After Telangana, Odisha and the Centre, Andhra Pradesh has joined the income support bandwagon announcing a financial assistance of ₹10,000 a year as input subsidy to each farmer-family in the State.

Higher dole

Announcing this at Amaravati on Wednesday after a Cabinet meeting, State Agriculture Minister S Chandramohan Reddy said, “The Centre has announced financial assistance of ₹6,000 to about 55 lakh families in the State; we have hiked it to ₹10,000. Of this, ₹5,000 will be paid for the kharif season and ₹5,000 for the rabi season. For families that are not covered under the Central scheme, we will bear the entire ₹10,000. Whereas the Centre has set a ceiling of five acres, all families will be covered.” The scheme, christened Annadata Sukhibhava (a Sanskrit saying that means “Let the food-giver be happy and prosperous”), will cover tenant farmers also, said Chandramohan Reddy.

Tenant farmers included

“The farmer assistance scheme of the Telangana government and the one introduced by the Centre do not cover tenant farmers,” he pointed out. Interestingly, the income support scheme announced by Odisha also covers tenant farmers. Telangana had paid the farmers ₹8,000 each last year.

The Andhra Cabinet had also decided to release the last instalment of ₹8,000 crore for the loan waiver scheme, and in the recent vote on account, ₹5,000 crore had been allocated for the Annadata Sukhibhava scheme, he added.

Under the direct cash benefit announced in the February 1 Interim Budget, the Centre will release ₹2,000 in February to identified farmers, and the State government will add ₹3,000 and credit the amount to farmers’ accounts, said Chandramohan Reddy.

“Though the State is facing a financial crisis after the bifurcation of the State, we have introduced these schemes to support agriculture and farmers,” he claimed.

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