, the Committee re- schemes for famine prevention. The paddy announced by the Govern­ commended the following multi-direc­ farmers can turn to the land and ment should prove an inducement; tional programme: development of make it yield its fruit only if suffici­ but to counterbalance it, there is the irrigation, namely, provision of irriga­ ent water is made available to them. increase in food prices consequent on tion facilities and tank restoration: in­ In this direction, it is only purpose the stoppage of food subsidies by the troduction of improved methods of ful and systematic State action that Government of India. Altogether, agriculture, such as bunding and dry can prove helpful. It is also essen­ what with famine and unforeseen ex­ farming; exploitation of the mineral tial that some of the irrigation and penditure on relief measures on the resources and development of large power schemes, which would directly one hand, and the potential danger scale industries and cottage indus­ benefit this backward area, should be of food shortage, which may grow as tries. taken in hand under the Five Year the year advances, on the other, both Plan and the Planning Commission the finances and the general economy These remedies are as appropriate has a special responsibility in this of the State as a whole face prospects and necessary today as they were in regard. which are dismal indeed. 1938, though not quite adequate in themselves to meet the demands of the situation that has arisen. But. in the intervening years, precious little has been done to give them a pur­ poseful and vigorous push. What Rayalaseema needs more than any thing else is protected irrigation, as an insurance against the ravages of drought and as a means of increasing food production and development of industries, big and small, for which her rich natural resources, so far un­ tapped, afford abundant opportuni­ ties and scope. The Tungabhadra project, now under construction, is a part of the solution; but it is neither an immediate nor a full solution, be­ cause, the project will take another two years to complete and its bene- fits will be derived largely only by the Bellary and parts of Anantapur districts. Other irrigation schemes are essential, besides the execution of an extensive programme of minor ir­ rigation works and construction of wells, which can be worked by pumps, wherever possible, run on electrical energy. The Rayalaseema Development Board, set up in 1941, solely to carry out schemes which 505