Under NITI Aayog watch, BJP-ruled Gujarat & Uttarakhand discuss cooperation

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By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, August 13: A week after holding the seventh Governing Council meeting, the NITI Aayog appears to have chartered into a new territory, promoting inter-state cooperation.

The NITI Aayog on Saturday stated it initiated a discussion between the Governments of Gujarat and Uttarakhand for the inter-state cooperation.

“Possibilities for a joint venture in areas like dairy farming development, along with co-branding of vegetables, fruits and honey were explored,” stated the NITI Aayog.

The think-tank panel’s initiative has come amid earlier moves by a few of the ministries to give exposure to the women-led Self Helhp Groups (SHGs) to the dairy farming in Gujarat.

Women from the rural parts of Uttar Pradesh were taken to experience the functioning of the dairy business in Gujarat. Women participation in the dairy business of Gujarat is stated to be high, which is also being showcased by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Gujarat Government as its achievements for the women empowerment.

While the NITI Aayog has stated that it has taken a new initiative of inter-states cooperation, the significant aspect is that the first such outcome is between Gujarat and another BJP-ruled state.

Telangana and Bihar Chief Ministers K Chandrashekhar Rao and Nitish Kumar respectively had skipped the seventh Governing Council meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rao had claimed that the NITI Aayog is not all working in the spirit of the cooperative federalism, which was the stated goal in the foundation of the think-tank panel, which succeeded the Planning Commission.

Within the Indian policy framework, there isn’t much of precedence for inter-state cooperation.

Incidentally, the bordering states mostly spar on one or the other issue, with sharing of river being the nagging issue among the states.

Odisha Chief Minister Navin Patnaik had urged upon the NITI Aayog to play the role of an ombudsman and resolve disputes among the states.