Rhythu Bandhu was brought in by the Telangana government with the objective of taking care of the initial investment needs of farmers
The Telangana government has made subsidies under the state's Rhythu Bandhu scheme conditional, extending it to only those farmers who follow its 'suggestions' on crop cultivation, The Hindu Business Line has reported.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, on May 18, said that only those farmers who follow the cropping pattern laid out by the state government would be eligible for aid under Rhythu Bandhu, while the 'violators' would not receive the subsidy.
The government has directed farmers to cultivate cotton on 70 lakh acres of land, as against 45-50 acres that they usually allocate to the fibre crop.
Meanwhile, paddy cultivation is to be taken up on 40 lakh acres, but only varieties suggested by the government based on market demand are to be grown.
They have also been asked to avoid growing maize this season and to go for red gram cultivation instead.
The state has an overall cultivable land area of about 1.35 crore acres for the two cropping seasons.
Rhythu Bandhu (Agriculture Investment Support Scheme) was brought in by the Telangana government with the objective of taking care of the initial investment needs of farmers and preventing them from falling into a debt trap.
Under this scheme, the state government gives every beneficiary farmer Rs 4,000 per acre as investment support before every crop season.
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