Rythu Bandhu scheme to be a ‘game changer’ in Telangana politics

The much-publicised scheme Rythu Bandhu launched by Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday is considered to be a game-changer in the state politics in the run-up to the state assembly elections scheduled in April 2019.

The scheme envisages payment of Rs 8,000 per acre per year to each farmer in two spells of Rs 4,000 each in Kharif and Rabi seasons. The scheme will benefit 5.8 million farmers owning 1.39 crore acres across the state. In all, the government has earmarked Rs 12,000 crore for the scheme, official estimates said.

While KCR launched the scheme in Karimnagar district, his cabinet colleagues and officials distributed cheques and newly-designed pattadar passbooks across the state.

“Rythu Bandhu scheme is going to change the fate of the farming community in the state and has shown a new direction to the entire country. What the Congress could not do in five decades, we have done in four years,” the TRS president said.