CONGRESS BEATS Y S JAGAN, HANDS DOWN

Desaraju Surya

Hyderabad: The Congress has won, la affaire Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, and proved yet again that the organization is mightier than an individual.

The man who often cried that he was “running out of patience” had to ultimately give up and bow himself out in the face-off with the party.

The now former member of Lok Sabha from Kadapa provoked the Congress high command so much so that he wanted it to act against him so that he could go to the people and claim that “I have been punished without committing any sin.”

He waited and waited in vain, often letting it know that he was “running out of patience” as the Congress appeared in no mood to take any step that would “make him a hero.”

As the grand old party played its game with the distinction that it is famous for, Jagan was left “suffering in humiliation.”

More than 14 months have elapsed but the Congress never displayed any urgency to let Jagan realize his dream of becoming Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, even as the state saw the ascendancy of two Chief Ministers in the aftermath of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s tragic death in September 2009.

Jagan always thought the Chief Minister’s chair rightfully belonged to him and never shied away from claiming so. Even after the Congress denied him the opportunity, he went to the people and vowed that he would one day become the Chief Minister “come what may.”

A year-long wait made the Chief Minister’s chair look like sour grapes for the industrialist-turned-politician who primarily had more business interests to protect than any other agenda.

Majority of the MLAs who initially supported Jagan’s candidature for the Chief Minister’s post gradually backed out, in sync with the party high command’s mind, but the 20-month-old politician remained adamant.

He then started adopting defiant means to reach his goal. Every move of his, like going on the Odarpu Yatra and targeting the Congress government in the state through his own media, made his detractors in the party cry hoarse about Jagan’s belligerence.

The Congress never really bothered to take note of how Jagan became a multi-billionaire in no time despite having enough evidence to nail him.

The high command continued to give him a long rope all along. But when Sonia Gandhi herself, a Goddess to all Congressmen, was vehemently targeted along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, the high command probably wanted to crack the whip.

Still, it went soft on Jagan and sought to extend an olive branch in an other form – by offering a Cabinet berth to his uncle Y S Vivekananda Reddy in the Kiran Kumar Reddy government.

This was a “conspiracy against my family and myself” which Jagan could not stand. He let the Congress have the last laugh and quietly sent in his resignation to Sonia Gandhi, not directly but in the form of an “open letter.”

Jagan will now seek the blessings of his late father at his grave and try to re-invent himself as an “independent” political leader.

The "REBEL" in a fix

Desaraju Surya

Hyderabad: He may have been branded a "rebel" but 36-year-old Member of Parliament from Kadapa, Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, has now actually been reduced to a man suffering in silence in more ways than one.

While cervical spondilitis is Jagan's physical tormentor, the Congress politics has become a biggest mental block for him.

Enduring the physical pain might seem trivial, compared to the mental agony of having to remain indecisive on his future political course.

His uncle and Member of Legislative Council, Y S Vivekananda Reddy, has now rubbed salt into Jagan’s injury by offering to “patch up” the strained relationship between his nephew and the Congress high command by “expressing our regret over the episodes telecast on Sakshi television channel.”

Vivekananda’s “impulsive action” has only left Jagan more embarrassed even as his camp tried to do some damage control by announcing that their leader had done nothing wrong that warranted any “explanation” to the high command. By disowning Vivekananda’s statement, his camp desperately sought to send a message that Jagan “would never surrender” to anyone.

Now, Jagan will have to spend time at least till Wednesday waiting agonizingly to make up his mind on whether or not to continue in the Congress party, what with the constitution of the state Council of Ministers likely to happen only that day.

Jagan is anxiously awaiting the formation of the state Cabinet to assess his standing in the scheme of things in the Congress and chalk out his future path, his campers say.

Most of the 20-odd MLAs, who continue to swear by Jagan, are now busy camping in New Delhi lobbying intensely for ministerial posts. One of his close followers and former minister Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose claimed he would not join Kiran Kumar Reddy’s Cabinet after it became clear that he would face the axe for having defied the party high command, along with another former minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, on the Odarpu Yatra issue.

The Congress high command is also keeping Jagan on tenterhooks by being indecisive on the action, if any, it intends to take against him for targeting the party and its leadership through his media.

The nearly two-month long "Odarpu Yatra" he undertook in Prakasam and Nellore districts from September 3 had in fact taken a heavy toll on this indutrialist-turned-politician's body that he has now been advised "complete bed rest" at least for two months.

“He may resume his yatra subsequently but not in the fashion he did in the last leg covering thousands of kilometres for hours on end in the two districts. Such strenuous touring can prove dangerous for him given his current condition,” a senior doctor attending on him revealed.

This has become a worrying factor for the belligerent MP who obviously can’t go back on the promise of continuing his yatra from January next to console families whose members either died of shock or allegedly committed suicide following the death of Jagan’s father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.

