Plan panel sets up farm sector revival group

The Planning Commission has constituted a high-level group for suggesting a roadmap to implement the report of the National Commission on Farmers to revive the crisis-ridden farm sector.

The group has been set up under the chairmanship of former plan panel member C H Hanumantha Rao and would come out with clear cut policy regime for kick-starting the revival plan for the agriculture sector, sources said.

The roadmap by the group would be placed for approval before the meeting of the full Planning Commission, to be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in April this year. Once approved, the programme of action would find place in the 11th Plan document, they said.

NCF had suggested that the government should come out with a new deal to rebuild the farming sector, which is suffering from the crisis of stagnation.

"To ensure a better life for women and men engaged in agriculture, it is necessary to double the growth rate achieved in the 10th Plan and put agriculture on a growth path of around 4%," the Planning Commission's Approach Paper to the 11th Five Year Plan has suggested.

Although the revised GDP figures for 2005-06 have shown an upward trend in agricultural growth at 6% from the earlier estimates of 3.9%, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia cautioned that there is no room for complacency.

He said the agriculture sector continues to suffer from stagnation, requiring emergent intervention from the government.