Developing a ‘collaborative blueprint’ with states to ‘leverage demographic dividend’ and boost employment and entrepreneurship is also on the agenda for the 10th meet of the Council.
The political significance of the convergence of CMs is also considerable given the timing-within a month of the Pahalgam attack and Op Sindoor.
While the 8th and 9th Governing Council meets in 2023 and 2024 have seen 9-10 chief ministers — mostly from Opposition-ruled states — skip the discussions, attendance figures at the 2025 meet will be up for interpretation given the recent backdrop. ET has gathered that confirmations from some of the chief ministers are awaited this time as well.
ET BureauCharcha with CMs
The meeting’s ‘Viksit Rajya’ focus is tied up with the national mission of Viksit Bharat@2047 to aim at a self-reliant and prosperous nation by the 100th anniversary of India’s independence.
It is expected that the Council deliberations on Saturday will pitch for stronger indigenous development models and capabilities across sectors and across all states, especially given the learnings from Op Sindoor.The high-level meeting will also have on the agenda deliberations around ‘Promoting Entrepreneurship, Employment & Skilling – Leveraging the Demographic Dividend’, it is gathered.Discussions on the latter will be focussed on six pillars with a strong focus on tier 2 and tier 3 cities across the country.
The six pillars include 1) creating an enabling ecosystem for manufacturing boost in Tier 2, 3 cities; 2) Creating an enabling ecosystem for the services sector in tier 2, 3 cities; 3) MSME & informal employment in rural non-farm segments; 4) MSME and informal employment in urban areas; 5) Developing opportunities in green economy and renewable energy and; 6) creating employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in the area of Circular Economy.
It is expected that the governing council meeting will help develop a ‘collaborative blueprint’ for each of identified areas, Niti Aayog is learnt to have indicated in its recent communication to chief ministers.
Most of these pillars on leveraging the demographic dividend were also part of the deliberations at the 4th National Conference of Chief Secretaries held in December 2024. Several recommendations from the same have now been prioritised and states are expected to be urged to implement them at the earliest, Niti Aayog has said in its communication.
At the December conference, the Centre mooted ‘Systematic deregulation’ or ‘line by line reform’ of laws that make it difficult for businesses to ‘open, run, grow or exit’. It had particularly pointed to dampeners such as restrictions on increasing women employment, high electricity tariffs and complex land and building zone/construction regulations as key areas that require urgent deregulation.
A National Task Force on Deregulation chaired by the Union Cabinet Secretary was also set up thereafter which underlined that the ‘external environment’ is ‘not as benign as before’ in this era of ‘deglobalisation’. It has identified ten major areas for deregulation on which collaborations have already been initiated with the state governments.
