By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, FEB 20, 2021: PRIME Minister Mr Narendra Modi spoke about the need for a solid policy framework and strong cooperation between the Centre and the States as he addressed the sixth Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog on Saturday.

Mr Modi said the basis of the country's progress is ‘cooperative federalism,' which is even more meaningful during the COVID-19 pandemic when they worked in tandem.

"The foundation of India's development is that the Centre and the States work together and head towards a certain direction and make cooperative federalism even more meaningful ," he said. "Not only this, we have to try to bring competitive, cooperative federalism not only among States but also districts ."

Touching on the highest priorities for India, such as financial inclusion, the vaccination efforts and the economy, he told the attending Chief Ministers and Lieutenant Governors of States and Union Territories, that the agenda reflects the need of the hour.

In the past years, there have been opening of bank accounts, increase in vaccination and health facilities, free electricity and gas connection which have "empowered the poor "and brought" phenomenal changes in their lives," he said.

"The positive response received for this year's Budget has expressed the mood of the nation. The country has made up its mind that it wants to progress rapidly and doesn't want to lose time," added Mr Modi.

As a government, the Prime Minister said, they have to provide opportunities for development and growth.

"We, as governments, have to provide private sector opportunities to take part in the mission of Aatmanirbhar Bharat," he said

Underscoring the need to encourage innovations and achieve Ease of Doing Business for growing India's potential as a manufacturing hub, the Prime Minister urged States to take advantage of the government's Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes.

"This is an excellent opportunity to increase manufacturing in the country. States should also take full advantage of this scheme and attract more and more investment in themselves," he further added.

He announced that there would be a major increase in the economic resources of local bodies in the 15th Finance Commission as it was important for reforms.

The Governing Council of Niti Aayog has been meeting regularly since 2015 but could not meet last year due to the pandemic. The other agenda of the meeting includes deliberations on agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing, human resource development, service delivery at grassroots level, and health and nutrition.