Planning the Agricultural Vision

The NDA Government are committed to give very high priority to the agricultural sector. They were also committed to abolishing planning and one of their earlier acts was to abolish the Planning Commission. We begin by outlining these features in terms of the macros of the policy regime for agriculture. However in practice the Government has been very proactive in promoting planning documents, particularly agricultural planning. We attempt to describe and explain this conundrum. Also examine this Janus face in terms of policy effects. Janus it may be recalled was the Two Faced Roman God, we remember by naming the first month of the Gregorian Calendar as January (Janus! January). The month of January merges from the last year (the old regime), but looks to the ‘future’ in terms of the next year. We then outline the essential features of the Agricultural Vision of the Government as prepared by the Niti Aayog and approved by the Central Government and in an Inter-State meeting. This is then examined in terms of the economic policies followed by the Finance Ministry in terms of budgeted outlays, borrowing policies and Centre – State financial relations including funding of special agricultural programmes. We also examine the trade policies followed by the Commerce Ministry, and the science and technology policies relating to agriculture followed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and Science Ministries and look at administrative reform in this context. Finally we suggest modifications if any needed as suggested by the analysis.

NDA政府承诺将农业部门置于极高优先级。同时，他们也承诺废除计划体制，其早期举措之一便是撤销计划委员会。本文首先从农业政策体系的宏观层面概述这些特征。然而在实践中，该政府却积极推动规划文件的制定，尤其是农业规划。我们试图描述并解释这一矛盾现象，并从政策效应角度审视这种“双面性”特征——此处的“双面性”可回溯至罗马双面神Janus，公历的第一个月命名为January（Janus！January）便是为纪念他。一月既承接去年（旧体制），又展望来年（未来）。随后，我们概述由印度国家转型委员会（Niti Aayog）制定、中央政府及邦际会议批准的政府农业愿景的核心特征。接着，我们从财政部的经济政策（包括预算支出、借贷政策及中央-邦财政关系，含专项农业项目资助）、商务部的贸易政策、印度农业研究理事会（Indian Council of Agricultural Research）及科技部的农业相关科技政策等维度展开分析，并在此背景下探讨行政改革。最后，基于上述分析提出必要的调整建议。