Hyderabad: The contenders for the Telangana hot seat in the upcoming state Assembly elections are leaving no stone unturned, by highlighting welfare schemes and promising more support, in canvassing votes of one of the biggest vote banks: farmers, who are one-crore strong.
Accounting for around a third of the Telangana electorate, of 3.14 crore voters, there are 75 lakh landowning farmers and 25 lakh tenant farmers in the state, as per the Dharani portal.
To garner these votes, the BRS is banking on its pro-farmer policies of Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, and 24-hour free power, among others, that have been implemented over the past nine-and-a-half years of its tenure.
The BJP leaders have been highlighting the PM-Kisan scheme and the fertiliser subsidies implemented by the Centre.
The Congress is banking on its ‘Chhattisgarh model’ of governance, under which financial aid, on the lines of BRS’ Rythu Bandhu, is extended to farmers. A major difference is that the Congress government there provides aid to tenant farmers and agriculture labourers too, besides landowning farmers.
A major poll expectation of the farming community is a crop loan waiver, which was among the major promises of the three parties in the run-up to the 2018 Assembly elections. While the BJP and Congress promised Rs 2 lakh loan waivers each, the BRS promised Rs 1 lakh.
It was widely speculated that the implementation of Rythu Bandhu in May 2018, along with the promise of a loan waiver, turned the farmers’ votes pink, in support of the BRS.
However, in stark contrast, the BRS and BJP manifestos do not make a mention of crop loan waiver this time around. Only the Congress has promised a loan waiver, of up to Rs 2 lakh.
The BRS promised to enhance Rythu Bandhu's aid from Rs 10,000 per acre at present to Rs 16,000 per acre in phases, but only for landowning farmers, with tenant farmers and labourers excluded from the purview of the scheme.
The Congress promised to extend Rs 15,000 per acre per year to farmers and tenant farmers starting from December 2023, if elected to power, in addition to Rs 12,000 per acre per year to agriculture labourers.
The Congress and BJP, targeting the BRS over alleged misdeeds in land acquisition, promised to replace the Dharani portal, in a major poll plank. The Congress promised to implement the ‘Bhumata’ portal, while the BJP is calling its portal ‘Mee Bhoomi’.
The Congress has also promised interest-free crop loans of up to Rs 3 lakh, 24-hour free power to agriculture, a comprehensive crop insurance scheme, and a bonus of Rs 500 for paddy per quintal.
The BJP has promised investment support of Rs 18,000 per acre to farmers, besides Rs 2,500 to small and marginal farmers to enable them to procure seeds and fertilisers. It further promised free crop insurance to farmers through PM Fasal Bima Yojana, Rs 3,100 for paddy, and required market intervention funds for turmeric.
It also promised the allocation of free Indian milk-yielding cows to willing small and marginal farmers, the development of Nizamabad as a first-of-its-kind Nizamabad Turmeric City, and the constitution of a national turmeric board.
