The Rural Opposition - a Counter Intuitive Outcome for the Telugu Desam Party

THE RURAL OPPOSITION:

A COUNTER INTUITIVE OUTCOME FOR THE TELUGU DESAM PARTY

by Group V1, Section 4, Batch of 2011-13 consisting of Ashwini Rao, M. Krishna Kranth, Pranaynehru T, Romit Jain and Vijay Pandey.

1. Introduction

In this article, we discuss how the pro IT policies of the then Telugu Desam Party under the leadership of N. Chandra Babu Naidu led to an increased resentment among the people and farmers in particular, an outcome directly counter to what the government intended to achieve (improve state economy by concentrating on the Tertiary sector).  We also represent this counter intuitive outcome with a causal loop diagram, and show how it arose as a result of overlooking an important factor in the whole problem.

1. Background

On March 29, 1982, Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (NTR), a well-known Telugu actor, established the Telugu Desam Party(TDP) in the state of Andhra Pradesh(AP) as an alternative to the ruling Congress Party.  Due to the immense popularity of NTR and an efficient poll campaign, the party gained power in a record 9 months after establishment. It also won 30 of 42 MP seats in AP during the same general elections and became the largest opposition party in Lok Sabha. During the tenure of NTR as the Chief Minister, TDP party under him was responsible for introducing many of the development programs undertaken. The NTR government implemented many schemes such as Rs. 2 for a kilogram rice for poor, prohibition of liquor in the state etc [1].  

Though popular among the people, this left a huge impact on the revenue towards the state. When Nara Chandra Babu Naidu took over the realms of the party and the state on September 1, 1995, the government implemented a new policy structure. The government’s plan was to increase the revenue of the state so as to spend on the innovative development programs that were introduced (like Janmabhoomi- A program had planting as its theme so as to encourage harmony). In order to strengthen its revenue, the Chandra Babu government has scraped the ban on alcohol. Also, it removed the scheme of free education for engineering and medical students. The government identified industrialization as a possible solution for the revenue problem. For this the then government established a number of industrial development areas, invited many organizations to establish their production units. Computerization of the work was also an important task that was taken up by the government. As a part of its plan the government also decided to encourage the newly rising IT industry in AP. For this, it developed many facilities in and around Hyderabad for the companies to come and hire the readily available, technically competent workforce.

1. Decision and Expected Outcome                                                                                                   

The government reasoned that if enough employment opportunities were provided for the youth of the state, it solves one of the biggest problem faced by the state. For this, the government of AP has incentivized many IT companies by giving away office space, land and other resources at a subsidized rate. To support the requirements of the various companies a strong policy increasing the number of engineering colleges in the state has been implemented, due to which the number colleges have been increased tremendously from 50 in 1997 to 225 in 2003-2004[2].