FGG seeks limitations in Rythu Bandhu

‘Scheme should help only small and marginal farmers’

The Forum for Good Governance (FGG) has asked the State government to modify the operational guidelines of Rythu Bandhu, the flagship scheme extending investment support to farmers in two instalments, in such a manner that the amount being spent on it is limited to help small and marginal farmers. The government should take steps to limit the benefit to five acres land holding and exclude fallow lands not under cultivation from its purview. Politicians, bureaucrats, IT assesses, NRIs and employees should be excluded from the scheme. Forum secretary M. Padmanabha Reddy appreciated the scheme saying it was an excellent scheme that helped farmers to come out of debt trap. But the scheme was wide open to any farmer without any restrictions. A rough estimate put it that half of the ₹15,000 crore being spent on the scheme annually was being pocketed by big landlords, absent landlords, including NRIs.