Taken aback by the unexpected decision of the Election Commission of India to withdraw the permission granted for the disbursement of Rythu Bandhu investment support for the ongoing Rabi/Yasangi season hours before the commencement of the process on Monday, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has requested the EC to reconsider its decision.
In a three-page letter addressed to the EC and Chief Electoral Officer of the State, secretary-general of the party K. Keshava Rao and its general secretary S. Bharath Kumar stated that the Rythu Bandhu was an on-going scheme since May 2018 and it has been disbursed for 11 crop season already and under continuous implementation.
They stated that the scheme was intended for farmers as investment support for their agricultural activities before the commencement of crop season twice a year – Kharif and Rabi seasons. An amount of ₹5,000 per acre was being given to all landholding farmers and for this Rabi season it was proposed to disburse it from November 24 by informing the same to the Election Commission by the State Government.
The Election Commission had granted permission on November 25 with certain conditions. However, to their utter surprise, the no objection given was withdrawn on the ground that Minister of Finance T. Harish Rao had allegedly violated one of the conditions. The BRS leaders said Mr. Harish Rao had not made any such comment which would amount to the violation of the November 25 order and he merely thanked the EC for allowing the disbursement of the benefit.
The BRS leaders reiterated that Rythu Bandhu was an ongoing scheme and that the farmers had legitimate expectation before the crop season. Besides, the Commission had allowed PM-Kisan to disburse similar benefit by crediting the amount to farmers’ bank accounts.
There was no difference between the two schemes and the stoppage of disbursement would cause irreparable hardship to the farmers, the BRS leaders said and appealed to allow disbursement of Rythu Bandhu benefit as per the list available with the state government in the digitised land records system.
