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3 MARCH 2 14II GLIMPSES

Ihad written last week thatas we raced towards theenhanced target required

for the rice scheme, reaching16.30 lakh tonnes by August1983, the Centre was getting

alarmed by the success of therice programme. Also com-pounding the relations wasthe remark of Chief Minister

Rama Rao that the Centrewas a myth. At this stage Ihad a visit by the Managing

Director of the FCI, Delhi ac-companied by the Zonal Man-ager of the FCI, Madras.

The Managing Director

(MD) expressed the Centresunease at our large procure-ment, affecting what the Cen-tre considered the overall

interests of the country andstated that the FCI would notreceive any more procured

rice in AP. Procurementshould stop now. All sorts oftheories were advanced byhim such as distortion of the

normal markets by excessiveprocurement; absence ofwarehousing, shortage of staff

etc. Having been the SeniorRegional Manager of the FCI,Andhra Pradesh just six yearsearlier and expanded the oper-

ations of the FCI in the regionenormously, as explained byme in one of my previous ar-ticles, I was not impressed by

any of these arguments but Iknew the real reason was thatthe Centre was uncomfortable

with the success of the rice

programme. I countered thearguments of the MD, FCI bystating among other things

that it would be entirely in theinterest of the FCI to be partof this unprecedented effort in

AP but if the FCI did notwant to cooperate then wewould use the Andhra

Pradesh State Civil SuppliesCorporation Limited (APSC-

SCL) to do the levy procure-ment. The MD said that inthat event the Centre wouldhave the Reserve Bank of

India cut off the credit line tothe APSCSCL. Now that thegloves were off, I told the MDif ever AP was prevented from

implementing this pro-poorprogramme the FCI wouldfind itself no more operating

in AP. I reckoned that in foodmatters AP meant practicallyall of South and that as thingsstood the FCI had no worth-

while presence in the Southoutside AP, considering it hadno presence whatsoever inTamil Nadu; had negligible

procurement in Karnatakaand no work in Kerala otherthan transporting and storing

rice procured in AP and else-where. My job in all these bat-tles was not rendered easy bythe fact that that the top civil

servants running the foodmatters at Delhi at this timewere my seniors from theAndhra Pradesh IAS. To cut a

long story short, AP pro-ceeded to achieve its objec-tives through buying levy free

rice from the rice milling in-dustry at prices negotiatedwith them that were relativelyquite low and entered the new

crop year 1983-84 with nodamage done to the rice pro-gramme. If the Centre hadthought that the price at

which the APSCSCL wouldbe forced to buy levy free riceat such enormously high

prices that it would break theback of AP, they were mis-taken as it did not happen.The Centre had not reckoned

that Rama Raos political willand the judgment of Justice

Jeevan Reddy mentioned in

my last article had made ourposition impregnable as weentered into negotiations withthe millers regarding the price

at which we would buy theadditional quantities weneeded through the APSC-SCL. Still, one good thing that

helped us in the midst of allthis confrontation was thecommitment of the Centre to

stand by the original agree-ment of letting AP procure 15lakh tonnes of rice on centralaccount and drawing ten lakh

tonnes from out of them al-lowing AP the considerable

built-in subsidy in the CentresConsumer Issue Price, ex-

FCI. With that quantity ofrice we would be able to runthe programme for part of the

crop season but come Rabiseason we had to makearrangements for purchase oflevy free rice from the millers

at a negotiated price higherthan the levy price.As we fought on against di-

verse forces there was greatunhappiness on the part of asection of the millers and theirpolitical patrons that the way

law was being enforced lim-ited their mutual benefits. Not

all the millers though, forthere were millers from cer-

tain districts like East andWest Godavari who were gen-uinely inclined to cooperate

with the administration. Thiswas because, thanks to the re-lentless pressure on rice pro-curement, the farmers

benefited with buoyant pricesand the millers benefited be-cause of the prices outside thestate being kept high by our

regulating the outflow of theAndhra Pradesh rice, armed

by the decision we had won in

the High Court. The domesticrice prices were kept in check

by the release of half the levyfree rice eligibility of themillers in to the AP market ac-

cording to a regulatedmonthly rice budget. The situ-ation was as comfortable as itcould be excepting for certain

politically influential millerswho also were members ofthe ruling party. They were

constantly manufacturing sto-ries that ranged from extremedistress to the millers to offi-cers making policy, ignoring

the party. Unwittingly, theCM was prone to trustingthem because he was still inthe opposition mode.

