New Delhi, Apr 23 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi today called upon State Governments to work with the Centre as “Team India,” to build the India of the dreams of the country’s freedom fighters by 2022, the 75th anniversary of Independence. Delivering the closing remarks at the third meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog, he urged States, local Governments and all Government and Non-Government organisations to decide goals for 2022, and work in mission mode towards achieving them. Describing the discussions at today’s meeting as constructive, the Prime Minister said the circulated vision document was a draft, and all suggestions given by the Chief Ministers would be taken into account before finalising it. He laid emphasis on good governance and said it leads to optimum utilisation of resources, even when they were less than desired. The Prime Minister noted that the theme of regional imbalance was raised by a number of Chief Ministers. He agreed that this has to be addressed on priority, both nationally, and within States. Noting the invitation given by Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti, the Prime Minister suggested that States could organise events there. He also seconded the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister’s suggestion that States should take interest in the students from her State who are studying in other States. He urged States to reach out to these students from time to time. The Prime Minister reiterated that the legislative arrangements at the State-level for GST should be put in place without delay. Mr Modi called upon States to use the GeM platform – Government e-Marketplace, to reduce corruption and increase transparency in Government procurement. He said the use of technologies such as BHIM and Aadhaar would result in significant savings for the States. Mr Modi said that the District Mineral Fund, the CAMPA Fund, and the construction workers welfare fund, would provide significant boost to the resources of the State. He asked NITI Aayog to come up with a roadmap for better utilisation of such funds by the States. The Prime Minister urged States to join the Ek-Bharat, Shresth Bharat initiative, which was launched on Sardar Patel’s birth anniversary last year. He said India’s richness of culture and heritage should no longer be ignored. He told them that a constructive discussion has begun on the subject of holding Union and State elections simultaneously. For long, India had suffered from economic and political mismanagement, and because of poor time management, many good initiatives and schemes had failed to deliver the anticipated results. Explaining the reason for advancing of the date of budget presentation, he said in a country where agricultural income was exceedingly important, budgets should be prepared immediately after the receipt of agricultural incomes for the year. Informing them that suggestions had come for having the financial year from January to December, he urged States to take the initiative in this regard. UNI NAZ RSA 2023