Include tenant farmers in comprehensive survey: TJAC

It is to be used for disbursement of monetary benefit

May 13, 2017 12:02 am | Updated 12:03 am IST - HYDERABAD

Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) chairperson M. Kodandaram has demanded that tenant farmers of Telangana be included in the comprehensive survey of farmers to be undertaken by the Telangana government during May-June.

The survey is to be used for disbursement of monetary benefit of ₹4,000 per crop season as announced by the State government.

Majority of the farmers in distress are tenant farmers, as also majority of farmers committing suicide in the State, Mr. Kodandaram noted, while addressing a round-table meeting of the Telangana Rythu JAC here on Friday, and said all the tenant farmers, including those cultivating temple trust land, should be given Loan Eligibility Cards (LEC) and all the input subsidies as announced by the government.

‘Include tenant farmers’

Reading from the list of demands, he said the survey format did not have any provisions to include the tenant farmers and farmers of assigned land, women farmers and Adivasi farmers. All the cultivators should be recognised as farmers and necessary amendments made in the format, he said.

The round-table meet also demanded that the benefits announced by the government be ensured only to actual cultivators rather than the land owners, as did happen in the case of loan waiver scheme. So as to ensure inclusion of genuine cultivators, the survey should be continued up to September 30, till the end of kharif.

Other demands placed by the round-table meeting before the government include issue of LECs to all eligible tenant farmers as per the Licensed Cultivators Act, 2011, issue of crop loans based on scale of finance, resurvey of lands, and correction of revenue records in six months.

The State has over 10 lakh tenant farmers, who constitute more than a third of the total cultivators in Telangana, Kanneganti Ravi from the Rythu Swarjya Vedika said, and demanded that they not be deprived of the support systems offered by the government.

Despite a law having been passed for the benefit of tenant farmers, it had been hardly implemented during the last six years, he said.

Though the government had kept itself a target of issuing cards to over four lakh tenant farmers after passing the law, not even a lakh farmers had been given the same during the last six years. Only about 18,000 tenant farmers could obtain ₹175 crore loan during this period. Of the ₹17,000 crore loan waiver scheme, only ₹23 crore belonged to tenant farmers.

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