Revanth Reddy links fine rice price rise to El Nino

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy attributed rising fine rice prices to El Nino and defended the State’s promotion of fine rice cultivation. He also cited welfare schemes and announced a Cabinet sub-committee to study the Mudiraj community’s inclusion in BC-A.

Hyderabad: As households express concern over escalating fine rice prices in the State, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said El Nino had pushed the price of fine rice to Rs 95 a kg.

“When the State government promoted the cultivation of fine rice varieties extensively, people from different sections criticised me. They even said that I lacked awareness of agriculture,” Revanth Reddy maintained.

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Addressing the Panduga Sayyanna birth anniversary celebrations, the Chief Minister said the State government was distributing fine rice to nearly 3.48 crore people in the State. Drawing parallels with former Chief Ministers, he claimed that the State government was continuing all the welfare programmes implemented in the past.

“In fact, we have doubled the benefits. The BRS government offered Rs 10,000 per acre under Rythu Bandhu, while we are offering Rs 12,000 per acre under Rythu Bharosa,” Revanth Reddy claimed, overlooking the fact that farmers had been deprived of financial assistance for a few seasons.

Stating that the State government was according top priority to the political empowerment of all BC communities, he announced that a Cabinet sub-committee would be constituted to study the inclusion of the Mudiraj community in the BC-A category. Due to a lack of accurate data, the Mudiraj community could not be reclassified from the BC-D category to BC-A, he said.

“We will discuss this issue in the next Cabinet meeting and form a Cabinet sub-committee to conduct a comprehensive study on this issue,” the Chief Minister assured.