The total funds disbursed under Rythu Bandhu scheme is set to touch Rs 50,000 crore.
What is Rythu Bandhu scheme?
Under Rythu Bandhu Scheme, Telangana government credits Rs. 5000 per acre through direct benefit transfer into bank accounts of land-owning farmers at the beginning of Rabi and Kharif seasons.
As many as 66 lakh farmers (regardless of the extent of land owned by them) were identified as beneficiaries covering a total of 1.52 crore acres.
A farmer who owns 2 acres would receive Rs 20,000 a year, whereas a farmer who owns 10 acres would receive Rs 1 lakh a year from the government.
What is the government’s rationale behind the benefit transfer?
Farmers can take care of their initial investment needs and do not fall into a debt trap.
Investment enhances agriculture productivity and income to the farmers, besides breaking the vicious cycle of rural indebtedness.
The grant also helps them cover the expenses on input requirements such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and labour.
How does it fare against the PM-KISAN scheme?
The Telangana government claims Rythu Bandhu scheme is better than Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)
Under PM-KISAN, a land-holding family receives an income support of 6,000 per year, irrespective of their land holdings.
In effect, it only provides support to the family and not to the farm units
However, Rythu Bandhu transfers an anticipated input expenditure for each acre of land and there is no restriction on the number of acres owned by a farmer.
PM KISAN provides the support in three equal instalments.
However, in Rythu Bandhu, farmers get the cash assistance all at once ahead of the crop season.
What is the situation in case of landless farmers?
The Rythu Bandhu scheme comes under criticism that it ignores the plight of landless or tenant farmers.
Farmer bodies have been demanding to extend scheme to tenant farmers as well.
However the government has repeatedly expressed its difficulties to extend the benefit to landless farmers.
It is difficult to bring tenant farmers under the ambit of the scheme because of the informal nature of the agreements they enter into.
So, the tenant farmers either get the inputs like seeds, fertilizers and pesticides from the landowner on a share-crop agreement basis or bear the expenses on their own.
