The call to adopt farmers’ families in distress given by Telangana Jagruthi, cultural wing of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has received good response with celebrities including Sania Mirza, Jwala Gutta and Prgyan Ojha besides several members of the organisation coming forward to be part of the initiative.
Telangana Jagruthi is planning to extend financial assistance of Rs. 5,000 a month for one year to the adopted families.
President of the organisation K. Kavitha, who is also TRS MP from Nizamabad, launched the initiative here on Sunday in the presence of sports personalities Jwala Gutta and Pragyan Ojha. Nasima Mirza, mother of Sania, attended on behalf of her daughter. Sania Mirza donated Rs. 3 lakh, Pragyan Ojha Rs. 2 lakh and Jwala Gutta Rs. 1 lakh as their contribution for the initiative.
Besides, Telangana Jagruthi branches and members have come forward to adopt 80 families, including 20 each by US and London branches, 10 each by Bahrain branch and Ananthula Prashanth, 5 each by Mumbai branch, Rajiv Sagar, K. Vijay and another 9 families by Hruday Kiran, J. Sriniva, Ananth Rao and others.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Kavitha said though farmers’ suicides are pan-India phenomenon in the recent years.
Kavitha seeks time
“Farming and irrigation sectors were badly neglected in combined Andhra Pradesh,” she alleged adding that it would take some time to undo the injustices done for over six decades.
She stated that 252 farmers had committed suicide due to distress caused by crop failure and burden of debt since formation of Telangana, and 171 families among them were already paid ex-gratia by the government. Jagruthi had set up a committee comprising Prof. Sridhar, Prof. M. Kodandaram and G. Devi Prasad Rao to suggest long-term measures to prevent farmers’ suicides, she said.
“Not just celebrities but everybody who is capable of helping farmers’ families in distress should come forward to help them in whatever measure possible”, badminton player Ms. Jwala said after handing over the cheque.
