The Telangana Cabinet has decided to waive farm loans (up to ₹2 lakh each) to the tune of ₹31,000 crore before the August 15 deadline set by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. Announcing this here on Friday after the Cabinet meeting, the Chief Minister has said that the Government would clear the loans in one go before the August 15 deadline.

The decision is likely to benefit 47 lakh farmers in the State. The Chief Minister modalities for the loan waiver will be notified soon.

The farm loan waiver was one of the key poll promises made by the Congress Party, which helped it clinch the 2023 Assembly election. The Chief Minister, who is also the Pradesh Congress Committee President, promised during the Lok Sabha campaign that the loan waiver scheme would be completed before August 15.

“The Congress Party always stands by its promises. Our leader Sonia Gandhi had promised to carve out a separate Telangana State and we delivered it. Similarly, Rahul Gandhi made the loan wavier promise during the Farmers’ Declaration in Warangal in 2022. We are going to honour this promise as well,” he said.

The government would clear the farm loans taken from December 12, 2018, to December 9, 2023. The Government was considering the establishment of a separate corporation to raise funds required for the scheme.

He said the KCR Government had waived farm loans to the tune of ₹28,000 crore in 10 years. “They released funds in four phases in each of the two terms. But we have decided to clear the dues at one go,” he said.

Rythu Bharosa

With regard to the Rythu Bharosa scheme, the Cabinet has appointed a Sub-Committee under the leadership of Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka. The panel, which will have Agricultural Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao as a member, will submit a report by July 15 after holding discussions with stakeholders.

Stating that the scheme faced criticism for lack of transparency, the Chief Minister said the Government would come out with modalities to ascertain the beneficiaries and make it transparent. “All the eligible farmers would get the financial assistance,” he said.

The Rythu Bandhu scheme, during the K Chandrashekar Rao government, excluded tenant farmers, who constituted about 17-20 per cent of the farming community. Farmers’ associations have been demanding that tenant farmers should also be included in the scheme.

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