PM Modi chairs NITI Aayog’s governing council meet, stresses on crop diversification and self-sufficiency | India News

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the seventh meeting of the Niti Aayog governing council in the cultural center of Rashtrapati Bhawan in Delhi on Sunday.
PM wants India to be self sufficient in edible oil, stresses on crop diversification
The Prime Minister, at the meeting on Sunday, said that India’s federal structure and cooperative federalism emerged as a model for the world during Covid crisis.
He also asked the states to focus on crop diversification.
NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman, after the governing council meeting on Sunday, noted that the Prime Minister wants India to become self sufficient in edible oil.
NITI Aayog meet marks governing council’s first in-person assembly since July 2019
The Council, the apex body of NITI Aayog, includes all chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories and several Union ministers. The prime minister is the Chairman of NITI Aayog.

Union ministers Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, S Jaishankar and chief minister of Uttap Pradesh, West Bengal, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Assam are attending the meeting among others.
Besides, chief ministers of all states, with the exception of Telangana‘s, lawmakers, Lt. Governors of UTs, Ex-Officio Members, the Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog, Full-Time members of NITI Aayog, and Union ministers as Special Invitees are also present at the meeting.
Notably, this meeting marked the Governing Council’s first in-person assembly since July 2019.

CM Baghel urges Centre to increase Chhattisgarh’s share in central taxes
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday urged the Centre to increase the state’s share in the central taxes and duties, citing rising burden on its resources, an official said.
Baghel raised the issue in the NITI Aayog’s seventh Governing Council meeting being chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi, he said.

The meeting is being held physically for the first time after July 2019.
“The chief minister demanded an increase in the state’s share in the central taxes, citing that the burden on the resources of the states has been rising,” the official from the state public relations department said in a statement.
Odisha CM says NITI Aayog can play ombudsman’s role, resolve Centre-State disputes
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said NITI Aayog can take up the role of an ombudsman and can resolve disputes between States and central governments in the implementation of central schemes.
“We all accept that the State and central governments are political entities and sometimes there are disputes in the implementation of central schemes. NITI Aayog can resolve these issues like an ombudsman,” Patnaik said in his remarks during the ongoing 7th Governing Council meeting of Niti Aayog here on Sunday, adding that he believes it will promote cooperative federalism and speedy implementation of schemes.

BJP slams KCR for boycotting NITI Aayog meet, says it’s loss for Telangana
BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP K Laxman on Sunday slammed Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for boycotting the NITI Aayog meeting stating that “it will be a big loss for the state”.
The seventh meeting of the Governing Council of Niti Aayog at Rashtrapati Bhawan Cultural Centre in the national capital is underway.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is chairing the meeting. The meeting is the first in-person meeting of the Governing Council since July 2019.
KCR said he will boycott the meeting saying he doesn’t find it useful to attend the meeting and his decision is a mark of protest against what he termed as the Centre’s alleged blatant discrimination against states including Telangana.
Responding to KCR’s statement, the BJP MP Laxman said, “This is most unfortunate politics as it has nothing to do with Niti Aayog. Boycotting the meeting will not cause loss to him or his family but it is a big loss for the state.”
He further said that being a Chief Minister, KCR should attend meeting to discuss and raise issues related to the state.
“Niti Aayog was formed so that chief ministers can discuss issues, can give their advice and ask questions from the government. Now you left this opportunity.KCR should come to the meeting and discuss whatever KCR had said in front of media,” said BJP MP.
Agenda of the Niti Aayog meeting
The agenda of the Niti Aayog meeting included crop diversification and achieving self-sufficiency in oilseeds and pulses and agri-communities; implementation of the National Education Policy-school education; implementation of the National Education Policy-higher education; and urban governance.
In the drive toward building a steady, sustainable and inclusive India, the seventh governing council meeting of the government think tank Niti Aayog is expected to pave the way for synergies towards a new era of collaboration and cooperation between the Centre and States and the Union.
As India commemorates 75 years of Independence, it is the need of the hour for the states to be agile, resilient and self-reliant and move towards ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ in a spirit of cooperative federalism territories.
The meeting is particularly important as the country enters Amrit Kaal against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and in light of India hosting the G20 Presidency and summit next year. The meeting would also lay emphasis on the importance of the Presidency for India for the federal system and the role that states can play in highlighting their progress at the G-20 Platform.
Notably, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao will boycott the meeting as he wrote a letter to Prime Minister Modi on Saturday saying that his decision is a mark of protest against what he termed as the Centre’s alleged blatant discrimination against states including Telangana.
“I do not find it useful to attend the 7th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog scheduled to be held on August 7 and I am staying away from it as a mark of strong protest against the present trend of the Central Govt to discriminate against the states and not treating them as equal partners in our collective efforts to make India a strong and developed country,” the letter read.
(With inputs from agencies)