NITI Aayog's seventh Governing Council meeting, which will discuss various issues such as crop diversification, urban development and implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP), began here on Sunday.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar are two big leaders who are skipping the meeting.

Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Madhya Pradesh’s Shivraj Chouhan, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann among others are in attendance. Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot is also present.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is chairing the meeting. This is the first physical meeting of the Council after July 2019.

The Council, the apex body of NITI Aayog, includes all chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories and several Union ministers. The prime minister is the Chairman of NITI Aayog.

Generally, a full council meeting happens every year.

The meeting was not convened in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The first meeting of the council took place on February 8, 2015.