• The Telangana government does acknowledge that tenant farmers exist in the information manual of the Department of Agriculture but categorically refuses to recognise them as farmers.
  • In Brahmanapalle, Ramu, a field coordinator of the Gramya Resource Centre for Women, conducted a survey of households and found that out of the 361 farmers, 177 were leasing some amount of land to supplement their incomes.
  • Landless tenants continue to be one of the most vulnerable farmer groups in Telangana.
  • In a previous study, the Rythu Swarajya Vedika (RSV) had established a link between farmer suicides and the insecurity of tenancy-based cultivation.
  • “Apart from being excluded from Rythu Bandhu, landless tenant farmers cannot avail crop loans from the bank,” said B. Kondal Reddy, RSV State Committee Member.