NITI Ayog

India must establish nationally accredited testing facilities for battery energy storage systems to support its ambitious clean energy transition goal, suggested NITI Aayog member V K Saraswat on Thursday. According to a statement, speaking at FICCI's Energy Storage Conference 2024, he highlighted the significant gap in testing and certification infrastructure as India aims to deploy over 238 gigawatt hours of battery storage capacity by 2030 to balance its expanding renewable energy network. He called for authorising third-party testing and certification till the time the government sets up storage certification agencies. Saraswat underlined that India requires a universal standard for all types of energy storage systems. While the Bureau of Indian Standards has developed 17 specifications for energy storage systems, with more under development, he pointed out, the country lacks adequate facilities to verify compliance with these standards. He also underscored that coal will have

A high-level committee, headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, has approved Rs 1,000 crore for various disaster mitigation and capacity-building projects in 15 states. The committee also approved another project for training and capacity building of civil defence volunteers in all states and Union territories at a total outlay of Rs 115.67 crore, according to an official statement. According to an official statement, a sum of Rs 139 crore each was approved for Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, Rs 100 crore for Maharashtra, Rs 72 crore each for Karnataka and Kerala, Rs 50 crore each for Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, and Rs 378 crore for the eight Northeastern states -- Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura. The committee, comprising Union ministers for finance and agriculture and the vice chairman of the NITI Aayog as members, considered the proposal to mitigate landslide risk in 15 states for funding from the National Disaster Mitigatio

The government must include coking coal in the list of critical minerals and provide special dispensation to enhance the domestic production of the key raw material for steel production, according to a Niti Aayog report. The report 'Enhancing Domestic Coking Coal Availability to Reduce the import of Coking Coal', said considering India's commitments to Net Zero by 2070, the country's interests would be better served by fully utilising the proved reserves of medium coking coal (16.5 billion tonne) in India for metallurgical purposes. "Government of India (GoI) must include coking coal in the list of critical minerals since coking coal constitutes approximately 42 per cent of the cost of steel which is an essential commodity for infrastructure development and downstream industries, which are large job creators in India," the report said. The European Union has declared coking coal as a critical raw material along with 29 other raw materials which include green energy' minerals like ..

India should be a part of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, Niti Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam said on Thursday. India pulled out of the RCEP in 2019 after entering negotiations in 2013. The RCEP bloc comprises 10 ASEAN group members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam) and their six FTA partners - China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. "India should be a part of RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) and CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) and become a member," Subrahmanyam said at an event organised by industry body Assocham. CPTPP is a free trade bloc spanning five continents, made up of Pacific rim countries of Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Japan. "I don't think we have captured the 'China plus o

Congress leader and former Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday said sulphur dioxide emissions from power plants contributed significantly to air pollution and any argument suggesting that such emissions were of no concern to public health in India was ridiculous. His remarks came over a media report, which claimed the NITI Aayog had proposed halting the fitting of equipment to cut sulphur emissions at coal-fired power plants. However, there was no official word from the NITI Aayog. In a post on X, Ramesh said India was the world's largest emitter of sulphur dioxide and these emissions from power plants contributed significantly to air pollution. "A decision had been taken earlier that the power plants must install fluoride gas desulpharisers. First, a deadline of 2017 was fixed. This was later extended to 2026. Now it appears that the all-knowing NITI Aayog wants the deadline scrapped altogether," the Congress general secretary in-charge communications said. "To arg

He said 30,000 critical care beds will be created in the country under PM-ABHIM to strengthen secondary health care

NITI Aayog recommended the federal environment and power ministries to direct coal-based power plants to stop placing fresh orders for the de-sulphurisation gear, the document showed

India could easily double the size of its economy by 2030, NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam said on Wednesday. At an event organised by the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI), Subrahmanyam added that climate change is an opportunity for India to become a leader in climate technology. "Our economy should easily double by 2030...India's ambition to become the third-largest economy by 2026-2027 necessitates a cohesive grand strategy," he said. Currently, in US dollar terms, India is the fifth largest economy with a size of about USD 3.7 trillion in nominal terms. "India will be a big dominant player, it already matters and it will matter much more in global affairs, by 2047," he said. Subrahmanyam said by 2047, India will be among the world's youngest nations demographically, poised for prosperity, with a projected per capita income of around USD 18,000 to USD 20,000. "This growth is significant as India is expected to emerge as a major global player, building on the substantial ..

Niti Aayog member Arvind Virmani on Sunday said it is better for India to get Chinese firms to invest and produce goods here to boost local manufacturing than to keep importing goods from the neighbouring country. Virmani was responding to a pitch made by the pre-budget Economic Survey on July 22 for seeking foreign direct investment (FDI) from China to boost local manufacturing and tap the export market. "So, there is a trade-off the way an economist looks at it...So, the trade-off is that if there are going to be some imports, which we are anyway going to import for 10 years, 15 years from China, then it is better to get Chinese firms to invest in India and produce the same goods here," he told PTI in an interview. As the US and Europe are shifting their immediate sourcing away from China, it is more effective to have Chinese companies invest in India and export the products to these markets rather than importing from the neighbouring country, according to the Economic Survey. "S

