India must develop fast: Modi

Odisha Channel Bureau New Delhi, Feb 6: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that India must develop fast, taking advantage of current global environment, to meet the aspirations of the people.The Prime Minister said this while interacting with eminent economists at NITI Aayog.This was his first visit to NITI Aayog.In his opening remarks, Modi noted that one of the objectives of NITI Aayog was to establish a dynamic institutional mechanism where eminent individuals outside the Government system could contribute to policy making.Setting the tone for the interaction, the Prime Minister emphasised on the need for cooperative federalism, and added that he favoured healthy competition for development among states.He spoke of the Government’s recent initiatives, including the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, direct cash transfer of LPG subsidy, and Swachh Bharat.Modi said he looked forward to the interaction and suggestions from the eminent gathering.Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Arvind Panagariya also made brief opening remarks.The economists present at the interaction include Vijay Kelkar, Nitin Desai, Bimal Jalan, Rajiv Lall, R.Vaidyanathan, Subir Gokarn, Parthasarathi Shome, P.Balakrishnan, Rajiv Kumar, Ashok Gulati, Mukesh Butani and G.N.Bajpai.According to an official release issued by the Press Information Bureau , the economists emphasised on the need for the Government to work towards high growth, predictable tax regime, fiscal prudence and rapid infrastructure development.A large number of other suggestions were also made on various sectors of the economy.NITI Aayog Member Bibek Debroy and NITI Aayog Member and CEO V.K.Saraswat attended the meeting.Cabinet Secretary, Secretaries of Ministry of Finance, Chief Economic Adviser and other senior officers of the PMO and NITI Aayog were also present.