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Dream capital
- 1. Field Diary Voyage to Dream Capital An Untold Consequences of Land Pooling in Andhra Pradesh Veeraiah Konduru Amidst of aspirations, suspicions and fears among the people of Andhra Pradesh, particularly those of villages surrounding the proposed new capital for Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu laid a foundation stone for his dream capital construction, capital city named after Amaravati, capital of medieval kingdom of Satavahanas. Since day one when he sworn in last year, he and his acolytes bombarded the state through (un)paid media campaign solicited by his closest friends in Telugu media about construction of new capital city alias APs Singapore. Against the recommendations of Sivarama Krishnan Committee, constituted as central government, to facilitate the construction of new capital city on the multi-crop lands on the banks of river Krishna in Guntur district, the TDP government manipulated local population to surrender 35000 acres of fertile land, in which more than 120 varieties of crops being farmed Land Pooling System. This land is the only source of livelihood of those villages. It provides employment for more than a lakh agricultural workers and thousands of farmers, 85 % of whom are tenants and small farmers, and those other involved in various auxiliary economic activities that are linked directly or indirectly to farming in these 29 villages. The capital city master plan is being drafted in high rise towers of city state, Singapore and it is obvious that the architects of that master plan have to go by what ever the inputs provided by the government agencies. Government claimed that the Singapore firms are helping out TDP government free of cost in preparing the blue print, master plan for construction of world class city. Before the people of Andhra Pradesh gives in harati to Singaporean firms for their largesse, reports appeared that they submitted bids for owning 7000 acres of land in the limits of upcoming capital city, which is nothing but reciprocity of largesse shown by them. Despite few sane voices against the land pooling system, that too against the pooling of multi-crop lands on river Krishna banks, the TDP government is determined to proceed further. That is why in the first week of his power, last year itself, TDP Government refused to notify the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 and declared that he would be opting the untested LPS for acquiring land required for new capital city. The Union Minister for Venkaiah Naidu also welcomed this LPS to sort out the futuristic problems for his leader, Modis another dream project of Smart Cities. He actually exhorted other states to consider LPS as means for new urbanization. This is in this context that I paid multiple visits to these villages to interact with the locales to understand their apprehensions and aspirations and actual developments on the ground and their consequences. This article is the synthesis of interactions held with the farmers, agricultural workers, tenants and others employed in non agricultural occupations in these villages. The gist of the overwhelming feeling surrounded is apprehension and insecurity of their future. The organized, peaceful economic and civic life in these villages, are going to embark on the uncharted and unguided path whose consequences are going to be landmarks in the history of this region.
- 2. The arguments the TDP government put in forth to convince the people and ward off criticism are briefly as follows. The new capital is going to be the destination for Rs. 12 lakhs crores investments from across the world. The global Capital needs world class capital city as well to operate hassle free. The government also rolled out a rosy future of 18 lakhs jobs in new capital itself, before the unemployed engineering graduates. But no one has clarity about what is the magnitude of civic infrastructure that is required to accommodate hopping Rs. 12 lakh crore investment and house 1.80 crore employees. The majority of cultivable land in 29 villages identified for the construction of core capital city ( seed capital in the words of state government) is being leased out due to various reasons. Through LPS, the TDP government assured the land owners to get Rs 30,000 a year for loss of agricultural income in dry lands with Rs 3,000 increase per year, Rs 50,000 a year in jareeb (alluvial soil) lands with Rs 5,000 increase per year for 10 years. And also all the land owners who parted their lands for capital construction will get back 20 % of the land parted with. They were told that such pieces of land would yield high returns by their location in the vicinity of new capital city. Similarly agricultural workers are assured to pay a monthly amount of Rs. 2500 into their bank accounts, in lieu of the loss of employment and income due to stoppage of farming activities in these 29 villages. To compensate the loss of farm based employment, the CREDA Act says that it is going to implement MNREGA Act for 365 days in CREDA limits. More over in no single village, the government could hold public consultation which is a primary step in the legally sanctioned process of land acquisition. Thus it is going to be the first ever capital constructed through public participation on such a large scale never seen before. But surprisingly, instead of acknowledging the farmers, agricultural workers, tenants sacrifice in the making of new capital, at the cost of their lonely source of living, the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister in March 3rd week announced various packages to real estate firms, capital investors both domestic and foreign in the name that they are sacrificing their profits for the sake of capital city making it clear the dwellers living in their hereditary homes, and farmed till 2014 are going to be second class citizens that in the new capital city. The process is going to be same if the governments plans goes undaunted. The land owners who parted lands are going to benefit immensely with the impending rise of cost of lands given back to them due to escalated economic activity. The same is going to be the case of capitalists, and investors. They would yield high returns due the same escalated economic activity in the capital region. But TDP government could only call on the farmers and other sections in Andhra Pradesh to sacrifice their lands for the cause of new capital. The same call he could not give to the capitalists who are herding to seed their investments in the very same lands to reap new crop of profits. Thus in the place of 120 crops farmed out in these lands till now, from this year, only one type of seed that is being planted, i.e, investment and only one type of yield that is going to be reaped, i.e, profit. This is going to result in loss of identity not only for the villages but also the agrarian economy that is thickly intertwined with these villages. The new capital is going to be the epitome of the new urbanization fuelled by globalization. The urban governance at the center is also going to aid this process in the name of smart cities. Parking of their capital in countries and zones where there is a possibility of asset bubble is one of the derivative feature of urbanization fuelled by globalization. The same is going to happen in the case of new capital city. To prove this assessment, let us have a look at the land transactions that occurred in less than a month after notifying this region as capital city. This notification
