Sugar politics is on the wane

Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil, a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government who recently joined the Congress, is the most obvious example of the slow death of the sugar politics in Maharashtra.

The sugar politics, run by powerful politicians who controlled scores of sugar co-operatives in the Ahmednagar, Solapur, Nashik and Kolhapur districts combining both political and economic clout, has now given way to those who control the business of education due to falling returns in the sugar trade.

Vikhe-Patil, who used to control several sugar mills now runs educational institutions in Ahmednagar including a management school and an engineering college. His son Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil is the Congress-NCP candidate from the constituency. His influence is attributed to his hold over schools and colleges in the area.

"Vikhe-Patil has been smart enough to make the shift from sugar mills to colleges and therefore is politically powerful," said Datta B Arote, president of the Ahmednagar District Science Teachers' Association.

The reason for the shift is not any political paradigm shift, but an ecological disaster staring at sugarcane farmers.

The drought in Maharashtra is, according to a draft report on water scarcity prepared by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and the Osmanabad district administration, more due to decline in the ground water level than poor rain.

"In 1972, during the last drought, the rainfall was 301 mm but there was no water crisis. But in 2003, the rainfall was 446 mm but the water crisis was acute," said Ajay Dandekar of the TISS,stationed in Tuljapur near Sholapur.

"The indiscriminate use of ground water for sugarcane cultivation to sustain sugar mills has created the situation. Now there is water shortage and salinity in soil has increased as well," added Dandekar.

The report has also drawn out a correlation by comparing the irrigated land with the number of borewells. "In 1980, there were 3,643 hectares of irrigated land, 58 borewells and 1,181 wells; in 2004, there are only 891 hectares of irrigated land but 2,271 borewells, 2,905 wells and 3,081 electric pumps in the district," added Dandekar.

There are over 500 sugar mills in Ahmednagar alone. Vikhe-Patil said the water shortage in the area forced him to explore new options. "I am dabbling in dairy and vegetable farming as well as opening private education institutions," he said.

Another Congress politician Patang Rao Kadam, said to be in the race of chief ministership, controls at least a dozen private educational institutions in Pune and other areas. In Sangamner, near Ahmednagar, local candidate Balasaheb Thorat controls three of the six medical colleges in the taluk.

Any economic package for Maharashtra contains sops for the sugar industry, and in exchange, the politicians enjoy good funding and an assured vote bank. Nature, however, is forcing a change of plans.

"The sugar politics cannot be sustained for long, and whoever gets in his foot in the door of the private colleges business is going to rule the state in future," Arote added.