Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant today said that too much of democracy makes it difficult to carry tough reforms in India, while those reforms are needed to make the country competitive. It is not easy to compete against China without hard reforms, Amitabh Kant added. The agriculture sector needs reforms and it is very important to understand that MSP (minimum support price) mechanism and mandis will continue to operate, he said, speaking about the ongoing farmers’ protests. However, farmers must have a choice to sell their products as they benefit from this, he added.

The farmers from Punjab and Haryana have been protesting for the last three weeks, in demand for abolishing the new agriculture laws. They claim that the new laws will corporatise the farm sector and will deprive the farmers of the benefits of MSP. Though the central government has reiterated that MSP will remain in place, the farmers are asking for a written assurance. 

About the other reforms, the Niti Aayog CEO said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative is to unleash the potential of Indian companies, and is not about looking inwards. The government has identified 10 champion sectors for production-linked incentives (PLI) scheme, which, Amitabh Kant said, would play a major role in making India a manufacturing hub, and give the country economies of scale. The PLI scheme is expected to provide a huge opportunity to these sectors for 4-5 years to export.

Source : PTI