MAHADEVPUR

MAHADEVPUR

Mahadevpur is a small village of about13sq. Kilometres in Karimnagar district of A.P. It is located on the right bank of the river Godavari. Kaleswaram, the abode o f Mutkteswara (Lord Shiva) is located just half an hour away from here. Here, the Pranahita and the mythical river Saraswathi join the Godavari and thus form the Thriveni Sangamam. On account of it, Kaleswaram has become one of the prominent pilgrimage centres of the South India. The Satavahanas had extended their patronage to this holy shrine, during the medieval periods.

But, Mahadevpur, the nearest station to Kaleswaram has no significant benefit from the nearness of the shrine. The village consists of 14 wards. It is the Mandal head quarters too. There are some important govt. institutions such as govt. school, hospital, police station, MRO office, MDO office, MEO office etc. However, the development of the village is to slow that one can hardly observe any change in its appearance even after a few years. The reason behind the slow pace in development is nothing but the economic backwardness.

The participation of the young blood in the process of the economic development is found to be quite meagre or absent at all. The human resource of this village is not effectively utilized. This village possesses abundant deposit of coal, which may stimulate the economic development, but has not been exploited. Moreover, the agriculture sector, the backbone of economy is also not in a condition to make the desired changes.

Majority of the people earns their income from agriculture and allied activities. Farmers constitute about 80% of the total population. About 1912 acres of cultivable land is the boon of Mahadevpur. Besides, it is blessed with precious water for irrigation. A variety of crops such as paddy, chilly, cotton etc can be grown in the rich lava soil of Mahadevpur. Notwithstanding this, the farming community in this village struggle hard to survive.

A brief study conducted by our students reveal the reason behind this piteous condition.

Method of Cultivation

Paddy, cotton, tobacco, chilly and corn are important cultivation. Silk worms are collected from forest and a kind of low quality silk is produced.

The farmers, here, follow traditional method of cultivation. Although, several new methods have been developed in agriculture sector in India, they have not yet reached this village. The soils have not undergone any test, after which the farmers can understand the deficiency of the soil and add suitable manures. The farming is not mechanized and hybrid variety seeds are not used. The illiterate farmers are not guided in the right way.

Marketing

There is no any centralized marketing system here. Farmers individually find some merchants and sell their products. Now a day, a number of marketing agencies approach them offering huge returns and enter into agreements. But after the harvest, majority of the product is degraded by them resulting in huge losses for farmers. The interesting fact is that, though it is an agricultural community, the vegetables demanded by the domestic market are brought from (Warangal or Karimnagar one hundred kilometres from here) everyday.

Illiteracy

As of every village, it is the curse of Mahadevpur too. The farmers are unaware of the advancements that took place in this sector. They cannot find profitable markets also due to this problem. The programmes and schemes introduced by the govt. cannot reach the farmers due to the same reason.

As agriculture is the backbone of the society, it must be developed well. New methods should be adopted in farming. Hybrid variety seeds must be used. A marketing society which caters all the necessities of farmers must be formed. Vegetable cultivation should be encouraged to meet the domestic demand and thereby price hike may be arrested to some extent. The farmers should be made aware of present trends and innovative methods in the sector. Besides, of course, effective programmes meant for the employment of the youth also to be implemented.