India's progress will depend on Centre-state relations

Viksit plans at the state level show ambition but statist models of development are best avoided

- NARAYAN RAMACHANDRAN

The 10th Governing Council Meeting of the Niti Aayog, the Indian government's think-tank, took place last week. It was attended by representatives of 24 states and seven Union territories, in addition to several dozen cabinet ministers.

For the past three annual meetings, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been exhorting Indian states and regions to develop 'Viksit Rajya' vision statements. Each of these visions is to incorporate a laddered set of vision statements from cities, towns and villages within the state. The CEO of Niti Aayog said that 17 states had completed such a plan. The framework for this exercise is designed to integrate state plans into one grand one that envisions the whole of India as a developed (or 'viksit') country by the time it completes a century as an independent nation in 2047.

In some ways, this is a wonderful project. It brings the Centre and states together for a collective mission whose broad goal is to nurture inclusive prosperity in the country.

At the same time, each state is encouraged to think of its own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (a 'Swot analysis') and build plans that are unique to its endowments. A land-locked state could focus on fields that differ (say, agriculture) from one with a coastline (say, logistics), and a hilly state with natural beauty can elect suitable policies (say, tourism) that may differ from those of an arid state (which could focus on solar energy).