Telangana govt. has launched Rythu Bandhu Scheme between Salapalli-Indiranagar in Huzurabad constituency of Karimnagar district. Under this Farmers Investment Support Scheme (FISS), govt. will provide financial assistance of Rs. 8000 per year (two crops) to each farmer. This input assistance scheme will benefit 58 lakh farmers covering around 1.42 crore acres of farming land.
The primary objective of this scheme is to maximize agricultural production and productivity. For the benefit of farmers, govt. has also started Pattadar Passbook Initiative. All the farmers will now get new Pattadar Passbook as one single proof of ownership.
Latest Update – Telangana govt. has launched Rythu Bandhu Life Insurance Bonds Scheme (Rs. 5 Lakh) for Farmers. This would be a group insurance and will be implemented by Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India. Under this scheme, govt. will provide Rs. 5 lakh on the death of the farmer – View Details
The state govt. has made a budgetary allocation of Rs. 12,000 crore for this Farmers Investment Support Scheme in Telangana Budget 2018-19. This scheme was earlier named as “Rythu Lakshmi”. This scheme will lead to empowerment of farmers.
Rythu Bandhu Scheme 2018
All the small and marginal farmers / SC-ST farmers / Record of Forest Rights (ROFR) Pattadars will get financial assistance twice every year directly without the involvement of a middlemen. FISS does not specifies any upper limit on the land holdings as 97% of the total farmers have less than 10 acres of land holdings. The important features and highlights of this scheme are as follows:-
- Rythu Bandhu is a transparent per acre investment support scheme for farmers.
- Telangana govt. will provide Rs. 8000 per acre to be paid annually in 2 equal pay order cheques of Rs. 4000 per crop season.
- Out of the total 71.75 lakh farmers in the state, around 58 lakh farmers will get benefited from this scheme. Tenant farmers are excluded from this input assistance scheme.
- Telangana govt. has made a provision of Rs. 12000 crore exclusively for Rythu Bandhu Investment Support Scheme.
- This scheme will cover 1.42 crore acres of farming land as ownership of this land is clearly established and recorded.
- Rythu Samanvaya Samiti will give this assistance to the farmers through a bank bearer cheque. Agriculture Extension Officers (AEOs) will consistently monitor the Rythu Bandhu cheques distribution at rural / village level. These AEOs also holds the responsibility to make entry of cheque details on tablet computer provided.
Each Farmer will receive a tamper proof “Pattadar Passbook” with 17 unique security features. this passbook will now serve as proof for an absolute ownership.
New Pattadar Passbook Initiative – Dharani
The state govt. is going to provide “New Pattadar Passbooks” to the farmers along with the cheques. This is a historical land cleansing drive in which 1523 revenue teams have approached farmers directly to verify their land records once and for all. The important features and highlights of this Pattadar Passbook drive are as follows:-
- This initiative will end all land disputes of the farmers.
- Telangana govt. has completed the entire process in just 100 days on a fast tack basis (15 September 2017 to 31 December 2017).
- This entire passbook preparation process was carried out in 3 stages and every information was made available in respective Gram Panchayats (GPs).
- The state govt. has contacted each and every farmer to verify their rightful ownership. The state govt. has examined all the objections and made the necessary modifications.
- Now all the records are saved in the digital format at Dharani Website. These records will now get treated as single evidence in all land record matters.
These 2 initiatives will redefine the future of agriculture in the state as well as across the entire country. Both these initiatives are first-of-their-kind never seen initiative for farmers welfare.