Childless pray to Ethmasarpen

Childless Adivasi couples and newly married are making a beeline to the Ethmasarpen during the Gussadi festival with a prayer seeking children.Their prayers are heard, they would name their children after Ethmasarpen.

Gussadi caps made of peacock feathers, traditional musical instruments such as  Thudum, Dappu, Vetti, Parra, Peti, Gummela and Kodal to be used in Gussadi- Dandari, Kolatam dances, Tamasha ( skits) together are called Ethmasarpen.

Padmalpurikako temple, which is considered to be the birthplace of Ethmsarpen, is located on the banks of river Godavari at Gudirevu in Dandepalli mandal in Mancherial district. Adivasis perform special pujas to the Ethmasarpen at Padmalpurikako temple.

Couples blessed with child pray to Ethmasarpen by laying their newborns in front of the Gussadi caps and musical instruments that are Ethmasarpen.

Name Ethma Bai and Ethmarao are commonly among the Adivasis, which came into existence with the tradition to name children after Ethmasarpen.

The Adivasis couple blessed with the child fulfill their vow to the Ethmasarpen during the Gussadi or Dandari festival they celebrate in connection with the Diwali, Adivasi leader Sidam Shambu of Mthdiguda  in Utnoor mandal said.

The couple blessed with child celebrates the Gussadi or Dandari with much enthusiasm, devotion by keeping faith in Ethmasarpen.

Sidam Sudhakar of Mathadiguda said ‘they were blessed with male baby by Ethmasarpen in October 2015 and added that Ethmasarpen is powerful God.

Generally, the Gussadi or Dandari will be organized by the local village Patel ( headman of the Adivasi gudem) and arrange the feast for the villagers  and bear the expenditure incur for the celebration.

A goat or hens will be sacrificed to appease the Ethmasarpen r as part of the fulfilling the vows by the villagers during the Gussadi or Dandari festival.  

Farmers keep date with tradition before harvest

 Ramanaveni Laxmi is offering puja in her cotton field 

Following the age-old tradition, farmers today also boil milk and letting it overflow before starting the process to pick the cotton during the harvest season in their agriculture fields in North Telangana districts.

Farmers boil the milk and let it overflow onto the ground wishing the high cotton yield like overflow milk and use the milk similar to that of cotton.  

They then drop five cotton bolls in the remaining milk in the pot. This is the traditional way of offering Naivedyam to the god before start cotton picking.

The farmers put up five stones calling them as Panchapandavulu with white wash at the place where they offer traditional puja in the cotton fields.

Ramanaveni Laxmi of Kumari village in Neredigonda said they perform special puja in the cotton field before they start cotton picking and generally they start picking on an auspicious Panchami or Navami days or Sunday, Thursday or Fridays.

She said they take pure milk in a small pot to the cotton field and boil the bilk till it overflows onto the ground, wishing that the cotton yield would also overflow in that season. Generally, farmers break the coconut as part of the puja and apply turmeric and vermilion to the stones.

Sangepu Borranna of Gaurapur village Indravelli mandal said the tradition of boiling milk and letting it overflow (Palu Ponginchadam) can be seen in house warming ceremony and the same is practiced before cotton picking starts.

"Adivasis do not pluck the vegetables they raised without performing a traditional puja in the agriculture field", he said and added that Adivasis cook the curry with the vegetables borrowed from the neighboring non- tribal farmers’.

"The Adivasi eat the food with that curry prepared in the field before they start plucking the vegetables such as tomato, Mirchi, lady-finger and brinjal", Borranna said.     

Traditional Adivasi cuisine a big hit with non- tribals

 Gaarkhang prepared by Adivasi women  

Adivasi’s cuisine s has become popular among the non-tribals, and culinary items sell well during  special occasions

.

Adivasi women preparing popular snacks are a common sight during festivals and Jataras at Indramai temple in Indravelli, Nagoba temple at Keslapur in Indravelli, Jangubai temple on the state borders. 

Gaarkhang (garelu) made of a paste of urad dal and moong dal is a popular snack and  made especially during the Adivasis festivals. Gaarkhang is prepared by giving shape to the dal paste on the palm and roasted on the pan without oil.   

Ms  Madavi Neelabai of Lakkaram village in Utnoor mandal said she prepares gaarkang with passion as it is offered as Naivedyam to their traditional gods and goddess. They eat pulses or any other agriculture produce after harvest only after offering them to the gods.

