Rythu Bandhu Scheme: Govt. Releases Rs 5,100 Crore for Rabi Season

The state government of Telangana has recently released a huge amount of Rs 5,100 crore as a part of the Rythu Bandhu scheme for Rabi season as investment support to farmers. As per reports, around 58.33 lakh farmers are benefitting from the scheme which provides them Rs 5,000 per acre per season twice a year, for rabi and Kharif seasons. The Scheme which was launched by Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in 2018 has supported the farmers’ investment for two crops per year.

What is the Rythu Bandhu scheme?

Rythu Bandhu scheme, also known as ‘Farmers’ Investment Support Scheme’ is a welfare program to support farmer’s investment for two crops a year by the Government of Telangana. The government is providing 58.33 lakh farmers, ₹5000 per acre per season to support the farm investment, twice a year, for rabi and Kharif seasons.

Under this scheme, farmers will directly get financial support twice every year to maximize agricultural production and productivity. They will get investment support of Rs 8,000 per acre every year (Rs. 4000 each for monsoon and Rabi season) as crop investment support. About 58 lakh farmers who till over 1.42 crore acres of land in the state are expected to be benefitted from the initiative. The state government has already set aside Rs 12,000 crore in the 2018-19 budgets exclusively for this scheme.

“In pursuance of the Budget Release Order, the government, after careful examination, hereby accords Administrative Sanction to the Commissioner of Agriculture, Telangana, Hyderabad, towards meeting the expenditure in relaxation of quarterly regulation orders under the investment support scheme,” the order said. Accordingly, the agriculture department will provide the details of farmer-beneficiaries to the finance department in order to disburse the assistance amount.

On the other hand, the reports said that the government had allocated a Rs 12,862-crore budget for the scheme for 2019-2020; out of this, it had already released Rs 6,862 crore during the Kharif season and the amount was credited to the bank accounts of farmers.

However, the scheme has been facing criticism from the opposition parties that it’s not able to provide help to tenant farmers and real cultivators. The scheme’s critics moreover said that it benefitted rich landlords rather than ‘real farmers’.

“The government must implement the 2011 Licensed Cultivators Act to grant recognition to all cultivators, including tenant farmers, in order to bring more beneficiaries into the scheme’s fold. There are more than 15 lakh tenant farmers in the state who are unable to get this assistance. The government must address this issue to provide support to all the real cultivators. Tenant farmers should be given loan eligibility cards, based on which they can be given the Rythu Bandhu assistance,” said Kondal Reddy, secretary of the Rythu Swarajya Vedika.