The plight of the farmers of Andhra Pradesh is nothing new. They have been suffering some way or the other for the past several months. With the floods that hit the state recently, their conditions have further deteriorated. The state government did nothing to compensate for the losses that the farmers have incurred, and neither have they announced any sort of package for them. All that the government has said so far is that the farmers would be paid a certain amount when they get the input subsidy from the government.
More than 2 weeks have passed by since the floods have hit Andhra Pradesh, and now a team from the Center has come down to the state to evaluate and inspect the losses that the state has had to suffer because of the floods. The Center team is expected to evaluate the losses by touring every district at a very close level. However, fact remains that inspecting at such a close level right now is of no use. Whatever crop losses that took place during the flood would have been taken away from the farm lands by now, and other losses too would have been cleared out by now.
Many are wondering why no team from the Center came down to evaluate the situation in AP immediately after the floods, given that a team was sent immediately to evaluate the position in Telangana. The team that has now come to AP has done so after the BJP members of AP personally spoke to the Union Agricultural minister. Otherwise, there’s no knowing if any team would have showed up in the first place, or not.
On the other hand, with the state not compensating the farmers in any way, all the farmers are now said to be hoping that at least the Center will compensate them in some manner. But if the team from the Center believes that there has been no loss, and that there is no need for any sort of compensation, there’s no saying if the farmers’ hopes will be fulfilled, or if they will be washed down the gutter once again.