PM Modi chairs Niti Aayog's 7th governing council meet; NEP, crop diversification on top of agenda

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday chaired the seventh governing council meeting of the NITI Aayog, the first physical meeting since July 2019, even as two key chief ministers stayed away. The National Education Policy and crop diversification were on the top of the agenda of the meeting attended by LGs and CMs of several states as well as senior Cabinet ministers.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao stayed away as a mark of protest for the treatment of the Centre with Opposition states, and wrote a letter to PM Modi a day ago.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has skipped meetings with Centre three times in a row, is recovering from Covid-19.

Among the Union ministers who attended were Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Home Minister Amit Shah, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, and NITI Aayog vice chairman Suman Bery.

Also read: At NITI Aayog meet, PM Modi urges states to focus on promoting 'three Ts', modernising farm sector

Opposition chief ministers Mamata Banerjee, Naveen Patnaik, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, Jaganmohan Reddy, Pinarayi Vijayan, Bhagwant Mann, and Hemant Soren were also present. NDA chief ministers including Shivraj Chouhan, Yogi Adityanath, M L Khattar, Himanta Biswa Sarma, etc, were present.

In a briefing after the meeting, NITI Aayog officials said that the meeting was “fruitful”. “The CMs and L-Gs presented the best practices from their states, there were presentations on NEP 2020, G20, and the importance of exports,” NITI Aayog CEO Parameswaran Iyer said in a briefing.

Modi expressed the importance of agriculture diversification and the need to be self-sufficient, especially in edible oils, said NITI Aayog’s Ramesh Chand.

There was also a discussion about the NEP, NITI Aayog member V K Paul said, adding that there’s broader consensus on the Policy, with states talking about what they have done.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel asked the Centre to increase the state’s share in the central taxes and duties, and said the burden on its resources are increasing. Baghel also asked for an extension of GST compensation, to meet the shortfall in Chhattisgarh’s revenue due to the new tax system.

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik asked the Centre to declare Odisha a special state due to natural calamities, and asked the Centre to focus on building infrastructure like telecom, railways and banking which are in the Centre list.

Patnaik also suggested that NITI Aayog could step in when there is a dispute between states or between states and the Centre, and act as an ombudsman.