Keeping in mind the 2019 elections, the TRS-led Telangana government has announced several schemes for artisans and communities engaged in different traditional occupations in its annual budget.
The government has decided to procure and distribute 84 lakh sheep over the next two years to four lakh Yadava families, traditionally dependent on sheep rearing. Certain communities such as Gangaputra, Bestha, Goondla, Bantu, Mudiraj/Tenugu and Boya are dependent on fisheries and the government has promised more impetus to this sector.
Nayi Brahmins, traditionally the barber community, have been offered a special assistance to set up modern, cleaner and hygienic hair cutting saloons. Washermen in the states have been promised washing machines, driers and ironing-boxes.
Communities like Vishwakarma, Avusula, Kammari, Kanchari, and Vadrang—who are artisans and use their hands and equipment for their profession—will get financial assistance and modern tools for their work. The Gouds, whose profession is toddy tapping, will also be extended help from the government.
Interestingly, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao's pet project of two bedroom houses for the rural poor did not get any fund allocation. It was not mentioned in last year's budget either. KCR had promised to build 2.6 lakh two-bedroom houses for the poor. In December last, KCR inaugurated 500 houses with great fanfare in his adopted villages of Erravalli in Siddipet district and Narsannapet in Markook mandal.
Though the chief minister is likely to give a boost to this scheme before the elections, many builders are reportedly refusing to take up construction work due to meager profit they earn from it, though the government is offering them sand and cement at a cheaper rate and other incentives.
To discourage rural women from moving to cities for their deliveries, the government has sanctioned Rs 12,000 each to women who will get their delivery done in a government hospital. An additional amount of Rs 1000 would be given to women who have baby girls. These women will be provided with a kit consisting of 16 essential items needed to bring up a baby for the first three months. The kit, named as `KCR kit' will be in the line of Tamil Nadu's 'AmmaKit' introduced by late former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa. This will cost the exchequer a whopping Rs 605 crore.
The government has also allocated Rs 1,000 crore for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and has promised that the city's trammeled roads will be soon repaired, which will cost the government around Rs 350 crore. The government has also sanctioned Rs 377 crore as part of its plan to clean the Musi river, which is more or less an open sewer.
