PM urges Centre and states to work in unison for rapid development and shared national goals by 2047.
New Delhi: Addressing the 10th Niti Aayog governing council meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that if the Centre and all states come together and work like “Team India”, no goal was impossible. While the Congress dubbed the meeting an exercise in "hypocrisy and diversion", five Chief Ministers — Mamata Banerjee, Pinarayi Vijayan, Siddaramaiah, Nitish Kumar and N. Rangasamy — skipped the meeting.
In his address at the governing council meeting themed "Viksit Rajya for Viksit Bharat@2047", Modi said, “Viksit Bharat is the goal of every Indian. When every state is viksit, then Bharat will be viksit.”
"We should have the aim of making each state viksit, each city viksit, each nagar palika viksit and each village viksit. If we work on these lines, we will not have to wait till 2047 to become Viksit Bharat," Modi said.
Noting that India is getting rapidly urbanised, the Prime Minister said, "We should work towards future-ready cities. Growth, innovation and sustainability should be the engine for the development of India's cities.”
The Prime Minister emphasised the need to work towards the inclusion of women in the workforce and said, "We must make laws and policies so that they can be respectfully integrated into the workforce."
Modi pointed out that the government should work in a manner so that policies implemented bring change in the lives of common citizens. “Only when people feel the change…it strengthens the change and transforms the change into a movement. We have a great opportunity as a team to fulfil the aspirations of 140-crore people,” he said.
Briefing reporters about the governing council meeting, Niti Aayog CEO B.V.R. Subrahmanyam said that everyone present at the meeting unanimously supported Operation Sindoor, undertaken by India to destroy terror infrastructure in Pakistan.
“The Prime Minister urged the states to focus on agriculture, education and healthcare. He said that the 10-year journey of Niti Aayog was "to prepare the nation to achieve the goal of Vikshit Bharat,” Mr Subrahmanyam said.
“The meeting was attended by 31 states and Union territories of a total of 36,” the Niti Aayog CEO said, adding those who could not make it had prior commitments and informed the council. He stated that the states which did not attend the meeting were Karnataka, Kerala, West Bengal, Bihar and Puducherry and the 10th meeting of the Council saw maximum attendance.
Calling the Niti Aayog an "ayogya" (unfit) body, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh hit out at the Centre and alleged the meeting was yet another exercise in "hypocrisy and diversion".
Reacting sharply, BJP national spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said that the Congress leader keeps finding faults in every meeting convened by the government to create some controversy.
"This is a meeting of Team India to take decisions for the country's development. Ramesh is finding fault in this too," Hussain said.
Asserting that Odisha will be the growth engine in the country's development journey over the next 25 years, chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi said that the state aspires to become a $1.5 trillion economy by 2047.
"I assure you, sir (PM), Odisha will be the growth engine in the country's development journey over the next 25 years," Majhi said in a press statement issued by his office.
In the meeting, Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin urged the Centre to disburse ₹2,200 crores in funds under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) due to the state.
“This hefty sum was denied to Tamil Nadu for not signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Union education ministry regarding the PM Shri scheme,” Mr Stalin said.
Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann accused the Centre of giving "step-motherly" treatment to Punjab and said that such a type of discriminatory treatment is unwarranted.
Mr Mann raised the issues concerning the state while reiterating that Punjab has no surplus water for any state and sought a special industrial package for the state's six districts that share borders with Pakistan. He also demanded a cash incentive for maize cultivation to replace the water-guzzling paddy crop.
Telangana CM A. Revanth Reddy said that his government aims to contribute 8 per cent to the country's national gross domestic product (GDP) by 2047 and proposed creating a national task force to develop six major metropolitan cities.
“Telangana is ready to lead efforts toward achieving Viksit Bharat, the government's vision for the country's centenary of independence,” Mr Reddy said.
Mr Reddy proposed the setting up of a national task force headed by the Prime Minister and consisting of respective chief ministers to harness the full economic potential of the country's top six metropolitan cities -- Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu proposed the formation of three sub-groups of state governments to accelerate progress towards the Viksit Bharat vision by 2047, asserting that his state is committed to contributing significantly to this national aspiration.
Mr Naidu praised India's remarkable economic transformation over the past decade, rising from the world's 10th to 4th largest economy and being on track to become the third.
Andhra Pradesh CM acknowledged transformative reforms, including Digital India, GST, Startup India, PM Gati Shakti and Jal Jeevan Mission, which he said have redefined India's development landscape.
