N Balaiah, 79, of Kondapur near Kamareddy, looks concerned. A marginal farmer with just one acre, he is wondering why the second instalment of Rythu Bandhu has not been credited yet. “I thought the amount would be handy for paying labour charges,” he says. Balaiah kept an acre for himself and his wife after distributing six acres among his three sons. “The Kharif payout of ₹4,000 (₹4,000 per acre per season) I received in May was timely,” he says.
Launched just ahead of Kharif last year, the scheme attracted national attention and inspired the Centre to launch PM-KISAN, while West Bengal and Orissa came out with their own equivalents. With a Budgetary support of ₹12,000 crore, the massive scheme covers 57.15 lakh farmers in 10,874 villages. Telangana’s average landholding size is on the decline over the last three decades, from 3 hectares in 1970-71 to about a little over one hectare now. About 80 per cent of the operational land holdings in the State belong to small, marginal farmers.
But unlike in other rain-fed areas, Telangana farmers predominantly grow cotton, making it a top-five growing State in the country. Chilli, sugarcane and maize are the other major crops grown in the State. All of them are input-intensive crops, forcing the farmers to depend on local moneylenders.
The Telangana Government’s idea, which was dismissed as an election gimmick by the Opposition, struck a chord with small and marginal farmers. And this played a major role in the TRS coming back to power, bagging 88 out of the 119 seats. However, there are several operational issues in the implementation. Reports suggest that only 70 per cent of the beneficiaries received the rabi instalment. No one knows why. There is also the issue of tenant farmers being excluded.
“There is no dearth of funds. They will soon get the money. We are streamlining the process,” says an official of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Kanneganti Ravi of Rythu Swarajya Vedika, which fights to resolve farmers’ issues, has just conducted an intensive survey on the Rythu Bandhu scheme in two villages of Vikarabad. “We too have noticed a good number of farmers have not received the second instalment,” he says.
There is also a different set of farmers who have more than five acres of land. Their problems, particularly those with irrigation facilities, are different. Ch Gangadhar of Jakranpalli village in Nizamabad district feels if he gets a good MSP (minimum support price), there’s no need for Rythu Bandhu. “We are spending ₹1.20-1.50 lakh an acre to grow turmeric, but at ₹4,000 a quintal, we are getting only ₹80,000, pushing us into loss,” he says. His peer, Lakshman, agrees. They are among the 18 farmers contesting the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency to protest against the poor prices that they are getting for turmeric and red jowar. C Ramachandraiah of the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) believes the Rythu Bandhu scheme does help cultivating farmers. “It will be handy for buying seeds, get the borewells repaired and to hire labour,” he says. About one-fourth of the 60 lakh farmers in the State are tenant farmers, who are made ineligible, as the scheme targets farmers who own land. According to an estimate, tenant farmers cover 20 per cent of the cultivable area of one crore acres. “Unlike other freebie schemes, there is a positive view in some sections of Rythu Bandhu as it addresses the investment needs of farmers in the sowing phase,” he says.
Challenges
There are a host of issues, however. Though many are benefited, there’s a sizeable chunk of farmers — doing tenant farming and podu (shifting cultivation) — that is left out. “On the other hand, people who own land but don’t practise agriculture are getting the benefit,” rues Ravi Kanneganti. To study the impact of the scheme, the Rythu Swarajya Vedika has just launched a State-wide survey.
In the pilot, the RSV conducted a door-to-door survey in Thummalapalli village of Vikarabad district, covering 285 houses. “We found that about 450 acres of land are in the hands of nine people,” he says. This shows part of the funds are being pocketed by big landlords, while the tenant farmers, who already pay a huge sum as rents for the land they cultivate, are left out.
Nevertheless, farmers find the scheme useful, according to the survey. “About 30 farmers in the village are tenants. Another 30 farmers, though having land, are yet to receive the money as their land is not shown in the revenue records,” he says.
“The farmers find it (the payout) useful. But they want a good price for the produce,” he says. After assessing the results of the pilot, the RSV is going to take the survey to 16 villages, two each in eight districts in Telangana, to get a State-wide picture.
The Telangana Rythu Sangham feels there is a need to fine-tune the scheme by changing modalities. “Different crops need different investments. Also, the money is going to farmers who own vast stretches of uncultivable land,” Aribandi Prasada Rao, Vice-President of the association, says. The amount disbursed last year (kharif and rabi) is ₹8,000 per farmer at ₹4,000 a season. From this kharif, it will be ₹10,000 a year, above the the Central assistance under PM-Kisan.