New Delhi: Chairing the third Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the consensus on Goods and Services Tax (GST) reflects the spirit of 'one nation, one aspiration, one determination'.
According to the statement, the Prime Minister also said GST shows the strength and resolve of the federal structure. Modi gave credit to all chief ministers for coming on one platform for GST, keeping aside ideological and political differences.
Modi also said the think-tank's long, medium and short term action plans would benefit all the states. "NITI Aayog is working on a 15-year long term vision, seven-year medium term strategy, and three-year action agenda," he told the meeting.
It is the collective responsibility of this gathering to envision the India of 2022 — the 75th anniversary of Independence — and see how the nation can swiftly move forward to achieve these goals, he added.
Observing that NITI Aayog has been taking steps to transform India, the prime minister asked the government, private sector and civil society to work in sync to promote development.
The Aayog, he said, is a collaborative federal body whose strength is in its ideas, rather than in administrative or financial control.
The meeting was given a miss by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The source further said a large number of chief ministers were attending the meeting because Prime Minister Narendra Modi had refused to allow their official representatives to participate in the deliberations.
The source said Modi had made it clear that only the chief minister or the deputy chief minister will represent their states and no other official will be allowed to participate in the meeting.
Among the Opposition-ruled states, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami attended the meeting.
Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Suresh Prabhu, Prakash Javadekar, Rao Inderjit Singh and Smriti Irani also attended the meet.
The council, which is the apex body of the Niti Aayog, is headed by the Prime Minister and includes all chief ministers and members.
The third meeting of the council began at Rashtrapati Bhawan with the main agenda of deliberating on the 15-year Vision Document to accelerate the country's economic development.
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