She said there is sanctity attached to the gaarkhang. They prepare special snacks like bajjilu or mirchi with their traditional pulses.

Mr Bandari Satish of Adilabad town who ate gaarkhang at Jodeghat said the snack was tasty though oil was not used. He said that non- tribal use more oil in preparing curries and snacks unlike Adivasis. Reducing the use of edible oil in preparing curries and snacks is the need of the hour.

The Adivasi women say they make the dal paste using traditional grinding methods instead of a grinder. They say therein lies the taste of snacks made the traditional way.

The non- tribals enjoyed the Adivasis’ traditional cuisine put up during the food festivals at ‘Giri Ustav’ at Utnoor and at Jodeghat on the occasion of  76^th death anniversary of Kumram Bheem.

Polo to be developed at Jodeghat

An Adivasi horse rider performing a show  

The plateau on the hills around the historical Jodeghat in Asifabad district will be developed as a ground for Polo game which was a popular game playing with a ball and stick while riding a horse in ordered to develop the area as best tourist place to attract the tourists from across the world.

Telangana State Tourism Development Corporation Chairman Pervaram Ramulu said the series of beautiful hills with huge plateau area is much suitable for Polo game and Adivasis used to ride horses in the past as a warrior and horse are symbolic to the war and that of Polo game. He observed the hilly area is more suitable for the adventure sports.

Pervaram Ramulu said the hill area look like Kullu Manali in Himachal Pradesh but here in Jodeghat there will not snow falling like Kullu Manali.

He said Jodeghat is a battlefield and Adivasi legendary Kumram Bheem laid his life fighting with Nizam forces for the Jal, Jangal, and Jameen and described the Kumram Bheem as a real hero.

He said he examined the Jodeghat area when he was a top police officer and even traveled by road and knew the weather conditions of the area.

Pervaram Ramulu promised to give jobs to the local Adivasi unemployed youth to be created in the process of developing the Jodeghat area as best tourist place under Telangana Tourism Corporation and added that nearly 1,000 jobs could be created in the project.

He observed that four months from April to July are not suitable for the tourism at Jodeghat while August to February months suitable to conduct adventure sports to attract the tourists from across the world.

Agri lands going into feudal hands

The valuable agriculture lands are going into the hands of the feudal lords in and around the Nirmal and Mancherial towns in the wake of the creation of new districts. 

These agriculture lands will be converted into plots or to be used for the construction of apartments.

The landlords and political leaders have been purchased hundreds of acres of lands  since Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao announced the creation of Nirmal, Mancherial a few days ago and now Asifabad district.

Land transactions in crores of rupees took place in Mancherial and Nirmal towns and subsequently land registrations and this was quite visible.

According to reports, land transactions picked up in and around the Asifabad town and local businessmen and political leaders were busy in purchasing lands since Asifabad was announced as a new district.

Businessmen are targeting the distressed farmers eyeing their lands and purchasing their lands by offering some hiked prices. Political leaders purchased agriculture lands for future purposes in Mamada, Laxmanchanda, Dilawarpur, Khanapur, Sarangapur, Neredigonda mandals which share borders with Nirmal town.

Same is the case with the Mancherial district. The land transaction is high in Jaipur,Luxettipet and Mandamarri mandals sharing borders with the Mancherial town. Land value rose abnormally in Jaipur mandal with eth establishment of the Singreni thermal power project.

If one goes by the records of landholdings, even today traditional landlord communities were dominant in and around the Mancherial and Nirmal areas and owned big tracts of agriculture lands and invested in real estate ventures on the outskirts of these towns.

Traditional feudal communities are strong politically and economically and now they are getting strengthened with the real estate boom created by the new districts. These feudal forces have been controlling the sand mining and timber smuggling for long time in the Adilabad district.  

The feudal communities have faced a setback with the increased Naxal activities in the Adilabad district till 2004 when the then Congress government led by late YS. Rajasekhar Reddy held talks with the Naxalites in the United Andhra Pradesh.

Naxals activities gradually decreased during a Telangana agitation and now their activities are nominal and confined to few packets along the river Pranahitha and Godavari.

A senior political leader of CPI( M) said feudal forces regained ground with Telangana agitation and now are in a position to control the economic and political activity in the new districts Mancherial and Nirmal.

