INTRODUCTION
Rajiv
Kumar (born 6 July 1951) is an Indian economist who had served
as the second vice-chairman of the NITI Aayog. He also serves as the
chancellor of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune His
earlier stint in government was initially with the Ministry of Industry and
subsequently in the Ministry of Finance, as economic advisor during the
reform years of 1991-1994. He has wide experience of having worked in
government, academia, and industry associations, as well as in international
financial institutions. He also served as an independent director on the
central boards of the Reserve Bank of India and the State Bank
of India.
Kumar
is the writer of several books on India's economy and national security. He
is an economic columnist for major Indian publications and is a speaker on the
Indian political economy.
Early life and education
He has
a bachelor's degree from St. Stephen College, Delhi University. Kumar
holds a Ph.D from the Lucknow University, which he received in
1978 and another Ph.D. in economics from Oxford University,
which he received in 1981.
Career
Kumar
was appointed senior research program officer, Indian Council for Research on
International Economic Relations (ICRIER) in Delhi in 1982.
He was
a professor in Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) from 1987 to
1989.
He was
then appointed as the Senior Consultant, Bureau of Costs and Prices at
the Ministry of Industry, Government of India from 1989 to 1991. He
served as the Economic Advisor in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry
of Finance, Government of India, from 1992 to 1995
In
1995, he joined the Asian Development Bank in Manila, Philippines as
a Principal Economist, where he served until 2005.
He was
the Chief Economist for Confederation of India Industries for 2 years
from 2004 – 2006.
He
returned to ICRIER as the director and Chief Executive in Feb 2006 and
continued to be until August 2010
He was
the Secretary General at the FICCI from 2010 to 2012.
He
became a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, Delhi from 2013
until January 2017
In
2017, he was appointed as the vice chairman of NITI Aayog -Government
of India's apex think tank, with the rank of a Cabinet Minister. He was
also the chairman of the Atal Innovation Mission with its mandate to establish
an innovative eco-system in the country. He served in NITI Aayog until 2022.
He also
served as an independent director on the Central Boards of the Reserve
Bank of India and the State Bank of India.
He is
the founding director and Chairman of Pahle India Foundation - a public policy
think tank facilitating policy change in India based in New Delhi.
THEME
Dr.
Rajiv Kumar, Vice-Chairperson of the Niti Aayog joins us as a farmer who talks
about his mission towards reforming the Indian agriculture practices through
the introduction of Natural Farming. He highlights how this method can not only
help us solve, but reverse climate change and in turn, empower a new generation
of climate warriors.
INNOVATIVE AGRICULTURE WORKSHOP
NITI Aayog, (National Institution for Transforming
India) as a part
of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations, recently organised a
national level workshop on ‘Innovative Agriculture’ in New Delhi.
Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog
mentioned that the time is ripe to encourage natural farming and share the
benefits with the people at large, especially our farmers. The shared
experiences of states will help build a robust roadmap to adopt innovative
agricultural practices in the country. He expressed his enthusiasm to come up
with a successful road map toward natural farming in India post the
workshop.
The workshop had four technical sessions:
(i)
a
panel discussion on natural farming in states,
(ii)
natural
farming for soil health restoration and climate change mitigation,
(iii) promotion of natural farming,
(iv)
Innovations
in natural farming.
During the first technical session, Yogi
Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, joined the workshop virtually and
highlighted the importance and traditional aspects of cow-based natural farming
which helps sequester carbon and improve soil health. Shivraj Singh Chouhan,
Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh mentioned the state’s plan to promote natural
farming on both the sides of the banks of the river Narmada and 5,200 villages.
YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh stressed the need to
enhance research on natural farming and stated the need for support from the
Centre for natural agriculture in the ratio of 90:10. The Chief Minister of
Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami spoke about the current status, progress and
challenges in natural farming in Uttarakhand.
In the second technical session,
academicians, scientists, researchers, and dignitaries discussed the need to
promote regenerative agriculture, strategies to reverse and mitigate climate
change with traditional farming systems, the importance of sustainable
agroecological food systems in the 21st Century, the role played by natural
farming in making agriculture climate-resilient, and the need for green economics
for a New India.
In the third technical session, the need to
scale up natural farming, integration of National Rural Livelihood Mission
(NRLM) resources, and the role played by Cooperatives and FPOs in the promotion
and scaling up of marketing networks and provision of credit support for
natural farming was highlighted. Dr Rajeshwar Chandel (Executive Director,
Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Kisan Yojana, Himachal Pradesh) spoke about the
Community based certification process in Natural Farming. Dr Baljit Saharan
(Associate Prof. Haryana Agriculture University) said, “Improved soil biology
and biodiversity play an important role in the promotion of natural farming.”
