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The Prime Minister has approved the appointment of agriculture expert Prof Ramesh Chand as one of the full-time members in the NITI Aayog. 

He has been a member of a task force on agriculture development under NITI Aayog which is formulating strategies to give a boost to the agriculture sector. Shri Ramesh Chand has also headed a government panel on Minimum Support Price and has been working as Director of National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NIAP) in New Delhi since 2010. Before this Dr. Chand served as ICAR National Professor at NCAP (2006 to 2010).

He did his Ph. D in  Agricultural Economics from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. His Ph.D. thesis, submitted to Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, was selected for Jawaharlal Nehru Award of Indian Council of Agricultural Research in recognition of its outstanding Research contributions.

Dr.Chand possess more than 25 years of experience in research and teaching. He worked in senior academic positions as Professor and Head – Agricultural Economics Unit, at Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi University; Professor of Marketing at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana; Principal Scientist at NCAP; and Acting Director NCAP. 

He has international experience as visiting professor at University of Wollongong in Australia (2000) and Visiting Fellow at Institute of Developing Economies, Chiba Shi, Japan (2003). Dr. Chand has also worked as consultant for FAO, UNDP, ESCAP, and World Bank. 

 Dr. Chand is author of seven books and nearly hundred research papers published in reputed national and international journals. His books are mostly on agriculture policy and development issues. some of his books are: Agricultural Diversification in India: Potential and Prospects in Developed Region; Trade Liberalisation, WTO and Indian Agriculture: Experience and Prospects;  Trade Liberalisation, WTO and Indian Agriculture: Experience and Prospects.

Served in several high level committees set up by government of India including “Steering Committee on Agriculture for XIth Plan” where he drafted the report of the Committee. He has been awarded for  Rafi Ahmad Kidwai Award of ICAR in 2011. 

The National Institute of Transforming India, NITI Aayog under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been set up in place of place of Planning Commission. It has noted economist Aravind Panagariya as its Vice Chairman while economist Bibek Debroy and former DRDO Chief VKSaraswat along with agriculture expert Ramesh Chand now as full time members. 

Inputs: Press Release, Press Information Bureau, India and http://www.ncap.res.in