New districts: encroachments intact

The municipal and revenue officials have failed to remove encroachments in the new to- be- created districts Mancherial and Nirmal while municipal officials removing few encroachments in Adilabad and Kagaznagar.

There is a shortage of government buildings to accommodate new offices in the Nirmal and Mancherial districts and some government educational institutions were taken over to accommodate government offices there.

These towns were also facing a shortage of government lands for the construction of new buildings for government offices in the new districts.This shows the failure of the officials in preserving government lands to serve the public interest.     

The land prices are skyrocketing in the Mancherial and Nirmal towns and these towns are experiencing real estate boom in the wake of the creation of new districts.

Land grabbers and encroachers are on the prowl eyeing on government lands worth crores of rupees.

There are strong allegations that municipal and revenue officials indirectly extending support to the land encroachers who had political patronage.

Revenue officials are playing a crucial role on various accounts in setting up new districts. There are strong corruption allegations against the top revenue officials in the Mancherial and Nirmal.

Adilabad municipal authorities have started dismantling the buildings constructed encroached on nalas, local tanks and government assigned lands. Municipal officials have failed to initiate action for clearing encroachments and restoring the valuable government lands from the clutches of the land grabbers.

It is surprising to note that roads are being laid into the Dharmasagar tank to make way in the Nirmal town. Municipal, revenue and agriculture officials have failed to prevent such efforts made by the encroachers and become mere spectators. 

It is surprising that new encroachments are coming up unabatedly instead of being removing the old ones.

Some fishermen of the Budawarpet have stopped the encroachers dumping soil by the excavator on the Shikam land of Dharmasagar tank on Thursday. 

Already a portion of Dharmasagar tank was encroached as the tank was adjacent to the main road and close to the bus stand where the land value was in crores after Nirmal declared as a new district.

Asifabad to be named after Kumram Bheem

Kumram Bheem 

In the changed political scenario, Asifabad district will be named after Adivasi legendary Kumram Bheem instead of Mancherial as Asifabad will have more tribal mandals.

Adivasi culture was concentrated in and around the Asifabad. Adivasis ruled the Asifabad and Sirpur (T) area before the 18^th Century and there was Adivasi dynasty in that area.

Kumram Bheem fought against Nizam forces for self-rule on 12 villages and for Jal ,Jangal and Jameen.

Historical Jodeghat is close to the Asifabad and Kumram Bheem was died fighting with the Nizam’s forces at Jodeghat in Kerameri mandal on September1,1940 and postmortem was conducted to Komuram Bheem’s body at Government hospital in Asifabad.                       

People of Asifabad and its surrounding areas are jubilant in mood and celebrated the news that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to create new district with Asifabad its headquarters.

Adivasis were not happy naming the Mancherial district after Kumram Bheem as there was less number of Adivasis population and Adivasis’ culture and traditions are not prevalent in Mancherial like in Asifabad and Utnoor areas.

Asifabad MLA Kova Laxmi thanked the Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for considering the proposal for creation of Asifabad as new district and added that the interior tribal areas in the Constituency will be developed and Adivasi’s culture and traditions will be protected and will be carry forward to new generations.   

Freedom fighter and Telangana protagonist late Konda Laxman Bapuji first contested on Congress party ticket as MLA from the Asifabad Assembly Constituency of Adilabad district in 1952. He was native of Wankidi mandal headquarters and just 20 km from Asifabad in Adilabad district.

Spurt in cardiac-related ailments

2 D Echo machine use in diagnosis for cardiac problems 

Cardiac problems are on the rise in the Adilabad district, most of which are attributed to smoking, alcoholism, junk food, hypertension and working long hours in the same place.

Alcohol consumption is rampant in the Adilabad district and district has topped in the liquor sales in the state. The sale of cheap liquor, Gudumba (illicitly distilled liquor), spurious toddy is also high in the Adilabad shares borders with the Maharashtra.           

The habit of chewing tobacco and smoking beedi is predominant among the Adivasis and a section of people in the district.

According to official sources, people of Adilabad have consumed all kinds of liquor worth Rs 573 crore in the year 2014-15 and Rs 715 crore in 2015-16.      

Medical experts say that people are eating more food containing high levels of carbohydrates leads to cardiac related health problems especially with the changed life styles unlike in the past.

It is found that some of the people not doing any physical work and having sedentary lifestyles are at higher risk.

