There exist several Agricultural/farm subsidies in India that the Indian government provides to land-holding farmers. These subsidies are provided for inputs like fertilizers, power, and water and outputs like procuring crops at market price. By getting subsidies from the government, farmers can invest in irrigation equipment, get lower rates of cost of electricity, etc.
Earlier, the subsidy amount was provided to the farmers through various mediums, and due to this, there were times when the farmers were not able to get good benefits from it. Keeping in mind the corruption and mismanagement of government officials, in 2013, the Government of India came forward with the DBT scheme, which stands for Direct Benefit Transfer. Through this scheme, the amount is transferred from the government directly to the farmers’ bank accounts.
DBT stands as a transparent and simplest way of administration. At a place where only rice, wheat and sugarcane farmers can get the MSPs (Minimum Support Price), DBT is crop-neutral and is provided to every farmer. Even though DBT is benefiting several farmers, it still has its limitations. In India, there is a rise in the number of tenant farmers. These are the farmers who don’t own land themselves. Instead, they take land for lease from the landowners and continue cultivation.
The tenancy rate is also increasing because the agreements are mostly done orally without any agreements. As the DBT schemes mainly benefit the land-holding farmers, the situation of tenants remains the same in the country. Landowners are no longer directly cultivating their lands, and the tenants are behind in getting income support and are even excluded from other agri-related schemes.
There are various DBT schemes launched by national as well as state governments of India, such as:
• PM-Kisan Scheme: The Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana or PM-Kisan scheme is a 100% centrally funded scheme of India which came into operation on 1 December 2018. Under this scheme, an income support amount of 6,000/- is provided to the land-holding farmers annually. Which farmer is eligible to get the support is decided by the State Government and UT administration considering the scheme guidelines.
• Rythu Bandhu schemes: Agriculture Investment Support Scheme or Rythu Bandhu Scheme is initiated by the Government of Telangana to support the agriculture and horticulture crops. Under this scheme grant of rupees 5,000/- is made per acre of land each season. This scheme is initiated to prevent the farmers from getting into Dept Trap.
• Rythu Bharosa: The YSR Rythu Bharosa scheme was launched by the CM of Andhra Pradesh. This scheme was launched in association with the PM-Kisan Scheme, under which a total sum of Rs 13,500/- is deposited annually in the account of farmers.
Although DBT schemes benefit land-holding farmers, the tenants are away from it. There is a requirement for modification in the scheme to provide support to the person in need.
