Hyderabad: Chief minister A Revanth Reddy has disclosed that Rs 22,606 crore out of the Rs 72,816 crore was disbursed into the accounts of ineligible persons through Rythu Bandhu scheme for lands not under cultivation during the the BRS government.
Responding to the opposition parties (specifically BRS working president KTR’s warnings) to the state government in the Legislative Assembly during a Short Discussion on the support scheme for farmers on Saturday, December 21, Revanth Reddy stated that an estimated Rs 22,600 crore had been credited to the lands that were not under cultivation during the BRS rule.
Sircilla MLA KT Rama Rao, who was the former minister of ITE&C, MAU&D, and mines during the BRS regime questioned how the state government could cut funding those who were receiving the benefit of Rythu Bandhu since it was launched during the BRS government.
Chief minister A Revanth Reddy said that many of those funds were given to land owners associated with mining leases, national highways, granite crushing units, farmhouses, real estate layouts, industries, hilly mounds, and those converted for commercial purposes. “Does the Opposition want us to continue the same mistakes,” CM Revanth asked, during the concluding day of the 2024 assembly winter session, during which 8 Bills were passed.
Fake pattadar passbooks: CM
CM Revanth claimed that fake pattadar passbooks were issued for podu lands, with non-tribal individuals cultivating those lands, and that 70-80% of the land within a 50 km radius of Hyderabad remained uncultivated, but most of the land owners were still receiving the Rythu Bandhu benefits.
“I would prefer to use that money to provide bonuses for all crops and increase input assistance for farmers in the near future. Our goal is to reach the poorest farmer in the last mile,” he said.
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CM Revanth said the government was ready to take constructive and specific suggestions from the Opposition parties on the implementation of the Rythu Bandhu scheme.
“The BRS government used to provide Rs 5,000 per acre per season under the ‘Rythu Bandhu’ scheme. The Congress government has deposited Rs 7,625 crores in farmers’ accounts after it assumed office an year ago,” the chief minister said, explaining why the state government had taken the farm loan waiver as a top priority.
Farm loan waiver of Rs 20,616.89 crore
Discussing the state’s farm loan waiver up to Rs 2 lakh loans, which benefited 25,35,963 farmers with a total of Rs 20,616.89 crore in loans waived, he stated that the waiver was implemented as a top priority. CM Revanth emphasised that had it been delayed by five years, the interest on those loans could have escalated to Rs 50,000 crore.
“For them (BRS- Bharat Rashtra Samithi), everything was and is transactional in a give and take mode, but for us farm loan waiver is an emotion. We wanted to save the farmers from that interest which increased multi-fold,” he said,
Rising debt under “one family” rule: CM
CM Revanth highlighted that during the “one family” rule over 9.5 years, the state accumulated debts mounted to around Rs 6,40,000 crore.
“As of December 7, 2023, the total outstanding loans, including guaranteed and non-guaranteed debts and unpaid bills, amounted to Rs 7,11,911 crore,” he said.
CM Revanth noted that some of these loans were taken at an interest rate of 11.5 percent, while the BRS government had reduced the state’s liability by securing loans by claiming that the state’s liability (different for different corporations), was as low as 5 percent, 25 percent, or 50 percent, with the rest to be paid by the people.
He said that the BRS government had not only reported these deflated numbers to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) but its Siddipet MLA T Harish Rao was now showing the same numbers to misguide the House.
Concerns over Rythu Bandhu, farmer suicides
CPI secretary and Kothagudem MLA Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao stated that 45 lakh acres of the 1.6 crore acres of cultivable land in Telangana were left uncultivated, but still received Rythu Bandhu benefits. He suggested extending Rythu Bharosa assistance to farmers with up to 15 acres of land, as only 7 lakh acres fell under the category of farmers owning more than 15 acres.
He also urged the state government to implement the MS Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations on minimum support price (MSP) and to extend Rythu Bharosa to tenant farmers by providing them loan eligibility cards, as per the Telangana Land Licensed Cultivators Act of 2011, enacted by the then Congresss government.
Regarding farmer suicides, he pointed out that NCRB data showed 7,000 farmer suicides in Telangana over the last 10 years, with an average of 640 suicides per year. He also requested the state government to implement the Koneru Ranga Rao Commission’s recommendations for ensuring the rights of the tenant farmers.
Sambasiva Rao recalled that government subsidies for horticulture, micro-irrigation, loan interest, and various inputs had been discontinued. In 2009, subsidies for agriculture were Rs 1,19,000 crore, but now they are only Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 crore.
He compared this to Japan’s 90 percent, the US’s 80 percent, Colombia’s 61 percent, and China’s 37 percent spending on agricultural subsidies, while India spends just 3 percent.
State agriculture minister Thummala Nageswara Rao assured that the state government would disburse the Rythu Bharosa amount after Sankranthi and that Rs 1,100 crore has been deposited as a premium for Rythu Bima. He also promised that crop insurance would be implemented before the next kharif season.
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