Page 6 - Niti Aayog

India needs 2,500 universities to accommodate 50% students: NITI Aayog CEO

In order to have 50 per cent students in universities, India needs to double the varsities' strength to 2,500, NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam has said. Delivering a keynote address at the Indian School of Business (ISB) here on Friday, he said though one university and two colleges were opened every week in the past ten years, only 29 per cent of the age cohort enroll in the varsities. Subrahmanyam also said that with a huge digital infrastructure, India has become the biggest laboratory in the digital world where one can experiment at a scale. "Today we have 1,200 universities and slightly more than four crore students, but that's only 29 per cent of the cohort age enroll in the university system. Actually, at least 50 per cent of the students should be in colleges. "We need to double the colleges and universities in the country. The country needs 2,500 universities. It may look like a lot of universities are not up to the mark or whatever, but the fact is, you need those numbers

Niti Aayog's WEP partners with Urban Company for women empowerment

Niti Aayog's Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) has partnered with Urban Company to empower women salon and beauty parlour owners, an official statement said on Friday. According to the statement, WEP, under its award-to-reward initiative, launched the pilot to support women MSMEs to scale up their businesses in the beauty and wellness sector. Women entrepreneurs will be offered training across six key ecosystem needs, including skilling, legal and compliance, access to finance, market, and business development services, along with mentorship and networking, it added. A baseline study conducted by MicroSave Consulting identified four key sectors with more than 1,00,000 women MSMEs -- beauty & wellness, textile manufacturing, retail trade and food & beverages. The statement said this pilot initiative aims to develop process templates by leveraging insights and learnings gathered through the programme and upscaling women MSMEs nationwide. Urban Company will spearhead the ...

FinMin revokes 8-year-old circular: CPSEs no longer need NITI nod for JVs

The DPE in a notification said it has been done to make the process easy and less time consuming

Trump's comeback: Govt in wait-and-watch to study regime change in US

The Trump-led regime's stance on India's laptop and IT hardware import policy is expected to remain the same, he said, adding that India should take action if it deems fit.

India should be part of RCEP, CPTPP: Niti Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam

India should be a part of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, Niti Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam said on Thursday. India pulled out of the RCEP in 2019 after entering negotiations in 2013. The RCEP bloc comprises 10 ASEAN group members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam) and their six FTA partners - China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. "India should be a part of RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) and CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) and become a member," Subrahmanyam said at an event organised by industry body Assocham. CPTPP is a free trade bloc spanning five continents, made up of Pacific rim countries of Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Japan. "I don't think we have captured the 'China plus o

Jairam Ramesh slams NITI Aayog over call to pause emission-reducing gear

Congress leader and former Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday said sulphur dioxide emissions from power plants contributed significantly to air pollution and any argument suggesting that such emissions were of no concern to public health in India was ridiculous. His remarks came over a media report, which claimed the NITI Aayog had proposed halting the fitting of equipment to cut sulphur emissions at coal-fired power plants. However, there was no official word from the NITI Aayog. In a post on X, Ramesh said India was the world's largest emitter of sulphur dioxide and these emissions from power plants contributed significantly to air pollution. "A decision had been taken earlier that the power plants must install fluoride gas desulpharisers. First, a deadline of 2017 was fixed. This was later extended to 2026. Now it appears that the all-knowing NITI Aayog wants the deadline scrapped altogether," the Congress general secretary in-charge communications said. "To arg

Scenarios for India's future: How planning can shape growth and inclusion

Scenario planning, having being successfully implemented in businesses, has tremendous potential for shaping India's future

Before announcing a big programme, govt should test it: Iqbal Dhaliwal

Dhaliwal spoke about evidence-based policymaking in India, and universal basic income, among other things

Govt wants multiple methanol plants over next 5-7 years: VK Saraswat

Methanol demand likely to go up to 15 million tonnes by 2030, govt working on regulatory frameworK

Centre to create a database of citizens moving abroad for work, education

During a high-level meeting chaired by Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, discussions focused on improving coordination between the Ministry of External Affairs and NITI Aayog

Driving towards net zero: India's strategic push for sustainable trucking

India's net-zero carbon strategy has focused intensely on sectors such as automotive, power, steel, aviation, cement, and agriculture, which collectively contribute significantly to carbon emissions

