It Takes Two to Tango

PM's call to states to team up for faster growth is welcome, but more effort is required to inspire their confidence

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The 10th meeting of the NITI Aayog Governing Council last Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi underlined the need for "the Centre and all the states to come together and work together like Team India", to achieve the Viksit Bharat goal by 2047, if not earlier. Economists may differ on the matrix of development, and whether India is actually poised to accomplish the median or even per capita income, and other parameters to be "Viksit" by the 100th year of Independence. Leaving that debate aside, the PM's focus on speeding up the country's all-round and all-inclusive development, and making states active partners in the process is unexceptionable. But the NITI meeting reflected a strong feeling of deprivation among several states.

While the participation of chief ministers was underwhelming, many who were present denounced what they perceive as an attempt by the Centre to undermine the constitutional principles of federalism.