It is against this backgroundthat the APSCSCL had to buylevy free rice from the millers

at negotiated prices to makeup for the enhanced need ofthe rice programme in 1984. Iproposed to the Government

that we set up a Committee ofCollectors of districts that con-tributed most to procurementto negotiate with the millers

the price at which the APSC-SCL should buy this rice; theirrecommendation would then

go to the Government and theCabinet for decision. TheCommittee of Collectors con-ducted these negotiations and

their recommendations wereput up to the Chief Ministerthrough the Chief Secretary.While everything was thus

being done systematically andhonestly, the CM found faultwith the Collectors for having

recommended excessive pricein favour of the millers. Heclearly hinted that they werefavouring the millers, which

was completely incorrect. Ifound out during my discus-sions with him that he hadcome to that conclusion even

without so much as reading

the elab-orate notingon the file.Now, if leaders do not read

files and do not fully trust theircivil servants either, the win-ners are those who do not have

the public interest in theirhearts but have the ear of theleaders. I pointed out to theCM that Collectors only make

recommendations; that thiswas a collegiate recommenda-tion by a committee of many

Collectors with little scope forconferring favours; anyway,there was my recommenda-tion that a Cabinet Sub Com-

mittee should consider all theaspects for determining theprice after the subject reachedthe Cabinet; and it was there-

fore unfair to make remarksabout Collectors who wereleading unprecedented efforts

to make the rice scheme suc-ceed. The response of the CMwas that the price should bediscussed with certain leaders

of his Party and he mentionedspecifically the name of aparty leader against whom theadministration had initiated

action only a little while earlierfor violating the provisions ofthe law relating to the rice

milling industry. It required nogreat analysis to understandthe motive sold to the CM bythe forces behind this idea. For

them the time had come to re-sume control over the millingindustry and the civil supplies

administration needed to bediscredited. What better thandemote the institution of theCollector that leads the law en-

forcement from the front? In-terestingly, the CM at thisstage started using the expres-sion officers interchange-

ably with Collectors. The only

officer handling the issue

was the Commissioner and Idid not miss the message.

I had come to the conclu-sion owing to a number of

episodes over several monthsin the run up to this event thatworking with leaders, who

looked at the civil service asscapegoats, was not a greatdistinction and had sought andgone on leave with a view to

seeking a different assignment.There wasnt enough recogni-tion of the burden officers, es-

pecially Collectors and theirsupport staff were carryingagainst odds including thosecreated for political advantage.

There was the illusion on thepart of the leader that the riceprogramme was happeningonly because the leader had

merely wished it to happen.The hard work and honesty ofthe officials involved had no

role in that success. Those of-ficers should even put up withdistrust and there was no needto stand by them when they

were unfairly attacked. Whileon leave I had told the CMthat I would prefer a lighter as-signment when I returned

from leave but he had beenemphatic that I should con-tinue as Commissioner. Now,

the CM was making un-founded comments on offi-cers. While this kind of

blowing hot and cold mightwork for political leaders, thisambiguity was not somethingofficers could or need workwith. I changed my mind,

therefore, to one of leaving thestate government altogether infavour of a post in the Gov-

ernment of India.

Working with leaders who look at those in civil services as scapegoats is not a great

distinction, especially for those who work hard and fight against odds to successfully

implement government schemes and keep up the tall poll promises Reflections

of a Civil ServantKR Venugopal

When the depart-ment of TeluguStudies, SV Uni-

versity, headed by Prof. PetaSrinivasa Reddy invited me to

be the chief guest at the vale-dictory function of the two-

day seminar conducted as apart of the birth centenary ofSriman PuttaparthiNarayanacharyulu, I had the

opportunity of re-readingsome of his works. I have

been frequenting Kadapa

since 1975 as the All IndiaRadio station has been invit-ing me to broadcast my sto-ries at least once a year.

P u t t a p a r t h iNarayanacharyulu passedaway in 1990 and it makes it

clear that I went to Kadapamany times when he wasalive. So initially I was puz-zled why I had never tried to

call on him. After some think-ing I realized that I never

made an attempt to meet himbecause I was in awe of himas he had been highly re-

spected by my father as wellas my fathers friends like Val-

lampati Venkata Subbaiah.There is an anecdote about

my father and Sriman Putta-parthi which is popularamong the literary circles. In

the 1980s my father attendeda literary function along withPuttaparthi and they sat onthe dais side by side. While

chatting privately, Puttaparthiasked my father, Now youhave become a popular shortstory writer. How much have

you earned? My father an-swered spontaneously, I haveearned a seat by your side. It

reflects the way both of themlived. They were never afterthe affluence and literaturewas a life-time sadhana for

them.My father considered Put-

taparthis Sivathandavam asone among the five modernkavyas, the others being,

Venkata ParvatheeswaraKavulus Ekanthaseva, Vid-wan Viswams Penneti pata,Viswanadha Sathya-

n a r a y a n a sRuthusamhaaram and Aru-dras Sinivaali. When I was

a child, one evening Vallam-pati Venkata Subbaiah beganto read Sivathandavam. Itgot dark and suddenly the

power was cut. He didnt stophis recitation till the end. Mymother who was overhearing

from the kitchen came andasked him, Do you get itcompletely by heart? Yes,sister, he replied. It was

written by a Brahmarak-shasa and there are plenty of

rakshasas like me who learntit by heart.

Vallamapati once told methat he saw Puttaparthi por-ing over a huge volume when

he went to his home way backin 1980s. He asked him,What are you reading,Swami?

