New Delhi, 20 February: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday addressed the inaugural session of the Sixth Administrative Council meeting of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog through video conference. The Prime Minister said that cooperative federalism is the basis of the country’s progress.
โThis meeting is to make it more meaningful and to move towards competitive cooperative federalism. He said that when the state and central government worked together during the Corona crisis, the entire country was a success,โ added PM Modi.
Piped drinking water in more than 3.5 lakh rural homes within 18 months
The Prime Minister said that a campaign to provide โPuccaโ houses to every poor is also underway. More than 20 million houses have been constructed since 2014, including cities and villages.
He said that piped drinking water facility has been provided in more than 3.5 lakh rural houses within 18 months of the commencement of the Water Life Mission. He said that for internet facility in villages, Bharat Net Yojana is becoming a medium of major change. When the central and state governments work together in all such schemes, the pace of work will increase and the profit will reach the last person.
Positive feedback received on budget
The Prime Minister said that the positive response received on this year’s budget has expressed the sentiment of the nation. The country has made up its mind; the country wants to move fast and does not want to waste time.
Modi said that the private sector of the country is coming forward with more enthusiasm in this development journey. As a government, we should respect this enthusiasm energy of the private sector and give them more and more opportunities in the self-reliant India campaign. He said that the self-reliant India campaign is the means to develop an India that produces not only for its own needs, but also for the world, and these products also meet global trials.
Need to strengthen start-up
The Prime Minister said that modern infrastructure should be built keeping in mind the aspirations of a young country like India. Innovation should be encouraged and technology should be used more for better opportunities for education and skills.
He stressed the need to strengthen our businesses, MSMEs and start-ups. He said that the products of hundreds of districts of the country have been identified on the basis of specialty, which has given them a boost and healthy competition has also increased among the states.
PM Modi urged the states to take it to the block level, make full use of the resources of the states and increase exports. He stressed the importance of better coordination and policy framework between the Center and the states.
States to take advantage of reduction in corporate tax rates
He said that in order to promote manufacturing in the country, the Central Government has introduced the Production-linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for various sectors.
He urged the states to take full advantage of the scheme, attract maximum investment and avail the reduction in corporate tax rates.
Regarding the funds allocated for infrastructure in this budget, the Prime Minister said that this will help to advance the country’s economy at many levels. He emphasized the importance of making states self-reliant and speed up development in their budgets.
Modi announced that under the recommendation of 15th Finance Commission, there will be a significant increase in the economic resources of local bodies. Public participation is also very important along with the use of technology in local governance reforms.
Attention to storage and processing
The Prime Minister said that about 65,000 crore rupees are spent in import of edible oils, which should go to our farmers. Similarly, there are many agricultural products, which can be supplied not only to the country but also to the world. For this it is necessary that all the states prepare their agro-climatic regional planning strategy.
He said that a holistic approach has been adapted from agriculture to animal husbandry and fisheries. As a result, the country’s agricultural exports have increased significantly even during the time of Corona.
The Prime Minister urged to focus on storage and processing to reduce wastage of agricultural products. He also emphasized the need to export food items rather than raw foods to increase profits.
Improvement is necessary for ease of living
He said that reforms are very important, so that our farmers have the facility to obtain the necessary economic resources, better infrastructure and modern technology. The Prime Minister said that recently Other Service Operators (OSP) regulations have been reformed, which allows the youth to work from anywhere and our technology sector has benefited immensely from this. Many restrictions have been abolished.
He said that recently the geospatial data has been liberalized. This will help our start-ups and technology sector and it will also make the life of common man easier.
