Union Food Processing Minister Chirag Paswan on Thursday, June 11, 2026 attended the 11th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, aimed at charting a shared roadmap for the Viksit Bharat vision of a developed India by 2047.

Context

Paswan shared his participation on X, posting in Hindi that he joined the meeting 'विकसित भारत के संकल्प को नई गति और नई दिशा देने हेतु' — 'to give new momentum and new direction to the resolve of Viksit Bharat.' He noted that meaningful discussions were held on a shared roadmap covering holistic national development, active participation of states, and strengthening cooperative federalism.

The minister described the meeting as reinforcing the resolve to build a 'आत्मनिर्भर, समृद्ध और विकसित भारत' — 'self-reliant, prosperous and developed India' — under the Prime Minister's leadership.

Policy Backdrop

NITI Aayog was constituted on 1 January 2015 through an executive resolution to replace the Planning Commission and institutionalise cooperative federalism. Its Governing Council — comprising the Prime Minister as chairperson and Chief Ministers of all states — serves as the apex body for aligning central and state development priorities.

Governing Council meetings have been held periodically since 2015, with each session typically producing a shared agenda on national economic and social goals. The Viksit Bharat framework, which envisions India as a fully developed nation by 2047 — the centenary of Independence — has been the overarching theme of recent meetings, anchoring sectoral targets across agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure, and human development.

The shift from top-down five-year planning to cooperative federalism means these Governing Council sessions now function as the primary institutional mechanism for Centre-state coordination, with Union ministers participating alongside Chief Ministers to ensure a whole-of-government approach.

Stakeholders and Impact

State governments are the immediate stakeholders, as Governing Council meetings are designed to surface state-level priorities and integrate them into national plans. The active participation of Union ministers such as Paswan signals that sectoral ministries — including food processing — are expected to align their programmes with the broader Viksit Bharat roadmap.

For the food processing sector specifically, alignment with state governments is critical: the ministry's flagship schemes depend on state-level infrastructure, land allocation, and regulatory clearances. Discussions on cooperative federalism at such a high-level forum can therefore have downstream implications for scheme implementation timelines and resource allocation.

What's Next

State governments are expected to translate the broad directions discussed at the 11th Governing Council into concrete action plans at the state level. The scheduling of the 12th Governing Council meeting will be watched as a signal of how frequently the Centre intends to convene this forum in the lead-up to the 2047 target. For Union ministers like Paswan, the meeting sets the tone for inter-ministerial and Centre-state coordination in the months ahead, particularly as annual budget cycles approach.