Its Paisachi an impor-tant literary language of clas-sical India. A month back a

person from the audience in aliterary meeting raised adoubt related to it and I real-ized that I had to get a sound

scholarship in Paisachi toanswer that. I have been at itsince then, he replied. Aftera few minutes he added, I

dont mind if anyone says thatI am not a good poet. But I

cant tolerate when someone

says that I am not a scholar. Itis like death for me.

His quest for scholarship issomething amazing. He was a

polyglot who was fluent in 14languages including Frenchand Persian. In one of his in-

terviews he pointed out that itwas not difficult for a personwho knows Sanskrit to learnthe other Indo-European lan-

guages. He said that he couldwrite poetry in most of thoselanguages and in the others he

had more than workingknowledge.

When I met Sasisree, one

of the ardent students of Put-

taparthi while he was writinga monograph on his teacherfor Central Sahithya Acad-emy, he showed me an old

soiled notebook. It was oneamong the innumerable note

books of Puttaparthi. I found

the entire Paradise Lost inPuttaparthis hand writing init. It was the way that heused to learn anything.

Learning means getting itcompletely by heart for him.One day I found him recitingShakespeares plays to the

pillars in his porch. He saidthat he had been revising

them that way for the lastone month.

One day Swami told me

that he wanted to teach meSoundaryalahari. Then Iwas working as a clerk in

State Bank of India atKadapa. I used to go to hishouse every day at 9 am andhe used to teach me for one

hour and one sloka per day.It went on for 100 days. Aftera few months Swami told methat he wanted to teach Pan-

chakavyas. But I was trans-ferred to a different place Ilost that opportunity. The

days I was taught under histutelage are the most pre-cious days in my life, saysSri Tiruvayipati Rajagopal

who is now retired from serv-ice.

I stayed in the house ofRallapalli AnanthakrishnaSarma in Mysore when I wasvery young and he taught memany keerthanas at that

time, saidPut tapar thiin an inter-view. He is a

great musi-cian but Ithink that he

didnt con-centrate onliterature asmuch as he

had on musicand I am aperfect foil to him as I neg-lected music and dance for

my love for literature. He wasmore a formalist in music

and literature. When he pro-claims the swara, prasthanaand the vistruthi of a raga

even great musicians used tofollow him reverentially. Buthe was not a great singer.

Some concerts he sang werenot that successful.

Referring to Vemana, hehad said, I dont call him a

great poet. He is a philoso-pher. To call him a poetamounts to demeaning. Peo-ple like Karl Marx might not

have written poetry but theyinfluenced generations ofpoets.

Puttaparthi lived in thecompany of all leftist writersof Rayalaseema. Though heproclaimed himself as a sant

poet, he was modern in manyways. All the leftist writers of

the region had tremendousrespect for him. RachamalluRamachandra Reddy is asharp, uncompromising andhardcore Marxist critic. He is

not a field worker likemany other commu-nists but a person whohas deep knowledge in

Marxism. I dont knowwhat his opinion onmy poetry is but he had

great respect for myscholarship, he hadsaid once.

Puttaparthi said that

he belonged to a periodof friction and conflicts

especially in literature. It was

not a smooth walk for him inspite of the immense popular-ity of his Sivathandavam.

The poets of the other regionslooked down upon him as hehailed from a backward region

like Kadapa. He was humblebut never left those who dis-graced him or his place with-

out shattering them intopieces. When Gunturu Shesh-endra Sarma was the Com-missioner of Chittoor town he

wanted to have an introduc-tion to his Rithughosha byhim. Vallamapati took him to

Puttaparthi and gave him acopy of it. Puttaparthi simplynodded his head and askedthem to leave the manuscript

there. When Vallampati wentto him separately and re-minded him of the intro, he fu-riously chided him for

recommending a man of theother region. But when he

went to him for the third time,he gave the introduction andsaid, This young man is atrue poet. Sometimes I getupset by those who rubbed me

on the wrong side.Puttaparthi wrote nearly

100 books. But they are all by-

products of his scholarship. Ifhe would have focused his at-tention on literature and onone or two genres we would

have had an extraordinaryclassic from him. He was notinterested in it and we cannotaccuse a writer for not doing

something which he neverwanted to do.

(The writer is a bilingual

short story writer, novelist andpoet, who writes in Telugu andEnglish)

CENTENARY SPECIAL

The Price of dealing with rice

Madhurantakam

Narendra

With around 100 books to hiscredit, this writer, poet, composer,

singer and above all, scholar ofrepute and a vaggeyakara,

Puttaparthi Narayanacharya hasleft behind unmatched legacy and

unflinching devotions amongst hisstudents and admirers. His 100thbirth anniversary was celebrated

on March 28

Puttaparthi Narayanacharyulu

Centre had thought that the price at which the APSCSCL would be forced to buy levyfree rice at such enormously high prices that it would break the back of AP, they

were mistaken as it did not happen

A lifetime ofSadhana