WATCH: PM Modi chairs first crucial in-person NITI Aayog meet after 2019, discuss NEP, crops; Telangana CM absent

New Delhi: NITI Aayog's seventh governing council meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is underway at Rashtrapati Bhawan's Cultural Centre in New Delhi.

It is worth mentioning that NITI Aayog's meeting today is the first physical or in-person meet after July 2019.

The meeting was not convened in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The first meeting of the council took place on 8 February, 2015.

The Council, the apex body of NITI Aayog, has all chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories and several Union ministers as its members. The Prime Minister is the Chairman of NITI Aayog.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has, however, boycotted today's meeting and in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, Rao on Saturday said 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 7 August 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.

Agenda of NITI Aayog's meeting today

The agenda of the meeting includes 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.

With an aim to build 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.

With inputs from agencies

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