Hyderabad: Rythu Bandhu Samithi chairman and BRS MLC Palla
Rajeshwar Reddy on Monday strongly refuted comments made by BJP state
president Bandi Sanjay Kumar that almost 10,000 farmers had committed
suicide in the last eight years while the TRS (now BRS) was in power as a
result of debt, a lack of MSP, and procurement issues.
Speaking to media along with MLA Guvvala Balaraju, MLCs M.S.Prabhakar and
V.Gangadhar Goud at the BRS Legislature Party (BRSLP) office here, Palla
said that since 2014, the farmers' suicides in Telangana came down by 400
per cent as per the Centre's NCRD records. He reminded that the Centre had
stated in the Parliament that farmer suicides in Telangana had significantly
decreased since the state's formation in 2014.
With the implementation of pro-farmer policies by the BRS government, such
as Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, 25x7 free power to agriculture, among others,
Telangana recorded zero farmer suicides due to debts or agri-related
problems, and all farmer suicides being reported by the NCRB were on account
of personal, family, health factors, he claimed.
Further, he stated that Telangana is the only state in the country to offer
Rs 5 lakh in compensation under Rythu Bima to the kin of farmers who die for
any reason. “Even if a farmer only owns one gunta of land, his family will
still be compensated with Rs 5 lakh if the farmer dies for any reason. They
used to only receive compensation in the past when farmers committed
suicide. However, our CM altered this policy to assist the kin of farmers
regardless of the reason for their death,” he noted.
Palla also strongly refuted Bandi's contention that only rich farmers were
receiving Rythu Bandhu benefits, citing statistics to support his claim that
91% of those receiving benefits were small and marginal farmers with an
average landholding size of less than 10 acres. Of them, 81% belong to the
SC, ST, and BC categories. Farmers from BC categories
alone account for more than 50 per cent, he claimed. "Where is the question
of only rich farmers benefiting from Rythu Bandhu, who account for just 0.09
per cent of total farmers in the state," he questioned.
