Opinion: Making agriculture inclusive
Rythu Bandhu is aiding in the economic mainstreaming of farm-dependent marginal communities
By Dr Vakulabharanam Krishna Mohan Rao
More land under irrigation, more land brought under agriculture, record agricultural production, introduction of new crops, added irrigation infrastructures, and record coverage of forest area and benchmarked green coverage under Haritha Haram are some of the accomplishments of the TRS government under Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao.
The NITI Aayog appreciated the land purification method as part of the Rythu Bandhu scheme and also advised others to emulate Telangana in land records updation besides lauding the dashboard software for the Rythu Bandhu scheme.
Under the scheme, the Telangana government ensured the stability of rural livelihood to the farmer community, more so to the BCs of the State based on a socioeconomic status study of the marginalised carried out by various agencies. It is to note that of the Rs 57,901.46 crore disbursed under the scheme, nearly 50% (Rs 27,792.70 crore) has gone to farmers belonging to BCs and SCs (Rs 7,527.19 crore) and STs (Rs 5,211.13 crore). The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) of MIT which conducted the timeline survey with farmers utilising Rythu Bandhu expressed deep satisfaction (86.5%).
A sum of Rs 15,000 crore is earmarked for the scheme and owner of each acre is entitled to Rs 10,000 in both rabi and kharif seasons.
Sets Inspiration
The Centre’s Pradhana Mantri Kisan Yojana (PMKY) scheme was inspired by the robust design and implementation of the Rythu Bandu scheme. But it is an open fact that the PMKY scheme is available for just 2 acre while in Telangana, there is no such limit which gave a fillip to increase of land under agriculture.
Soon after independence, the government of India implemented the Committee on Land Reforms under JC Kumarappan (1942) to examine land and agrarian crisis. It suggested abolishing intermediaries which led to the abolition of the zamindari system and benefitted 2 crore tenant farmers who became owner-farmer. The beneficiaries majorly belonged to STs, SCs and BCs. More land was thus acquired by the government and distributed to the landless. With the enactment of legislation (the early 1950s) for regulating the rent payable by cultivators, fair rent was fixed at 20-25% of the gross produce.
Another major category of land reform law was the Land Ceiling Act. In simpler terms, the ceilings on landholdings referred to legally stipulating the maximum size beyond which no individual farmer or farm household could hold any land. By 1961-62, all the State governments had passed this Act. But the ceiling limits varied from State to State. To bring uniformity, a new land ceiling policy was evolved in 1971. In 1972, national guidelines were issued with ceiling limits varying from region to region, depending on the kind of land, its productivity, and other such factors.
Investment is the surest way to enhance agriculture productivity and also income for the farmers, besides breaking the vicious cycle of rural indebtedness. To ensure that farmers do not fall again into the debt trap, the Telangana government introduced Agriculture Investment Support Scheme or Rythu Bandhu.
As per the AP Land Ceiling Act, 1976, a person cannot hold more than 51 acres of dry land and 21 acres wetland. Tenant farmers were excluded from the scheme to prevent legal disputes arising out of tenancy (Hyderabad Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1950). Hence, the tenancy column was removed from the newly issued Pattadar Passbook. Following the exercise of purification of land records, it was found that cultivable land in the State was 1.42 crore acres and the number of farmers stood at 71.75 lakh.
Silver Lining
According to data available, 97.2% of farmers have less than 10 acres. Suggestions were also made to exclude non-cultivable land from the scheme. The government completed its survey on money disbursal methods among farmers and preference was for the bank cheque format though there was a demand for direct cash payment. Now, direct cash transfer to the accounts of farmers has been operationalised.
Every State is seized of the silver lining of the Rythu Bandhu scheme strengthening the rural economy. Annadatha Sukhibhava is a welfare programme started by the Andhra Pradesh government to provide Rs 15,000 in investment support to the families of small and marginal farmer per annum. This includes Rs 6,000 as a share of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi. The government is providing support to nearly 70 lakh farmers, including tenant farmers. This farmer investment support scheme where the cash is paid directly into the Aadhaar-linked bank accounts will cover all the farmers in the State on ‘family as unit’ basis without any conditions. This shows the impact of Rythu Bandhu in the country.
Though there were historic land reforms in the 1950s, 60s and the 70s, the governments couldn’t provide required irrigation infra, financial assistance (protecting from debt trap) and insurance coverage to farmers. The Telangana government made a customised solution to the problems of the farming community. A sum of Rs 10,000 per annum to an acre of agricultural land under input subsidy was quite assuring.
Rythu Bandhu, along with Rythu Bima, has reached about 2.5 crore population or nearly 65 lakh families with the amount crossing Rs 50,000 crore. Today, Telangana has not only become a fertile land of one crore acres, but also a granary of over three crore tonnes of paddy which is beyond the storage capacity of the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The State is at the doorstep of achieving five revolutions – Green (agriculture), Pink (meat), White (dairy), Blue (fish) and Plant (Haritha Haaram).
A large body of academic Institutions is focusing on the success of Rythu Bandhu and its meticulous methodology and implementation at the ground level along with the economic mainstreaming of agriculture-dependent marginal communities such as BCs, STs and STs.
The author is the Chairman, Telangana State Commission for Backward Classes
