NITI Aayog denies RTI request for info on CMs panel on agri reforms

NITI Aayog’s Committee of Chief Ministers for the Transformation of Indian Agriculture held its final assembly in September 2019. More than a yr later, its report has but to be made public, though its mandate was to recommend structural reforms in agriculture.

A Right to Information request by activist Anjali Bhardwaj, searching for particulars of the panel’s conferences and report, has now been denied on the grounds that the report is but to be introduced to Niti Aayog’s governing council.

The Centre has cited this panel as proof that Chief Ministerss of key States have been consulted on the contentious new farm reform legal guidelines, though Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh says the brand new legal guidelines have been by no means proposed within the panel’s conferences.

The committee was introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2019 throughout the fifth assembly of Niti Aayog’s governing council. The panel, headed by then Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, additionally included his Karnataka, Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh counterparts as members, in addition to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar. It was requested to “suggest modalities for adoption and time-bound implementation” by States of two mannequin Acts on agricultural advertising and contract farming, and to recommend amendments to the Essential Commodities Act (ECA), 1955. The panel was given two months to submit a report.

Three conferences have been held, in July, August and September 2019, in response to the response to Ms. Bhardwaj’s RTI request. The report was additionally submitted, however NITI Aayog refused to supply it.

“It will be first placed before the 6th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog as and when it is held, for appraisal of State Chief Ministers and Governors of UTs who are the constituent members of the Governing Council. Hence, at this stage constrained with the sharing of the report,” stated the response, dated January 13.

NITI Aayog additionally refused to supply the names of those that attended the three conferences, or the copies of the minutes of these conferences, saying such info additionally constituted a part of the report.

The Governing Council has not met since June 2019. In June 2020, the Centre launched three new ordinances on agricultural advertising, contract farming and amendments to the ECA, and subsequently launched them as Bills in September. While introducing the ECA Amendment Bill within the Lok Sabha, Minister Raosaheb Danve claimed that it had been mentioned by NITI Aayog’s panel, and that the Chief Mpmisters on the panel have been on board with bringing it to Parliament. Capt. Singh vehemently denied this, stating that at no level did the panel make any suggestion about bringing these “anti-farmers ordinances”.

“This indicates that the farm ordinances were promulgated and introduced in Parliament without the report of the high-powered committee of Chief Ministers being appraised by the governing council and being available in the public domain,” stated Ms. Bhardwaj. She stated the denial of knowledge was a violation of the RTI Act. “The lack of transparency in the working of the committee is unfortunate, as the issue of deliberations and consultations on the ordinances and legislations are a matter of great public interest,” she added.

The Agriculture Ministry has already denied Ms. Bhardwaj’s RTI request for info on pre-legislative consultations held earlier than the farm legal guidelines have been enacted, on the grounds that the matter is sub judice.