Andhra: Volunteers come under attack by Opposition; Jagan stands by his loyal 'army'

Government-appointed village and ward volunteers are at the forefront of serving the people in Andhra Pradesh.

They are the ones who disburse the cash given to people under welfare schemes. The role of volunteers is prominent in village secretariats because they act as the representatives of the government selecting beneficiaries and ensuring they receive the aid. 

The details of who is the beneficiary and who is not in every house are literally in their hands, as the government has given them a tab, smartphone, and biometric device. The details of the elderly, disabled, widows and other disabled persons, and details of employees and those doing business are with them. They also know the details of how many people in a house get assistance from the government through welfare schemes.

This is why the 2.8 lakh volunteers in Andhra Pradesh came under the Opposition's radar.

Even though their salary is not more than ₹5,000, they are all loyal to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. They are grateful for him for this job as they were unemployed earlier. He calls the volunteer system a l'ifeline for the underprivileged'. However, their position as a volunteer makes them powerful. And in the villages, they are held in more esteem than the sarpanchs (village heads). In fact,

 the sarpanchs are angry that the volunteers have encroached on the Panchayat office, and that people are flocking around the volunteers and ignoring them.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was afraid that Jagan will use this army of volunteers, loyal to him, to damage their prospects in the upcoming elections.

The TDP, Janasena and BJP alliance have been arguing from the beginning that volunteers should be kept away from their work during elections. After the election schedule was announced, the NDA alliance was strongly against the volunteers carrying out their duties. The government refused to act until the appropriate orders were received from the Election Commission.

Notably, the Opposition may have a point since the volunteers mostly hail from the ruling party. These workers who earn ₹5,000 as an honorarium are appointed on the recommendation of the MLAs, a process that has come under criticism by the Opposition.

The NDA alliance, however, has also promised job continuity and higher salaries for these volunteers. This means that they also want the volunteer system to continue when they come to power. However, the Opposition fears they will not win unless these volunteeers are kept out of the upcoming elections. To that extent, Citizens for Democracy, an association of retired IAS officers, filed a petition explaining why volunteers should not be involved in election duties.

The bench, which considered the petition, ordered the volunteers to be stay away from election duties. Due to this, the distribution of social pension in the month of April is getting delayed, which is causing a lot of unrest.

The court judgment on volunteers being kept away from their work during elections has been significant. Masking idols, erasing wall writings and setting aside anything that can influence voters is a common practice during elections. Keeping the volunteers away from their duties falls under this category, said political observers. 

But, the ruling party seems to dragging their feet on distributing the pensions. The court had ordered that pensions must be completed by Gram Secretariat employees. The state government issued orders to the secretariat employees to implement it. However, proper measures have not been taken to monitor and provide the pensions on time. It is surprising that the state chief secretary said that the distribution time will take at least ten days.

Government officials have already confiscated the equipment from the volunteers. Presently, the volunteers have nothing to do with the government programmes.

However, the Opposition insists that volunteers cannot be stopped from talking or working with anyone. But no one has the authority to detain them, as they are free to move around like any other common person. The Opposition fears their existence and the power they wield with families.

The volunteer system is open to serious debate in current day politics. Maybe, there are ways the system can be bettered. But for now the system cannot be done away with completely since welfare schemes need to reach the people and if the issue gets politicised, people will not forgive the government in power, said CPI secretary group member Ravulapalli Rabindranath.