The self-help groups of women which operated the Indira Kranthi Pathm (IKP) centres that procured food grains and other agricultural produce in villages can now heave a sigh of relief after the Telangana government cleared the uncertainty over the continuation of the centres.
All of a sudden, the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty ( which is the nodal agency for IKP programme, issued orders last week asking its centres to surrender the tools used in procurement of food grains as it had decided to wind them up.
The next day Panchayat Raj Minister K.T. Rama Rao issued a statement denying the closure of centres and even fixed targets for them to procure paddy and maize. The SERP was left with no alternative but to issue fresh orders continuing the system. It literally led to jubilation among SHGs as they earned an income of Rs. 2 crore annually in each district. A festive atmosphere of one-and-a-half months was witnessed in kharif and rabi seasons each in villages when women were seen taking into possession stocks of food grains that arrived at the centres and testing them for quality on behalf of the Civil Supplies Department.
State gets tough with gram panchayats
Recently, the power distribution companies have taken up with the government the need to recover power dues of gram panchayats to the tune of Rs. 942 crore out of funds of the Finance Commission that were devolved for villages. But, the panchayats argued that their power bills were met by the government earlier and the same system should be continued. The government was not moved and insisted that 80 per cent of the Finance Commission funds to panchayats should be allocated only to clear pending bills. The panchayats got Rs. 279 crore from the 13{+t}{+h}Finance Commission whose term expired last year, and Rs. 580 crore from the 14{+t}{+h}commission in April and May this year. Leave alone 80 per cent ceiling, the panchayats will be left with an outstanding balance of Rs. 83 crore even if they pay the entire amount received from the panel. Perhaps, the government has to wait another year to recover the amount.
TS gets its
priorities right
Telangana government has constituted Society for Social Audit, Accountability and Transparency, independent autonomous body responsible for facilitating conduct of social audit on rural development and employment guarantee schemes, with big names. The term of the committee constituted in 2012 by combined Andhra Pradesh Government has expired on May 11 this year, necessitating Telangana to constitute its own body.
Some of the big names include former members of the Planning Commission B.N. Yugandhar and Mihir Shah, founder of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan, Aruna Roy, former member of National Advisory Council, Harsh Mander, founder-member of MKSS, Nikhil Dey, Trilochan Shastry of IIM-Bangalore, Director of Centre for Development Research V.M. Manohar Prasad, district Collector of Warangal Karuna Vakati, State president of Human Rights Forum S. Jeevan Kumar and others. The 13-member body is led by Sowmya Kidambi.
“We want to send a positive signal to all stakeholders engaged with the rural development and employment guarantee schemes by including such credible names from the background connected to the two issues,” a senior officer said.
Fate of engg. students in limbo
The fate of over 50,000 students from Andhra Pradesh, who took admission into professional courses such as engineering (B.E./B.Tech), MBA and computer applications (MCA) in Telangana region in the unreserved quota (non-local) in 2013-14 and 2014-15 academic years is hanging in balance as neither the Telangana nor AP government is willing to reimburse their tuition fee. Parents of these students paid about Rs. 65 crore to the college managements by undergoing all hardships following the managements’ refusal to issue their degree certificates. The managements, however, made it clear that they would repay the money once they get the reimbursement from the government. The Telangana Government has washed-off its hands with regard to the issue, while its AP counterpart is adopting delaying tactics stating that it had reached an understanding with Telangana and would clear the dues once it receives copy of the minutes of the meeting with Telangana officials in June. On its part, Telangana has been stating that it has nothing to do with the issue and it is for AP to settle the issue.
(N. RAHUL &
B. CHANDRASHEKHAR)
