NITI Aayog panel on farm sector to submit report by month-end

NEW DELHI: A Niti Aayog panel on agriculture is likely to submit its final report, containing suggestions to re-invigorate farm and allied sectors, by the month-end.

"The task force on agriculture headed by Arvind Panagariya (Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman) is likely to submit its final report by month-end after completing its consultations with states," a source said.

The first regional consultation was held on February 5, 2016, at Ahmedabad with western states--Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Goa Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

The source said that the second regional consolation is scheduled tomorrow at Bangalore with southern states such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The third and final consultation will be held for North, Eastern and Northeastern states at Delhi on February 17. Thereafter the task force will firm up its recommendations and suggestions in the final report.

The Governing Council of NITI Aayog in its first meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 8, 2015 had constituted a task force.

Earlier the task force had held four consultative meetings with different stakeholders including farmers, farmers' groups, scientists and activists.

An occasional paper on raising agricultural productivity & making farming remunerative for farmers was also prepared based on the work of the NITI Task Force and posted on NITI Aayog's web portal.

Besides, Panagariya, NITI Aayog Member (Agriculture) Ramesh Chand also participates in regional consultation meetings.

The participating states are sharing their best practices in agriculture and water resources. The river linking and water conservation and harvesting are also key points of these discussions.