PM Modi chairs NITI Aayog's governing council meeting

The 7th governing council meeting of Niti Aayog chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is underway at Rashtrapati Bhawans Cultural Centre in the national capitalThe meeting is being attended by Chief Ministers of all the States excluding Telangana CM and Union Territories legislators Lt Governors of UTs ExOfficio Members Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog FullTime Members of NITI Aayog and Union Ministers as Special InviteesNotably this meeting is the first inperson meeting of the Governing Council since July 2019The agenda of the Niti Aayog meeting includes crop diversification and achieving selfsufficiency in oilseeds and pulses and agricommunities implementation of the National Education Policyschool education implementation of the National Education Policyhigher education and urban governanceIn the drive toward building 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 UnionAs India commemorates 75 years of Independence it is the need of the hour for the states to be agile resilient and selfreliant and move towards AatmaNirbhar Bharat in a spirit of cooperative federalism territoriesThe meeting is particularly important as the country enters Amrit Kaal against the backdrop of the COVID19 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 G20 PlatformNotably Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao boycotted the meeting as he wrote a letter to Prime Minister Modi on Saturday saying that his decision is a mark of protest against what he termed as the Centres alleged blatant discrimination against states including TelanganaI do not find it useful to attend the 7th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog scheduled to be held on August 7 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 readThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever