Telangana emulates Maharashtra's splurge: KCR plans Rs 7 cr puja amid farm crisis

With reports of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao performing a grand five-day religious ceremony amid a drought in Telangana, the issue of agrarian distress in the state has come to the fore. The outrage over what is being perceived as unnecessary expense of Rs 7 crore brings back memories of a similar controversy in October in Maharashtra. An amount of Rs 8 lakh had then reportedly been sanctioned from the chief minister’s relief fund for a dance troupe’s visit to Thailand. Two months on, it is another state, and another splurge story. [caption id=“attachment_2557540” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Image courtesy: Reuters[/caption] The prevailing situation in Telangana is an indicator of the enormous disparity in weather patterns in the different parts of India. While the country earlier this month saw dramatic visuals of ravaging floods in Tamil Nadu and parts of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana faced a major drought. This was after the state recorded a 22 percent deficit in rainfall in September, as reported by the New Indian Express. While the normal rainfall is 585 mm, the state was reported to have received 444 mm of rainfall till August. The result-220 out of 438 agricultural mandals were declared as drought-hit, as reported by Deccan Chronicle. To give context to the extent of deficiency, the Indian Meteorological Department defines an all-India drought when there is more than 10 percent deficiency in rainfall, as reported by Mint. So, a deficit of 22 percent in Telangana can be considered as a major shortfall. Compounding the crisis is the fall in prices of cotton, which hit a record low, as mentioned in the article. Cotton is a major crop grown in the region. In recent years, Telangana has come to be known as a region affected by widespread agrarian crisis, much like the neighbouring Vidarbha in Maharashtra. The newly-created state saw as many as 898 farmer suicides, second only to Maharashtra, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). This difficult state of affairs was a matter of concern for the Hyderabad High Court recently. A division bench of the court asked the state governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to frame effective schemes for the welfare of farmers. In a stark irony, the Telangana government told the high court last month that lavish spending on ceremonies like marriages is one of the reasons behind farmers committing suicide, as per a report in the New Indian Express. The five-day-long Ayutha Chandi Maha Yagam, which is now at the centre of controversy, is expected to cost Rs 7 crore. With the agricultural crisis in the state showing no signs of abating soon, the ostentatious spending by the state government on a religious ceremony is unlikely to go down well.