Linking welfare distribution to land records: a case-study of the Rythu Bandhu Scheme (RBS) in Telangana

This March 2020 report, titled Linking welfare distribution to land records: a case-study of the Rythu Bandhu Scheme (RBS) in Telangana, was published by the Finance Research Group of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai. Its authors are Diya Uday and Bhargavi Zaveri (researchers with the Finance Research Group), and Susan Thomas (professor at IGIDR).The Rythu Bandhu Scheme (RBS) is a direct benefit transfer programme which the government of Telangana introduced in 2018. It involves making payments to farmers bi-annually – before the kharif and rabi crop seasons – for every acre of land that they own. The government of Telangana undertook a state-wide Land Records Updation Programme (LRUP) before implementing the RBS. The authors note that this differentiates RBS from other – central and state – income support schemes linked to land ownership.The nine-chapter study includes an introduction (chapter 1), a summary of the study’s findings (chapter 2) and its methodology (chapter 3); Telangana’s state and district profiles (chapter 4); an analysis of the LRUP (chapter 5), ‘Land records updation in forest areas’ (chapter 6) and RBS (chapter 7); and the study’s conclusion (chapter 8) and acknowledgements (chapter 9).