Telangana Govt. Brags Welfare Measures, Students Protest Demanding Jobs

Amid speculations of early elections in the state, on September 2, Telangana witnessed two significant public meetings – one held by the ruling party, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the other by students’ organisations of the Osmania University. Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao boasted the success of his rule in the last four years and announced several sops for the future in the ‘Pragathi Nivedhana Sabha’ at Kongarakalan village located on the outskirts of Hyderabad. While, ‘Vidhyarthi-Nirudyoga Aavedana Sabha’, the students’ meeting held inside the Osmania University, which raised the issue of unemployment, was disrupted midway by the police and several activists were detained.

“Telangana people are witnessing the achievements of the TRS government. TRS needs the people’s blessings once again. I’m assuring water supply for irrigation to one crore acres of agricultural lands in the near future,” Chandrashekar Rao addressed the meeting in his own rhetorical style. But what the TRS chief seemed to deliberately miss in his speech was the failure in creating jobs and land distribution to landless SCs and STs, two of the crucial promises made by his party during the 2014 elections. Perhaps hinting to the chance of early elections, Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari said that the state cabinet would meet on September 4 to take “key decisions” that were not taken up in their earlier meeting. 

Marking a protest against the ruling party’s meeting and its rule in the last four years, the Left and Ambedkarite students’ organisations in Osmania University unanimously pledged to vote against the TRS party. It should be noted  that the Osmania University was at the epicenter of the Telangana state formation movement wherein the main demand for bifurcation of the erstwhile state was employment for Telangana’s youth. 

Professor K. Nageshwar, addressing the student’s gathering reminded that the students had participated in the Telangana formation movement mainly hoping for jobs. “What happened to the promises of one lakh government jobs every year, three acres of land distribution to every landless Dalit and tribal household,” Nageshwar questioned while addressing the gathering. He demanded the CM to release a white paper on the number of vacancies in the government sector and said that the government should take up the responsibility of training the youth for preparing for jobs. Meanwhile, the state police had detained a number of activists and student leaders including Rahman, Prem, R.L. Murthi, Dayakar, Krishna, Janardhan and Ranjith, disrupting the meeting. 

Although the TRS government is celebrating its various schemes by holding massive events, a recently released Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the state had flagged numerous flaws in the implementation of the schemes. As per the CAG report, tabled in Telangana State Assembly on March 29, the state government had failed in the implementation of its flagship programme Mission Kakatiya Scheme – restoration of tanks for irrigation purposes – as only 28 per cent of the target of restoring 46,531 tanks was achieved at the end of 2017. For this scheme, the state government had spent up to Rs. 3,231.2 crore in the last three years. Furthermore, the CAG also pointed out “serious concerns” resulting in the erosion of “public wealth” due to the TRS-led government.

What was bizarre in the TRS meeting was that although the state government has failed to implement most of its promises in its election manifesto from the 2014 elections, the CM claimed that their party will release a new manifesto with another set of promises. 

Perks and Sops

As an attempt to appease different communities, the CM announced that his cabinet has resolved to allot 75 acres of land to communities including Christians and Lambadas (Tribes) for the construction of Atma Gaurava Bhavans (self-respect buildings) in the state capital. Honorarium being paid to Asha workers was increased from Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 7,500 per month and for Gopalmitras from Rs. 3,500 to Rs. 8,500 per month, who have been protesting for the last four years demanding higher wages.