Hyderabad: On 1 July morning, two weeks after he took over as Andhra Pradesh chief minister, Chandrababu Naidu had visited a beneficiary household of a authorities welfare scheme in Penumaka village close to Amaravati.
Sipping tea with them of their thatched hut, Naidu requested them about their well-being. He then handed them Rs 4,000 in money, the month-to-month social safety pension which his authorities had elevated from the Rs 3,000 provided underneath the earlier YSRCP authorities.
By handing out the pensions in money, Naidu, in a bid to attach with the folks, donned the hat of a “volunteer” of the two.6 lakh “military” of women and men raised by his predecessor Jagan Mohan Reddy, who had been disbursing the welfare cash on the doorstep of beneficiaries on the primary of each month underneath the YSRCP administration.
However with one other month set to roll in, the volunteers are unsure about their future underneath the Telugu Desam Celebration-led (TDP) administration.
Although Chandrababu Naidu had promised to extend the honorarium of the volunteers to Rs 10,000 monthly within the run-up to the polls, the Naidu-led NDA alliance has apparently taken no concrete steps to both reinstate the volunteers or honour its dedication to extend their fee practically 5 months after it wrested energy from Jagan Reddy.
Naidu’s promise got here regardless of the TDP-Jana Sena alliance’s earlier opposition to the volunteer system launched by Jagan in 2019. They accused the YSRCP of utilizing the volunteers as their eyes and ears and as a method to favour celebration sympathisers and affect voters.
Kasi Reddy, a 29-year-old from Vejendla village close to Guntur, is one such volunteer apprehensively ready for the federal government’s choice.
“We hope the brand new regime sticks to its assurance and takes us again into our jobs. We’ve got not been paid our month-to-month Rs 5,000 for the previous a number of months,” Kasi informed ThePrint.
Whereas Naidu kicked off the method in Penumaka, the pension disbursal at doorstep job since then has been assigned to the 1.3 lakh village/ward stage authorities functionaries.
Weeks forward of the Andhra Pradesh polls on 13 Might, the two.6 lakh volunteers got here underneath the Election Fee’s scrutiny following complaints that they doubled as brokers of the ruling celebration.
Performing on a criticism from one NGO, Residents for Democracy, the ballot physique ordered that the volunteers be saved out of election duties and barred from distributing authorities welfare handouts till the Mannequin Code of Conduct (MCC) was lifted within the first week of June.
In the course of the heated election marketing campaign, the grama/ward, or village and city, volunteer system grew to become a central concern.
The welfare supply equipment—distinctive to Andhra Pradesh—was initially designed as a grassroots community for last-mile supply, doorstep companies and grievance redressal.
Nevertheless, the TDP-JSP alleged that the volunteers have been truly serving the YSRCP’s political pursuits.
Whereas the MCC was in impact, tons of of volunteers have been suspended for allegedly indulging in election-related actions for YSRCP candidates.
On the identical time, 1000’s of them resigned both voluntarily or underneath stress to work for the ruling celebration with the peace of mind they might be again of their jobs when Jagan Reddy storms again to energy.
The YSRCP chief stated at his rallies that “his first signature as second time period CM can be on the volunteers’ file”.
Kasi Reddy says his good friend, a co-volunteer in Vejendla, was additionally suspended for attending one YSRCP gathering close to the village.
A senior official of the AP Grama Ward Sachivalayas division stated that out of two.6 lakh volunteers, 1.1 lakh have been both eliminated or have voluntarily resigned from their service in the course of the polls.
“That leaves us with 1.5 lakh volunteers. The federal government would take a call quickly on reinstating these remaining volunteers,” the official stated.
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Chandrababu treads cautiously
The Chandrababu Naidu cupboard reviewed the volunteer system final month however determined to go forward cautiously due to points associated to monetary and administrative compliance.
“For instance, the volunteer companies employed for a one-year interval initially in August 2019, have been being renewed yearly until August 2023. Since then although there was no sanction, volunteers have been being paid salaries. That is of audit considerations,” the official stated.
He added a evaluation is underway to streamline the system, for finest utilisation of the volunteers.
Some volunteers fear this might result in the selective removing of these thought-about near the YSRCP. “We heard that the federal government needs to make a level the minimal qualification to be employed as a volunteer. Such standards would maintain me out,” stated one other volunteer from Guntur district, who has solely completed intermediate, the equal of +2 stage.
Within the preliminary months after the TDP mix took cost, a number of volunteers took to the streets, submitting memorandums to authorities and pleading with them to reinstate their positions within the welfare supply system.
Some like Kasi, however, have gone again to full-time farming.
Who’re these volunteers
The volunteer and sachivalayam (village/ward secretariat) set-up was launched in 2019 after Jagan Reddy stormed to energy to ease the supply of welfare schemes on the bottom in a clear method.
The eligibility standards for turning into a volunteer are a minimal schooling of sophistication 10 and an age restrict of 18 to 35 years. After submitting an internet utility, candidates have been screened by a municipal or mandal-level committee. Nevertheless, the TDP says solely these beneficial to the YSRCP have been picked.
These 2.6 lakh village and ward volunteers have been then hooked up to the 15,425 village and ward sachivalayams, or secretariats, throughout Andhra Pradesh.
The volunteers, who’re from the village or municipal ward they serve, function entry factors for presidency companies.
These younger women and men disbursed welfare pensions door to door, unfold consciousness and recognized beneficiaries for presidency assist. Additionally they helped folks get income, delivery, revenue and so forth certificates with out countless visits to authorities places of work.
The volunteers are paid a month-to-month honorarium of Rs 5,000 and are given a cell phone or pill with web to hold out their features. Every volunteer is given cost of round 50 households in rural and 100 in city areas.
The village-ward secretariat and volunteer system helped the Jagan authorities in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, helping the well being employees on pandemic duties.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly appreciated the village and ward secretariat and the volunteer system throughout a digital convention with state chief ministers in the course of the pandemic. He additionally recommended that different states might emulate the mannequin.
The Jagan Reddy authorities later additionally instituted the Seva Mitra, Seva Ratna, and Seva Vajra awards to recognise the volunteer efforts and dedication.
Nevertheless, the opposition celebration accused Jagan Reddy of elevating a “non-public military”, alleging that appointments have been principally based mostly on suggestions or political connections relatively than their benefit.
Final 12 months, Jana Sena Celebration (JSP) chief Pawan Kalyan made a severe allegation linking girls trafficking networks to the volunteers. The actor-turned-politician expressed considerations that surveillance and knowledge gathered by some volunteers have been falling into the fingers of anti-social parts. Naidu, too, made comparable claims.
YSRCP leaders’ retort was that Naidu needed to take away the volunteer system to carry again the Janmabhoomi committees that have been in place throughout his tenure.
Jagan Reddy scrapped the committees in 2019, which till then have been concerned within the collection of beneficiaries for presidency schemes in villages and wards.
They have been dismantled on the bottom that they have been allegedly full of TDP males and resorted to corruption and misconduct towards political opponents.
Jagan had additionally arrange a division for volunteers and village/ward secretariats.
In the meantime, some volunteers who resigned “underneath YSRCP duress” are praying that Naidu would take a sympathetic method in the direction of them too.
“We’re not demanding because it was our choice to give up. Nevertheless, our submission is that we by no means operated as celebration employees. It was our job to inform folks in regards to the authorities’s good deeds, we simply did that,” says Katikala Obaiah, a medical consultant, who was additionally working as a volunteer in Kadapa.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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