The influence of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s entry into neighboring Maharashtra is becoming more visible by the day, with a growing chorus calling for the replication of Telangana’s Rythu Bandhu in the State.
To preempt the moves of the BRS, which is making deep inroads into the State with its slogan of ‘Ab ki Baar Kisan Sarkar’ already being taken up by farmers after only three public meetings held by Party President and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, the Eknath Shinde government is now driven to yield to the demand for the Telangana Model in some form or another.
The need for Rythu Bandhu or a similar package to help distressed farmers is being emphasized not only by political quarters, social activists and farmers’ unions, but also by key officials of the State administration now.
Senior IAS officer and Divisional Commissioner of Aurangabad, Sunil Kendrekar, spoke to reporters on Tuesday and called for a financial assistance of Rs.10,000 per acre to farmers in Aurangabad, citing an ‘urgent need’.
Kendrekar made this suggestion to the Maharashtra government in order to reduce farmer suicides in the Marathwada region, which are on the rise. His recommendation is the result of a comprehensive survey conducted in the region. The stocktaking exercise, which was launched a few months ago, covered nearly five lakh farmer families.
He preferred reaching out to farmers with financial assistance before the start of each crop season. The state of Marathwada, which includes Aurangabad, Beed, Hingoli, Jalna, Latur, Nanded, Osmanabad, and Parbhani districts, reported 1,023 farmer suicides in 2022.
Since 2001, 10,431 farmers have committed suicide in this region.
Kendrekar stated that the administration had assessed the socioeconomic status of farmers and their families in the division’s eight districts. The survey was conducted to identify vulnerable families who are compelled to take extreme measures due to a variety of circumstances.
“The farmer suicide rate in Marathwada is more compared to other parts of Maharashtra,” he said, citing poor crop yield, ravage by rain and other climatic conditions, damage caused by wild animals, and costly farming inputs that are out of reach for many farmers.
“We called some of the affected families and gave them a patient listening. Families are getting aid after losing their bread winners to suicide,” he said, adding that it was understood that the farmer families were tired of their socio-economic condition.
“The situation is serious,” he said, saying that some families had girls who were about to be married and children who had quit school.Low yields would occur if a family had five to seven acres of land but no adequate water.
“Like the Telangana government, I think the farmers should be given an aid of Rs.10,000 per acre before a crop season,” he said, adding that with this, they could purchase seeds and make their farms ready for sowing.
“After this, they can purchase other farming essentials without any debt and interest. We will recommend this to the State government soon,” Kendrekar said.
(This story has been sourced from a third-party syndicated feed, agencies. Raavi Media accepts no responsibility or liability for the text’s dependability, trustworthiness, reliability, and data. Raavi Media management/ythisnews.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content at its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.)
