Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the Indian economy grew at a healthy 7.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2017-18 and the challenge now is to turn this to "double digits".

In his opening speech at the fourth meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog, Prime Minister Modi said that the challenge now is to take this growth rate to double digits, for which many more important steps have to be taken.

He said that the vision of a New India by 2022, is now a resolve of the people of our country.

In this context, he mentioned the issues, including doubling of farmers income, development of aspirational districts, Ayushman Bharat, Mission Indradhanush, Nutrition Mission and celebrations of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

The Prime Minister said that 1.5 lakh Health and Wellness Centres are being constructed under Ayushman Bharat.

He said about 10 crore families will be provided health assurance worth Rs. 5 lakhs every year. He said a comprehensive approach is being adopted for education, under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan.

The Prime Minister said that schemes such as Mudra Yojana, Jan Dhan Yojana and Stand Up India, are helping in greater financial inclusion. He emphasized the need for tackling economic imbalances on priority.

He said that all aspects and parameters of human development need to be addressed and improved upon in the 115 aspirational districts.

Modi said that the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan has emerged as a new model for implementation of schemes. He said that this has so far been extended to 45,000 villages in the Aspirational Districts.

He said that the target is universal coverage in seven important welfare schemes: Ujjwala, Saubhagya, Ujala, Jan Dhan, Jeevan Jyoti Yojana, Suraksha Bima Yojana, and Mission Indradhanush. He said this target was recently accomplished in about 17,000 villages.

The Prime Minister said that India has no shortage of capabilities, capacities and resources.

He said that in the current financial year, States are receiving over 11 lakh crore rupees from the Centre, which represents an increase of about 6 lakh crore rupees, from the last year of the previous government.

Modi said that this gathering today represents the hopes and aspirations of the people of India. He said it is also the responsibility of this gathering to make all efforts to fulfil them.

Earlier, the Chief  Ministers and other delegates were welcomed to the meeting by Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog, Shri Rajiv Kumar. The discussions are being moderated by Home Minister, Shri Rajnath Singh.

Later, in his closing speech, Modi said that on the lines of the 115 aspirational districts identified by NITI Aayog, States can define their own parameters to identify 20 percent of the total blocks in the State as aspirational blocks. 

He added that it is vital to identify the "last people in the line" so that benefits of governance can reach him. Similarly, he said, social justice is an important governance objective.