Musings from Adilabad

Adilabad, the northern most district lying in the north interior Andhra Pradesh bordering Maharashtra, has been and is predominantly known for backwardness, and probably to few more years, I believe, will continue its same image. The district with its large geographical area encompasses the southern tip of the Sahyadri ranges and even so hitches the south-western end of the Central Indian terrain. The region habitats significantly rural populace (74% as per 2001 census) of which a good extent are tribals (17% of total). Gonds happen to be the predominant tribal group which is further added by Lambadas, Kolams, Thotties, Mannevars, Pardhans, Naikpods, etc. 

The region (Adilabad) has been out of the developmental radar of the state for many a multitude of reasons, which I am yet to decipher. This has obviously and eventually put the district not in the back seat, but in the dicky (technically called ‘boot’, where we place our luggage) of the developmental wagon. (Probably this was the reason few expressed ‘Awe’ when I told them that I am gonna work in Adilabad, later did I realise that it was ‘Aww’). The reasons for Adilabad’s neglect could be from poor economic status of the region to huge illiterate population (73.2 %), lower political consciousness, so on and so forth. This had also eventually enrolled Adilabad into red corridor. Uptil the beginning of this century, Adilabad was one among the happening districts of ‘ultra-leftist’ conflicts in the state.

In this scenario, I wish to broadly enlist few observations that still pursue the region in backwardness, mainly in terms of economy.

1. The region over the last decade or more has fast turned into a major cotton producer. There has been a significant shift in the cropping pattern of the district from Sorghum, Millets, Pulses, Paddy to Cotton. Simple reason being the commercial value of cotton i.e the high price, the cotton crop fetches in the market. Though there is a significant black soil region in the district that suits cotton cultivation, contiguous from the adjacent Maharashtrian terrain, cotton also peeped to the hilly and forest terrains i.e the tribal terrains. You cannot see any village, how interior it might be, without cultivating cotton. Though the argument is not against cotton, the question is more on its adaptability. Given the better price, tribal farmers started cultivating cotton which eventually led to lower productivity, due to aforementioned non-suitability (Average yield per acre of cotton here is around 4-5 quintals per acre, which in worse cases, gets down to 2 or even less at times). Hilly porous soil started bearing cotton and just to increase his productivity, the farmer (mainly those in non-plain areas) increased his acreage. This increase in acreage came from decrease of his forest land. The typical village with streams and fruit trees, I hope are a thing of past here. So what is that bad thing in cotton is that, as productivity is low, you need to grow in larger area for higher production. As all cotton is Bt Cotton, need-fully or needlessly, you are encouraged to use more inputs. This requires more money for better seeds, fertilizers, weedicides, pesticides in addition to other cultivation costs viz. land preparation, weeding, harvesting among others. All these easily add upto a modest Rs.10,000 per acre. If the farmer goes for a 5 acre cultivation, he needs 50,000 INR, which usually, majority of rural farmers do not or cannot afford and go for all types of debt, usually at high interest rates. Hence assuming a modest return of 4000 INR/quintal (it was Rs.3900/quintal this time if sold directly to a mill or govt. price), farmer makes a decent profit of Rs.50000 for his 5 acres. This runs his entire non-agricultural period till the next season. But usually this is not. Lower productivity and debt taken from lenders force them to sell their produce to local traders (who were money lenders) who provide a lower price manipulating quality issues at Rs.3500 or 3700. Had this been an other crop, say a sorghum, followed by pulses or a vegetable, the level of investment shall be significantly low. But here the problem is market and the price. Sorghum is not as lucrative as cotton. Hence it is not actually the crop failure or low productivity that is failing the cotton farmer (which are disproven usually by the pro-Bt groups), it is the added investment which he makes through debts is the major factor that has replaced his earlier cropping pattern, made more critical by the cotton’s low productivity mainly due to its non-suitability. Therefore cotton crop is not ideally making them profitable.

2. The second major problematic factor is the lack of skilled or educated human resource. Adilabad's literacy levels had remained well below the state’s literacy levels. This has led to an acute shortage of local people who are educated or skilled enough to run or work in local organizations. Significant personnel had been, though presently reducing, come from neighbouring districts, who obviously nurtured less interest in working in the district. Teachers had to come from outside and the governmental systems bred them to be inefficient, making better education unavailable to the enrolled. This has caused a severe damage to literacy levels. Though the traditional practice of “not sending children to school” is one reason, the school going children did not greatly differ. There is also a great lack of number of higher educational institutions for studnets out of high school viz. colleges within the district. The entire scheduled mandals have one Arts college. There is one govt. Arts and Science colleges at Mancherial which caters to 12-15 mandals. There may be few private ones hither and thither, but question arises on affordability on all fronts. Now forget about engineering or other educational institutions.

3. Thirdly, though the region had vast tracts of land, they were uninvited for setting up any industries, in the manufacturing sector or other sectors, leaving alone a major coal mining unit, even though the Hyderabad – New Delhi train and rail routes trespass the region. The situation continues to bother and the ‘demographic dividend’ which India is about to unveil, is highly visible in Adilabad. They look equally anxious to get unearthed by the giant ‘excavator’ of employment. The point here is that majority of the youth who are semi-literate or literate find little or no opportunity for their academic pursuits. This might be a similar case in few other places as well.

I believe I have broadly listed few areas which are few significant issues of developmental concern in Adilabad. Initiatives targeting to improve agricultural infrastructures and value chain, enhance opportunities for quality education both school and college levels within the district along with establishing industries offering to generate local employments could be few things that can bring them to the 'back seat'. Howsoever, just with, the hope of a lady who carries firewood on her head after a strenuous day’s work, passion of a young girl who goes to a distant water source to fetch water, patience of a household woman who attends her everyday chores in her hut, the confidence of the farmer who continues to till his land expecting he gets a bounty crop this season and with the cheer of a young 6 year old girl who carries her 2 year old brother, people of Adilabad proceed with the same hope, passion, patience, confidence and cheer aiming happily for the future.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[The word 'region' only refers to Adilabad district and data in the writing are as per 2001 census.]