Hyderabad: N Chandrababu Naidu, who once projected himself as the ‘CEO of Andhra Pradesh’ during his tenure as the chief minister from 1995 to 2004 and had allegedly said ‘agriculture is a waste’, seems to have mended his ways.
Ahead of the assembly and Parliament elections in Andhra Pradesh, Naidu has introduced a welfare scheme for farmers, named ‘Annadata Sukhibhava’ which is familiar to the ‘Rythu Bandhu’ scheme being implemented in Telangana.
The new scheme would give Rs 2,500 per acre as investment support for which the government has allocated Rs 5,000 crore in the interim budget introduced in the assembly on Tuesday. The amount will be given to farmers by April.
In Telangana, farmers are being given Rs 8,000 per acre as investment support in two equal instalments. K Chandrashekhar Rao has promised to increase the sum to Rs 10,000 and include the same in the next budget.
“Our schemes are unique. We are role models in welfare for the entire country. Not just Chandrababu, everybody is trying to follow into KCR’s footsteps,” TRS secretary in Andhra Pradesh Pochampalli Srinivas Reddy told News18.
The government is working out the final amount to be paid per acre. However, as of now, every farmer will get immediate cash transfer of Rs 2,500 per acre.
There are over 60 per cent of ‘lease farmers’ in districts like Krishna, Guntur, East Godavari, West Godavari and Prakasam.
Apart from the cash transfer scheme, allocations have been made for agriculture (Rs 12,733 crore) and allied sectors. Another Rs 16,852 crore has been put aside for the irrigation sector.
This turns out to almost 15 per cent of the total budget.
The government is looking at boosting mechanisation in agriculture in the form of increasing funds to the ‘Rythu Ratham’ scheme that helps farmers buy tractors at subsidised rates, micro irrigation, organic farming and horticulture farming.
“This is a historic budget. It shows our commitment towards the farming community. Our new scheme ‘Annadata Sukhibhava’ will be supportive towards all farmers. Ours is more than what the Telangana government is doing for agriculturists,” said Andhra’s agriculture minister Somireddi Chandramohan Reddy after the budget was presented.
However, the opposition has described the interim budget as one aimed at making electoral benefits. YSRCP MLA Buggana Rajendranath Reddy said, “This is not a vote-on-account budget. This is an account for vote. They did nothing for the farmers till now. And now, as the elections are round the corner, the ruling party is coming up with new schemes to lure voters.”
As chief minister of united Andhra Pradesh, Naidu had introduced several reforms in information technology and focused on industrial growth. However, there were allegations that he ignored the farming sector.
In 2000, there was a major backlash when the Naidu government hiked power tariff.
Due to continuous drought, agriculture was hit majorly.
This gave Congress leader YS Rajasekhara Reddy a key weapon against Naidu and he came to power in 2004.
Immediately after becoming chief minister, Reddy introduced free power for agriculture.
Though against the scheme during his first term, Naidu, after coming back to power in 2014, decided to continue providing free electricity to farmers. He even waived off agriculture loans by spending Rs 24,000 crore.
“Irrespective of political colours, leaders will only do what suits their interests. However, it is a good thing that even now, political parties are thinking about agriculture. We have to do a lot for them. Instead of giving benefits in the form of cash incentives, it would be better if they take steps to make agriculture profitable,” economist Paparao told News 18.
He said if the governments were really serious about farmers, they should implement the recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee.
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