NITI hits again after KCR skips governing council assembly over ‘Centre’s perspective’

Rao had on Saturday stated that he would boycott the assembly to protest “the Centre’s attitude”, and objected to Prime Minister Narendra Modi “dismissing welfare schemes as freebies”, marking the most recent in a collection of his assaults on the BJP-led Central authorities. In a letter to PM Modi, Rao stated that the Aayog was began “with the lofty objective of bringing the states on the same page with the Centre.”

“But recent unpleasant happenings have given rise to an inescapable realisation that the federal structure of India is being systematically eroded by some deliberate actions by the government of India,’’ he wrote, adding that “the blatant discrimination against some states even in the legitimate functions assigned to them in the Constitution leaves much to be desired”.

Countering his claims, the NITI Aayog in an announcement stated {that a} delegation led by the organisation’s Vice Chairman had met Rao in Hyderabad in January 2021 to debate improvement points pertaining to the state. “More recently, despite requests made by NITI Aayog for a meeting, the Chief Minister did not respond,” the think-tank stated.

The governing council assembly, scheduled for Sunday, is chaired by the Prime Minister and has chief ministers and lietenant governors as its members. Rao had additionally missed the governing council assembly in 2019 together with then Punjab CM Amrinder Singh and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.

According to an in depth agenda of the assembly seen by The Sunday Express, interventions by CMs and L-Gs are anticipated to final for slightly over three hours, the place points reminiscent of crop diversification, implementation of the National Education Policy and concrete governance, amongst others are imagined to be mentioned. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar can be set to provide a presentation on India’s presidency of the G20 summit which the nation will maintain from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023. The assembly is scheduled to begin at 9.45 AM and finish at 4 PM on Sunday.

Stating that the Aayog’s suggestions have been being ignored, Rao cited suggestions for a Rs 5,000-crore irrigation grant for Telangana’s Mission Kakatiya and one other for a Rs 19,205-crore help for Mission Bhagiratha to supply ingesting water to each family within the state.

Responding to his criticism, the Aayog stated that over the past 4 years, the Centre has allotted Rs 3,982 crore below the Jal Jeevan Mission for Telangana.  “However, the state (Telangana) chose to draw only Rs 200 crore.”

“The Government of India has been consistently supporting states in financial matters including for flagship schemes/ programmes of national importance. Overall allocation under Centrally Sponsored Schemes have increased from Rs. 2,03,740 crores in 2015-16 to Rs. 4,42,781 crores in 2022-23, i.e. more than double during this period, in addition to the substantial hike in awards under the Fourteenth Finance Commission from 32% to 42%,” the Aayog stated.

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Rao stated he felt completely happy when the Aayog had constituted a bunch of chief ministers to provide suggestions on developmental points. “However, it was short-lived because the establishment didn’t reside as much as the expectations,’’ he stated.

“The basis of these recommendations was the unanimous belief that not all the schemes contemplated, designed and finalised by the Centre, serve their intended purpose considering the vast diversity and different needs of states. With much pain and anguish, let me point out that such an important recommendation has been aside and on the contrary, I find the Centre to be micromanaging the schemes, giving a complete go-by to the state-specific needs which are best left to individual states,” he stated.

Accusing the Centre of failing to fulfil its guarantees, Rao puzzled what the Niti Aayog had achieved up to now eight years. “It appears that the NDA government is not bothered about the Niti Aayog and there is no point in attending the meeting.”