The NITI Aayog’s fourth Governing Council meet was held on Sunday. The Chief Ministers of states and Lieutenant Governors of Union Territories placed their demands in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
However, chief ministers from Goa, Odisha, Delhi, Sikkim, Mizoram and Jammu and Kashmir failed to attend the meeting. The North Indian states missed the meeting due to the floods.
After the meeting Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Rajiv Kumar addressed the media. He said, “Ayushman Bharat was welcomed by all the CMs and the National Health Protection Scheme was also welcomed. It’s a historic movement in the field of healthcare. The chief ministers want more and regular interaction with NITI Aayog, we will ensure that and work for it.”
The Prime Minister thanked all the Chief Ministers who attended the meeting. Modi also thanked the leaders for their suggestions and remarks.
I thank the Chief Ministers of the various states for their remarks and suggestions on areas such as water conservation, environment, agriculture and MGNREGA.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) 17 June 2018
Chief Minister of Telangana K. Chandrashekar Rao was present at the meet and talked about the development of Telangana from all aspects including the recent launch of the Rythu Bandhu Scheme. KCR explained, “The growth of India lies in the growth of its states. Fast growing states must be encouraged by way of tax incentives, if not by additional transfers from Central funds.”
The NITI Aayog released a plan to avoid a massive shortage of groundwater by the year 2020. The NITI Aayog proposed a Composite Water Management Index which will monitor the water levels in every State. For groundwater restoration, the group suggested incentive based mechanism meaning the Government would pay organizations after achieving groundwater recharge targets.
