Prime Minister Modi made a strong case for modernising the farm sector by using technology so that India can become self-sufficient and a global leader in the agriculture sector.
Presiding over the Niti Aayog governing council meeting on Sunday, he said the rapid urbanisation can become India’s strength instead of weakness by leveraging technology to ensure ease of living, transparent service delivery, and improvement in the quality of life.
The PM also spoke about India’s upcoming presidency of the G-20 in 2023, and asked the states to set up dedicated teams for G-20 with a view to deriving maximum possible benefit from the initiative.
The governing council discussed four key agenda items—crop diversification and achieving self-sufficiency in pulses, oilseeds and other agri-commodities; implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) in school education; implementation of NEP in higher education; and urban governance.
The meeting was attended by 23 chief ministers, three Lieutenant Governors and two Administrators and Union ministers. This was the first physical meeting of the governing council since the onset of the pandemic, with the 2021 meeting held via video conferencing.
Chief Ministers Nitish Kumar (Bihar), Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (Telangansa), Aravind Kejrival (Delhi) and Basavaraj Bomma (Karnataka) skipped the meeting. While Kumar clarified that he decided not to attend the meeting as he recently recovered from Covid-19 and wants to avoid travel, KCR skipped it as a mark of protest against the Centre. Bommai is now in affected by Covid.
Rao had announced his decision to boycott the meaning on Saturday, saying he is skipping it to protest against the ‘discriminating’ trend of the Centre towards states. In a letter to Modi, KCR said the country can develop only when states develop. Strong and economically vibrant states alone can make the nation strong, he said.
