Rythu Bima: paid, unpaid, or ‘trust us’
June said Rs 441.23 crore was pending. Two days later the agriculture minister said every rupee was paid. August brought fresh claims of a miss. Paper trail from the Congress government in Telangana: still missing.
The Rythu Bima payment trail remains disputed.
Rythu Bima exists, covers Rs 5 lakh per farmer family, and the state pays the premium to LIC — that’s the government’s own brochure talking, not a slogan. According to a June 17 report, the Congress government in Telangana had Rs 441.23 crore in premium unpaid for 2025–26 and 7,606 claims worth Rs 380.03 crore stuck with LIC. Two days later, Agriculture Minister Thummala Nageswara Rao said the full Rs 1,359.56 crore annual premium was paid and coverage continued, enrolling 42.16 lakh farmers.
Both cannot be true. And neither side produced a receipt the public can see — no LIC note, no treasury order, no payment reference. The June arithmetic also doesn’t add up cleanly: the reported paid-plus-unpaid exceeds the stated total by Rs 4.78 crore.
On August 15, another report said the government missed an August 14 premium deadline and that cover “would not be offered”. It did not cite an LIC document, name an official on record, or address the minister’s June claim of full payment. Farmers get anxiety; the Congress gets to wave “we paid” without showing the slip.
Here is what is verified: the scheme was launched in 2018 with LIC as partner and Rs 5 lakh cover, premium borne by the state. Here is what is not: whether the 2025–26 premium was actually cleared on the date the minister claimed, whether LIC formally paused claims, or whether any cover lapsed in mid‑August. Until the Congress government in Telangana publishes the receipt it says exists, this stays a trust-me story — and farmers don’t get paid with trust.