Modi to chair Niti Aayog meet on Saturday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the fifth governing council meeting of the Niti Aayog on Saturday with structural reforms in agriculture, drought situation and relief measures, challenges in transforming aspirational districts and security related issues high on the agenda.

While the Chief Ministers of all the states will attend the meet, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would give the event a miss after writing to the Prime Minister that it was "fruitless" to attend the deliberations as the Niti Aayog had no financial power to support state plans.According to a statement issued by the Niti Aayog on Thursday, issues like rain-water harvesting, drought situation and relief measures, transforming aspirational districts as well as security related issues with specific focus on Left Wing Extremism (LWE) hit districts are expected to be discussed at the meeting.

The meeting will be held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Narendra Singh Tomar, Nitin Gadkari, Thaawar Chand Gehlot and Piyush Goyal are likely to attend the meet.

The Niti Aayog governing council reviews the action taken on the issues highlighted in the previous meeting and deliberates upon the future developmental priorities.

So far, four meetings of the governing council have been held under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister with the Chief Ministers and Lt. Governors of the states and other members of NITI Aayog.

The NITI Aayog has been mandated with fostering cooperative federalism through structured support initiatives and mechanisms with the states on a continuous basis, recognising that strong states make a strong nation on the principles of "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwaas".

It seeks to design and assist the implementation of strategic, long-term policy frameworks and programme initiatives besides monitoring their progress and efficacy.

--IANS

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