Telangana Govt Extends Benefit of Agriculture Support Scheme to NRIs

Family members of Non-Resident Indians (NRI) who are involved in farming in Telangana will also be eligible to get the benefits of the “Rythu Bandhu” scheme, which aims to provide financial support to a farmer, the state government has announced.  

The scheme until now required that a farmer had to collect his check personally, which left NRI farmers out of its ambit, as it was not viable for them to come all the way to receive the payment, the Hindu reported. These NRI farmers are mainly those who have been migrated to Gulf countries to earn a living and belong to poor and small farming families. 

The Telangana state government has now issued guidelines for distributing checks among the family members of these NRI farmers, the report added. The number of these NRI farmers is around 60,000, it said. 

Under the scheme, the government gives a grant of Rs 4,000 per acre per farmer each season for meeting various expenditures involved in agricultural activities.

The decision to include NRI farmers as eligible beneficiaries under the Rythu Bandhu scheme was sent by C. Parthasarathi, Principal Secretary (Agriculture), to the Commissioner of Agriculture and other officers on Sept.22, according to the report. Rythu Bandhu means “friend of farmers.”

The government was requested by several family members of NRIs, especially poor people who have gone to Gulf countries to earn a living, to extend the facility to them, Parthasarathi said, according to Telangana Today.  

“These farmers are eligible for the assistance as per the guidelines of the scheme, and it is impractical to expect them to travel to India and be present in person for collecting these checks,” the publication quoted him as saying. 

The scheme will include NRI farmers who live outside the country but not the ones who live elsewhere within India. 

For giving the checks in the name of the NRI farmer, officials will have to inquire if they have agricultural land in their names. They will also have to ascertain the relationship of the claimant with the farmer in an order of preference given in the guidelines. 

These checks will be drawn at Rs 4,000 per acre. 

“Rythu Bandhu Scheme is proposed by the government of Telangana for providing investment support to agriculture and horticulture crops by way of grant of Rs. 4,000 per acre per farmer each season for purchase of inputs like seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, labor and other investments in the field operations of farmer’s choice for the crop season,” the Telangana government says on its official website.