“PSUs not to be excluded from buying bad assets”

n May 2016, the Prime Minister’s Office ( PMO) asked the government’s top think tank, National Institution for Transforming India ( NITI) Aayog, to prepare three documents – a 15-year vision document, a seven-year strategy, and a three-year action agenda. A year later, it is ready with the last document in the list, the action agenda. In an exclusive interview with Business Today’s Joe C. Mathew and Rajeev Dubey, NITI Aayog’s Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya gives the details. Edited excerpts: What is the response to the draft action agenda? I couldn’t be more pleased. The feedback has been very positive. What about the criticism levelled against genetically modified ( GM) crops and pricing freedom for seeds? When the task force on agricultural development was preparing its report, we held extensive consultations with scientists, farmers and activists. We were persuaded by the scientists’ views and suggested we should give our homegrown varieties a chance, with appropriate safeguards, of course. Do you think rich farmers should be taxed? In the current milieu, it sends a very negative signal. Right now, we are more concerned about doubling farmers’ income and ensuring food security. In that context, talking about taxing farmers’ income is a bit out of place. When do you expect the action agenda to be finalised? There is no specific deadline, but we want to finalise it as soon as we can. At the end of the Governing Council’s meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited the states to send additional feedback within the next few days. Then I wrote to the Chief Ministers and sought more comments. When we have these comments, we will revise the Action Agenda and submit the final draft to the Prime Minister. In the document, we did not see the concept of universal basic income ( UBI), which was prominently mentioned in the Economic Survey. Is it not an idea worth discussing? I have long argued in favour of giving beneficiaries [of government schemes] the option to choose between ‘in-kind’ and cash transfers. But I have done so in the context of targeted schemes. The UBI is about providing a basic income to ALL. It must cover even the billionaires. But we simply do not have the fiscal resources. Even if you give just `1,000 per month per person, we will need `15 lakh crore annually to cover 125 crore people. This is more