Zero poverty, demographic management plans, among key focuses in NITI Aayog meet
The Niti Aayog 9th Governing Council meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday under the theme ‘Viksit Bharat at 2047’ had few pivotal discussions, including the formulation of an investment-friendly charter index for states, setting of zero poverty goals, demographic management plans, and linking of river grids.
The PM’s focus in the meeting was on “states as key drivers of growth and road to Viksit Bharat” and that the states are “bursting with energy, confidence, and competence.”
Leaders of 26 states/Union Territories took part in the meeting in Delhi, while 10 states, including INDIA bloc leaders, who “boycotted” the meet over alleged discrimination in the Union Budget against them, remained absent.
NITI Aayog CEO BV Subramanyam, addressing the media on Saturday, said, “We had 10 absentees and 26 participants. We had absentees from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Bihar, Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Puducherry.”
Bihar’s Janata Dal-United, led by chief minister Nitish Kumar, is a part of the Bharatiya Jananta Party-led National Democratic Alliance.
Subramanyam said that Kumar did not attend the meeting as the Bihar Legislative Assembly session went on till late on Friday.
On Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren’s sudden withdrawal, Subramanyam said that the chief secretary of the state was present but Soren did not show up.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who was the lone opposition leader to participate in the meeting but left midway, alleging discrimination was refuted by Subramanyam, as he said the council was “accommodative and respectful” of Banerjee.
Banerjee walked out of the NITI Aayog meeting, alleging that her microphone was stopped after five minutes, while other chief ministers were allowed to speak for a longer duration.
Responding to the boycott by INDIA leaders, Subramanyam said, “It’s the loss of the states who choose to do so, but the Aayog will still think about each state equally.”
Elaborating on the discussion in the meeting, Subramanyam said that an “approach paper” was distributed to the members in which several key agendas were discussed. “PM said that the vision of Viksit Bharat can be realized through Viksit States and that each state and district should create a vision for 2047 to realise Viksit Bharat@2047.”
Subramanyam added that the PM, in the meeting, directed NITI Aayog to prepare an ‘Investment-friendly Charter’ for attracting investments in the states and create an “index” where the states could be ranked out of 100 points in terms of investment friendliness.
According to the Aayog members, the vision behind this idea was to make states more “independent and reliable.”
The PM also called for setting up a target of “zero poverty” starting from villages, said Subramanyam.
He added that the PM also “encouraged” the creation of river grids at state-level for effective utilisation of water resources and wherein surplus water could be provided to the states facing droughts.
The council also asked the states to initiate demographic management plans to address the issues of “population aging in the future.”
PM Modi further emphasized the need for skilling and training youth to make them employment ready,” he said.
Subramanyam concluded, saying that the states participated “enthusiastically” and gave suggestions on agriculture, education and skill development, entrepreneurship, drinking water, reducing compliances, governance, digitalisation, women empowerment, and cyber security.
The think tank will also be coming up with final versions of the five-year and a 25-year ‘Viksit Bharat’ plan as informed by the body members, said Subramanyam.