HYDERABAD: BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Saturday attacked the Congress government over Rythu Bharosa, accusing it of slashing benefits to a number of farmers while claiming that it was issued to all farmers.
Pointing out that just Rs 15,075 crore was earmarked in the Budget towards Rythu Bandhu, Rama Rao said that he would renounce politics if the government proves that it has waived loans for all farmers in any given village across the state, including Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s native village Kondareddypalli.
Taking part in a short discussion on ‘Rythu Bharosa’, Rama Rao said: “It requires Rs 23,000 crore annually to implement Rythu Bharosa for 15,000 acres, covering around 1.53 crore acres and 70 lakh farmers. However, only Rs 15,075 crore was allocated, which suggests that the state government constituted a Cabinet sub-committee after deciding to make cuts. It is an attempt to do away with Rythu Bandhu.”
Rama Rao also demanded to know whether the government planned to cut input subsidies for farmers who are Income-Tax assessees and for public servants. “They say that they would not give input subsidies to government employees. Will you sever the connection between government employees and the land?” he asked.
Rama Rao said that the state has a debt of Rs 17,500 per acre for each farmer. He noted that about 98% of the beneficiaries of Rythu Bandhu were small and marginal farmers and that 91.1% of farmers hold less than five acres of land and only 1.39% own over 10 acres.
Accusing the Congress government of running false propaganda against Rythu Bandhu, Rama Rao said that several state governments and the Centre emulated the scheme. He said that Odisha, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh implemented the input subsidy schemes in their respective states and that the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi was inspired by Rythu Bandhu, with some cuts.
“From the UN to leading economists like Ashok Gulati, Arvind Subramanyam, Raghuram Rajan, Abhijit Banerjee and Devender Sarma have appreciated Rythu Bandhu,” he said.