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Tenant farmers in Telangana have asked the State Government to revive and implement the Licenced Cultivators’ Act of 2011 and give them access to institutional credit.
Enacted during the Congress regime, in the undivided Andhra Pradesh, the Act facilitated the issuance of an identity card (Loan Eligibility Card) to tenant farmers, giving them access to loans from banks. The card ensured that the cardholders didn’t get any ownership of the land, dispelling fears of land owners. The issuance of cards, however, was stopped after a few years.
Taking part in a public hearing on Tuesday, they said that they were being forced to take loans from private lenders.
“We are also not getting financial assistance from the government through schemes like Rythu Bandhu,” a farmer said.
“Thousands of crores of rupees are being transferred to non-cultivating landowners through Rythu Bandhu while tenant farmers who are actually cultivating get nothing,” Kavitha Kuruganti, Convenor of Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA), said.
The public hearing was organised by the Rythu Swarajya Vedika (RSV), an umbrella organisation of farmers associations, scientists and non-governmental organisations, in front of a ‘People’s Jury’, comprising experts from different walks of life.
The jury included Yogendra Yadav, President of Swaraj India; T Gopal Rao, former Revenue Secretary of Andhra Pradesh; and K Sajaya, a social activist.
“While the Telangana government calls itself as a farmer-friendly government, the tenant farmers who form 36 per cent of farmers in the State are neither getting the benefit of Rythu Bandhu scheme, nor loan waiver schemes. They are also not getting compensations during calamities,” the jury said.
Leaders from various political parties including RS Praveen Kumar (BSP State President), DG Narasimha Rao (CPM), Pasya Padma (CPI), and Kodandram (Telangana Janata Samiti) also participated.
The RSV has asked all political parties to support the demand for inclusion of tenant farmers in all the government support systems and implementation of the 2011 Act.
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