The Telangana Cabinet on Friday approved a proposal to waive up to Rs 2-lakh worth of crop loans for each farmer in the state by August 15, fulfilling yet another promise made by the Congress ahead of the Assembly elections in November 2023. Crop loans taken between December 12, 2018, and December 9, 2023, will be eligible to avail of the waiver. The government will issue guidelines on eligibility criteria for crop loan waiver through a government order (GO) soon.
According to preliminary estimates, the government needs to spend Rs 31,000 crore for the crop loan waiver and it is expected to benefit nearly 40 lakh farmers. The Cabinet also approved setting up a Cabinet sub-committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka to prepare guidelines for the implementation of Rythu Bharosa in the place of Rythu Bandhu with a deadline to submit its report by July 15. The other members are ministers Tummala Nageshwar Rao, D.
Sridhar Babu, and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy. Addressing a press conference at the Secretariat after the Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy said that the Congress government will implement a crop loan waiver by August 15 as promised during the Assembly elections.
He reiterated the Congress government's commitment to the promises made in the party's Warangal Farmers' Declaration on waiving crop loans up to Rs 2 lakh. He said the same promise was incorporated in the Congress manifesto for Assembly polls. "True to our word, we have discussed.
