NITI governing council meet: PM, CMs to discuss crop diversification & NEP

Urban governance with a focus on reforming the tax structure at the local level, crop diversification in major cereal-growing states, self-sufficiency in pulses and oilseeds, and the National Education policy are some key issues that are set to come up in the NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting on Sunday in New Delhi.

“The agenda of the meeting, inter alia, include crop diversification and achieving self-sufficiency in oilseeds, pulses, and (other) agri-commodities; implementation of the National Education Policy–school education; implementation of the National Education Policy–higher education; and urban governance,” said an official statement by the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday.

According to sources, discussions on urban governance are likely to include tax reforms which help in raising revenue-generating powers of urban local bodies like municipal corporations and councils, thus making them more financially independent.

It will be the first in-person meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief ministers on a common platform since July 2019. The last governing council meeting, in February 2021, was held virtually on account of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Modi during his stint as chief minister of Gujarat strongly advocated improving the revenue collection potential urban local bodies. “The meeting could work towards achieving some sort of consensus on the issue of reforms and financial health of urban local bodies,” said an official.

The PM and CMs are also expected to devote considerable time to agriculture and related subjects, including measures to lower import dependency on several food items.

On the National Education Policy (NEP), the official statement said that the implementation of NEP-school education and NEP-higher education could be discussed separately. The success of the NEP depends on the active participation and cooperation of states as education largely falls within the domain of state governments.

On the agenda

• Urban reforms, including ways to make ULBs more financially independent
• Crop diversification in key cereal-growing states of Punjab, Haryana, UP & MP
• Ensuring self-sufficiency in pulses, oilseeds, and other agri-commodities
• Implementation of the National Education Policy

Also, the NEP has been a contentious issue with some southern states, such as Tamil Nadu, which has declined to implement it on the grounds that its education system and standards are far ahead of the requirement mentioned in the NEP. It is also of the view that the 5+3+3+4 pattern of education mentioned in the NEP will disturb the state’s education system.

In the case of crop diversification, too, states have to play a dominant role as agriculture is predominantly a state subject. Here too, the emphasis will be on key cereal-growing states of Punjab, Haryana, UP, MP, and a few others diversifying from wheat and rice towards more lucrative and in-demand crops, such as pulses and oilseeds, it has been learnt.

Earlier efforts to encourage farmers to diversify from wheat and rice, particularly in Punjab, Haryana, and western UP (where sugarcane, too, is a major water-guzzling crop), did not yield adequate results in the absence of a strong institutional support mechanism jointly by the central and state governments.

The governing council meeting could give a call for setting up such a mechanism, the sources said.

The meeting will be held at the Rashtrapati Bhawan Cultural Centre, New Delhi. Even West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a prominent critic of the central government and someone who has not attended a governing council meeting before, will be present.

“The meeting would also lay emphasis on the importance of the G20 Presidency for India for the federal system and the role that states can play in highlighting their progress at the G20 Platform,” the statement added.