Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi chaired the 11th Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog at Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre in New Delhi, with the theme 'Inclusive Human Development for Viksit Bharat@2047'. This marked the first time Chief Ministers of all 28 States participated in the meeting, along with representatives from 5 Union Territories, demonstrating unprecedented state participation in the planning body's deliberations.
PM Modi emphasized that India's growth story continues to inspire the world amid global economic uncertainty and stressed the need to strengthen the nation's resolve towards self-reliance. He highlighted the importance of adopting global best practices, particularly in the renewable energy sector, and underscored cooperative federalism as essential for achieving the Viksit Bharat vision, which should become the collective resolve of every state, district, block and village.
The Prime Minister identified India's demographic profile as its greatest asset, noting nearly 70 crore Indians below the age of 25 years. He urged states to transform this demographic dividend into a development dividend through education, skilling and capacity-building initiatives that prepare young people for future opportunities. Regarding recent trade agreements, PM Modi encouraged states to create opportunities for youth and MSMEs and actively attract investments from partner countries with which India has signed FTAs.
On women-led development, the Prime Minister called upon states to work towards increasing the number of Lakhpati Didis from 3 crore to 6 crore while ensuring a safe and secure environment for Nari Shakti. He urged states to focus on One District One Product (ODOP) initiatives with export-oriented strategies and identified defence manufacturing as an emerging sector where states should formulate policies to leverage growth opportunities.
The meeting addressed emerging social challenges, with PM Modi calling for coordinated efforts to combat drug abuse and cyber fraud through preventive measures, awareness campaigns and effective governance. He also drew attention to El Niño concerns, appealing to states to promote water conservation and encourage natural and organic farming practices, noting that farmers purchased 11 lakh tonnes of organic manure during the current Kharif season.
PM Modi emphasized the need for district-level progress evaluation through aspirational district parameters and suggested identifying 100 districts in agriculture to achieve positive results. He stressed the importance of a monitoring framework with targeted 100-day and five-year goals towards achieving the Viksit Bharat@2047 vision. On governance, he urged states to focus on branding, ease of doing business, and emerging opportunities in sectors such as data centres and artificial intelligence, viewing AI as an opportunity that requires equipping people with future-ready skills.
Chief Ministers, Lt. Governors and Administrators congratulated PM Modi on completing 12 years in office and expressed solidarity with the Centre to withstand the global geo-political crisis while strengthening India's resilience regarding energy requirements and sustaining growth trajectory. The discussions reflected the aspirations, experiences, best practices and challenges of states, with the Prime Minister expressing confidence that through cooperation and innovation, India can accelerate its journey towards a developed nation by 2047.