The face of 80-year-old Munaswamy from Vijayapuram in Nagari assembly segment reflects the struggles he endured as a farmer in Rayalaseema’s parched fields. Every wrinkle tells a story of the sheer gamble he had to take with unpredictable monsoons and unkept official promises in a region ever hungry for water. As a young man, he had hoped for the situation to improve, but witnessed with dismay the steady decline of his livelihood and mourned the loss of his fellow farmers to despair.
Perhaps that’s why the old-timer meets news of potential industrial growth in the region with a quiet prayer on his lips. “I hope the younger generation doesn’t have to toil like us. With the climate increasingly becoming hostile, agriculture has lost its appeal here. We need industrial establishments that can employ our young,” he says. Munaswamy’s family is one of the few that readily accepted the government’s move to acquire a parcel of their land in Nagari revenue division.
“I hope the younger generation doesn’t have to toil like us. With the climate increasingly becoming hostile, agriculture has lost its appeal here. We need industrial establishments that can employ our young”
Munaswamy
Elderly farmer
