- The Government of India has constituted a high powered Committee of Chief Ministers for ‘Transformation for Indian Agriculture’.
- Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, will be the Convener of the committee.
- The Committee will be serviced by NITI Aayog.
- The Committee will discuss measures for the transformation of agriculture and raising farmers’ income.
- Chief Ministers of Karnataka, Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Narendra Singh Tomar will be the Members. Member, NITI Aayog Ramesh Chand will be the Member Secretary.
The terms of Reference (ToR) of the Committee would be:
- i) to discuss measures for transformation of agriculture and raising farmers’ income and suggest modalities for adoption and time bound implementation of following reforms by States/UTs:
a) The….State/Union Territory ‘Agriculture Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2017’ (APLM Act, 2017) circulated by Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, GoI to States/UTs.
b) The …..States/Union Territory ‘Agriculture Produce and Livestock, Contract Farming and Services (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2018’ circulated by Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, GoI to States/UTs.
ii) to examine various provisions of Essential Commodity Act (ECA), 1955 and situations that require ECA. To suggest changes in the ECA to attract private investments in agricultural marketing and infrastructure.
iii) to suggest mechanism for linking of market reforms with e-NAM, GRAM and other relevant Centrally Sponsored Schemes.
iv) to suggest policy measures to (a) boost agricultural export (b) raise growth in food processing (c) attract investments in modern market infrastructure, value chains and logistics.
v) to suggest measures to upgrade agri-technology to global standards and improve access of farmers to quality seed, plant propagation material and farm machinery in agriculturally advance countries.
vi) to propose any other relevant reforms for transformation of agriculture sector and raising farmers’ income.
The committee will submit its report within two months of the date of notification of the Committee.
