-DNA The report said it will ease the exit of those farmers who find farming unattractive or non-viable and economically strengthen those farmers who want to stay and raise the scale of operational holdings. Opening farmland for 'liberalised leasing' through government-run 'Land Banks' can be a 'win-win reform' in the Indian farm sector, stated the latest report of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) AAYog taskforce on agricultural development. The report...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: NITI AAYog, established as the government's think tank, could soon become planning body for the Centre and states, similar to its predecessor — the erstwhile Planning Commission. However, the institution would adopt a bottom to top approach as it moves on from five year plans to longterm perspective planning. This would keep it in sync with the government's focus on cooperative federalism. A senior government official told ET that...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: In an effort to raise agriculture productivity and raise farm prices, government's premier think tank NITI AAYog is considering a series of big ticket agriculture reforms that include changes in the fertiliser policy to allow free import of urea, explore transgenic crops in pulses and oilseeds and make land laws transparent. A paper emerging from the work of AAYog's task force on agriculture development, has moving fertiliser...

-Business Standard Readies White Paper on agriculture, energy, manufacturing and social development Taking forward its project of creating a national agenda in consultation with the states, the NITI AAYog will soon come out with policy papers on critical sectors such as agriculture, infrastructure, energy, manufacturing and social development. These strategic documents incorporate suggestions from state government and seek to address their concerns. Each White Paper will not only highlight key challenges facing the...

-Hindustan Times India witnessed an impressive surge in the number of women owning or managing agricultural land in 2001-11 with landholdings under them registering a faster growth in this period than the ones controlled by men, shows a World Bank-backed study that points to improved gender equity in land rights. Though the amount of farmland controlled by women in the country is still marginal at 10% of the total, the number of...