Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said his government ensured that not a single farmer suicide went unrecorded, unlike the previous (TDP) dispensation, which never acknowledged the suicides to avoid becoming unpopular and paying compensation.
While making that observation during a short discussion on agriculture and allied sectors in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said the YSRCP government paid ₹23.65 crore towards ex gratia of ₹5 lakh each to the families of 473 farmers who died during the TDP term.
In contrast, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy claimed that the YSRCP government paid ₹21.56 crore to the families of 308 farmers who ended their life between June 1 and December 31, 2019, at the rate of ₹7 lakh per family, ₹7 lakh each to 260 families amounting to ₹18.20 crore in 2020, and ₹8.82 crore to the families of 126 farmers who killed themselves in 2021.
Free power
He further said the YSRCP government spent approximately ₹1.29 lakh crore on the farm sector in the last 40 months. It included ₹27,000 crore on free power to agricultural connections and up to ₹15,000 crore on paddy procurement.
He said the Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs) were a revolution of sorts that attracted global attention, and 2,000 drones (each costing ₹10 lakh) would soon be deployed in the purview of as many RBKs for spraying pesticides. A vast majority of the 87% of farmers, whose land-holdings were smaller than three acres, had benefited from Navaratnalu, he claimed.
YSR Yantra
Transfer of technology from lab to land, YSR Yantra scheme (farm mechanisation) and calamity and price stabilisation funds were some of the initiatives taken by the government to strengthen the agriculture sector, and they started yielding results, he said.
Fixing of meters to agricultural pump sets would be helpful in supplying quality power and enables the farmers to question the DISCOMs in the event of any shortcomings in the services rendered by them, he asserted.
