HYDERABAD: The Telangana government is providing free power to the state's farm sector 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in a first in the state. Telangana is the first state to implement the Rytu Bandhu scheme, which provides Rs10,000 in crop input aid each year. The Telangana government has given Rs50,448 crore to 63 lakh farmers in the last eight seasons. It launched the Rytu Bhima plan to help farmers and their families in the event of accidental death , with the government paying 100 percent of the premium and LIC settling claims worth Rs5 lakh within 10 days. 80,600 impacted farmer households have received government insurance funds. In addition, the Telangana government has provided debt relief to 35 lakh farmers for Rs22,000 crore. It is the only state that has cancelled water cess arrears and removed the water tax permanently. All irrigation projects in the state provide free water to farmers' properties. Telangana has become the country's Annapurna, with a record paddy production of 2.18 crore tonnes and an increase in agricultural production of eight times in the last eight years. The state's contribution to food production is comparable to that of Punjab. Telangana is the only state that has setup 7,000 purchase centres to acquire all grains produced by farmers this season. Furthermore, Telangana has surpassed all other states in cotton production due to timely availability of fertilisers and seeds, online seed verifying to assist farmers, action against adulterated seed suppliers and traders, increased storage capacity from 9.9 lakh tonnes to 31.9 lakh tonnes, appointing agriculture extension officers by dividing farm land into 2,601 clusters of 5 acres each, encouraging micro-irrigation, sprinkler systems, poly house and green house farming, and suspending telecommunications. After overhauling and digitising the state's land records, the state government has provided land mutation and registration capabilities within minutes through the Dharani portal, giving huge relief to farmers. Punjab Govt launches portal for direct seeding of rice portal Farmers arrive at collector's office wearing garlic garlands, openly warn the government Telangana Congress accuses KCR of discriminating against farmers