VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday disbursed Rs 200 crore input subsidy and interest subvention of YSR Sunna Vaddi Panta Runalu to farmers in the State. On the occasion, he reiterated that the State will only prosper when farmers are happy.
A total of Rs 39.39 crore input subsidy was credited directly into the bank accounts of 45,998 farmers, who lost their crops due to heavy rains and floods during the Kharif (July-October) season this year. A sum of Rs 160.55 crore was directly credited into the bank accounts of 8,22,411 farmers, who had taken crop loans up to Rs 1 lakh during the Rabi and Kharif 2020-21 and repaid on time.
Jagan said his government has been implementing various welfare schemes for farmers and regularly paying input subsidies, crop loans and crop insurance to them for the past three-and-a-half years. “We have set a new trend of paying input subsidy to farmers in the same cropping season like never before,” he observed.
Including the latest Rs 39.39 crore input subsidy, the government has so far paid Rs 1,834.78 crore to 21.31 lakh farmers, who lost their crops due to natural calamities in the last three-and-a-half years. With regard to interest subvention, Rs 1,834.55 crore has been paid to 73.88 lakh farmers so far, he explained.
Hitting out at the previous TDP regime, Jagan said it completely diluted the interest subvention scheme by withholding the payment to the tune of Rs 1,180.66 crore to farmers between 2014 and 2019. The YSRC government has so far cleared payments to the tune of Rs 1,834.55 crore, including the arrears kept pending by the previous regime, which completely ignored the welfare of tenant farmers, he highlighted.
As 62% of the population is dependent on agriculture, the YSRC government has been systematically implementing the input subsidy and zero-interest schemes after assessing the crop loss in a scientific manner. It has been displaying the list of beneficiaries at Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs) facilitating social audits and activating a response system that revolves around complaints in July and December every year, he elaborated.
Comparing the flood relief provided by the previous TDP regime and the present YSRC government, Jagan said no input subsidy was paid for crop loss of Rs 260.43 crore due to heavy rains in November and December 2015. For the crop loss of Rs 1,832.28 crore in Kharif and Rs 356.45 crore in Rabi 2018, no input subsidy was paid to the affected farmers. A total of Rs 1,189.66 crore interest subvention was kept pending between 2014 and 2019, thus debilitating the scheme completely, he said.
On the other hand, the YSRC government has been doing scientific assessments of crop loss based on e-Crop data and providing aid to actual cultivators, including tenant farmers. He also highlighted various schemes being implemented by his government. A total of Rs 1,37,975.47 crore has been provided to farmers under different schemes so far, he added.