The Telangana government has made a major announcement regarding changes in the Rythu Bharosa scheme that will now benefit only those farmers who are actively cultivating their lands. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy declared this while presiding over a high-level review meeting on the scheme’s implementation and guidelines.

CM Revanth went on to say that there would be no more financial aid for lands that are not suitable for cultivation as we used to give in the past. This move is intended to limit the scheme to only those farmers who can be considered as the rightful ones, so the scheme will become more effective and accountable.

The Rythu Bandhu scheme was introduced by the previous BRS government and it initially offered investment support of Rs 4,000 per acre per season (Rs 8,000 annually). Later, the amount was increased to Rs 5,000 per acre. However, it was discovered through audits that besides farmers there were also some non-farmers and owners of fallow or non-arable lands who had received benefits.

With the Congress government, the program was transformed into the Rythu Bharosa scheme and the financial support was raised to Rs. 6,000 per acre. However, there were still non-qualified beneficiaries who kept getting benefits. The fresh policy states that only those farmers who very much work on their fields will be the ones to benefit from the investment support, thereby ensuring that the program reaches its goals.