Rs 65,000 for 5 years; Rythu Bandhu becomes powerful

Rythu Bandhu received an overwhelming response in the state, which turned out to be a pioneering initiative and even forced the BJP-led central government to think of a similar line at the national level

Hyderabad: Rythu Bandhu, the dream initiative of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, who reached out to struggling farming communities, completed five years on Wednesday. A total of 7 million farmers have so far benefited from the Rs 65,000 crore disbursement paid to them in 10 instalments, and they celebrated the occasion in Telangana.

After several rounds of stocktaking of the dire living conditions of farmers in the state, the Chief Minister has deemed it necessary to transfer direct benefits to them to alleviate their financial distress and reliance on moneylenders.

He announced the plan at the Rythu Samanvaya Samiti meeting of Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University on February 25, 2018. In the same year, the budget allocation was Rs 12,000 crore on May 10, 2018, before the program was officially launched in Dharmarajpalli village, Karimnagar.

Rythu Bandhu received an overwhelming response in the state, which turned out to be a pioneering initiative, forcing even the BJP-led central government to think about similar issues at the national level. Both the PM Kisan Yojana initiated by the Center and the Kalia program initiated by the BJD government in Odisha were both inspired by Rythu Bandhu.

So far, the state government has made 10 installments under the scheme, extending assistance to farmers. A total of Rs 7,217.54 crore in aid has been disbursed during this year’s Yasangi for 14.435 lakh acres benefiting 6.397 lakh farmers.

In addition, Rythu Bandhu was named by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as one of the top 20 most useful programs for the world’s farmers.

In continuation of its pro-farmer policy, the state government has introduced Rythu Bima, under which it provides farmers with insurance of Rs 5 lakh. The main objective of the Farmers Group Life Insurance Scheme (Rythu Bima) is to provide financial relief and social security to the family and dependents in the event of the death of a farmer from any cause. So far, a total of 99,297 farming families have received Rs 4,965 crore under the auspices of Rythu Bima.