The meeting was attended by 20 chief ministers and the lieutenant governors of six Union Territories. Chief ministers of 10 states, including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Karnataka, Telangana, Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Puducherry, did not attend the meeting over what they said was bias in the July 23 budget. Modi called on the states to provide an investor-friendly environment and directed the Niti Aayog to prepare an “investment-friendly charter” of parameters, which would include policies, programmes and processes to be put in place for attracting investments. Niti Aayog vice chairman Suman Bery, briefing the media about the meeting, said the Prime Minister wanted states to compete for foreign direct investment (FDI) so that overseas inflows reach all of them, especially those that are less successful.
prepare an ‘investment-friendly charter’ of parameters which would include policies, programmes and processes to be put in place for attracting investments,” the think tank said in a statement. “The states should be monitored on the achievement of these parameters to promote healthy competition among them for attracting investments,” Modi was cited as saying, underscoring the importance of law and order, good governance and infrastructure as being vital for attracting investments, rather than just incentives.
According to the statement is sued by the Aayog, the Prime Minister encouraged the creation of river grids at state level for effective utilisation of water resources and said India must target zero poverty as a priority for Viksit Bharat (Developed India) by 2047, the 100th anniversary of independence. The government is of the view that India is on track to become the world’s third-largest economy with GDP crossing $5 trillion and aspires to be a $30 trillion economy by 2047. Achieving the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047 will require a collaborative approach by the Centre and state governments.
“We need to tackle poverty on an individual basis rather than just at a programme level,” the Prime Minister emphasised, adding that abolishing this from the grassroots would have a transformational effect. Niti Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam said Modi asked states to develop their own vision plans to align with that of Viksit Bharat 2047. According to Subrahmanyam, he urged states to strengthen districts and make them the drivers of growth while raising the threat posed by cyber security. He said states are more vulnerable to cyber security issues. Another important issue raised by some states was demographic management, Subrahmanyam said. “There are two aspects of managing our demography. One is looking after our ageing population and the other is to manage the population growth,” he said.
The Prime Minister encouraged states to initiate demographic management plans to address the issues of population ageing in future, the Aayog said, adding that he also called upon them to increase productivity and diversification in agriculture and provide market linkages to farmers. He emphasised the adoption of natural farming practices that can improve soil fertility, ensure better and quicker returns to farmers due to low costs, and also provide a global market for products, it said. Further, Modi emphasised skilling and training of youth to make them employment ready as the world looks favourably toward India for skilled human resources. “Some states mentioned the need for a skill census,” Subrahmanyam said.
