HYDERABAD: It seems there are not many takers for the Telangana government’s ‘give it up’ campaign, which was meant to encourage rich landowners and farmers to voluntarily opt out of its flagship welfare programme Rythu Bandhu to reduce its financial burden.
As per the official data, only 2,000 agriculture landowners out of over 63 lakh beneficiaries in the state opted for the Rythu Bandhu ‘give it up’ option. Of them, 400 landowners submitted applications to the agriculture department to reclaim the benefit.
Under Rythu Bandhu, the government transfers Rs 10,000 per acre per year (Rs 5,000 each in kharif and rabi) to all landowners irrespective of the extent of land they own. The government is spending nearly Rs 15,000 crore per year on this scheme.
The government has taken up ‘give it up’ campaign with the prime objective of encouraging landowners who own agricultural land above 10 acres to voluntarily opt out of the scheme. Official sources in the…