New Delhi (India), 27th May 2023: Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over the Niti Aayog’s eighth governing council meeting on Saturday. The summit, titled ‘Viksit Bharat @2047: Role of Team India,’ was conducted at the new Convention Centre in Pragati Maidan in the national capital.
The Niti Aayog stated, “Eight prominent themes will be discussed during the day-long Meeting including (i) Viksit Bharat@2047, (ii) Thrust on MSMEs, (iii) Infrastructure and Investments, (iv) Minimising Compliances, (v) Women Empowerment, (vi) Health and Nutrition, (vii) Skill Development, and (viii) Gati Shakti for area development and social infrastructure.”
Several state chief ministers attended the council meeting, which was also attended by Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
However a total of eight Chief Ministers have chosen not to attend the Niti Aayog meeting, including Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi, Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal, Bhagwant Mann of Punjab, Nitish Kumar of Bihar, K Chandrashekar Rao of Telangana, MK Stalin of Tamil Nadu, Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan, and Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala.
In a letter to the Prime Minister on Friday, Kejriwal stated that he was “boycotting” the meeting in protest of the “undemocratic and unconstitutional” May 19 legislation that returned control of services in the national capital to the Centre under the LG, essentially nullifying a Supreme Court judgement that had given the elected government authority of all services except police, public order, and land.
Whereas, Bhagwant Mann announced his intention to skip the governing council meeting, citing the Union government’s disrespect for farmer issues.
