PM Modi to chair 5th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog on June 15

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on June 15 (Saturday) chair the fifth meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in keeping with the spirit of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sanka Vishwas'.

Ministers of Defence, Home Affairs, Finance and Corporate Affairs, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, as ex-officio members; Vice Chairman, Members, CEO and senior officers of NITI Aayog; and few other ministers will be attending the event as special invitees to the Governing Council.

Special invitees to the fifth meeting of the NITI Aayog include the National Security Adviser, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Minister of Jal Shakti and the Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.

The council, which includes all chief ministers, lieutenant governors of union territories, several union ministers and senior government officials, reviews the action taken on the agenda items of the previous meeting and deliberates upon the future developmental priorities.

So far, four meetings of the council have been held under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister.

The items which are high on the agenda before the fifth council meeting are - Rainwater harvesting, drought situation and relief measures, aspirational districts programme - achievements and challenges, transforming agriculture among other issues.

The council is the premier body tasked with evolving a shared vision of national development priorities, sectors and strategies with the active involvement of States in shaping the development narrative.

The first meeting was held on 8 February 2015, at which the Prime Minister laid down the key mandates of NITI Aayog such as fostering cooperative federalism and addressing national issues through active participation of the States.

The second meeting of the Governing Council took place on 15 July 2015.

The third meeting was held on 23 April 2017, which laid down milestones in shaping the country's development agenda through strategy and vision documents.

The fourth meeting of the Governing Council was held on 17 June 2018 and included reviewing measures taken for doubling farmers' income and progress made under flagship schemes such as the Ayushman Bharat, POSHAN Abhiyaan and Mission Indradhanush.