THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, July 27: Under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ninth governing council meeting of NITI Aayog began here on Saturday. The meeting is focused on making India a developed nation by 2047.
In the meeting, PM Modi said that every Indian’s ambition for a developed India by 2047 can be achieved with active participation from the states.
CMs of all non-BJP-ruled states boycott meeting except Mamata Banerjee
The purpose of the commission’s meeting is to promote participatory governance and cooperation between the central and state governments, strengthen the distribution system, and improve the quality of life for both rural and urban populations.
The governing council of NITI Aayog, the commission’s top body, included chief ministers from all states (except non-BJP-ruled states), lieutenant governors of Union territories, and several Union Ministers.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee was an exception, as she attended the meeting.
Agenda of the meeting
The Prime Minister is the chairman of NITI Aayog.
The meeting will also review the recommendations made at the third national conference of chief secretaries held last December.
During the conference, recommendations were made on five key topics: access, quantity, and quality of drinking water; electricity: quality, efficiency, and reliability; health: access, affordability, and quality of care; school education: access and quality; and land and property: access, digitization, registration, etc.
A vision document is being prepared to help India become a $30 trillion developed economy by the 100th year of its independence in 2047. In 2023, NITI Aayog was tasked with consolidating perspectives on 10 regional themes to create a unified vision for a developed India by 2047. This vision document encompasses various aspects of development, including economic growth, social progress, environmentally friendly measures, and governance systems.
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Mamata Banerjee leaves meeting midway alleging mic muted
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee left the NITI Aayog meeting midway. She alleged that she was interrupted after speaking for only five minutes. She also criticized the 2024-25 Union Budget, calling it biased.
After leaving the meeting, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee informed reporters that she boycotted the meeting and walked out.
She claimed that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu was given 20 minutes to speak, while the Chief Ministers of Assam, Goa, and Chhattisgarh each spoke for 10 to 12 minutes. However, she was stopped after only five minutes, which she deemed unfair.
Banerjee emphasized that, as the only leader from the opposition present, she participated in the meeting to strengthen cooperative federalism.
She criticized the central budget, describing it as political and biased. She questioned why there was discrimination against other states and noted that NITI Aayog lacks financial powers, making it ineffective.
She suggested either granting financial powers to NITI Aayog or reinstating the Planning Commission. She urged for the return of the Planning Commission, allocation of funds to Bengal, and an end to discrimination. She stated that when managing the central government, all states should be considered.
She said while discussing the central fund that was not allocated to West Bengal, her microphone was muted.
She pointed out that as the only opposition member participating in the meeting, she should have been welcomed, but instead, priority was given to the party and government. She declared that this was not only an insult to Bengal but also to all regional parties and to her personally.
Govt sources refute Mamta Banerjee’s claim
Government sources said, the claim that the West Bengal CM’s mic was switched off during the NITI Aayog meeting is not true. The clock only showed that her speaking time was over. Even the bell was not rung.
Alphabetically her turn would have come after lunch. She was included as the 7th speaker on the official request of the West Bengal government, as she had to return early.
“It is being claimed that the microphone of CM, West Bengal was switched off during the 9th Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog. This claim is Misleading. The clock only showed that her speaking time was over. Even the bell was not rung to mark it,” the Press Information Bureau (PIB) said in a post on X.
It is completely false that Mamata’s mic was switched off: Sitharaman
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman responded to Mamata Banerjee’s allegations by stating that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was heard by everyone. She explained that each Chief Minister was allocated a specific amount of time, which was displayed on the screen in front of every table.
Sitharaman refuted Banerjee’s claim that her microphone was turned off, calling it entirely false. She emphasized that every Chief Minister was given their allotted time to speak and deemed it unfortunate that Mamata Banerjee claimed her microphone was switched off. Sitharaman suggested that Banerjee should tell the truth rather than creating a story based on falsehoods.
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CMs of these states did not attend the meeting
Several Chief Ministers from the INDIA bloc boycotted the meeting. These included Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, Kerala Chief Minister and CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, and all three Congress Chief Ministers: Siddaramaiah from Karnataka, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu from Himachal Pradesh, and K. Chandrashekar Rao from Telangana.
Instead of NDA ally Nitish Kumar, Bihar was represented by Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha at the meeting.
