Hyderabad: Former minister and Siddipet MLA T. Harish Rao said the NCRB report offered a fitting reply to critics of KCR’s governance. He noted that Telangana, which ranked second in farmer suicides in 2014, had dropped to the 14th position in 2023.
Harish Rao claimed that farmer suicides fell by 95.84 percent during the ten years of BRS rule. He said this reflected the commitment of KCR, whose goal was to “make farmers kings.” Rao alleged that while KCR shared a bond of “blood and soul” with farmers, Congress only viewed them as a vote bank.
Harish Rao cites NCRB figures on farmer suicides
According to him, Telangana recorded 1,347 farmer suicides in 2014. By 2023, the number dropped to 56. Out of 10,786 farmer suicides across India that year, Telangana’s share was only 0.51 percent. Rao said these were not words but official figures released by the central government.
He listed schemes like farm loan waivers, Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, 24-hour free power, crop procurement, and irrigation projects such as Kaleshwaram and Mission Kakatiya as reasons for the improvement. He added that these measures turned parched lands into fertile fields and changed Telangana from a drought-hit state into a grain hub.
“Telangana once symbolised farmer suicides. Today it stands as Annapurna of the nation under KCR’s leadership,” Rao wrote in a post on X.