Think tank MITRA gets cabinet approval

The Shinde-Fadnavis government has set a target of making Maharashtra the first $1 trillion economy

MUMBAI: The state cabinet on Thursday gave its nod to constituent Maharashtra Institute for Transformation (MITRA) – the state’s think tank for the transformation in various priority areas enabling it to achieve its target of making the state a $1 trillion economy by 2027. The think tank will be set up on the lines of NITI Aayog at the national level and will have sectoral experts from various fields on the regulatory and executive boards as its members.

The Shinde-Fadnavis government has set the target of making Maharashtra the first $1 trillion economy by 2027 and a $3.5 trillion economy by 2047. To achieve the target, MITRA will concentrate on areas like agriculture, health, education and skill development, finance, tourism and sports, industries, and infrastructure among others.

To enable effective development in these sectors, the state wants to effectively utilise drone technology, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cyber security, robotics and blockchain. The MITRA is expected to advise the state government on the effective utilization of these modern technology tools and chalk out the long and short-term plans to achieve economic development.

It will have a regulatory board headed by the chief minister as its chairman and deputy chief minister as its deputy chairman, chief secretary and finance secretary, and six experts from various fields as its members. A 12-member executive board will work as a steering committee to oversee the day-to-day work and will be headed by its chief executive officer.

“The state government has allocated ₹16.15 crore towards the establishment and other recurring expenditure, while the NITI Aayog is expected to help the state government with the appointment of experts under the central government’s state support mission,” said an official from the finance department. It added that the centre will also help the state government to appoint 10 sectoral experts, 3 innovative sector experts and six young professionals from IIT Bombay.