DC Correspondent
Ramadugu, Nov. 25: Farmers as a constituency are in a bind on whom to vote given the odds they had faced in getting power for their agricultural operations before 2014. Rythu bandhu, an agriculture investment support scheme, which had its beginnings in the State and was adopted by the Centre as PM Kisan Samman Nidhi is a flagship scheme of the BRS government.
However, farmers also rue about the lacuna in the policies act as a dampener. G. Kanakaiah (55), a dalit farmer who owns one acre from Nawabpet village of Chigurumamidi mandal cites the State government has stopped support for subsidized seeds, fertilizers, sprinklers, drip irrigation, rotavator and cultivator used for tractors and pipelines to carry water. While the price of inputs like fertilizers have increased three-fold, the price of paddy has only increased from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,200 in the same period.”
B. Durgaiah from the same village says the cost of even soaps have increased many times than paddy produced by them. He adds the cost of agricultural labour has also risen from Rs 600 to Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200 for men while women labour cost has also risen from Rs 300 to Rs 550 now. ,
Farmers in Ramadugu village and mandal of Karimnagar district, which CM KCR had visited after the hail storms played havoc with crops, farmers like M. Ramulu are undecided whom to vote. He says, “The crop loss left me poorer by another Rs 90,000 at Rs 30,000 input cost per acre on my three-acre farm land where I grew paddy. That added to my debt burden which has increased to Rs 10 lakhs currently. The cost of land here is Rs 20 lakhs per acre. I am mulling the sale of an acre of land as a way out of my debt.”
The pain of crop loss is shared by G. Ravinder Reddy, from Choppadanti village and mandal from the same district who says not a single rupee was given though it was claimed that an amount of Rs 10,000 compensation would be deposited in the accounts immediately. G. Komaraiah, his fellow villager, says BRS would have won if the government had paid the compensation as promised.
Loan waiver is another promise farmers say has not been fulfilled completely. K. Mallaiah, a farmer from Indurthi village of Chigurumamidi mandal who owns five acres and has taken another two acres on tenancy said, “Apart from rythu bandhu for my own land I did not get any loan waiver though my debt was taken much before the fixed cut-off date. The Rs 1.5 lakh debt has become Rs three lakhs now with interest getting added. As I could not repay the loan I could not avail any bank loans and had to rely on private loans at Rs two interest.”
Crop loss owing to hail storm only added to the woes of Mallaiah who says though officials made enquiries not a single penny was given. He adds that monkey menace is forcing them to opt for paddy crop only instead of the low-cost crops like maize and groundnut. They require less water and less fertilizers.
B. Lacchaiah, another farmer, adds that since rythu bandhu is given in the form of cash a section of farmers are using it to consume alcohol. B. Raji Reddy from Narayanapur village says as a BRS supporter he could have prodded 50 others to vote for BRS more enthusiastically if the loan waiver was honoured properly. I am unable to broach the issue with my fellow villagers.
But not all farmers are against the BRS, B. Srinivas a farmer from Indurthi village, says, “There was no proper power supply earlier though it was free from Y.S.Rajasekhar Reddy's time and Sheikh Maqbool who runs a small eatery in the village says he would vote for the BRS courtesy the handicapped pension of Rs 4,000 he receives every month and says he is indebted to the party.
Tenant farmers like the husband and son of S.K. Safia (50) who has been left as the only surviving member of her family, says, “She did not get a penny in the rythu bheema scheme which makes owning land a prerequisite for getting the benefit of Rs five lakhs to any farmer between 18 to 59. All I have is this piece of land with a collapsed house and I live on rent in an adjacent house and survive doing farm labour along with the Rs 2,000 pension I get. I am repaying the Rs 2 lakh loan.”
This condition Rythu Swarajya Vedika which has been working on farmers issues says arises as the government has only recognised 1,800 deaths as suicides out of the 7,000 farmer suicide deaths. And only 1,800 of them have received compensation. Ever since the rythu bheema scheme was launched from August 15th, 2018 the government machinery has not bothered to check the cause of deaths of farmers. The BRS government has so far paid Rs five lakhs to nearly a lakh of farmers' families, the tenant farmers who don't own any land have been left out. The Telangana high court taking cognisance of the issue gave a directive to enquire into the deaths in the next four months and ordered the State government to do the needful.
While the BRS government needs to be lauded for giving rythu bheema leaving out the tenant farmers is a dampener, says RSV activist B. Kondal Reddy. (G Ram Mohan)
