8 parties urge tenant farmer identification under 2011 Act

The statement said that tenant farmers should be identified during the current Kharif season, based on the rules framed for implementing the 2011 Act.

Hyderabad: Eight political parties on Wednesday, September 2, jointly issued a statement asking the state government to immediately implement the 2011 Licensed Cultivators Act to identify tenant farmers in the state, issue identity cards to licensed cultivators, and provide them access to government schemes and other support systems.

The meeting was organised by the Telangana Tenant Farmers Recognition Struggle Committee, presided over by its convenor, Prof. D. Narasimha Reddy.

The statement said that tenant farmers should be identified during the current Kharif season, based on the rules framed for implementing the 2011 Act. They also demanded that tenant farmers be allowed to sell the crops they cultivate directly to the government at Minimum Support Prices (MSP) using their identity cards.

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Before the Assembly session beginning September 7, the parties said the government should complete any processes needed to initiate the identification of tenant farmers.

Representatives of the eight political parties signed the statement. These were Sunketi Anvesh Reddy, representative of the Congress and state president of the Kisan Congress; Chada Venkat Reddy, CPI leader and former MLA; Prof. Kodandaram, MLC and state president of the Telangana Jana Samithi; John Wesley, state secretary of the CPI(M); Dr Visharadan Maharaj, state president of the Dharma Samaj Party; J.V. Chalapathi Rao, CPI(ML–New Democracy) leader; Potu Ranga Rao, state secretary of CPI(ML–Mass Line); and G. Ranjith Kumar, leader of the Telangana Rakshana Samithi (TRS).

Why tenant farmers need to be identified

Speaking at the meeting, TPJAC convenor Prof. Haragopal demanded that tenant farmers, who are among those most severely affected by the agricultural crisis, be immediately identified and provided assistance

To recognise tenant farmers as cultivators, the then undivided Andhra Pradesh Assembly passed the Licensed Cultivators Act, 2011. Telangana also adopted the Act after the formation of the state. The Act was implemented in Telangana during 2015 and 2016, resulting in the identification of tenant farmers and the issuance of lakhs of identity cards.

However, the implementation of the Act was stopped across the state from 2017 onwards.

Tenant farmers have been facing difficulties as the central and state governments have shifted agricultural schemes—including investment support and cash-transfer schemes such as PM-KISAN—towards systems based on land ownership rights, digital records and OTP-based verification.

Tenant farmers are unable to access agricultural inputs and sometimes cannot sell the crops in their own names because agricultural schemes are implemented through OTP-based systems.

Meeting reminds CM’s promise as Congress chief

Leaders at the meeting criticised the former BRS government for stopping the implementation of the 2011 Act in 2017, describing the move as a serious injustice to tenant farmers. They also said that it was unjust to implement the Rythu Bandhu scheme primarily for landowners rather than for the farmers who actually cultivate the land and tenant farmers.

They also demanded that the government fulfil the promise made by Revanth Reddy, then president of the Congress, in his 2023 open letter to tenant farmers, as well as the commitment made in the manifesto.