Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that taking the country's economic growth to double digits was the challenge ahead and important steps will be taken for it. PM Modi said that double-digit growth is a challenge with the economy already growing at a 'healthy rate' of 7.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2017-18. The Prime Minister was speaking at the fourth meeting of the Niti Aayog governing council in the Capital.
The meeting was attended by chief ministers of 23 states and one Union Territory. The CMs of Delhi, Tripura, Odisha, Sikkim, Jammu and Kashmir and Goa did not attend the meeting.
Doubling of farmers incomes, development of 115 aspirational districts, mission Indradhanush, Ayushman Bharat and Nutrition mission were some of the key issues discussed in the meeting. PM Modi assured the CMs from flood-affected states that the central government would provide all assistance to them to deal with the situation.
He said that on the lines of the 115 aspirational districts identified by Niti Aayog, which can define their own parameters to identify 20 per cent of the total blocks in the state as aspirational blocks.
The PM said that in the current financial year, states would receive over Rs 11 lakh crore from the Centre, a rise of about Rs 6 lakh crore from the last year. During the meeting, the governing council discussed greater linkage of agriculture and national MGNREGA. A sub-committee of seven CMs, headed by Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and comprising of Bihar, Sikkim, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, will recommend a coordinated policy approach for agriculture and MGNREGA, including both pre-sowing and post-harvest phases.
The Prime Minister also said that mining blocks that have been successfully auctioned should start production at the earliest.
In his closing remarks, the PM urged the chief ministers to contribute towards 100 per cent implementation of welfare schemes.
Speaking about the Indian economy, the PM said that the world expects India to become a five trillion dollar economy soon. He encouraged states to give fresh ideas to the finance commission for incentivising outcome-based allocations and expenditure correction.
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 "Prime Minister Narendra Modi")
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