Modi to hold NITI Aayog meeting to review NDA schemes

NITI Aayog Representational image | PTI

With four years in office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's focus now is on quantifying what the BJP-led NDA government has done so far to fulfill the promises they had made to the people, as well as the status of execution of the programmes launched by the government.

Sources said that the meeting of NITI Aayog's Governing Council on Sunday, is to review “the promises fulfilled, the extent to which fulfilled, and what needs to be expedited”. The source, however, sought to delink the agenda of the meeting from the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2019, and said it was “a periodic exercise at the NITI Aayog”. The day long deliberations will also draw a road map for the future development priorities.

The NITI Aayog, a think tank Modi had set up with the idea of transforming India, is tasked with evolving a shared vision of national development priorities, sectors and strategies with the active involvement of states in shaping the development narrative. The prime minister is also the chairperson of the Aayog.

Development apart, Modi will pick their brains on the grand celebrations he has in mind for the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi next year.

This will be the fourth meeting of the Governing Council. Among those attending the meeting will be the chief ministers of states, Lieutenant Governors of Union territories and senior officials from the government of India.

The rolling out of “Aayushman Bharat” scheme covering 10 crore poor families, which includes an estimated 50 crore people, with Rs 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation, is also slated to be discussed. This was the most important announcement in Budget 2018-19, and is touted to be the world's largest government funded healthcare programme. But taking on board all the stake holders – largely private hospitals and insurance companies – is proving to be a challenge.

The meeting is also expected to find “innovative and out of the box” ideas for doubling the farmers' income by 2022, another big challenge before the prime minister. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said they will hike the Minimum Support Price of a majority of Rabi crops by 50 per cent of the cost of production. But since then, the issue has got tangled in a quantitative and qualitative debate like should labour by members of the farming family be counted to compute the cost of production, or should the value of land be considered.

National Nutrition Mission, Mission Indradhanush and development of aspirational districts are also on the agenda.