PM Modi to chair 6th NITI Aayog meet; Capt Amarinder Singh, Mamata Banerjee likely to skip

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday will chair the NITI Aayog's Governing Council meeting which will include deliberations on agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing, human resource development, service delivery at the grassroots level, and health and nutrition.This meeting will also witness the entry of Ladakh for the first time, and Jammu & Kashmir participating as a UT, as per an official statement. This will be the sixth meeting of the government think tank's apex body.

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Amarinder and Mamata likely to skip

The Governing Council meeting also includes Chief Ministers of States and Union Territories (UTs), with Legislators and Lieutenant Governors of other UTs. However, this year, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee are likely going to skip the meeting with PM Modi. Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal will be attending the meeting on behalf of the Punjab CM. The TMC supremo, who is at loggerheads with the Central government ahead of the West Bengal assembly polls had earlier skipped the NITI Aayog meetings, terming it as a "fruitless" exercise, alleging that the body has "no financial power" and cannot support the state plans. 

The governing council meets annually and its first meeting took place on February 8, 2015. However, the council did not meet last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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(With Agency Inputs)