Prime Minister Narendra Modi bats for competitive federalism at Niti Aayog meet, talks about Team India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that smooth rollout and implementation of the Goods and Services Tax was a prime example of functioning of the Governing Council.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that the Niti Aayog Governing Council has approached complex issues of governance as Team India. Addressing a meeting of the Governing Council, the Prime Minister said that it functions in the spirit of cooperative and competitive federalism.

To assert his point, Prime Minister Modi said that smooth rollout and implementation of the Goods and Services Tax was a prime example of functioning of the Governing Council.

Addressing the fourth meeting of the Niti Aayog Governing council, which was attended by chief ministers of all states except Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Prime Minister further reiterated that it is a platform that can bring about "historic change".

The Prime Minister said that India has no shortage of capabilities, capacities and resources. In the current financial year, States are receiving over 11 lakh crore rupees from the Centre, which is an increase of about 6 lakh crore rupees, from the last year of the previous government.

Prime Minister Modi also assured chief ministers of flood-affected states that Centre would provide all assistance to them to deal with the situation.

The meeting chaired by Prime Minister Modi was attended by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Arunachal Pradesh's Pema Khandu, Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, among others. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath were also part of the meeting.

Tweeting about the meeting on Saturday, Prime Minister Modi had said, "Looking forward to the 4th Governing Council meeting of @NITIAayog tomorrow. Implementation of key policies relating to a wide range of sectors will be discussed during the meeting."

A statement released ahead of the meeting had said that issues, including measures taken to double farmers' income and progress of flagship schemes, would come up for discussion. The development agenda for 'New India 2022' was also likely to be a part of the meeting.