KCR's No To Rythu Bandhu Scheme For Tenant Farmers

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao today made it abundantly clear that the Rythu Bandhu investment support scheme for agriculture was meant to provide investment for crops to farmers, and not at all meant as financial support for tenant farmers.

The CM said that it was meaningless to demand that the Rythu Bandhu Scheme be made applicable to tenant farmers, and that the argument was against all legal norms.

The Chief Minister held a high-level review meeting on Saturday in Pragathi Bhavan on the implementation of the scheme. Chief Advisor to the government Rajiv Sharma, Chief Secretary S K Joshi, Principal Secretaries S Narsing Rao, Rajeshwar Tiwari and Parthasaradhi, Law Secretary Niranjan Rao, Additional Advocate General Ramchander Rao, Agriculture Commissioner Jagan Mohan, CMO secretaries Smita Sabharwal and Bhoopal Reddy, and others participated in the meeting.

"The government is implementing the Rythu Bandhu scheme to extend an investment support of Rs. 8,000 per acre for agriculture. Logically, this will go to the owner of the farm land. However, some persons are demanding that the tenant also be extended the investment support. This demand is meaningless and there is no legality in it. First, there cannot be any clarity on who a tenant farmer is. The government also does not have any details of tenant farmers. Nowhere in the official records are there any details of tenant farmers.

"Second, the so-called tenant farmers do not have any rights on the lands. What would be the basis to extend investment support to such tenant farmers? The decision and the policy of the government to provide investment support to the farmers is an issue linked to public money. Every rupee spent by the government should have the approval of the Assembly.

"If money is paid from the government treasury to someone who has no right on the land being tilled it becomes a fault. If the government commits such a mistake then it will be questioned. When everything is going smoothly and legally, it is not right to find fault with the government," the CM said.