Making India $5 trillion economy by 2024 challenging, but achievable: PM Modi at NITI Aayog meet

With several parts of the country reeling under a drought-like situation, Modi called for effective steps to tackle it by adopting ‘per-drop, more-crop’ strategy and said, “newly created Jal Shakti Ministry will help provide an integrated approach to water.”

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The meeting with the chief ministers of all states was the first since Modi returned to power and inducted new members into the governing body, including Amit Shah who is the Union Home Minister. However, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao skipped the meeting.

PM Modi at the fifth NITI Aayog meeting. (Twitter/NITI Aayog)

Aside from addressing the issue of the water crisis, PM Modi spoke of a collective fight against poverty, unemployment, flood, pollution, corruption and violence.

Urging members of Governing Council to help create a government setup which works and has the people’s trust, Modi said, “We are now moving towards a governance system characterised by performance, transparency and delivery.” He added that the on-ground implementation of schemes is vital.

NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar said that a high-level task force will be formed to bring structural reforms in the agriculture sector. “PM has announced a high-level task force to bring structural reforms in agriculture in the country. It will be formed in near future and report will be submitted in next 2-3 months,” Kumar was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

It is to be noted that the NITI Ayog was launched by PM Modi during his first tenure in 2014 as a replacement for the ageing Planning Commission formed during former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s tenure.