In a surprise move, the NDA government has announced an annual direct income payment of Rs. 6,000 for farmers in the country, directly copying Telangana’s Rythu Bandhu scheme. This announcement was made by Union Minister Piyush Goyal today while presenting the interim budget 2019-2020 terming it “Prime Minister’s Kisan Samman Nidhi.”
Under the scheme, the government will pay Rs. 6,000 in three instalments of Rs 2,000 each. However, the BJP government’s scheme will be restricted to small and marginal farmers with land holdings not exceeding five acres while the Rythu Bandhu financial assistance of Rs 4,000 per acre per season is provided to all farmers in the State, irrespective of their land holdings.
The Centre’s farm assistance scheme is expected to cover about 12 crore farmers across the country, while Rythu Bandhu benefitted about 58 lakh farmers in Kharif alone. This, the Telangana government, believed would bring down farm distress. While this is a welcome move from the Central government, it also is a political gimmick to provide cash handouts to farmers ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