According to medical experts, the number of patients suffering from cardiac-related health problem and being treated at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Science (RIMS), Adilabad has increased in the last one year.

Intensive Cardiac Care Unit (ICCU) which was established at RIMS witnessing  several patients suffering from cardiac problems and the number of deaths has increased.

Some of the elderly persons suffering from cardiac problems coupled with the respiratory problems such as Asthma were at heightened risk.

Cardiologist Dr. Anjani Kiranmayi is now supervising the ICCU at RIMS and attending the patients. A 2D Echo unit has been set up attached to the ICCU for a speedy diagnosis.

An awareness health camp was organized for the senior citizens about the cardiac related health problems and how to avoid them by taking some precautions. Screening tests conducted to outpatients suffering from cardiac-related health problems at RIMS.

Adivasis' tools in museum

Tools and instruments that the Adivasis use in day- to-day life have an antique value that needs to be preserved for the posterity. 

Some of these items  that the Adivasis had collected and put on view at the recently concluded ‘Giri Ustav’ at Utnoor will be kept in the tribal museum being constructed at Jodeghat in Kerameri where Kumram Bheem died to fight with Nizam forces in the 1940s.

The state government has sanctioned Rs 25 crores to develop the Jodeghat as a tourist spot with the memorial, tribal museum, and open auditorium.     

The just concluded Giri Ustav helped the officials in collecting the tools, instruments of Adivasis, which reflect their tradition, and culture displayed at Giri Ustav by the Adivasis came from across the district.

The Giri Ustav, organized by the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Utnoor , in collaboration with the Telangana Tourism, enabled officials to collect the tools, instruments, and ornaments of the Adivasis.

Some trends, such as the wearing of modern clothes by the tribals were of more recent vintage and out of their own interest, cultural experts said and did not reflect their real traditions or practices of yore.

They felt that there was a need for screening the present Adivasi culture, based on the original traditions and customs, before documenting them.          

The Gonds, Thoti, Pardhan, Erukala, Naikpod, Koya, Kolam, Mannewar, Lambada and other tribal groups exhibited their culture and tradition and performed their dances and displayed many instruments and tools that they had been using on the special occasions since their forefathers’ time.

Some had become extinct through sheer disuse, with modern equipment having replaced them, and the younger generations, having no idea how to use some of the ancient implements, had stored them away.

Adivasi leader Sidam Arju of Adilabad said that the display of these tools and other articles of daily use in this manner was a good way for the new generation of Adivasis to get acquainted with their own rich past.

Few cultural and traditions aspects of some Adivasi groups have influenced with people of plain areas and they have changed a lot and influenced with Hindu religion on Adivasis especially Andh group.

‘Their dressing style and some cultural aspects were new assimilated from Hindu non- tribals’, he observed and cultural experts should be very careful while identifying the real culture of Adivasis before they exhibit in the tribal museum.

He said Adivasi have their own 'Adi Dharma' such as ‘Pandi Parikupari Lingo’, ‘Raithad Jango’ and will not come under Hindu religion.    

Nomadic students join state schools

 Nakkalollu which comes under denotified tribals ( DNT) 

Nearly 2,500 children belonging to 26 BC nomadic and semi- nomadic castes were admitted to the government schools for the first time this year thanks to the BC Corporation. These castes come under Denotified tribals (DNT).

    

There are thousands of children of these nomadic BC communities out of school in the state. The  nomadic and semi- nomadic BC castes in nature have been identified including Balasanthula, Budubukkala, Dommara, Pamula, Gangireddula, Mondivaru, Banda, Veeramusti, Mandula and Pambala.  

The state government’s initiation will go a long way in bringing them to the schools. These nomadic and semi- nomadic castes in Backward Communities were included in the A- Group       

BC Empowerment Council of Telangana, Coordinator Durgam Subbarao said, ‘it is good to focus on NDTs child education in Telangana. A special component plan for the NDTs and government must allocate 10 percent of annual plan budget for them’.

The state government is making efforts to take special initiatives for the welfare and development most backward caste among the Backward Communities and reach the benefits to these communities.

BC Welfare Minister Jogu Ramanna said they have conducted a survey and have identified 26 castes as nomadic in nature among the existing BC communities and focusing on the development and welfare of these communities in the BCs in the state.

