Rythu Bandhu Scheme

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Recently, the Telangana state government released Rs 544 crore towards the first instalment for the implementation of the Rythu Bandhu scheme for next season. 

What is the Rythu Bandhu scheme?

• Rythu Bandhu literally means ‘Friend of Farmer’.
• It is a scheme of the Telangana government under which the state government extends financial support to land-owning farmers at the beginning of the crop season through direct benefit transfer.
• It was announced by the Chief Minister of Telangana in February 2018.
• It is the first-ever farmer investment support scheme in India, where the cash is paid directly. 
• Cost 
  • The State Government has released more than ?43,000 crores so far for the scheme in seven tranches. 
    • This season, the state government will disburse another Rs 7638.99 crore, taking the total sum disbursed so far to over Rs 50,000 crore.

• Eligibility 

• It provides a grant of Rs. 5,000 per acre per farmer for both Kharif and rabi seasons for purchase of inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, labour and other investments. 
• The scheme is open to all resident farmers of the state who owned land.
• Farmers cultivating the land in the forest, a majority of them from Scheduled Tribe communities, and having Record of Forest Rights (ROFR) documents are also eligible to receive benefits under the scheme. 

•  Objective 

• To provide a timely cash grant for the initial investment needs of farmers
• To ensure that farmers do not fall into the debt trap. 

• Significance :

• This scheme will help the farmers sell more and make them financially stable as well.
• It will improve their financial condition and make them self-dependent. 

• Cristims 
  • It ignores the plight of landless or tenant farmers.
  • Farmer bodies have been demanding that the state government should extend the agriculture assistance to tenant farmers as well. 
  • The farmers’ unions and non-governmental organisations working with farmers have been asking the Government to ease the norms to make tenant farmers eligible for the scheme.
  • They have pointed out that those who work on lands taken on lease from landowners also need government assistance at the beginning of a crop season.
• Government’s  Stand 
  • A government official said that it is difficult to bring tenant farmers under the ambit of the scheme because of the informal nature of the agreements they enter into.
  • Its comparison with the PM-KISAN scheme
    • The state government claimed that the Centre’s PM-KISAN (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi) scheme is a “copy” of Rythu Bandhu. 
      • Under PM-KISAN, a land-holding family receives 6000 income support in three equal installments.
      • Rythu Bandhu is based on anticipated input expenditure for each acre of land and there is no restriction on the number of acres owned by a farmer. 
        • PM-KISAN only provides support to the family and not to the farm units.
          • farmers in Telangana now get the cash assistance all at once ahead of the crop season and not in multiple installments.

Source: IE