NITI Aayog to partner Uttar Pradesh for holistic development;

In a marked departure from the past practices and keeping in mind the spirit of co-operative federalism, a high level delegation led by NITI Vice Chairman, Dr. Arvind Panagariya held day long deliberations in Lucknow on developmental challenges before Uttar Pradesh. The 18 member delegation comprised of Member NITI Mr. Ramesh Chand, CEO NITI, Mr. Amitabh Kant and other senior officers including the Secretary, Rural Development, Amarjit Sinha, Secretary DIPP, Ramesh Abhishek and Joint Secretary level representatives from Miniseries of Health, Education, Women and Child Development and agriculture. The delegation met UP CM Yogi Adityanath along with seniors Ministers and officials of the State Government and it was agreed that NITI would partner with UP in areas such as doubling the Farmers’ income, livelihood opportunities, enterprise,, Investment and growth in the State, among others. The NITI team dwelt at length on how to improve the situation in Uttar Pradesh including doubling the farmers’ income, livelihood opportunities, crating enterprise and promote growth and investment in the state. In his opening presentation, VC NITI Aayog, Dr. Arvind Panagariya traced India’s growth story with specific inputs on UP over the past two decades. He drew on the game changing governance reforms in other States leading to remarkable increase in the income levels and other developmental parameters to set the context for the future. NITI Vice Chairman linked the relation between growth, job opportunities and fall in poverty levels. The CEO NITI gave a picture of “Where UP Stands” on all major socio economic fronts and economic development parameters.

NITI Aayog Member Agriculture, Shri Ramesh Chand Shared in great detail issues related to the growth of agriculture and possible solutions for doubling farmers’ income in UP. He said that given the different agro climatic zones in the state, different strategies have to be adopted for maximizing the farm yields. He cited specific indicator wise progress in the Bundelkhand package. The State Ministers animatedly discussed various aspects of productivity and irrigation in course of the discussions.

Secretary, DIPP, Ramesh Abhishek highlighted the importance of Ease of Doing Business and Start Up India for the industrial development of Uttar Pradesh. The Chief Minister of UP, Yogi Adityanath evinced keen interest in bringing in the spirit of entrepreneurship and improving the investment climate in the state. The state Government and DIPP resolved to host a global investor summit in UP soon.

Secretary, Rural Development cited success stories from other states which can be replicated in UP context as well. Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, Mission Antyodaya and Swachcha Bharat figured prominently in the discussions. The Central Ministry offered to catalyse economic up- liftment of SHGs by training through their 1.5 lakh resource persons available across the country.

Detailed discussions were held on the social Sector areas such as rural development, health, education, ICDS and provision of drinking water and sanitation measures in the state. NITI Aayog offered to support transformation of health and education Sector through its partner institutions, a scheme which has recently been launched to support three states each through challenge method.

Subsequent to the discussions, it was decided to set up a Joint Working Group comprised of three representatives each from embers from NITI Aayog and the state Government to carry forward the discussions and ensure the implementation.

The keen interest of the State Government machinery was evident from the fact that despite being an official Holiday the Uttar Pradesh Minister of Health, Agriculture Minister, Minister of Women and Child Development, Rural Development Minister, Minister of Education attended the deliberations along with the top officials including the Chief Secretary of the state.

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AKT/NT/SBP