He said they have admitted nearly 2,500 children of nomadic BC communities to the government schools this year and they were for the first time entered into the educational institutions.

As per the GO MS N0: 15 there are total 144 castes in Backward Community’s list. Among them, 26 have been identified as most backward communities in the BCs in the Telangana state.

Efforts are being made to bring these BC communities in nomadic nature into the mainstream. It is found in the survey that these communities move from one place to another place in search of food, begging and no permanent shelter were not in a position to avail government schemes due to their nomadic nature.

People of these communities rarely find a place in the voter's list and integrated social survey conducted by the state and central governments.  

This stage managed wedding was for real

Two underprivileged Adivasi youngsters got married without spending a single rupee. It was part of the marriage ritual to showcase an Adivasi wedding as part of Giri Ustav-2016 held at Utnoor on September 16 and 17.

The couples got married for real and even got Rs 51,000 financial help on the spot under the Kalyana Laxmi scheme. Their relatives who attended the marriage had a good lunch at the event.

These two couples are being considered as celebrities by their fellow Adivasis who wanted to be photographed with newlyweds.

One Gond couple is from Salevada in Utnoor mandal and another, a Koya couple is from Somini village in Bejjur mandal. 

Their relatives are considering them as a luckiest couple as their marriage was solemnized traditionally during the Giri Ustav with hundreds of Adivasis and elected public representatives were witnessing the auspicious event.

Utensils were gifted to these couples after their wedding and MLAs, ministers Jogu Ramanna and Allola Indrakaran Reddy took photographs with them.

Adivasi leader Sedmaki Seetharam said they were looking for a bride and groom to take part in the traditional marriage rituals to perform a marriage at Giri Ustav. 

Luckily they come across prospective bride and groom Mesram Sheshrao and Vachalabai of Salewada village whose match was already in the process. The second couple is Thorram Kishore and Sidam Soni of Koya of Somini village in Bejjur manal.

Newly wedded Mesram Sheshrao said he got rare opportunity to get married as part of Giri Ustav amidst thousands of Adivasis and well-known leaders and MLAs, project officer and ministers which were not possible otherwise.

They registered the marriage immediately under Kalyana Laxmi and got financial benefit under the scheme with the intervention of the senior officials.

The scheme had come under the criticism because of a scam that was unearthed but fortunately for these two lucky couples it was smooth sailing all the way. An auspicious start to a new life undoubtedly !

Dalit student in 'Poorna' lead role

 Korri Manoj of Adilabad with Rahul Bose 

A Dalit student from Adilabad Korri Manoj,17,got rare opportunity to play a lead role in Hindi movie (bilingual) ‘Poorna’, directed and produced by Rahul Bose of Bollywood.

It is all about the inspirational film being directed, produced and also acted by the Rahul Bose. It is all about an inspirational film being directed and acted by Rahul Bose.   

Manoj comes from a poor family background but had natural talent in various fields. Manoj is a resident of Kursheednagar colony in Adilabad town.

   

The movie ‘Poorna’is based on the life of the mountaineer Malavath Poorna of Nizamabad who scaled Mt Everest as youngest girl in the world when she was just 13 years. The movie is a biopic about Malavath Poorna, a tribal girl from Telangana.

Manoj was selected after audition tests by Rahul Bose for the lead role since he had physical fitness and experience in acting.

He is now working as a resource person for ‘Theater Arts’ programme being conducted for students of Social Welfare Residential Schools during summer vacations.      

S. Anand Kumar also scaled the Everest along with the Poorna and both were students of Social Welfare Residential School . 

Manoj has played Anand’s role (fellow mountaineer) in the Poorna movie which has been shot at various places and is about to release.

Manoj is studying BiPc second year at Magnet school of Social Welfare at Stationghanpur in Warangal district. Earlier he studied at Asifabad social welfare residential school in Adilabad district. Manoj is good at screenplay writing, lyrics and theater arts. 

Another boy, Avinash of Ichoda, also acted as Anand’s friend in the Poorna film. Avinash is also a student of Bellampalli Residential School.

Speaking to this newspaper, K. Manoj who played Anand’s role in Poorna film said few scenes shot in his role while he was trekking the Mount Everest along with Aditi Inandar, who is playing the role of Malavath Poorna at Darjeeling, Sikkim, Bhutan and Mumbai. He added he can’t reveal more about the shooting and movie before its release.

