Tripura CM Manik Sarkar calls for employment oriented plan in NITI Aayog meeting, raises six agendas: PM Modi calls poverty India's biggest challenge
Jayanta K Das & Dipankar Dey
NEW DELHI / AGARTALA, February 8 (TIWN): Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on sunday attended the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at New Delhi. Tripura CM called for employment oriented plans, advised NITI Aayog which replaced the planning commission should not push India towards a market driven economy and privatization in all spheres. Public resources should not be put at the disposal of the private sector and the market forces, aded Sarkar. Prime Minister Modi on Sunday called for states to forge a model of "cooperative federalism" to resolve differences even as he flagged poverty as India's biggest challenge.Chairing the first meeting of the governing council of NITI Aayog, he said India cannot advance without all its states advancing in tandem. However Chief Minister Manik Sarkar raised at least 6 agendas for the discussions in the meeting. The six agendas comprised of resolution and setting up of NITI and notification constituting the full time organization framework, from planning commission to NITI-Transition Agreements, framework for development priorities, policies and sectoral strategies for the charter of NITI, cooperative federalism, thrust to infrastructure projects.
Saying that any planned development process in the country needs to aim at the upliftment of all the sections of the society, thereby enabling the people to live a decent life, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar stressed upon the necessity to ensure that all the people have food security, housing, access to education and health care as also adequate opportunities for productive employment that enable them to earn a meaningful living.
Sarkar further added that planning or development can have no meaning if a very large section of the people continue to live in abject poverty and are unemployed.
“It should be our endeavor to harness the human resource available in the country and provide gainful employment to the unemployed in the country, be they educated, semi-educated or uneducated, so that everyone can contribute in the production and national building process”, said Sarkar.
Adding to that he said that the plan should therefore be employment oriented where every person should get employment as per his or her ability and skill.
Later CM Manik Sarkar stressed on pro-active role in the planned development of the country. He said that NITI Aayog ought to become a lively and living body for periodic discussions and taking decisions on important issues affecting the economic well being of the country.
Modi added that he envisioned different states competing with each other in promoting governance initiatives in a spirit of "cooperative, competitive federalism".
NITI Aayog or 'National Institution for Transforming India' Aayog is a policy think-tank which has replaced the Planning Commission and aims to involve the states in economic policy-making.
The prime minister asked chief ministers to work with the central government to forge a model of cooperative federalism, whereby the centre and the states can come together to resolve differences and chart a common course to progress and prosperity, the release added.
Modi said that the world has started looking at India differently, but "our biggest challenge still is how to eliminate poverty." Observing jobs cannot be created, and poverty cannot be removed without growth, he said: "First and foremost we should aim at a high rate of growth."
Noting that projects are often held up for want of timely decisions, Modi asked chief ministers to give personal attention to such factors which slow down projects.
The prime minister emphasized that the central government wished to empower the states with finances, with technology and knowledge so that they are able to plan better and execute even better.
"For federalism to work well, states must also fulfill their role in promoting the shared national objectives," he said.
Reflecting on the role of NITI Aayog as a think-tank, the prime minister said he sees great scope for states to learn from each other, work together among themselves and with the central government.
He also expressed hope that through the mechanism of the NITI Aayog, India could move away from "one size fits all" schemes, and forge a better match between the schemes and the needs of the states.
Modi said the governing council of NITI Aayog would help advance the national cause "as we jointly define it".
The interaction between the chief ministers was coordinated by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the opening remarks for the meeting were made by the panel's vice chairman Arvind Panagariya.
Sanjay Majumder
Anirban Mitra