NITI Aayog: The Institutional Structure

NITI Aayog (Policy Commission) or National Institution for Transforming India was established via a Union Cabinet resolution on January 1, 2015 as a premier Policy Think Tank of the Union Government. It’s an extra-constitutional, non-statutory and advisory body.

Aims and Functions of Niti Aayog

The key objectives to establish NITI Aayog were as follows:

• To work as an advisory body to give directional and strategic inputs to Union Government and also State governments on request.
• Put an end to the slow and tardy implementation of the policyby fostering inter-ministry, inter-state and centre-state coordination.
• To foster cooperative federalism on the principle of Strong states make a strong nation.
• To replace the top-down development approach with bottom-top development approach.
• To design policy framework for weaker section of society that may not have benefited from economic progress.
• To create a knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurial support systemvia a community of national and international experts, practitioners and partners.
• To serve as a platform for resolution of inter-sectoral and inter-departmental issuesin order to accelerate the implementation of the development agenda.
• To monitor and evaluate the implementation of programmes, and focus on technology upgradation and capacity building.

On the basis of above, functions of NITI Aayog can be divided into four categories viz. (1) To act as a Resource Centre & Knowledge Hub (2) Design Policy & Programme Framework (3) Foster Cooperative Federalism (4) Monitoring and Evaluation.

Composition of NITI Ayog

• Chairperson-Prime Minister
• Governing Council– Its members are Chief Ministers and Administrators of the Union Territories
• Regional Councils-These are created as per need and its members would be chief ministers and administrators of UTs of respective regions.
• Vice-Chairperson– The Vice-chairperson of the Niti Aayog is appointed by Prime Minister.

Further, the NITI Aayog has full time members (number unspecified), part time members (maximum 2, these would be scholars from universities and research institutions), Ex-officio members (maximum 4, these are ministers from Union Council of Ministers), Special Invitees (appointed by PM for fixed tenure. Finally, there is a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Niti Ayog, who is appointed by Prime Minister and has a rank similar to Secretary to the Government of India.

Current Key Officers of NITI Aayog

• Chairperson: Prime Minister Narendra Modi
• Vice Chairperson: Dr. Rajiv Kumar
• Full-Time Members: Dr. Bibek Debroy; V.K. Saraswat; Prof. Ramesh Chand and Dr. V. K. Paul
• Chief Executive Officer: Amitabh Kant

Two Hubs of NITI Aayog

At the core of NITI Aayog’s creation are two hubs viz. Team India Hub (TIH) and the Knowledge and Innovation Hub (KIH).  These two components were created by an order in August, 2015. Further, the Task force under Sindhushree Khullar had proposed to restructure NITI aayog into three components viz. TIH, KIH and a Flexi pool. The third component is currently under progress as the recruitment rules were not finalised. The objective of flex pool was to augment institution’s capacity to take on new assignments.

Team India Hub consists of 6 subject matter verticals and Knowledge and Innovation Hub 10 verticals. The list of verticals is as below:

1. Administration
2. HRD, Governing Council Secretariat & Coordination
3. Agriculture & Allied Sectors
4. Data Management & Analysis
5. Governance and Research
6. Industry
7. Infrastructure-Energy, International Cooperation, General Administration & Accounts
8. Infrastructure- Connectivity
9. Natural Resources & Environment
10. Project Appraisal, Public Private Partnership and PIB
11. Rural Development
12. State Coordination & Decentralized Planning
13. Science & Technology
14. Social Sector – I (Skill Development, Labour & Employment, Urban Development)
15. Social Sector – II (Health & Nutrition, Women & Child Development)
16. Social Justice and Empowerment

Offices Attached To the NITI Aayog

At present, the offices attached to NITI Aayog are as follows:

DMEO

Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO) has been constituted on 18th September, 2015 by merging the erstwhile Programme Evaluation Organization (PEO) and the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO).

NILERD

Government of India established the National Institute of Labour Economics Research and Development (NILERD) in 1962. It is a Central Autonomous Organization, now attached to NITI Aayog, Ministry of Planning.