Uncertainty prevails over the date for crediting the amounts to accounts of farmers under the flagship Rythu Bandhu, farmers investment support scheme, for the kharif season.
Though agricultural operations commenced in different parts of the State, the Government is yet to announce the date from which the amounts at the rate of ₹5,000 an acre will be credited to farmers’ accounts. The government has made provision of ₹ 14,800 crore, ₹7,400 crore each for kharif and rabi seasons, in the budget presented to the legislature in March this year.
The scheme has been one of the major welfare measures by the State Government since its commencement in 2018 and the government had been regularly crediting the amounts at the time of commencement of kharif and rabi seasons. The government has credited close to ₹7,000 crore in the last kharif between June 15 and 25 while an equal amount was given to farmers in rabi season in January this year.
This time however the government has not made any announcement about the dates for crediting the amounts into the accounts of over 60 lakh farmers reportedly due to the financial constraints it has been facing due to stoppage of loans from the Reserve Bank of India. The Government had planned to raise ₹ 15,000 crore through open market borrowings in the first quarter of the current fiscal, but could only raise ₹4,000 crore on ad hoc basis following the questions raised by the Union Finance Ministry over the borrowings, especially off budget borrowings, by the State.
With the Centre yet to give its nod for raising resources through OMBs, doubts persists over whether the State could avail the ₹1,000 crore it planned to raise during the auction slated on June 28, the last for the current quarter.
Finance officials remained tight-lipped when asked a bout the possible date from which farmers would get Rythu Bandhu amounts into their accounts. They are however confident that the government could raise the entire quantum of balance of the projected borrowings at any time provided the Centre accords permission to raise the amounts.
