NEW DELHI: The collective efforts of all the states and the spirit of cooperative federalism got us through the COVID-19 pandemic, said Prime minister Narendra Modi at the 7th NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting in Delhi on Sunday.
“Every State played a crucial role according to its strength and contributed to India’s fight against COVID. This led to India emerging as an example for the developing nations to look up to as a global leader,” PM Modi said.
The Prime Minister said that a lot of effort had gone into organising this meeting as “months of rigorous brainstorming and consultations between the Centre and States” had taken place to identify “national priorities”.
“For the first time in India’s 75 years of independence, all of India’s Chief Secretaries met together in one place and deliberated on issues of national importance for three days. This collective process led to the development of the agenda for this meeting,” PM Modi said
This was the first physical meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog since the onset of pandemic COVID-19 in March 2020. The meeting was attended by 23 Chief Ministers, three Lieutenant Governors, two Administrators and Union Ministers. The Union Defence minister Rajnath Singh moderated the meeting.
The agenda of the meeting was ‘crop diversification and achieving self-sufficiency in pulses, oilseeds and other agri commodities, ‘implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) in school education’, ‘implementation of National Education Policy in higher education’, and ‘urban governance’.
Highlighting the importance of GST, PM Modi said, “Increasing GST collection requires collective action by the Centre and States. It is crucial for strengthening our economic position and becoming a USD 5 trillion economy.”
Talking about India’s G20 presidency in 2023, the prime minister called it a “unique opportunity to show the world that India is not just Delhi – it is every State and Union Territory of the country”.