CM to head the institute’s governing council which will also comprise three experts
The institute will leverage private partnerships as the private partners will provide active policy advocacy and support in designing investment avenues and execution
Various entities and programmes under the state planning department will be subsumed to create the institute with budgetary support from the state government and hand-holding from NITI Aayog.
In a significant development, the Shinde-Fadnavis government proposed to establish a state-level institute on the lines of NITI Aayog for faster and more inclusive economic growth. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who was accompanied by the senior bureaucrats, at the meeting with the NITI Aayog CEO Parameswaran Iyer, explained that the proposed state institute, in a serious bid to achieve the state’s aspiration of $1 trillion by 2030 and $3.5 trillion by 2047, will focus on agriculture and allied services, health and nutrition, education, urbanisation, finance, real estate and land administration, infrastructure development, skilling and innovation, tourism and sports and IT and communication. The name of the state institute will be announced in due course of time.
‘’Maharashtra’s aspiration is to enhance the state's gross domestic product (GSDP) from $0.43 trillion in 2021-22 to $0.75 trillion by 2025-26 to $1 trillion by 2030, $2 trillion by 2040 and $3.5 trillion by 2047. The government proposes to strengthen Centre-State partnerships, set up and evaluate sectoral targets, leverage private sector and non-government partnership and outcome-oriented roadmap for state vision of 2047,‘’ said a senior government official who was present at the meeting. He said the state institute will replace the Maharashtra State Planning Board which no longer exists.
The state government will soon issue the notification for the establishment of the state institute. Various entities and programmes under the state planning department will be subsumed to create one state transformation body (proposed institute) with budgetary support from the state government and handholding from NITI Aayog.
The state institute’s governing council will be chaired by the CM while the deputy chief minister/finance minister will be the deputy chairman while chief secretary will be the member, the planning secretary as member secretary and three non-official members (experts) nominated by the state government.
The state institute will leverage private partnerships as the private partners will provide active policy advocacy and support in designing investment avenues and execution. Besides, industry inputs on problem statements will translate into business models, requests for proposals (RFPs), and concession agreements for relevant user departments with the support of the institute's experts and consultants team. Moreover, the state government will develop district/taluka wise performance indices to grade districts/talukas on various important sectors like health, education, governance, infrastructure, environment, and accessibility to induce competitive nature among districts through financial incentives.
Another government official told the Free Press Journal, ‘’The state government has sought NITI Aayog’s support for monitoring and evaluation handholding, data analytical, research, knowledge sharing, technical and financial support for state units, connecting with knowledge partners, innovation support and technical interventions.
