south

Updated: Oct 03, 2019 20:13 IST

Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, who has been on a renaming spree of various welfare schemes after his father late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, is likely to incorporate the words “Prime Minister” for a change in his latest scheme.

Jagan has announced unveiling of a scheme “YSR Rythu Bharosa” with effect from October 15. Under this scheme, the state government will make a direct cash transfer of Rs 12,500 per year into the account of every farmer towards crop investment support.

This amount includes Rs 6,000 as promised under Prime Minister Kisan Yojana. The remaining Rs 6,500 will be borne by the Andhra government.

According to a spokesman at the chief minister’s office, Jagan Reddy will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. Apart from discussing various issues pertaining to the state, he is likely to request the Prime Minister to come to Andhra Pradesh on October 15 to launch the YSR Rythu Bharosa scheme.

The BJP in Andhra Pradesh raised strong objection to naming the scheme as YSR Rythu Bharosa, because nearly half of the money under the scheme was being borne by the central government under PM Kisan Yojana.

“Don’t be another sticker CM like Chandrababu Naidu. Out of Rs 12,500 to be paid to farmers, Rs 6,000 was sanctioned by Modi ji. Don’t paste your sticker on the scheme and name it as YSR Bharosa. Name it after Narendra Modi,” BJP state president Kanna Lakshminarayana had tweeted.

Apparently realising that the naming of the scheme might trigger a political controversy, the Jagan government is contemplating adding the words “PM Kisan” after YSR Bharosa.

“A final decision on the exact nomenclature of the scheme will be taken after the meeting of the chief minister with the Prime Minister,” an official familiar with the development said.

The government has already announced that the scheme will be restricted to only poor farmers, unlike in Telangana, where all farmers, irrespective of their land holding and financial status, have been getting a similar assistance under Rythu Bandhu.

According to the latest guidelines, the Rythu Bharosa scheme will not be applicable to non-agricultural lands belonging to different organisations, more than one farmer within the same family, present and past elected representatives of various bodies such as state assembly, legislative council, parliament, municipalities and corporations, zilla parishads, working and retired officials of various state and central government departments and their affiliated wings, state and central public sector undertakings etc.

Those getting pension of Rs 10,000 and more, those who paid income tax the previous year, doctors, engineers, lawyers, charted accountants and architects and those who paid commercial tax/professional tax and GST last year are also not eligible for financial assistance under Rythu Bharosa, an official statement said.