Putting off or delaying the yatra inordinately in view of his bad health will adversely affect Jagan’s ambitious political plans since he has set his eyes on the Chief Minister’s chair alone.

Given these factors, Jagan is unable to go ahead with his plans or maintain status quo and clearly looks caught in a Catch-22 situation.

YSR's pet scheme spells doom for many in AP

Desaraju Surya

Hyderabad: The dream of owning a house turned into a curse for K Ramesh (30), a daily wage earner of Venkatadripet village in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh.

He borrowed Rs 10,000 from a micro-finance institution (MFI) and could only complete the foundation work of the house. But, as pressure mounted from the lender for repayment of the loan, a harassed Ramesh hung himself to death last week. “Clearing the weekly installments has become too much to bear for Ramesh because of the exorbitant interest rate of over 48 per cent,” his relatives say.

Actually, Ramesh obtained the loan in the name of purchasing a buffalo but instead used the money for taking up the construction of his dream house. Now, he left only a debt burden of over Rs 10,000 on his 25-year-old wife, excluding the interest component.

This was one of the sad sagas of the ongoing MFI atrocities in Andhra Pradesh.

Ramesh might have ended his life unable to overcome the pressures of borrowing (money) but there are many such people across the state still suffering the effects of a micro loan.

The much-hyped and ambitious Indiramma housing, YS Rajasekhara Reddy's pet scheme, under which the Congress government promised a permanent roof over every poor family’s head is indeed coming to the haunt the hapless “beneficiaries” as it has literally pushed them into a debt trap.

“The vulnerability created by government policies and schemes like Indiramma housing have helped the unscrupulous micro finance institutions to openly exploit the hapless poor, particularly in rural areas,” CPM politburo member and MP Brinda Karat pointed out.

“One of the reasons people borrowed money from MFIs was to complete the houses they were allotted under the Indiramma scheme. It has in fact become a double blow as on one hand they had to repay the loan obtained from a bank and on the other the MFIs on the same house,” project director of a District Rural Development Agency, which is now the nodal agency for the registration of MFIs.

While the unit cost of a Indiramma house has been fixed at Rs 55,000, the state government provided Rs 25,000 as subsidy and Rs 30,000 was arranged through banks as a loan. “The unit cost fixed by the government was never sufficient to complete the house because of the escalating prices of materials as well as labour. Hence, the beneficiaries were forced to borrow more money from other sources, including the MFIs,” the official noted.

Many cases of debt-ridden beneficiaries of Indiramma housing scheme are seeing the light now after the authorities started probing into the MFIs’ activities and also the sufferings of the borrowers. “We have reports from districts like Nalgonda, Visakhapatnam, Kurnool, Guntur, Chittoor, Khammam, Anantapur, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam where most of the Indiramma beneficiaries are caught in the MFI debt trap. We are assessing the cases and trying to help these people out by providing alternative credit at cheaper interest rate,” a top official of the Rural Development Department said.

