No state sought farm laws’ repeal at Saturday’s meet: Niti Aayog VC

NEW DELHI: None of the states which participated in the sixth meeting of the governing council of Niti Aayog demanded repeal of the farm laws and the discussions were centred around issues linked to the farm sector, vice chairman of the think tank Rajiv Kumar said on Saturday.
“I can assure you that nobody discussed the farm laws at today’s meeting,” Kumar told a news conference after the end of the meeting.He said several states had talked about the farm but none of the states had demanded that the three farm laws be repealed.
He said states such as Sikkim and Bihar said that they are farm dependant states and wanted measures to improve the state of the sector.
Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said issues linked to the farm sector that were discussed included aligning cropping systems to agro climatic conditions at the district level for optimum utilisation, promoting water conservation, diversification towards nutri cereals, pulses, horticulture, fishers and animal husbandry, food processing, agro based industries and exports. He said the meeting was focussed on national development agenda and the need for growth.
Kumar said CM’s of Punjab, Gujarat, Telangana and West Bengal couldn’t attend the meeting.He said Bihar CM Nitish Kumar urged for a port to be in Odisha as his state was landlocked.
The council deliberated on steps to make India a manufacturing hub, such as reducing compliance burden, initiating reforms at state level, improving logistics, promoting exports through district-level competition and creating jobs.