AIR Spotlight: Niti Aayog Governing Council Meeting and its Significance

AIR Spotlight is an insightful program featured daily on the All India Radio Newsonair. In this program, many eminent panellists discuss issues of importance which can be quite helpful in IAS exam preparation. In this article, the Niti Aayog governing council meeting and its significance are discussed in detail.

Participants: 

1. Ashok Tandon, Political Analyst
2. Aditi Tandon, Journalist

Context: Recently, the 7th Niti Aayog governing council was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

Governing council:

• The Governing Council is the premier body entrusted with evolving a shared vision of national priorities and strategies, with the active involvement of States, in shaping the development narrative. 
• It consists of Chief Ministers of all the States and Union Territories with legislatures and Lt Governors of the other Union Territories.
• It embodies the goals of cooperative federalism and presents a platform to discuss inter-sectoral, inter-departmental and federal issues to accelerate the implementation of the national development agenda.

7th Governing Council Meet:

• This was the first in-person meeting of the Governing Council since July 2019.
• The Governing Council discussed 4 key agenda items that were set after six months of deliberations by the centre and states.

1. Urban governance.
2. Implementation of National Education Policy in higher education.
3. Implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) in school education.
4. Crop diversification and achieving self-sufficiency in pulses, oilseeds and other agri-commodities.

• The Prime minister advised each state to focus on promoting its 3Ts, Trade, Tourism, Technology, through every Indian Mission around the world. 

Cooperative federalism:

• Various policies and initiatives have been undertaken to boost learning outcomes, capacity-building of teachers, and skilling and many states have implemented the National Education Policy. Success of NEP hinges on states taking ownership of reforms.
• There is a clear consensus among states and the centre on the requirement of collective action to realize the true potential of GST.
• The Prime Minister gave complete credit to state governments for the successful management of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• He advised a dedicated team for G20 in the States to derive the maximum possible benefit from this initiative.
  • India is hosting the G-20 summit in 2023.

Self-reliance in food:

• High dependence on edible oil imports of around 55-60% of consumption remains a concern for India towards achieving self-sufficiency in food.
• Governing council agreed on various measures to reduce dependency on imports for agricultural products. 
• Measures such as crop diversification, increased focus on research and development, and increasing the investment in the agriculture sector go a long way in achieving self-sufficiency in food.
• The Prime Minister highlighted the need for India to focus on modernized agriculture, animal husbandry, and food processing to become self-sufficient and a global leader in the agriculture sector. 

Urban Governance:

• Rapid urbanization can become India’s strength instead of weakness by leveraging technology to ensure ease of living, transparent service delivery, and improvement in the quality of life for every citizen of urban India.
• Suitable policy interventions and financing measures by state governments to transform energy and industrial systems, improve energy efficiency, tackle environmental pollution, and protect and replenish natural capital will help India achieve its targets announced in the COP26 Summit.

Conclusion:

India’s transformation has to take place in its states. Combined efforts of the Centre and States are required to realize the vision of a resurgent India post the pandemic.

Read more Gist of AIR Spotlight here.

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