'No govt effort for public entitlements in drought-hit AP'

A fact-finding team, comprising of members of various civil society groups, which visited Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh has found that the government has made no effort in publicising entitlements available in drought-hit areas.
The team found it "inexplicable" that a district administration, which sees repeated droughts in Anantapur, is so unprepared in terms of its institutional and programmatic responses to the crisis.
"Our findings described above appear to be the tip of the iceberg. This is only a glimpse into the current situation in the district," said the findings of the team which comprised of various civil society groups like ASHA, Rythu Swarajya Vedika, Human Rights Forum and AP Rythu Sangam.

The team put the findings in public domain for immediate action by the district administration, state and central governments.
It also hoped that the Supreme Court will take note of these findings in ongoing PILs related to drought and farmer suicides.
It said that the paucity of funds at the disposal of the district administration is also an important cause for this but it cannot be the excuse for all the violations that the fact-finding team witnessed of citizen's basic entitlements in the case of drought.

"During our visits to villages and interactions with villagers from various socio-economic backgrounds, it was apparent that people feel undignified, ignored, unsupported and even insulted, while trying to access their entitlements.

"We found no effort made by the government in pro- actively publicising the entitlements available to drought-hit citizens," the findings said.
Except for the running of the PDS system to a reasonable extent within some design and implementation-related constraints, the team found that citizen entitlements around all other aspects related to their lives and livelihoods are being violated.
The team went to different parts of Anantapur district, on May 6-7 to make a rapid assessment of the situation of drought in the district as well as the situation with regard to various citizen entitlements in the context of drought.
It said that in the district, even the 150 days of employment guaranteed under NREGS is "inadequate", and requires the scheme to be redesigned to guarantee at least 250 days.

"Relief measures like crop loan rescheduling with one year moratorium are not adequate, given that successive years of drought are a reality here," it said.
The team also demanded that the district administration should immediately map out and ensure supply of potable drinking water to all villages which are facing acute water shortage.
It also demanded all arrears of wage payments in NREGS to be paid immediately with compensation to all workers, among others.