Question : Niti Aayog Council

(a) whether Governing Council Meeting of Niti Aayog was held recently in New Delhi and if so, the details thereof;

(b) the number of Chief Ministers of States or their representatives who attended the meeting and the number of Chief Ministers who skip the meeting and reasons therefor;

(c) whether a number of Chief Ministers did not attend the meeting and if so, the details and the reasons therefor?

(d) the details of issues discussed, consensus arrived at and future plan chalked out in the meeting; and

(e) whether it was emphasised in the meeting that Centre and States including Telangana and Andhra Pradesh should work towards reducing compliance burden for citizen to ensure ease of living and to promote ease of doing business, stressing the importance of better coordination between the Centre and the States for the development of the country and if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS & PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

(RAO INDERJIT SINGH)

(a) The Sixth Meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog was held on February 20, 2021 under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister via video conferencing.

(b) & (c) The meeting was attended by 26 Chief Ministers, 3 Lieutenant Governors and 2 Administrators of States/ Union Territories (UTs). The Chief Minister for the States of Gujarat, Punjab, Telangana and West Bengal did not participate in the meeting. The reasons for non-participation in the meeting include ill health, other engagement/ prior commitments, etc.

(d) The detailed discussions took place in the meeting on the following agenda items:

i. Making India a Global Manufacturing Hub,
ii. Reimagining Agriculture,
iii. Improving Physical Infrastructure,
iv. Accelerating Human Resources Development,
v. Improving Service Delivery at Grassroots Level, and
vi. Health and Nutrition.

The deliberations included the achievements highlighted by the respective State/UTs along with the specific suggestions on these Agenda items.

(e) The meeting emphasized on Centre and States taking measures towards reducing compliance burden in order to improve ease of doing business and empowerment of people by improving ease of living of citizens and leveraging technology. The meeting also highlighted the importance of policy frameworks and better coordination between the Centre and States to achieve the national development agenda.
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