Manoj said he learned many acting skills from Rahul Bose and other senior Bengal artists while acting a lead role in Poorna and it was a lifetime experience working with the senior actors. He said he was so excited while traveling in the Airplanes to various places for shooting as he boarded the Airplane first time in his life.  

It is learned that Rahul Bose is playing a coaching role, depicting R.S Praveen Kumar, secretary of the then Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Residential Schools Society who motivated both Poorna and Anand in professional training in rock climbing and also in trekking Mt Everest on behalf of the government.       

Gandhari vanam is new attraction

The Gandhari Vanam, a unique park came up near Mysamma temple at Bokkalagutta area is already creating curiosity in Mancherial being created as a new district. 

The park will be a much longed for lung space to the people of the much-polluted coal belt area where opencast mines and ceramic industries cause   massive pollution in the new district.

The park comprises of a children’s park, walking the track, natural park, deer park , Ayurveda vanam and Shruti vanam is coming up on 600 acres on the out skirts of  Mancherial town. The vanam is developed with the Rs 3 crore funds contributed by the MP Balka Suman and Chennur MLA Nallala Odelu.

Gandhari vanam is developed by the forest department as part of tourism development in the area and convert the area as a tourist spot.

According to forest officials, there will be nearly 1,000 varieties plants cultivated in the park and also Jalavihar boating facility to entertain children and elder alike.

Gandhari Vanam is close to the popular Gandhari Mysamma temple located in the limestone quarries in Madamarri mandal.

Mancherial DFO Dr. B. Prabhakar said the ‘Gandhari Vanam will become popular with the citizens and tourists.

Hundreds of devotees throng the Gandhari Mysamma temple (a village deity)  every week and sacrifice goats and hens and celebrate feats there and the place is a popular one among the people of the coal belt area.

Mancherial town expansion has grown by leaps and bounds and registered speedy growth and development on various accounts. The town has now almost connected with the Mandamarri town with the coming up new colonies in between.

Mancherial is emerging as a town with a lot of economic activity including real estate boom in the wake of state governments’ decision to create Mancherial as a new district.

Farmer suicides on the rise in Adilabad

interacting with Kalabai, wife of deceased farmer Lachanna 

Farmer suicides have been rising in the last two months in the district. Farmers, affected by the prolonged dry spell, untimely rains and resultant poor yields were the ones who took the extreme step. 

As many as 14 farmers have committed suicide in the last two months in the district. Some of them were young, bellow 30 years of age.

According to sources, six farmers committed suicide in July and another six in August. Two farmers have ended their life this month in the district. the majority of these suicides took place due to mounted debt and lack of germination of seeds.

As many as 50 farmers have committed suicide till now from January, 2016.

A many as 224 farmers- 73 in 2014, 101 in 2015 and 50 in 2016 have committed suicide in the Adilabad district in Telangana state. The state government has issued GO: 173 enhancing the compensation to Rs 6 lakh from Rs 1.5 lakh.

Famers had taken loans from the private moneylenders at exorbitant interest rates  and in the second round of sowing, incurred a huge loss in the process. The distressed farmers went for second sowing and incurred a huge loss in terms of investment cost. Unwanted rains and subsequent floods caused some damage to the standing crops.

Among those who committed suicide were Mekala Lachanna,52, of Dhanora village and Gajjeri Gajananad, 24, of Karanji village in both in Tamsi; Bhanoth Maruthi,30, of  Khairiguda in Rebbena mandal.

Tenant farmer Mekala Lachanna of Dhanora and Adivasi farmer Atram Mutta,38, of  Kakarbuddi of Sirpur(U) committed suicide on September1.

Lachanna took the 14 acres of land on lease and cultivated cotton in eight acres, turmeric in three acres and soya in two acres but lost cotton due to prolonged dry spell. He incurred a huge loss due to second sowing.

His wife Kalabai said they had borrowed Rs 3 lakh from private moneylenders and intermediaries for agriculture and her husband took the extreme step because of disappointment over the poor germination of seeds and mounting debt.               

Rythu Athmahatyala Nivarana Committee district president Sangepu Borranna said farmer suicides were on the rise since two months due to floods and prolonged dry spell and added that the weather conditions had played spoilsport.

He said the three-men committee at mandal and division level were not considering these suicides as related to agriculture distress.

