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Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader T Jeevan Reddy on Thursday, June 18, accused the Telangana government of neglecting farmers, alleging that delays in releasing crop insurance premiums had deprived the families of 7,600 deceased farmers of their rightful claims.

Addressing reporters, Reddy also took aim at the state government for what he called recycling welfare schemes originally launched during the BRS tenure. “If you keep refurbishing old schemes, the people will remove you from power,” he said.

On paddy bonus

Reddy criticised the state government’s decision to restrict a Rs 500 per quintal bonus to farmers cultivating only seven select paddy varieties, saying the move would hurt rather than help the farming community.

“The seven varieties the government is talking about are pesticide-prone and give lower yields. A bonus on paddy broadly would benefit far more farmers since it delivers better returns compared to other crops,” he said.

His remarks came a day after Telangana Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageshwara Rao announced at a meeting with senior agriculture officials that the bonus would be limited to those seven varieties. Rao had said Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had himself stressed the need to promote these specific rice varieties given strong market demand and export potential. 

He also directed that daily stock positions of the seeds be displayed publicly and that dealers share farmer-wise purchase data.

The seven varieties are BPT-5204 Samba Masuri, RSR-15048 Telangana Sona, HMT Sona, Jai Sriram, KSM-1638 Kunaram Sannalu, WGL-44 Siddhi and KSM-7715.

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