Tenant farmers to lose government aid?

HYDERABAD:: Lakhs of tenant farmers in Telangana may be excluded from the state government's ambitious Investment Support Scheme that promises to provide each farmer Rs 4,000 per acre beginning Kharif 2018-19 crop season towards input and other costs. While estimates by various NGOs working for farmers' rights put the number between 10 and 12 lakh, as per government data, there are at least 4.5 lakh tenant farmers in Telangana.

The state government on August 27 issued orders on setting up of farmers' committees from the village level to oversee distribution of the Rs 4,000 financial aid. In the orders, the government specifies that only 'practising pattadar farmers residing in the village' will be allowed to become members of such committees, leaving out tenant farmers without a say in the proceedings.

According to B

Kondal Reddy

of

Rythu Swarajya Vedika

, the government identified as many as 4.5 lakh tenant farmers after it enacted the AP Land Licensed Cultivators Act 2011 and those who should be issued ID cards.“Unless they have an ID card, they won't get any help from the government, loans from banks or even crop loss compensation. And unless these farmers find a place in the

Rythu Samanvaya

committees, they will lose out completely on the promised financial aid,“ he said.

Reddy also said that investigations into farmers' suicides by the Rythu Swarajya Vedika had revealed that a whopping 70% were tenant farmers. “Leaving them out of a possible lifeline of the `4,000 an acre aid will only add to their woes,“ he said.

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