- 3. fuelled real estate transactions at a startling speed in these 29 villages which are otherwise living in peace. Real estate brokerage dealers emerged over night on the both sides of roads leading to Thullur, the hub of new capital city. In just one month, the Tadikonda sub registrar office registered land transactions worth of nearly Rs. 4000 crores, all transactions in cash another euphemism for black money transactions. If these transactions are used as any kind of bench mark, on an average, in one state only there is about Rs. 50000 crore worth black money is swindling in the land market. The Tadikonda sub-registrar office flocked by the vehicles bearing numbers from Hyderabad, Rangareddy, which means the same set of people who fuelled the land market in the suburbs of Hyderabad and amassed wealth are aiming their guns on the new play ground. This artificially jet charged land market had resulted in inability for even a government servant with handsome salary is unable to own a small piece of land to build his own house. Contradictory to the situation of sprawling Hyderabad where the people can transact land parcels, in the new capital city of Amaravati, that is not going to be an easy task as the whole land is being usurped by the governments and converting them into land banks to distribute to highest bidding industrialists, and investors leading to forceful emergence of unsolicited slums between Guntur and Vijayawada. This one month land sales resulted in cash flow of Rs. 138 crore for each villages in the capital region along with consequential expansion of consumer market. Between Guntur and Vijayawada, the apartment construction expanding with jet speed, and the housing cost. As the government announced that the secretariat would function from Amaravati soon, the rental market in Guntur and Vijayawada also sky rocketing. Coming to the agrarian economy. An extrapolated findings from cropping income of Krishnaya Palem informs that there is about Rs. 1000 crore rural economy is thriving in these villages. Only in 35000 acres which was pooled up by government yields crop worth of nearly Rs. 100 crores. Depending on these 35000 acres is input industry whose tractions in the year 2012-13 were recorded worth Rs. 40 crores. In addition to this widely structured non agrarian economy is linked to these villages by way of transporting the inputs to villages, out put to agricultural commodity markets as far as Rajamundry, Bangalore, Chennai, cold storage industry. All these are playing complementary role in rural economy on which above said more than 1.50 lakh households are dependent for their livelihood. In a field study conducted on behalf of Sundarayya Vignana Kendram, it was revealed that on an average, farmers are earning Rs. 30000 per acre. An agricultural workers family in which four people are working earning not less than Rs. 50000 through laboring both on the filed and off the field. The commission dealers are earning not less than Rs. One lakh through their brokerage between farmers and agricultural commodity market. Only on Thullur village, which is mandal head quarter as well, houses about 1000 small and big retailers whose earnings are dependent on the farm income apart from the private education and health service providers market in both Krishna and Guntur districts. The recently released NSSOs 71st round survey, it is estimated that on an average per acre, farmers producing Rs. 78000 worth yields. The imputed value of for these 35000 acres alone comes around Rs. 273 crores ! But all this is going to be history from Kharif season 2015 as government ordered to stop cultivation in these 35000 acres of farm land despite the fact that it is going to start construction only in less than 1000 acres of pooled up land in the next year and the actual construction activity is not going to come up before October 2015 ! All these could not by considered by TDP government as part of economy. It is evident when an official says, it wanted to convert the agrarian economy into throbbing urban agglomeration with full of economic activity.
- 4. The similar experiment of land pooling is unveiled by the landocracy of TDP government which is already earmarked nearly 5 lakh acres into land banks and planning to acquire further in the name of river bed tourism, international airports, flight servicing centers and what not. Thus the LPS initiated by TDP government under the so called visionary of Chandra Babu Naidu lost the vision of the above mentioned untold consequences on the agrarian economy which is going to be shattered permanently. When it comes into force, the accumulation of 50 lakhs acres of land into land bank will result in annual loss of 75 crore person days of farm based employment. Thus with the actual source of livelihood is moving out of hand of these villagers resulting them to become perennial dependents on the governments whims and fancies. Till now these villagers have their own independent identity which is going to be submerged under the weight of concrete beams zooming over their houses. With the plans of extending the capital region further in 100 kilo meter radius, the worth of agrarian economy that is going to be shattered runs into tens of thousands of crore to clear the way for uncertain investors. More over the governments assurance of implementing the MNREGA Act 365 days is yet to come into effect. According to one estimation, the actual number of person days generated under this Act during this summer are falling short by one lakh days when compared to last year. More over. The employment opportunities that the government is expecting to generate by courting private capital is for the highly skilled work force where the work force in these villages is predominantly unskilled and works effectively with farm based operations only. Thus is it clear that with the collapse of agrarian economy, these lakhs of individuals stands loosing their sole source of livelihood and pushing themselves into unorganised workforce which is bulging in the cities and depressing the wage income with its supply beyond requirement. The future of these becoming non agricultural workers are forced to wait on the margins and to look for menial jobs to maintain their families back home. This will nothing but lead to criminalizing rural economy. Rather than taking a proper assessment, the TDP government is going on to invite foreign investors by prostrating before them with additional concessions. The state government, which shows scanty attention for the provision and improvement of quality education at school level, now says it will include Japanese as second language at the school level itself, to remove hurdles for incoming Japanese investors. More over, the government could not laid bare its chest how it is going to construct the world class capital city with its deficit economy. For any welfare scheme implementation, the state government puts out a convincing argument that it is time for sacrifices by all the sections for the cause of building our own capital. The same does not applies to the investing class. It only applies to laboring class. This resembles the famous ruling class argument of 1991 which calls on the people of the nation to sacrifices for better future under the neoliberal economic regime. The regime is in effect for the last two decades. But the results are yet to reach out the ordinary people. In similar way, Chandra Babu is showing the distant moon to the people of Andhra Pradesh. The moon stands in the sky forever. At the same time, stands off from the ordinary people !