How Land Records Can Help Optimise Welfare Schemes for Farmers

As the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown heavily impacted the economy, to address the impact on the agricultural sector and fears over food security, the central government announced emergency direct transfer of funds to farmers through the PM KISAN scheme. Looking at the instrumental role that such welfare distribution frameworks play in times of crises, how can states implement such measures efficiently? How do such schemes work and how can they be improved?

Government welfare distribution schemes use a number of criteria to identify eligible beneficiaries. In many cases, the beneficiaries are required to furnish a vast array of paperwork in order to prove their eligibility for availing the benefit. As you listen on, you’ll see why this becomes a potential roadblock to efficient distribution.

In comparison, the Rythu Bandhu Scheme (RBS) in Telangana bypasses such roadblocks, and beneficiaries who were interviewed reported high degrees of satisfaction with the scheme. How did the RBS manage this? And what role did land records play here?

In this episode of the ‘Land of a Billion’ podcast, we look at the connection between farmer welfare schemes and land records. Specifically, we use the example of Telangana’s Rythu Bandhu Scheme to understand how such schemes can be optimised by using land records to streamline the beneficiary identification criteria.

Tune in to find out!

Host: Abhishek Shah
Guest: Ms. Bhargavi Zaveri and Ms. Diya Uday are researchers at the Finance Research Group (FRG). They are also the authors of the paper, ‘Linking welfare distribution to land records: a case-study of the Rythu Bandhu Scheme (RBS) in Telangana’ 
Music: Big Bang Fuzz