RSS affiliate slams Niti Aayog's two year performance

Swadeshi Jagran Manch criticises Niti Aayog's interventions in agriculture, health

The Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), a Sangh Parivar affiliated economic think tank, on Tuesday held a roundtable conference on "two years of Niti Aayog" and the participants, several of whom were from the Sangh Parivar, said the body had failed to live up to expectations that it would recast India's economic planning by making it more indigenous.

On a day that Niti Aayog brought out a study on how demonetisation didn't impact farmers, the participants criticised the commission for venturing into sectors like agriculture and health, where its understanding of issues was questionable. Experts said Niti Aayog leadership was confused about its role, whether it was a think tank or a policy-making institute.

The roundtable was attended by experts in the field of planning, health and agriculture and chaired by SJM's Ashwani Mahajan. Niti Aayog member Bibek Debroy also attended the opening session of the roundtable but didn't address the gathering.

Other speakers included former Comptroller and Auditor General V N Kaul, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson on economic issues Gopal Agarwal, former chairman of Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices, who currently heads the land policy cell at Niti Aayog, T Haque and Bhartiya Kisan Sangh's Mohini Mohan Mishra.

Haque defended that stakeholders have been consulted in preparing the draft of a land leasing policy, and a farmer friendly Bill would be tabled in the next session of Parliament. Agarwal said Niti Aayog would soon come with a comprehensive digital economy initiative and has worked on a report about public sector undertakings.

However, Mahajan said the SJM does not agree with the approach of economists like Amartya Sen, who advocate entitlement based subsidies but not of creating jobs, just as the SJM doesn't agree with the approach of current Niti Aayog Vice-Chiarman Arvind Panagariya that economic growth is the only panacea to uplift the poor. "There were expectations that Niti Aayog will bridge the lacunae of the Planning Commission, with its 'one size fits all' approach," Mahajan said.

Kaul questioned Aayog venturing into agriculture and bemoaned policymaking was not being backed with research. Haque conceded that the Aayog was instructed to work on a vision document at a short notice. Kisan Sangh's Mishra said "nobody had anticipated that Niti Aayog" would be "so confused", and criticised its role in trying to amend the land acquisition Act and defending genetically modified seeds without research. Mahajan also said that Aayog didn't consult farmers on the GM seeds issue.