Recognise Telangana tenant farmers, include them in all welfare schemes: Farmers’ union remind Congress

Hyderabad: Tenant farmers from various districts of the Telangana State participated in the consultation meeting organised by the Telangana Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Commission on the issue of tenant farmers and explained their problems and voiced their demands.

They demanded the immediate implementation of the Land Authorized Cultivators Act, 2011, issuance of identity cards and extension of Rythu Bharosa assistance to tenant farmers, among others.

Tenant farmers, who had expected justice from the State Congress government, said they are disappointed. They demanded that steps be taken immediately for the recognition of tenant farmers from the 2025 Kharif season.

Representatives of Rythu Swarajya Vedika and other farmers’ associations also participated in the meeting and demanded that the government immediately start the process of identifying tenant farmers as per the Land Authorized Cultivators Act, 2011.

Subsequently, representatives from Rythu Swarajya Vedika—Kirankumar Vissa, B Kondal, Kanneganti Ravi and S Ashalatha—organised a press meet, in which tenant farmers from the districts such as Vikarabad, Karimnagar, Mahabubabad and others and State leaders of RSV spoke to the media.

'BRS also ignored tenant farmers'

The tenant farmers said that the BRS government had completely neglected the tenant farmers, and the then chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had declared that ‘our government has nothing to do with tenant farmers; we will only deal with landowners.’ But they had believed that justice would be done to them if the Congress government came to power, still they have been disappointed so far.

“We have been cultivating on lease for a long time, but my husband died from suicide because he could not bear the burden of debt. We have not received any help or scheme from the government. When the Bharat Jodo Yatra took place in 2022, I met Rahul Gandhi. I expressed my grief. He assured that we will definitely provide help to the tenant farmers. I am still farming on leased land. But even after the Congress government came, we have not received any farmer’s insurance, crop loans or any scheme. I am asking chief minister Revanth Reddy and Rahul Gandhi again when they will do us justice,” said Kuruva Manjula from Thondapalli village of Parigi mandal of Vikarabad district.

Need for loan eligibility cards

Ramakanth, a tenant farmer from Talamadugu mandal of Adilabad district, said that in the past, they had received cultivator identity cards (loan eligibility cards) under the 2011 Act, and using those cards, they formed JLG groups in 2018 and 2019 and took bank loans, and they also received crop damage compensation and crop insurance payments.

He said that they had also sold at the crop purchase centres using those cards. However, he expressed his grief that since then, complete injustice has been done to them since the KCR government stopped issuing cards. He said that recently, tenant farmers could not sell because the money was deposited in the accounts of the land title holders at the jowar purchase centres. He immediately demanded that the 2011 act brought by the Congress be re-implemented and identity cards be given to all tenant farmers.

Farmers remind CM Revanth Reddy about past assurances

The Rythu Swarajya Vedika shared copies of an open letter written by the then TPCC president and chief minister, A Revanth Reddy, on September 13, 2023, to the tenant farmers of Telangana. In that letter, the Congress government reminded the media that it would do complete justice to the tenant farmers, that the Congress had brought the Land Authorized Cultivators Act in 2011, and that it would provide identity cards to the tenant farmers again under that act, and that it would provide other schemes and crop loans along with farmer assurance.

‘75 per cent of the Telangana farmer suicides were tenant farmers’

The Congress had clearly stated in its Warangal Declaration and six guarantees that it would provide schemes to the tenant farmers. The leaders of the Rythu Swarajya Vedika said that it was completely unfair that the government had not taken steps in that direction even after one and a half years of its formation. The leaders said that 75 per cent of the Telangana farmer suicides were tenant farmers, and only by identifying tenant farmers and providing full support to them, can we achieve a Telangana free of farmer suicides.

Although the government claims that it is also providing the Rs 500 bonus given for purchasing paddy crops to tenant farmers, only a very small percentage of tenant farmers have received it, said RSV leaders. They said that since there is no specific system for identifying tenant farmers, it depends on the mercy of local authorities, and the authorities also reject a large percentage of tenant farmers due to a lack of legal orders.

Immediate implementation of Land Authorized Cultivators Act, 2011

Before the start of the 2025 Kharif season, the representatives of the tenant farmers and Rythu Swarajya Vedika demanded that the Land Authorized Cultivators Act, 2011, be implemented immediately, applications should be taken from the tenant farmers, and cards should be given to them based on the inquiry in the Gram Sabhas as per the law.

They reminded that the issuance of these cards will not affect the rights of the landowners over their land, and this matter is clear in the law and on the cards. They said that it is the responsibility of the government to create awareness among the landowners on this matter, and the revenue machinery should campaign for it at the village level.

Here is a list of demands by the tenant farmers:

1. The Land Authorized Cultivators Act, 2011, should be implemented immediately, applications should be taken from the tenant farmers, and LEC identity cards should be given to them.

2. The tenant farmers who have obtained identity cards should be provided with crop insurance, crop loss compensation, farmer insurance, crop sale, bank loans, etc.

3. Since Rythu Bharosa is an investment assistance, and since tenant farmers are farming with their own investment, Rythu Bharosa assistance should also be provided to tenant farmers. This guarantee, which is one of the six guarantees, should be implemented in the first year itself.