Jagan Reddy scraps Chandrababu Naidu’s farmer scheme, unveils new plan

Jagan Reddy announced that the Rythu Bharosa scheme would be launched on October 15 with revised guidelines by remitting Rs 12,500 into the account of each farmer.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday announced the scrapping of Annadata Sukhibhava, a crop investment support scheme introduced by the previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government headed by N Chandrababu Naidu in March.

Jagan Reddy also announced that a price stabilisation fund with Rs 3,000 crore would be established in order to ensure remunerative price for farmers. (PTI)

Reddy, who held a review meeting with agriculture department officials at his Tadepalli camp office in Amaravati, asked them to scrap Naidu’s scheme and come up with a revised one based on the YSR Congress (YSRC) party’s manifesto.

Two days after taking charge of the state, Reddy had begun re-christening schemes associated with TDP leaders and naming them after his late father, YS Rajasekhar Reddy. A YSRC leader had then said that people had given his party a big mandate, so there was no need to retain the TDP link in the names of government schemes.

According to an official release, Reddy said the scheme would be remodelled and rechristened as “YSR Rythu Bharosa”, under which each farmer would be given crop investment assistance of Rs 50,000 per year in four instalments of Rs 12,500 each.

He announced that the Rythu Bharosa scheme would be launched on October 15 with revised guidelines by remitting Rs 12,500 into the account of each farmer to enable them to purchase crop inputs like fertilisers, pesticides and seeds during every cropping season.

Under the “Annadata Sukhibhava” scheme introduced by the TDP government, each farmer was promised Rs 10,000 per acre every year. Even before the first instalment was credited into farmers’ accounts, elections were announced in the state.

During the review meeting, Reddy expressed concern over spurious seeds flooding the open market.

While instructing officials to take stern action against spurious seed suppliers, he suggested that a new seed act be enacted in the state that would award imprisonment to offenders.