There was prolonged dry spell in August when plants need moisture in the soil to grow. There was unwanted heavy rain in July and floods inundated the standing crops in some part of the district.

According to sources, the average district actual rainfall was 915.3 mm from June1 to September 12. As many as 42 mandals received normal rainfall, six mandals  got excessive rainfall while there was rain deficit in four mandals in the district.

The huge delay in banks giving crop loans and low scale of finance forced farmers to approach private moneylenders. Most of the tenant farmers did not get crop loans from the banks for Kharif.

Better connectivity with new mandals

The creation of new mandals as part of new districts will improve the road connectivity in the interior areas in Mancherial and parent Adilabad districts.

The news is making rounds that state government is planning to create new mandal Penchikalpet from existing Bejjur mandal and Chinthalamanapalli from existing Kautala mandal and Adilabad rural mandal from existing Adilabdad mandal.

It is said that two new mandals are being created in Macherial district while one in parent Adilabad district.

Already, inter- state bridge on river Pranahitha is under construction that will boost the transportation between Telangana and border Maharashtra.

Two lane –road is being laid between Sirpur (T) to Kautala mandals. There is a proposal of laying two-lane road between Kautala to Eturunagaram of Warangal district.

The existing inter- state bridge at Venkatraopet in Sirpur (T) mandal is already enabling the transportation between coal belt area of Telangana and Chandrapur district of Maharashtra.

C. Mallaiah of Kautala mandal headquarters said the creation of new mandals Penchikalpet and Chinthalamanapalli would improve the road connectivity in the interiors along the river Pranahitha.

He said there is an existing single road to Penchikalpet, 30 km from Bejjur mandal headquarters and Chinthalamanapalli, 15 km from Kautala mandal headquarters.

The state government is laying new roads linking the mandal headquarters and also internal roads in the mandals. This may go a long way in case of interior Sirpur (T) Assembly constituency as far as road connectivity is concerned.

High-level bridges coming up at various places replacing the low-level bridges which have become a hurdle in free of transportation in the monsoon as they are being submerged in the flood water and affecting the road connectivity to the interior areas in the Sirpur (T) Assembly Constituency.

The same is the case with the creation of new mandal Adilabad rural in the Adilabad Assembly constituency. There are many interior Adivasi gudems in the Adilabad mandal and new Adilabad rural mandal is being created now with these interior villages.

There is no proper road connectivity to many interior Adivasis gudems including Wanvat, Shashidari Khanapur in the existing Adilabad mandal. The Adilabad rural mandal may be created with Mavala as its headquarters.  

Creation of districts will badly affect DSC

The creation of new districts is likely to hit the recruitment of teacher posts under DSC in the state. The state government has announced that it would give notification for 9,000 teacher posts but continued the academic year with Vidya Volunteers. 

The state government should adjust the existing posts before giving notification for new recruitment.

The unemployed- youth waiting for DSC disappointed a lot with the division of existing districts, as they will become non- locals to the new districts and already teacher posts were exhausted in government schools around the parent district headquarters and no scope for new posts.

Posts are lying vacant in the government schools in the interior areas in the new districts to be created - Mancherial and Nirmal but unemployed youth do not get the full benefit of those teacher posts to be recruited in future.

Hardly find 30 vacancies of SGT teacher posts while School Assistant posts were a surplus in the government schools in the Adilabad, Bela, Jainad, Talamdugu and Tamsi mandals while hundreds of vacancies in the government schools in the areas in Nirmal and Mancherial.

A large number of government teachers are working in Mancherial and Nirmal areas as there were no vacancies in the Adilabad area.

There are 46 Zilla Parishad High School in plain area and 53 in the Agency areas in the Adilabad Taluq. Meanwhile, there are 106 high schools in Nirmal area that too in the fully plain area.  There are more vacancies of teacher posts in interior Tanoor and Kubheer mandals sharing border with the Maharashtra

District general secretary of TUSTF A. Venkat said filling government teachers posts is not an easy to process in the wake of the creation of the new district and added that state government has to first adjust posts lying vacant with the native teachers working in other places going by their bonafide and service book.

The state government will give notification for the left over vacancies only after completing this process and it can create supernumerary posts instead filling up regular posts if it is necessary.

Teachers Union demanding the state government to transfer the non- tribals teacher working in tribal areas to plain areas and fill up the vacancies with the tribals as per the G NO: 3.