PM Modi chairs NITI Aayog governing council meeting; 8 chief ministers give it a miss

Tribune Web Desk

 Chandigarh, May 27

NITI Aayog's eighth Governing Council meeting, which will deliberate on several issues, including health, skill development, women empowerment and infrastructure development, with an aim to make India a developed nation by 2047, began here on Saturday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is chairing the meeting.

The Council, the apex body of NITI Aayog, includes all chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories and several Union ministers. The prime minister is the Chairman of NITI Aayog.

Union ministers Amit Shah, Niramala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal and chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh are attending the meeting, among others.

West Bengal, Punjab and Delhi chief ministers are boycotting the meeting.

Also, Rajasthan's Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has cited health reasons for not attending, and Kerala's Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has not given any specific reason for his absence. Telangana's K Chandrashekar Rao and Bihar's Nitish Kumar are also giving it a miss.

Generally, the full council meeting happens every year and last year, it was held under the chairmanship of Modi on August 7.

The council meeting was not convened in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The first meeting of the council took place on February 8, 2015. with PTI inputs

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