In the last technical session, innovations
like pre-monsoon dry sowing, experiences in managing crop residue while practicing
natural farming, and mechanisation and automation for input preparations and
applications in natural farming were shared.
More than 1250 participants from central
ministries, state governments, industry, farmers, academic and research
institutions, KVK’s and NGOs, delegates from national and international
organizations in agriculture and allied sectors, and international delegates
from France, Australia and Germany joined the workshop physically and
virtually.
EXPLANATION
Dr.
Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman NITI Aayog, GoI, Praised the Natural Farming
initiatives in Himachal Pradesh and thanked Padma Shri Subhash Palekar for
spearheading this very pious campaign of natural farming across the country and
specifically helping Himachal Pradesh with his innovative techniques and ideas.
He appreciated the dynamism of Chief Minister of the state to launch ‘Prakritik
Kheti Khushhal Kisan’ Yojana having imaginative elements to ensure doubling
farmers' income. He reiterated his confidence on the potential of Natural
Farming as propounded by Shri Subhash Palekar to rebuild farmers' confidence in
farming. He was satisfied with the performance of the state in transformation
of the farmers into natural farming practices and building a fast growing
confidence of farmers by showcasing the strength of these non-chemical
practices over conventional ones. He said that the two states i.e. Himachal
Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh have taken this natural farming initiative as a
government driven policy programme. The NITI Aayog comprehends a greater role
for Himachal Pradesh to leverage its success showcased by its smallholders
across the country. The empirical data generated by the state provides a clear
evidence of the fact that this Palekar method of natural farming has the
potential to cut farmers’ dependence on external market for inputs, thereby
reducing cost of cultivation of farmers upto 54 per cent in apple and upto 42
per cent in other cereal and vegetable based farming systems. He said that the
cost of cultivation has plummeted sharply and soil fertility has been going up
gradually. Our country faces a growing crisis of land degradation accounting
for nearly 30 percent of its land area through deforestation, over-cultivation,
soil erosion and depletion of wetlands. Prime Minister, Shri 6 Narendra Modi
has already exhorted the country’s comittment to restore 26 million hectares of
degraded land by 2030, during the High-Level Segment Meeting of the 14th
Conference of Parties (COP14) to the United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification (UNCCD). Dr. Kumar impelled that land restoration is the
cheapest solution for sustaining productivity, mitigating climate change and
reversing biodiversity loss. He desired that Himachal Pradesh should take the
lead to guide other states in their transformation towards natural farming. He
assured that the NITI Aayog will be more than happy to extend all support to
mentor this noble programme of natural farming instituted by the government of
Himachal Pradesh. The Vice Chairman expressed his satisfaction that over
1,18,000 farmers of the state have benefited from Natural Farming practices and
are reaping its benefits in the form of reduced costs and remunerative income.
He was delighted to know that around 10 per cent of farmer s , including
orchardists, have started practising Subhash Palekar Natural Farming (SPNF) on
varying portions of their land in the state in a short span of two and a half
years. He hoped that this farming practice would be an effective means to
achieve the Prime Minister’s goal of doubling farmer’s income. He conceived
great scope in addressing many agricultural problems like desertification and
water scarcity through natural farming practices. He said that it is not our
tradition to conquer nature and we are people who tend to harmonies with
nature. He expressed his special gratitude to Padma Shri Subhash Palekar for
his immense contribution, which has yielded into out scaling of Natural Farming
across the country and even beyond its boundaries. The special attention he has
been paying to Himachal Pradesh has paid rich dividends to the smallholders of
the state. He added that NITI Aayog has been doing its best to spread Natural
Farming across the country to leverage its socioeconomic and environmental
advantages for boosting farmers’ welfare, consumer health, food security and
nutrition. He stressed the need to rope in agricultural universities to take
forward this initiative and conduct studies to validate the results based on
scientific evidence and logic. He appreciated the leadership of Hon’ble Chief
Minister and role of Hon’ble Minister of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry,
Fisheries and Rural development and Panchyati Raj, Secretary (Agriculture) and
the State Project implementing Unit of this Yojana for their dedicated and
limitless efforts to make this dream project a reality on the ground and to
bring cheers in the life of small and marginal farmers. He further urged the
Chief Minister, Sh. Jai Ram Thakur to focus on popularising natural farming in
the state through various populist campaigns. At the end, the Vice Chairman
appreciated the ‘State Project Implementing Unit’ of this Yojana for organising
such a mega programme of farmers through virtual mode and thanked the state
government for inviting him and providing him an opportunity to speak to such a
large gathering of farmers. 7 Jai Ram T
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