An unlikely village for Rythu Bandhu scheme

Chanda (T), the village where the Rythu Bandhu programme was launched by Forest Minister Jogu Ramanna in Adilabad district on Thursday threw up a curious scenario as only those who could seemingly do without investment support receiving it and those who forcefully lay claim to it by virtue of being poor landless being ignored.

Yes, almost all those farmers who give away their lands on lease for cultivation got the scheme benefits while the tenant farmers, of which the village has a good number, were left high and dry.

The village which has 650 households and a population of about 4,500 is located about a km from the district headquarters town. At least half the households, 308 to be precise, have land holdings even in surrounding villages and the remaining are landless tenant farmers.

A comparatively high number of villagers are also in government employment which renders the families relatively prosperous and with hardly any need to toil. They are comfortable in leasing out their lands.

Palla Satish, a tenant farmer cultivates an 8 acre piece of land leased from a local farmer since the last few years. “I pay a lease amount of ₹ 48,000 to the owner who will also get an equal amount as investment support now,” Satish calculated.

Same is the case with Sakipalli Adellu who leases 2 acres of land from a local farmer. “The owner of my land will not purchase either seeds or fertilisers as he does not cultivate,” he pointed out the anomaly.