Minister Niranjan Reddy slams Revanth over letter to KCR on MSP on cotton

Hyderabad: The ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) came down heavily on the State Congress unit for holding Telangana government responsible on Minimum Support Price (MSP) for cotton and said the issue had to be addressed by Central government.

MSP for cotton had to be declared by BJP-led union Government and it does not come under State Government's purview, said Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy.

The Minister reacted strongly to TPCC president A Revanth Reddy's Open Letter to Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Saturday demanding MSP for cotton, farm loan waiver and other issues.

Despite being MP Revanth Reddy never questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the parliament over the BJP government's failure in implementing Swaminathan Committee's recommendations, the Minister said in a statement.

Telangana Government fulfilled all promises made to the people and farmers. Till date, Rs.17,351 crore farm loans were waived off by the State Government, he explained.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was the only leader in the country, who was striving for farmers' welfare and development. He introduced Rythu Bandhu and since last years, Rs.65,000 crore was deposited directly into the farmers bank accounts, he said.

Despite Covid pandemic, Telangana Government had extended all support to the farming community. Procurement centres were set up in villages for the convenience of farmers.

Telangana was the only State, which was extending free power supply to the farming community.

Towards this, the State Government was spending about Rs.10,500 crore annually, the Minister pointed

out.

The Agriculture Minister questioned Revanth Reddy's commitment towards farmers' welfare when the BJP-led union Government had delayed paddy procurement from Telangana. On the contrary, the TPCC president was trying to defame the Telangana Government, he slammed.

"Why is the TPCC president Revanth Reddy not questioning the BJP government at the Centre? What is the hidden agenda?" asked Niranjan Reddy.

Stating that farmers were still aware of hardships they had faced for obtaining seeds and fertilisers during the Congress regime, the Minister warned the BJP and Congress parties not to mislead the farming community in the State.

Rs.575.09 crore deposited under Rythu Bandhu on fourth day

Meanwhile, the State Government has deposited Rs.575.09 crore under Rythu Bandhu into 4.57 lakh farmers' bank accounts on Saturday. The farm investment support under Rythu Bandhu would cover 11.50 lakh acres in the State.

While, the Rythu Bandhu beneficiaries were increasing in the State, those under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Yojana were reducing drastically. Initially, there were 11 crore beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Yojana, it had now come down to three crore, Agriculture Minister said.

On the contrary, there were 50 lakh beneficiaries under Rythu Bandhu and they had now increased to 70 lakh, he pointed out.

On Saturday, TPCC president and MP Revanth Reddy has written an open letter to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao about the support price for cotton and about farmers' problems. The State Congress chief said the State government, which has to stand by the farmers and provide support price for their hard earned crops was least bothered when the middlemen are deceiving the farmers and becoming a hurdle to gain better support prices. "Only the traders and middlemen have the say to decide the support prices in the markets. There was no response from the State government even if the farmers are on roads demanding support prices. To whom should the farmers tell their problems, if the government remained careless about the issues of these harassed farmers".

Revanth Reddy stated that the farmers' happiness after seeing the cultivated cotton that has survived the rains and pests, vanishes when they see the prices in the market. In the rule of middlemen, the condition of farmers has become so pitiful that they are forced to protest on roads for support prices. He staed farmers are worried as they are paid only Rs 6000 to 7000 per quintal. Considering the input costs, the support price should be at least Rs 15,000 per quintal. On the other hand, the farmers in the State are facing challenging problems. "Lack of proper agricultural policy, lack of crop planning, disabled systems in guiding farmers, poor implementation of credit schemes, lack of quality seeds and pesticides, lack of support during natural calamities and crop damage caused by pests have dragged agriculture and farmers into crisis", he added.

Revanth Reddy criticised that due to Chief Minister KCR's poor farmer policies, an average of two farmers are forced to commit suicide every day across the State. National Crime Bureau (NCRB) figures say that Telangana ranks fourth in farmer suicides. According to this report, from 2014 to 2021, 6,557 farmers committed suicide across the State. A study conducted by an NGO concluded that 512 farmers across the State took their lives in the last 11 months up to November this year. A total of 7,069 farmers have committed suicide in the State since 2014. Most of the farmers, who committed suicide are tenant farmers. There are 16 lakh tenant farmers in the State and 80 percent of them committing suicide are tenant farmers, he added.

Due to the failure of crop yield as expected, increase in input costs and losses in farming, the farmers are facing a huge debt burden. Farmers are in great stress due to non-implementation of loan waiver and crop insurance as promised by the government. As a result, the farmers are not getting any kind of compensation. In this context, the government urgently needs to focus on the crisis of farmers' suicides. Permanent solutions should be hammered out instead of reckless temporary measures. The families of farmers who committed suicide should be supported. In the light of the latest situation, the Congress party was making some demands to the government.

Revanth Reddy asked the KCR government to respond to these demands immediately. Otherwise, he warned that they will have to take action on the ground level on behalf of the farmers. Their demands are: Fix Rs. 15000 per quintal support price for cotton, Loan waiver of Rs1 lakh should be implemented immediately, The State government should take the initiative to take one-time settlement of the private debts taken by the farmers, who committed suicide, tenant farmers should also be recognized as farmers and all the schemes should also be made applicable to them and immediate steps should be taken for implementation of crop insurance schemes.