India Will Emulate Rythu Bandhu: Telangana Governor

Hyderabad:The Telangana government's Rythu Bandhu Scheme to provide investment support to every farmer has become part of national agenda of action, Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan said on Saturday.

Addressing the joint session of both Houses of the state legislature, he said the scheme has become a role model for several states and has earned praise even in the international arena. "It is a matter of pride that UN Food and Agriculture Organisation praised this scheme. Several states are preparing to adopt it," he said. He claimed that the scheme has done away with the problem of agriculture investment faced by farmers. "Farmers are happy as they are getting Rs 8,000 per acre annually, at the rate of Rs 4,000 per acre per crop," said Narasimhan.

He said the scheme was one of the several steps initiated by Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government to revive, restore and revitalise the agriculture sector. With 24 hours round-the-clock quality power supply, farmers are no longer confronted with power problems. Due to government's strategic actions, fertilisers, pesticides and seed are reaching the farmer in time, he claimed. The government also introduced a novel Life Insurance Scheme for farmers termed "Rythu Bhima" to come to the rescue of the farmer's family in the event of his death, notwithstanding circumstances. Under this scheme, the farmer's family would get Rs five lakh within 10 days of the death. Listing the schemes introduced and implemented for the welfare and development of people during the last four years, he said they brought about a better standard of living.

Narasimhan said Telangana has been progressing in every arena and positions itself as a leading state in the country, due to the effective governance under the leadership of K. Chandrashekhar Rao. "This was reflected clearly in the electorate again reposing confidence overwhelmingly and returning the existing government to power with an emphatic majority in the recently concluded elections." The Governor said the government would continue to press and fight for implementation of 33 per cent reservation to backward classes and 33 per cent to women in legislatures. Recalling that the Telangana Assembly has already passed a resolution for provision of 10 per cent reservation to scheduled tribes and 12 per cent to minorities, he said to implement these reservations the government will continue to raise the demand with the Central government. Narasimhan pointed out that the people of Telangana achieved a separate state for themselves in 2014 after six decades of relentless struggle. The government straightaway took up the process of reconstruction, according top priority to welfare of the poor. He told the legislators that Telangana achieved one of the highest growth rates in the country. During the first four years from 2014-2018, the state achieved 17.17 per cent compound annual revenue growth rate and during the current 2018-19 financial year, the growth rate so far stands at 29.93 per cent. Even in Goods and Service Tax collections Telangana stands first among all the states in the country. (IANS)

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