PM Modi to chair NITI Aayog Governing Council meet on Saturday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair NITI Aayog's eighth Governing Council meeting on May 27, which will deliberate on several issues including, health, skill development, women empowerment and infrastructure development, with an aim to make India a developed nation by 2047.

The council, the apex body of NITI Aayog, includes all chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories, and several Union ministers. Modi is the Chairman of NITI Aayog.

"NITI Aayog will be organising its 8th Governing Council Meeting on the theme of 'Viksit Bharat @ 2047: Role of Team India' on May 27, 2023," the Aayog said in a statement. The statement noted that as the world's fifth largest economy and the most populous nation, India is at a stage in its economic development trajectory where it can achieve accelerated growth over the next 25 years.

In this context, the statement said the 8th Governing Council Meeting provides an opportunity to create a roadmap for Viksit Bharat by 2047 in which Centre and states can work together as Team India.

"Eight prominent themes will be discussed, including Viksit Bharat@2047, thrust on MSMEs, infrastructure and investments, minimising compliances, women empowerment, health and nutrition, skill development, and Gati Shakti for area development and social infrastructure," the statement said.

According to the statement, as a prelude to the 8th Governing Council meeting, the 2nd Chief Secretaries Conference was held in January 2023 where these themes were extensively discussed.

Wide-ranging stakeholder consultations and brainstorming sessions with subject experts, academia and practitioners were held prior to the Conference in order to gain well-rounded grassroot-level perspectives, it added.

The statement pointed that this 8th Governing Council Meeting is also being held in the backdrop of India's G20 Presidency. "India's G20 motto 'One Earth, One Family, One Future' conveys its civilisational values and its vision of the role of each country in creating the future of our planet," the statement said, adding that the emerging world has immense hopes on India's ability to provide values-based leadership and its capacity to deliver development at scale.

The statement noted that the Centre and states have played a significant role in achieving this distinctive development trajectory. It emphasised that India's growth is closely interlinked with the growth of states.

Generally, the full council meeting happens every year and last year, it was held under the chairmanship of Modi on August 7. The council meeting was not convened in 2020 due to the coronavirus