​P​​raja Sankalpa Yatra Diary, Day 104: No Compassion Even For The Deaf-Mute Under TDP 

Takellapadu, Prakasam district: During lunch hour, deaf and mute orphan children who were in a home run by an NGO, came and met me. Their cute faces, and the love and affection they showered on me through sign language, touched me deeply. A 6 year-old girl among them narrated her sad tale to me, using sign language. She pointed out that even though her plight was evidently pitiable, she did not get any pension. She showed great courage and restraint demonstrating that her disability was not a curse, but a condition she had to brave.

A ten year-old from among them prayed to God for my success and well-being with disabled hands. The sight moved me immensely. There were many mute, deaf and mentally retarded children being taken care of by that NGO, I learnt. I asked the representatives of the organisation as to why they did not take up cochlear implants for these children. They told me that the surgery cost around 6 to 7 lakh rupees and that it was not covered by the healthcare scheme, Arogyasri. As for them, they did not have the means to get these surgeries done.

The greatest service one could provide is to give a new life to such children. Forget the fact that the cost of their surgeries was not covered, even pensions were denied to many of them, I was told. If there are three siblings, all deaf and mute, apparently only one of them is entitled to a pension, as per the bizarre logic put forth by the TDP government! The NGO representatives appealed to me for at least bus passes to be given to them. Arogyasri would have provided much-needed relief to them.

Anusha and Nagaraju met me in Nagulapadu. One of their two children suffered from a heart condition. They were denied Arogyasri coverage because they did not have Aadhaar cards and ration cards. They ran around government offices to get these ID proofs, but to no avail. Treatment at private hospitals would cost more than Rs.2 lakhs, they complained. How can the government not issue, ration cards,Aadhaar and Arogyasri cards for years on end? This government has been trying to slash the number of beneficiaries of various welfare schemes, on one pretext or the other. It was seeing such problems faced by people which sowed the seeds of village secretariats in my mind.

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"Each time Chandrababu comes to power, we face these problems", said a farmer, Mohan Reddy of Venkatapuram, who met me. Water from Nagarjuna Sagar is not being supplied For four years and the region has been starved of rain, he said. While an acre yielded ten quintals of sanega crop last year, it barely yields three quintals now, he rued. While a quintal sold at Rs.6,000 last year, it did not fetch even Rs. Rs.3,600 now, he added. Even seeds to be sold at subsidised rates are being sold at higher prices, he pointed out.

Pongaluru Sambasiva Rao was another farmer who faced a similar crisis. He went in for chilli crop on 8 acres. In the past, each acre would yield 30 quintals, but now, hit by water scarcity, he would barely get 12 quintals to an acre, he lamented. The quality of the crop also had suffered seriously. He had to spend about Rs.2 lakhs per acre and a quintal which used to fetch Rs.12,000 now sold at Rs. 5,500 to Rs.6,000, marking a steep decline. Leave alone his investment, he was not able to recover even the wages of the labourers, he said, in a voice tinged with sadness.

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How can a state prosper when the farmer suffers as he now is? I am driven by a conviction to change things completely. Farmers should get full government help in the form of support price. I am convinced of this.

I have a question for the chief minister--for the past four years, the Telangana government has been utilizing water from the Nagarjuna Sagar left canal to irrigate its crops. Why is it that the farmers of Andhra Pradesh continue to suffer, even when water has been allocated to the state? Why are farmers not being given water from the right canal and are unable to carry on their agricultural activity? Does this not amount to mortgaging the interests of the state for your own selfish ends?