Making India a developed country by 2047 is ambition of every Indian, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday and noted that states can play an active role in achieving this aim as they are directly connected with people.

The Prime Minister made the remarks at the Ninth Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog.

“Viksit Bharat @ 2047 is ambition of every Indian. States can play an active role to achieve this aim as they are directly connected with the people,” Prime Minister said, according to a post on X by the NITI Aayog.

The meeting is being held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre and attended by Chief Ministers, Lieutenant Governors, Union Ministers, and members of the NITI Aayog.

The meeting aims to foster participative governance and collaboration between the Centre and state governments, enhancing the quality of life for both rural and urban populations by strengthening the delivery mechanisms of government interventions.

Several state governments led by non-BJP parties had declared their intention to boycott the meeting.

Chief Ministers from three Congress-governed states–Siddaramaiah of Karnataka, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu of Himachal Pradesh, and Revanth Reddy of Telangana– cited alleged bias against their states in the recently presented Union Budget as the reason for not attending.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK leader MK Stalin, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and the Aam Aadmi Party-led governments of Punjab and Delhi had also announced their decision to not attend the meeting.

India is on track to become the world’s third-largest economy and is poised to be a USD 30 trillion economy by 2047.