Q+A: NITI Aayog

On 1st January, 2015, the NITI Aayog( National Institution for Transforming India) was created to replace the Planning Commission. Its creation was necessitated by the requirement for a separate Think Tank for the government both in the directional and policy matters. The NITI Aayog was envisaged to provide the Central as well as the State Governments with strategic and technical advice with relation to policy matters. The policy matters deal with the national and international economic issues, in order to respond to the dynamism of the international economy of which India is a part. For this, the Institution is equipped with necessary resources, knowledge, skills and ability to deal with strategic policies as well as tackle the contingent issues.

What are the Drawbacks of Planning Commission which this Institution wishes to address?

The Planning Commission was the brainchild of Meghnad Saha in 1938 who along with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose established the National Planning Committee with Jawaharlal Nehru as its Chairman. It was again formed after independence in 1950 with the Prime Minister as ex-officio Chairman. It mainly formed a Centralized plan, based on the principles of Socialism. It was to formulate and review five year plans and monitor progress. But after liberalization in 1991 when the Indian economy was opened up, the methods of the Planning Commission started failing. It was found gradually inappropriate to address the problems at the regional level because the different States had better knowledge of their local problems. Thus, two main goals of efficient allocation of resources and development of technology could not be possible with the Planning Commission.

For a deeper understanding of the working of this Institution, one needs to know the objectives with which it was formed.

What are the Objectives of the Institution?

Some of the main objectives with which NITI Aayog was were:

1. To promote the idea of cooperative federalism in India through a structured support initiative among the States on a continuous basis. It is based on the principle that through strong States can a strong Nation be built.
2. To formulate suitable plans for the village levels and aggregate them to the higher levels of government.
3. To ensure that the issues or interests of national security are taken into consideration during formulation of economic policies.
4. To focus on the needs of the disadvantaged sections of the society also while formulating a plan.
5. To continuously monitor the progress of the policy programmes and initiatives to ensure their proper implementation. It shall also make improvements based on the lessons learnt from the monitoring process.
6. To provide for a system to impart knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurship through a collaboration of national and international experts, practitioner and other partners.
7. To offer a platform for resolution of inter-sectoral and inter-departmental issues in order to accelerate the process of implementation and policies and programmes.
8. To maintain a state-of –the-art Resource Centre for the research on good governance.
9. To focus on technology upgradation and capacity building for implementation of programmes and initiatives.
10. To undertake other anciliary activities necessary for the proper execution of its policies and programmes.

What is the Composition of the Institution?

The Institution shall comprise of the following persons:

1. Prime Minister of India shall act as the President
2. The Governing Council of the Institution shall comprise of the Chief Ministers of all the states and Lieutenant Governors of Union Territories.
3. Regional Councils to be formed to address only the specific issues and contingencies affecting a particular region or regions. These shall be convened by the Prime Minister and will comprise of the Chief Ministers and Lt. Governors. These will be chaired by the Chairperson of the Institution or his nominee.
4. The nominees shall be the experts and practitioners with relevant domain knowledge, who shall be special invitees nominated by the Prime Minister.
5. In addition to this, there shall be

• Vice Chairperson: to be appointed by the Prime Minister
• Full time Members
• Two part time Members who shall be from leading universities, research organizations or the relevant institutions. They shall hold office on a rotational basis.
• Maximum of four ex-officio Members of the Union Council of Ministers, who shall also be nominated by the Prime Minister.
• A Chief Executive of the rank of Secretary to the Government of India, who shall also be appointed by the Prime Minister for a fixed tenure.
• A Secretariat if considered necessary.

What are the Pillars of Effective Governance on which NITI Aayog is based?

There are eight pillars of effective governance on which the policies and plans are based:

1. Pro-people- It aims to fulfill the needs and aspirations of the society as well as the individuals.
2. Pro-activity-It acts in anticipation of the response and needs of the citizens.
3. Participation- The process of formulation and implementation shall involve active participation of the citizens of India.
4. Empowerment- One of the main aims of NITI Aayog is to empower every disadvantaged section of society.
5. Inclusion of All- The schemes shall involve all the groups of society, belonging to all caste, class, gender and religion.
6. Equality- The Constitutionally sanctified principle of equality shall be followed while formulating policies and programmes.
7. Sustainable Development- It takes care of one of the most important aspects of conflict in economic development that is environment versus economic development. It ensures that the economic policies do not lead to any harm to the environment that will deplete the resources for the future generation.
8. Transparency-It aims to fulfill one of the most sought after characteristic of good governance in India i.e. transparency in working of the government. It will ensure this with the help of active participation and feedback of citizens.

In other words, it follows the principle of government ‘by the people, from the people and for the people’.

What are the Current Functions performed by NITI Aayog?

Since the time of the creation of NITI Aayog it has initiated a large number of reforms. In August, 2016 it has come up with the Regulator Reforms Bill, an omnibus legislation that shall cater to the generic aspects of regulatory commissions that are related to selection and appointment of members, term of office and other conditions. Further, independent regulators have been set up across various sectors under various Acts enacted by the Parliament. Transparency is ensured by submission of annual reports and accounts to the government in prescribed form and laying them on the table of both the houses of Parliament.

Recently, the NITI Aayog has contributed through a review of the 12^th Five Year Plan, by stating the key policy interventions required in fields like agriculture, manufacturing, employment generation and poverty elimination. It also made certain suggestions like use of more genetically modified seed varieties, creating an environment conducive for manufacturing in labour-intensive sectors, simplification of labour laws, making tax laws free from ambiguities and help India improve on the Ease of Doing Business Index.

Conclusion

At this nascent stage, the NITI Aayog faces a lot of challenges in the economic front. So, it will take some time for it to prove its efficiency. No doubt, it has started functioning to some extent, but it won’t yield immediate results.

However, some of the problems have been arising in its functioning. Firstly, it does not act as an independent Constitutional body which causes problems of accountability. Then, many States have yet not cooperated effectively for its purpose, there is also a complaint of lack of knowledgeable staff members and vacant offices. Nevertheless, it is working a lot for promotion of cooperative federalism and helping in trickling the effects of economic developments to the grassroot level.