India is proving to be a source of solutions in multiple areas, including public service delivery and digitalisation, NITI Aayog Vice Chairperson Suman Bery said. Bery also said that by putting the SDGs at the heart of its G20 presidency, India has acknowledged that these are an almost sacred commitment by the global community to its less advantaged people. India is proving to be a source of solutions in multiple areas, be it public service delivery, be it digitalisation, even for multinational corporations, the so-called global capability centres, Bery told PTI in an exclusive interview here. Both in their design and I would argue, based on the Indian experience on their implementation, I really see the SDGs as a commitment by governments to their own people. In the 21st century, this is a kind of commitment to a decent life. Responding to a question on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a developed India by 2047, Bery underscored that the Indian leader has highlighted how m

Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Food Processing Industries Minister Chirag Paswan among new members

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi on Wednesday took potshots at the rival Shiv Sena over its minister not finding a place in the reconstituted NITI Aayog. "No place for Shinde Sena in the reconstituted NITI Ayog. When 'Niti' is only immoral power grab, can understand the exclusion," Rajya Sabha member Chaturvedi said in a post on X. The Narendra Modi-led NDA government on Tuesday reconstituted the NITI Aayog, with four full-time members and 15 union ministers, including from BJP allies, as either ex-officio members or special invitees. Union Minister of State for AYUSH (Independent Charge) Prataprao Jadhav, who is also MoS in the Health Ministry, did not find a place in the reconstituted committee. Jadhav belongs to the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, an ally of the BJP. The Sena (UBT) has often dubbed the Shiv Sena as the party of those who have usurped power by "betraying" Uddhav Thackeray. The National Institution for Transforming India, be

The Narendra Modi-led NDA government on Tuesday reconstituted the NITI Aayog, with four full-time members and 15 union ministers, including from BJP allies, as either ex-officio members or special invitees. Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains the chairperson and economist Suman K Bery will continue to be the vice-chairperson of NITI Aayog, according to an official notification. Scientist V K Saraswat, agricultural economist Ramesh Chand, paediatrician V K Paul and macro-economist Arvind Virmani will also continue to be full-time members of the government think-tank. The four ex-officio members will be Union Ministers Rajnath Singh (Defence), Amit Shah (Home), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Agriculture) and Nirmala Sitharaman (Finance). The prime minister has approved the revised composition of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), the notification said. The special invitees in the reconstituted NITI Aayog will be Union ministers Nitin Gadkari (Road Transport and .

The vice chairman and full-time members of the apex public policy think tank remain unchanged

Bihar government ministers claimed that the latest report of NITI Aayog's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index 2023-24 vindicated the state's long-standing demand for greater central financial assistance. NITI Aayog on July 12 released SDG India Index 2023-24. Bihar has figured at the bottom, despite improvements on some parameters, in the SDG Index India that makes an assessment of sustainable development. Commenting on NITI Aayog's latest SDG Index, senior JD (U) leader and Bihar Water Resources Minister, Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, told PTI, "The latest report of Aayog has vindicated our long-standing demand for greater central financial assistance..this is the reason that we have been asking for special category status (SCS) or special package for Bihar which is managing its finances on its own. But Bihar comes among the poorest states in the country." He said "Bihar is the most deserving state that needs special financial assistance from the Centre. The economy of Bihar i

The Indian economy will grow around 7 per cent in the current fiscal year and is on track to maintain a similar growth rate for several years, NITI Aayog member Arvind Virmani said on Friday. Virmani said there are new challenges facing the country and they will have to be dealt with. "Indian economy will grow at 7 per cent plus minus point 0.5 per cent... I expect that we are on track to grow at 7 per cent for several years from today," he told PTI in an interview. Last month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) pegged the FY25 gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate at 7.2 per cent. Responding to a question on the decline in private consumption expenditures in the last fiscal year, Virmani said it is actually recovering now. "The effect of the pandemic was to draw down savings... and very different from previous financial shocks," he said. Explaining further, Virmani said it is like what he calls a double drought situation. "We also had, of course, El Nino last year, but what the

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair NITI Aayog's ninth Governing Council meeting on July 27, which will discuss the 'Vikshit Bharat@2047' document to make India a developed nation, a senior government official said on Monday. The council, the apex body of NITI Aayog, includes all state chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories, and several Union ministers. Modi is the Chairman of NITI Aayog. NITI Aayog's Governing Council will meet on July 27. "Ahead of the Council meeting, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will likely give a glimpse of the Viksit Bharat vision and action plan in the Budget on July 23," the official said. A vision document is being prepared for India to become a developed economy of USD 30 trillion by 2047, the 100th year of its independence. In 2023, NITI Aayog was entrusted with the task of consolidating the 10 sectoral thematic visions into a combined vision for Viksit Bharat @2047. The vision encompasses various aspects of development, .

Vaishnaw has in the past said on the question of monetisation that railways is a public good and decisions would only be taken keeping the larger good of the masses in mind

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday launched government think tank NITI Aayog's platform 'NITI For States', a digital public infrastructure for policy and governance. Vaishnaw, the Minister of Communication, Railways and Electronics & IT, also inaugurated the 'Viksit Bharat Strategy Room' at NITI Aayog. The 'Viksit Bharat Strategy Room' will enable visualization and engagement with insights, sharing of information and knowledge to enable effective in-person decision-making. A multi-sectoral live repository of 7,500 best practices, 5,000 policy documents, over 900 datasets, 1,400 data profiles, and 350 NITI publications will be part of the new platform, according to an official statement. The knowledge products on the platform span 10 sectors, including agriculture, education, energy, health, livelihoods and skilling, manufacturing, MSME, tourism, urban, water resources and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) across two cross-cutting themes -- gender and climate ...

He said that programs are also being run by the Health Ministry regarding the elimination of Kala-azar. Apart from this, the rural housing scheme also has an important contribution to this