All political parties in Telangana are trying to woo farmers, but problems abound
All political parties in Telangana are trying to woo farmers, but problems abound
Last month, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the Congress and the BJP went all out to woo the disgruntled farmers of Telangana. Chief Minister Of. Chandrashekhar Rao and his cabinet colleagues lead a sit-in in New Delhi In support of the demand for the purchase of paddy from the Center on 11 April. Congress brought Rahul Gandhi To lead farmers’ rally in Warangal on May 6 ‘Warangal Declaration’ announced, BJP state president will not back down captive sanjayThe three-week padyatra has been dedicated to highlighting the “anti-farmer policies” of the TRS government and the failure of the former Congress government to complete pending irrigation projects.
The ‘Warangal Declaration’ has assured a one-time farm loan waiver of ₹ 2 lakh and an increase of ₹ 2,500 per quintal in paddy support price if the Congress comes to power. It also promises investment support of ₹15,000 per acre per year to both land owners and tenant farmers under the Indiramma Rythu Bharosa scheme. It is to replace the current Rythu Bandhu scheme. TRS says Warangal declaration is Nothing but repetition of the existing schemes of the state government “With a few changes here and there”.
Even after the April 11 protests, the Center stood by its stand and the state was left with no option but to procure rabi paddy. It procured 8.63 lakh tonnes of paddy for Rs 1,812 crore from 1,28,329 farmers till May 9. Out of this 7.59 lakh tonnes of rice have been shifted to custom milling as raw rice. The government has opened 5,299 procurement centers in 30 districts.
Agriculture Minister S. Niranjan Reddy admitted that there has been some delay in implementing the crop loan waiver of up to Rs 1 lakh per farmer in four years as promised in the 2018 assembly election manifesto. This, he said, was mainly due to the impact of COVID-19 on the state’s revenue. He said the loan waiver of up to Rs 1 lakh was implemented after TRS’s victory in the 2014 elections.
The TRS sought to know from both the Congress and the BJP as to why no state is implementing schemes like Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima under their rule.
At present the biggest problem for the farmers of Telangana is the speed of the snails. paddy purchase Progress is being made despite crop damage due to unseasonal rains at farmers’ fields and procurement centres. The state government blames the Center (Food Corporation of India) for the lack of storage space. He says that he is unable to transport the custom milled rice from the mills to the godowns. While the mills lack space to stock rice, the godowns are stocked with the previous season’s stock.
While political parties are engaged in wrangling, farmers’ organizations say there is no policy framework to support the sector at the national level, although states also have their own responsibilities. “It is absurd that the Center does not have any Agriculture Advisory Council. As a result, the agriculture sector suffers from yield and destruction syndrome,” says P. Chengal Reddy, chief advisor, CIFA. He says that the government should make farmers globally competitive so that farming becomes more attractive. He says that every agricultural commodity needs an action plan and a board at the national level to market the product globally by bringing uniformity in quality. “Problems include low productivity, high input cost and huge wastage. The government has to provide incentives for agricultural exports,” he says.
But the parties, especially the Congress and the BJP, have little to offer. Congress has not implemented these agricultural promises in any state where it is in power. And most of the policies governing the agriculture sector, such as support prices and exports, are in the court of the Centre.
ravi.reddy@thehindu.co.in Chandrashekar.bhalki@thehindu.co.in