Waiving crop loans to the tune of ₹27,718 crore apart from ₹28,000 crore extended to farmers under Rythu Bandhu scheme, Telangana is the numero uno in the country in serving the interests of farmers, TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao said.
These are the figures revealed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its report and its a great honour for the youngest state in the country, KTR said, adding it was a befitting answer to those who criticised the government with false accusations.
He said the RBI report had clearly stated that the Telangana government was on the top in waiving crop loans in the country. Apart from this, the Rythu Bandhu scheme had put an additional ₹28,000 crore so far in the farmers’ hands. These were above the money spent on Rythu Bheema and free power supply to the agriculture sector.
KTR said the RBI report also made it clear that the beneficiaries under Rythu Bandhu were 95% small and marginal farmers, thus negating the claim that the scheme was benefiting rich farmers. Overall, six lakh farmers’ families had benefited scheme and this was an extraordinary achievement.
Stating that Telangana was the most progressive state in the country, he said contribution of agriculture had increased by 300% in the State’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) and it meant agriculture policies of Telangana government had paid off. Moreover, the per capita income in Telangana had more than doubled, the Minister said.
Dubbak poll
KTR claimed that it would be a cake walk for the TRS in Dubbak bypoll and Congress and BJP would struggle to retain their deposits. TRS would better its majority this time, he said stating Congress was nowhere in the picture.
Taking a dig at the BJP leaders and the money confiscated from them by the police, he said BJP leaders claim all the money spent on welfare schemes was theirs but the money caught by the police was not theirs. He declined to reveal if the Chief Minister would campaign and asked if there was any such need.