the ghost of micro-finance institutions in AP

Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: History is repeating in Andhra Pradesh vis-à-vis the Micro-Finance Institutions (MFIs). The spectre of MFIs has come to haunt the hapless poor borrowers, particularly in the rural areas, as both the state government as well as the Centre did practically nothing in the last four years after the ghost first raised its ugly head in 2006. More than 70 persons committed suicide unable to bear the “torture” unleashed by unscrupulous MFIs in AP in 2006 while in just over a month now more than 40 people met with a similar tragic end. Official “toll” this year, however, is just 23. Be it pushing women into flesh trade, forcing them to stand in blazing sun (as punishment) for hours, humiliating them in front of other villagers or seizing ration cards and Aarogyasri health insurance cards for non-repayment of loans in time… the so-called “recovery agents” of MFIs resort to every inhuman method to intimidate the poor borrowers. “Those who could not stand this are committing suicide,” a district Collector pointed out. Same things happened in 2006 when the scale of operations of MFIs in the state was between Rs 1000 crore and Rs 1500 crore. Now, of the total Rs 30,000 crore MFIs’ outstanding in the country, Andhra Pradesh accounts for about 40 per cent. The defaults were estimated to be between one and 1.5 per cent, government sources said. It was the then Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s government that vigorously encouraged the MFIs in the state as a means “to deliver rural credit at cheaper rates” and eventually “make every woman a lakhpathi (millionaire).” In October 2005, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi toured Islampur in Medak district and Medchal allegedly to promote Share Microfin. A couple of years later, Rahul visited Bhongir in Nalgonda district on behalf of SKS Microfinance, promoted by Vikram Akula.
“Rahul has close links with MFIs. As a fellow MP, I am ready for a debate with him on this,” Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party leader Nama Nageswara Rao challenged even as Chief Minister K Rosaiah shot back saying the Amethi MP has “no love” for the MFIs. At the height of the MFI crisis in 2006, Rajasekhara Reddy promised to bring in legislation putting a cap on the interest rate charged by MFIs but failed. The ball was then pushed into the Centre’s court without any effect. Also, the state government did not even act on the report of the one-man committee it appointed to probe into the excesses of MFIs. The then Special Chief Secretary to government V P Jauhari, who headed the committee, had recommended strong measures to rein in the MFIs essentially to arrest an “emerging mafia” and also protect poor borrowers from its clutches. He had cautioned that there was a possibility of “other criminal elements” entering the fray since “easy money” was involved. Going by the events unfolding over the past one month, Jauhari’s fears appear to have come true. Four years have elapsed and on July 20 this year, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced in Hyderabad that the Central government would soon arrive at a decision on the Bill to regulate micro finance institutions. “The Bill is under examination of the government and we shall soon arrive at a decision,” he said, when questioned about the long-pending legislation that primarily is intended to place a cap on the interest rates being charged by MFIs. Still, nothing happened on the legislation front but MFIs were back to their nefarious ways. Now, the Centre appears to be in no mood to place a cap on the interest rate charged by MFIs nor put in place an effective mechanism to strictly regulate the errant money-lending firms. The Union Finance Minister's assertions on MFIs make this clear.
Since the start of this month, one after the other poor borrowers in rural parts of AP started ending their lives unable to repay the loans on which usurious rates of interest were charged. Left with no other option, the state government hurriedly promulgated an ordinance making it mandatory for MFIs to register their activities with the respective District Rural Development Agency. But it could not place a cap on the interest rate since the subject was under the Centre’s domain, a senior official of the Rural Development Department said. In fact, state Rural Development Minister Vatti Vasantha Kumar sounded the warning bell at a meeting of the State-Level Bankers’ Committee on September 28 saying: “The exorbitant rate of interest being charged by MFIs ranging from 36 to 48 per cent is not at all an encouraging trend.” His alarm stemmed from the fact that banks lent only about Rs 1,900 crore to women self-help groups (SHGs) as against the ambitious target of Rs 11,775 crore set for the 2010-11 financial year. “Bankers are not at all positive on social-sector lending. As long as banks are not able to achieve total financial inclusion, alternative source of credit is required and thus MFIs have become a necessary evil,” a district Collector observed. How the Centre and the state governments handle this evil is anxiously watched even as reports of suicides by harassed small loan borrowers continue to come in from different parts of the state.

Chiru trimming up for his 150th venture

Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: With his next feature film set to be launched in January 2011, actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi is now busy losing weight, the extra kilos he has put on over the last four years since his last film Shankar Dada Zindabad (remake of Lagey Raho Munna Bhai). Chiranjeevi visited the US recently reportedly for a liposuction treatment as part of the weight reduction programme. Fatty foods are now off his menu and Chiranjeevi is mostly taking nutritional drinks these days to keep himself "fit" for his 150th silver screen venture, one of his aides said. The audience at an audio release function here the other day was pleasantly surprised to see a "trim" Chiru, as he is fondly called, clad in a sleek jeans trouser and white shirt. The Telugu Megastar quit films after a 30-year career in August 2008 and launched the Praja Rajyam Party. He, however, made it clear while launching the political outfit that he might don the grease paint again to feature in films that carried a social message. On his son and upcoming actor Ramcharan Tej's prodding, Chiru made a guest appearance in Magadheera starring Tej last year, that went on to become a blockbuster. Now, Charan himself will be producing a full-length feature film with his father. Though the film is expected to go to the sets in January, Chiranjeevi is still scouting for the right script that befits his new stature as a politician. Apart from the script, the increasing flab in his body has been a major concern for 56-year-old Chiranjeevi, who was left with the only option of cutting it. "One can't imagine a Chiranjeevi film without his trendy dances and stylish stunts. Obviously his body should be in the right shape for that and hence he is consciously doing everything in that direction," a key aide of the actor said. Following a weight-reduction regimen is not new to Chiranjeevi. Even during the late part of his career in the late 1990s when he was doing one film after the other, Chiru had to cut his flab. "It happened when Chiru did films like Mrugaraju and Daddy though he once again looked stout in movies like Stalin and Shankar Dada Zindabad. Now again he is keen on regaining the old charming looks," the aide pointed out. Praja Rajyam sources say Chiranjeevi has stopped eating even biscuits at the party meetings and has been taking only liquid diet specially brought from home. With a younger lot of stars with six-pack bodies and lanky physiques ruling the tinsel town, Chiranjeevi certainly has a task on hand in his silver-screen re-coming.