Tamil Nadu: Eight issues that will influence voters

Beyond the tall promises of political parties and their campaign rhetoric, which will only get shriller as April 18 nears, what will voters base their choices on? TOI uses its network of journalists across Tamil Nadu to capture what matters to the voter


Drought and water supply

A water crisis stares TN in the face. Just ahead of the poll notification, the government declared drought in 24 districts and 38 revenue blocks in seven more districts. Drinking water supply that has been erratic for months in cities like Chennai could turn worse in the coming days. The state received deficit rainfall during southwest monsoon (-12%) and northeast monsoon (-24%) last year.

The AIADMK government sanctioned ₹158 crore to Metrowater and Twad board to tackle summer supply during the dog days, but problems remain.

The groundwater table plummeted in several districts. Dharmapuri (13.18m), Perambalur (12.41m), Salem (11.69) and Coimbatore (12.2m) have seen a sharp fall in groundwater table over the previous year. While opposition parties will tap this issue, the ruling party may be relieved that the Cauvery delta is not so parched.

Farm crisis

Lack of long-term solutions have left farmers’ unhappy. Tamil Nadu rivers waste more than 700tmcft of water as run-off every year. Thousand million cubit feet (1tmcft) of water helps the state cultivate 2,000 hectares of land. It can be doubled to 4,000 hectares by upgrading water infrastructure that minimises runoff. Chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami is expected to speak highly of his pet project of ‘kudimaramathu’.

The AIADMK alliance will promise creation of new water harvesting structures and renovation of existing ones, but not much can be expected on technology and education for farmers to do best practices. While blaming the government, the opposition parties may not have much to offer as an alternative. The promise of MSP at more than 50% of cost of production of food grain is yet to be delivered. Absence of a supply chain for agricultural products and farm-gate procurement has left farmers in distress as political parties fight over votes.

Sterlite closure

Until May 22, 2018, protests over functioning of Sterlite’s copper smelter in Tuticorin remained an industrial pollution issue.

With police firing on the protestors, leaving 13 dead, it became a political issue across the state, forcing the Tamil Nadu government to shut the plant. While no political party can afford to be seen openly supporting Sterlite in its efforts to reopen the smelter, the pressure was more on the ruling AIADMK government to keep the plant closed. It showed in its efforts to go on appeal, every time the National Green Tribunal (NGT) gave any favourable order to Sterlite Copper. There is lingering doubt among the locals that the state government has only bought time until after elections, before Vedanta makes a fresh push to reopen

GST and demonetisation

While the BJP takes pride in its ‘anti-black money’ drive by demonetizing ₹500 and ₹1,000 currency notes, the scars of the 30-month-old exercise remain, especially on the trading community. While more than 99% of the demonetized currency came back into the banking system, it took only 16 months for cash circulation to come back to its pre-demonetization levels, thereby raising questions over the achievement the Centre has been boasting of. Rural Tamil Nadu took a big hit due to the measure. Even while the economy was on the recovery path came the GST, implemented from July 1, 2017. If multiple and higher tax slabs, manifold tax filings and punitive action threat from tax authorities impacted the industry as a whole, the worst to be hit was the MSME sector that employs a majority among the industries. In Tamil Nadu, it forced nearly 50,000 MSMEs to close shop, dealing a blow to employment and economic growth. With the Congress and its companions looking for discussion points that appeal to large sections, these twin issues could play out during the runup to the polls.

Infrastructure and livelihood

Infrastructure projects such as highways, industrial gas pipelines and high-tension electric grid lines are keys to development.

But several projects proposed in TN came into conflict with the livelihood of farmers, whose first reaction was to resist any attempt at land acquisition. Large sections of farmers in the western and northern regions of the state were up in arms, be it against the towers for the Raigarh– Pugalur HT power line or the proposed 277km Salem – Chennai eight-lane expressway (for which 1,900 hectares of land is to be acquired across 159 villages). While opposition parties are bound to exploit this sentiment (as M K Stalin did on Friday in Salem), the ruling party will have a lot to explain. Calls for poll boycotts are already being heard in some villages.

Hydrocarbon extraction

With more than 12 lakh acres under cultivation – mostly paddy – in the three districts of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam, the Cauvery delta region is the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu. Despite trouble in sourcing on-time supply of Cauvery river water for irrigation, the delta region remains fertile. So, when the government allowed hydrocarbon extraction and coal bed methane exploration, all hell broke loose, as activists convinced large sections of farmers that these activities would spell doom for their livelihood. There are scientific explanations that these projects would not kill the soil, but nobody seems to have convinced the farmers. If the state government is seen as inert, the Centre is taken as an insensitive boss. The AIADMK has expressed its concern and supported the delta farmers, but when it goes hand in hand with the BJP, it calls for another round of explanations. The chorus for a ‘protected agriculture economy zone’, where no industrial project should be allowed, is expected to resonate in the delta region.

Job loss

Recently, when the Tamil Nadu assembly secretariat planned to recruit 14 sanitary workers, it received more than 4,600 applications. Several of those who applied were engineers, graduates and postgraduates, besides diploma holders. There are hundreds of others – zipping around on two-wheelers delivering food for online food delivery aggregators, to make ends meet. Employment exchanges across the state have almost one crore youths on their rolls. According to Union ministry of labour, the unemployment rate among educated youth in TN is 6.2%, as against 5.8% in Bengal, 5.2% in AP, 2.1% in Maharashtra and 1% in Karnataka and Gujarat. The problem is multi-fold: growing population, slowing economy, and lack of skill development options and finishing schools to make graduates employable. The churn in IT industry, with advancement in automation and artificial intelligence, has impacted job potential further.

Pollachi sexual assault

This is turning out to be a key poll issue in the Pollachi Lok Sabha segment, a key constituency in western Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK is banking on. There are enough indications that the issue may spill out of Pollachi to neighbouring constituencies like Coimbatore and Tirupur and perhaps echo across the state as it concerns women’s safety. The DMK is unlikely to let the issue die as the names of AIADMK men keep propping up in the case and DMK president M K Stalin is utilizing every opportunity to tap into it to embarrass the ruling party. On its part, the AIADMK too is putting up a spirited fight to clear its name. That a Congress leaders’s name has also been associated with one of the accused in the case will be little solace to the ruling party which will be asked to show results in the CB-CID investigation.