Fertilizer availability: early signals worth watching

My name is Balrajeshwar, sir. It is Balkonda because earlier now our Revanth Reddy government, Congress, is well familiar with our youth, Dharani. They are giving 24 hours electricity well. They are cutting it for one, two, or three hours at night; they used to give it for 12 hours, from 5:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Now they cut it at five and give it at six in the morning. There is no fixed time from five to six. Sometimes it goes off from above, and then it stays off until morning, for four or five hours. They give it only if a message comes from Warangal; if it goes from Pochamp then they give it. We are परेशान (troubled) about electricity. The fields are not getting proper water; there are some difficulties for the fields. After giving electricity, they put an app in our village; two bags per acre are not available on time. They keep saying online sale, and we do not know when it will stop. There is no stock in the godowns. We are facing a little lot of difficulties. Agriculture is having a lot of difficulties.

Hello, greetings. I am Journalist Srinivas. Across Telangana, hopes have risen for tenant farmers. The Congress party promised in its manifesto to support tenant farmers, and in the 2023 elections they promised that Rythu Bharosa would also be given to tenant farmers; they did give it once. But tenant farmers are now waiting for a legal right and for recognition. There are several lakh tenant farmers across Telangana. Because they are not recognised, they are not receiving the benefits due to them, such as bank loans, waivers, or subsidised fertilisers. A farmer is recognised only if he has a pattadar passbook and land, or else the government should identify tenant farmers and give tenant farmer certificates; the Congress party said before coming to power that it would do that. It is said that some exercise is now underway on that. There is news that some relief is coming for tenant farmers. After the Revanth Reddy government came to power, a Farmer Commission was set up. Based on the recommendations of that Farmer Commission, tenant farmer identity cards may be issued. Naturally, when tenant farmers are mentioned, landowners and pattadars worry. Those who have leased out their land worry, and farmers who took land on lease worry. There is a Tenant Farmers Protection Act, and under the law from 1950, there was a rule that the land would go to the person who gave it on lease; because of that, this was faced earlier. So in every situation, lease agreements are not written on paper. Landowners do not agree to write them. The government has been saying for many days that without written records, recognition cannot be given. Now this government is thinking about whether to repeal that law itself. There is a Tenancy Act, and one idea is to repeal it and remove the doubts of landowners first. If the law cannot be repealed, then let us recognise tenant farmers ourselves. The government can conduct an enquiry without a landlord affidavit or landlord papers, identify that this person is a tenant farmer and cultivates so many acres, and issue a recognition certificate. Based on that certificate, they can take loans from banks, take subsidised fertilisers, get various seeds on subsidy, and sell the crop they have grown. Tenant farmers are in very dire conditions. When the government procures produce like maize, paddy, or cotton at procurement centres, tenant farmers do not have an option there and have to somehow persuade some other farmer to sell there on their behalf. They face difficulties because they do not have pattadar passbooks or tenant farmer certificates when getting urea or other fertiliser bags. If they go to the bank, the bank does not give loans. Tenant farmers face many kinds of difficult situations. If a farmer is given the investment support he needs, the seeds he needs, or subsidised fertilisers, he can cultivate; even if all that is given, cultivation is difficult in view of weather conditions. Without any of this, the tenant must pay lease rent. The landowner farmer, the owner, and the government do not provide even one rupee of support, neither in the form of loans nor subsidies nor seeds, and there is no encouragement in selling the harvested crop. How should this be done? How can tenant farmers survive? The Revanth Reddy government is now said to be thinking actively about this and, based on the Farmer Commission report, it should stand as a protective shield for them. In every situation, just as the government provides all kinds of facilities to a farmer with a pattadar passbook, it should legally do the same for them too. One major step in this is whether to repeal the tenant farmers’ tenancy law, or if repeal is not possible, to make another law that gives the same level of protection. This is said to be a very good scheme that would bring goodwill to the Congress party and the government, because there are several lakh farmers. After KCR brought Dharani and after KCR brought Rythu Bandhu, only landowning farmers were looked after and tenant farmers were not looked after or recognised. Because of that, they were very dissatisfied and voted for the Congress party. In such a situation, the Congress party and the government now have the opportunity to catch that issue. If they truly take it up, there is a discussion that the Farmer Commission report will be implemented. If that happens, it would bring relief to several lakh farmers. From their perspective, the Revanth Reddy government thinks like this, and they also think about the Revanth Reddy government and the Congress party from that perspective. This is today’s development.