NITI Aayog Governing Council to meet next week

The government is yet to finalise whether it would be an in-person meeting in the capital or a virtual meeting.

Since the Centre has set the goal of making the country a developed economy in the next 25 years, suggestions would be taken from states to achieve that. Progress in the development and saturation of welfare schemes in the over 100 most backward districts in the country will also be a focus area at the meeting, said one of the persons quoted above.

The progress of infrastructure projects debt-financed by the Centre and executed by states is also expected to be discussed at the meeting. State chief ministers are also expected to highlight their development priorities, financial requirements and challenges, at the meeting.

An email sent to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on 11 May seeking comments for the story remained unanswered at the time of publishing.

The Governing Council of the federal policy think-tank meets once a year to set the national agenda which in the past included issues like promoting use of locally made goods, identifying export possibilities that will add jobs at the local level, and adoption of a common resolve to improve GST collections. It also gives the Centre an opportunity to push its key programmes and policy ideas at the state level given that a synchronised approach could deliver better results.

The eighth meeting of the NITI Aayog governing council comes at a time the economy which is predicted to grow at 6.5% this fiscal is facing multiple challenges including from high interest cost, inflation, risks to monsoon from El Nino and economic uncertainty in developed markets.