-Outlook Policy think-tank Niti Aayog has suggested outsourcing of public services to private hands in order to reduce dependence on the government administrative machinery. It has also recommended induction of specialists into the governance system through lateral entry, a move which, it says, will bring "competition to the established career bureaucracy". In its draft report on a three-year action agenda made public recently, the Niti Aayog has set a target of full- digitisation...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Amid a growing debate over issue of taxing farm income, eminent agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan on Saturday expressed his views against such tax and said other methods could be explored to tax rich farmers with multiple sources of the income. "I do not agree with tax on agriculture income since agriculture is the major source of livelihood for over 50% of our population. It is...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Congress today alleged that the Narendra Modi government was testing the waters on bringing agricultural income within the tax ambit and declared its intention to build a movement of farmers if the idea was implemented. "This government is harassing industrialists, traders, students, political rivals... only one section of the society was left, that is farmers," Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said. "The statements coming from important people in...

-PTI New Delhi: Joining the debate on taxing agriculture income, Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian today said states, which have the option to levy the tax, should make a distinction between rich and poor farmers. “The legal situation is...nothing prevents state governments from taxing agriculture income. The constitutional restriction is on central government taxing agriculture income. “There too, one could make a case that this is a choice open to 29 state governments...

-Business Standard NITI Aayog says Debroy's views 'personal' Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday that the Narendra Modi government will not impose any tax on agriculture income. This came after Bibek Debroy, member of the Centre’s main think-tank, the NITI Aayog, seemed to suggest in an interaction with reporters on Tuesday that taxes should be imposed on farm income above a certain threshold to expand the tax base. The Aayog, however, said Debroy’s...