New Delhi: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday, July 27, walked out of NITI Aayog’s 9th Governing Council meeting in New Delhi, claiming that she was allowed to speak only for five minutes. NITI Aayog meeting is being chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“…I said you (central government) should not discriminate against state governments. I wanted to speak but I was allowed to speak only for 5 minutes. People before me spoke for 10-20 minutes. I was the only one from the opposition who was participating but still, I was not allowed to speak. This is insulting,” Mamata Banerjee told reporters.
The meeting focuses on making India a developed nation by 2047. It aims to foster participative governance and collaboration between the Centre and state governments, enhancing the quality of life for both rural and urban populations by strengthening the delivery mechanisms of government interventions.
The council, the apex body of NITI Aayog, includes all state chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories, and several Union ministers. Prime Minister Modi is the chairman of NITI Aayog.
The meeting also focusses on recommendations of the 3rd National Conference of chief secretaries held in December last year.
During the conference, recommendations were made on five key themes–drinking water: access, quantity, and quality; electricity: quality, efficiency, and reliability; health: accessibility, affordability, and quality of care;schooling: access and quality and land and property: accessibility, digitization, registration, and mutation.
A vision document is being prepared to help India become a developed economy of USD 30 trillion by 2047, the 100th year of its independence.
In 2023, NITI Aayog was entrusted with the task of consolidating the 10 sectoral thematic visions into a combined vision for Viksit Bharat @2047.
The vision encompasses various aspects of development, including economic growth, social progress, environmental sustainability, and good governance, among other.