Inter-State Council meet: Modi to interact with CMs on July 16

Convened after a gap of 10 years, the 11th meeting of the Inter-State Council here will also discuss issues concerning school education, direct benefit scheme, Aadhaar card, good governance and economic and social planning, according to an official.

The PM is the chairman of the Council, while six of his senior Cabinet Ministers – Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, M Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari, Manohar Parrikar – were nominated by him as members. Eleven other ministers are permanent invitees to the Council. They all will attend the meet.

Chief Ministers of all states and Union Territories are members of the Council where they can express their views and raise grievances.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is often at loggerheads with the central government, will get an opportunity to raise issues in presence of his counterparts from across the country.

The last meeting of the Inter-State Council was held in 2006. The previous UPA government had convened just two meetings in its 10 year tenure.