NITI Aayog to overhaul schemes for SC/STs, minorities & vulnerable groups

The Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office of NITI Aayog has sought proposals from consultancy firms to support the evaluation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes

NITI Aayog group proposes separate law to tackle public health crises

Report provides action plan for a 100-day response to any disease outbreak or pandemic

NITI group pitches for a separate law to tackle future public health crisis

An expert group constituted by Niti Aayog to prepare a framework for future pandemic preparedness has suggested enacting separate legislation to handle public health crises. The report titled 'Future Pandemic Preparedness and Emergency Response - A Framework for Action' said learning from the experience of COVID-19, the experts have realised that responding in the first 100 days of an outbreak is crucial for effective management. "A separate Public Health Emergency Management Act (PHEMA) is proposed to facilitate the management of any public health crisis. "The PHEMA can address various aspects beyond epidemics, including non-communicable diseases, disasters, and bio-terrorism, and should be in place for a developed country," it said. It will allow a holistic approach to health management, covering prevention, control, and disaster response, the report added. "The Act would also provide for the creation of skilled public health cadres at national and state levels," it said. The r

Gujarat announces formation of 'GRIT', NITI Aayog-like think tank

The Gujarat government on Tuesday announced the formation of Gujarat State Institution for Transformation or 'GRIT', a think tank modelled on the NITI Aayog to help realise the vision of 'Viksit' or developed state by 2047. GRIT has crafted a vision document and roadmap for 'Viksit Gujarat @ 2047', stated an official release here. The Chief Minister will head the governing body of GRIT with the Finance Minister as vice-chairman and the ministers of agriculture, health, education and industry serving as members, it said. "Following the model of NITI Aayog, the 'GRIT' has been established, chaired by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel," the release said. Among other things, it will review the implementation of recommendations from its task force committee for achieving the target of becoming a five-trillion-dollar economy, it said. The ten-member executive committee of GRIT, headed by its CEO, will handle its day-to-day operations. Its governing body will include the chief advisor to

NITI Aayog invites EoI for undertaking research on India Innovation Index

Government think tank Niti Aayog has invited expressions of interest (EoI) for undertaking research on India Innovation Index. The index is envisaged to encourage states/UTs to examine and improve their innovation environment and performance, which could further lead to improvement in India's overall innovation performance. It is designed as a holistic tool which can be used by policymakers across the country to identify the challenges to be addressed and the strengths to leverage when designing the economic growth policies for their regions. The India Innovation Index is calculated as the average of the scores of factors under 'Enablers' and 'Performance'. Enablers are the factors that underpin innovative capacities, grouped in five pillars -- human capital, investment, knowledge workers, business environment, and safety and legal environment. The Performance captures benefits that a nation derives from the inputs, divided in two pillars -- knowledge output and knowledge ...

Eye on FDI, Centre to ask state govts for investment-friendly reforms

The Centre is currently engaging with various countries to boost FDI inflows, which dropped to $26.5 billion in FY24 from $42 billion in FY23

Senior care market grows in 'out of hospital' services in Tier-II cities

According to a recent NITI Aayog report on state of senior care in India released in February 2024, size of senior care industry in India is about $7 billion, having grown rapidly in last five years

NITI Aayog report sets target of doubling Mumbai's GDP in five years

A report prepared by the NITI Aayog on the development of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) aims to double the region's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the next five years, and make Mumbai and its satellite towns a global economic hub. At present the region's GDP is Rs 12 lakh crore (USD 140 billion) and it should reach Rs 26 lakh crore (USD 300 billion) by 2030, the report submitted to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde by NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam said. While there are one crore employment opportunities in the MMR at present, there is a need to create 30 lakh more opportunities, the report said. Chief minister Shinde said infrastructure and communication facilities are the foundation for the state's development, and work was underway in that direction. The report said the Maharashtra government needed to focus on seven sectors: Developing Mumbai into a global services hub, facilitating affordable housing, transforming MMR into global tourism centre, integrated development of .

Step up surveillance for quicker viral infection mpox detection: Centre

Earlier on Saturday, a meeting was chaired by Health Minister J P Nadda with senior officials from the health ministry to evaluate the Mpox situation and the country's preparedness