Not on any agriculture panel since 2006: M.S. Swaminathan

Eminent agricultural scientist M.S.Swaminathan, welcoming the apex court's directive to revisit the National Policy for Farmers of 2007, clarified that he is not on any committee set up by the union agriculture ministry since 2006.

In a statement issued here, Swaminathan said: "I was chairman of the National Commission for Farmers (NCF) 2004-2006, and the National Policy draft was prepared by the NCF and adopted by the government in 2007, with a few amendments.

"The policy had suggested the formation of a high-level committee, chaired by the prime minister, to monitor implementation. I would like to clarify that I have not been serving on any committee of the ministry of agriculture since the submission of the report in 2006."

His clarification comes in the wake of news reports relating to a PIL filed by a Punjab-based NGO during the hearing of which the apex court had expressed some misgivings about the efficacy of the annual meetings of the committee headed by Swaminathan looking into the farmer issues.

Noting eight years have passed since this policy was approved but it still has to be implemented, Swaminathan said the Supreme Court directive to revisit the policy within the next six weeks with a view to ensure its effective implementation is therefore timely.