NITI Aayog

Introduction 

• National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog is set up in place of erstwhile Planning Commission. To better serve the needs and aspirations of the people of India. 
• Empowered role of States promoting Cooperative Federalism.
• Think Tank offering domain knowledge as well as strategic expertise to all levels of government. Repository of good governance best practices. 
• Collaborative platform facilitating Implementation; by monitoring progress, plugging gaps and bringing together the various Ministries at the Centre and in States, in the joint pursuit of developmental goals.

Need for NITI Aayog

• Demography of India has changed. People are more aspirational. Governance systems need to be transformed to keep up with the same. 
• Our economy has undergone a paradigm shift. Expanded over a hundred times. Share of agriculture has dropped from over 50\% to 15\%. Priorities, strategies, and structures dating back to the birth of Planning Commission, must thus be revisited. Planning process need to be overhauled. 
• Private sector has grown strong in India. Role of government needs to be changed from simply allocating resources in a command and control eco-system, to a far more nuanced one of directing, calibrating, supporting and regulating a market eco-system. Government role should be of catalyst and provide an enabling atmosphere. 
• Globalisation has integrated India more with the world. India is affected by the events happening outside its borders. This needs to be reflected in our policy making and functioning of the Government. 
• States have grown from mere appendages to Centre to real drivers of growth. One size fits all approach inherent in centralized planning is not no longer practical and efficient.     
• Technology is playing substantial role in enhancing transparency as well as efficiency, holding government more accountable. It thus needs to be central to our systems of policy and governance.  

Rationale for change in Institution

• 8th Five Year Plan document just after 1991 liberalisation stated that role of Planning Commission role needs to be reformed to keep up with the changing trends. 
• Standing Committee on Finance of the 15th Lok Sabha in its 35th Report on Demands of Grants (2011-12) suggested for reforms in Planning Commission. 
• Former Prime Minister and noted economist Dr. Manmohan Singh in his farewell address to the PC urged to reflect on the role of PC in changing times. 

Function of NITI

1. Cooperative and Competetive Federalism: Be the primary platform for operationalizing Cooperative Federalism; enabling States to have active participation in the formulation of national policy, as well as achieving time bound implementation of quantitative and qualitative targets.
2. Shared National Agenda: Shared vision of national development priorities and strategies, with active involvement of States.
3. State's Best Friend at the Centre: Support States in addressing their own challenges, as well as building on the strengths and comparative advantages.
4. Decentralized Planning: bottom-up model, empowering States and guiding them to further empower local governments.
5. Vision and Scenario Planning: Design medium and long term strategic frameworks of the big picture vision of India's future - across schemes, sectors, regions and time; factoring in all possible alternative assumptions and counter faults. 
6. Domain Strategies: Build a repository  of specialized domain expertise, both sectoral and cross-sectoral; to assist Ministries of  Central and States governments in their respective development planning as well as problem-solving needs.
7. Sounding Board: In-house board whetting and refining government positions through objective criticisms and comprehensive counter views. 
8. Network of Expertise: Mainstream external ideas and expertise into government policies and programmes.
9. Knowledge and Innovation hub: accumulator as well as disseminator of research and best practices on good governance. 
10. Harmonisation: Harmonisation of actions across different layers of Government. Communication, Coordination, Collaboration and convergence amongst all stakeholders.
11. Conflict Resolution: Platform for mutual resolution of inter-sectoral, inter-departmental, inter-state as well as centre-state issues. 
12. Coordinating interface with the World: nodal point for strategically harnessing global expertise and resources. 
13. Internal Consultacy: Internal Consultacy: Internal consultancy function to central and state governments on policy and program design.
14. Capacity building: Enable capacity building and technology up-gradation across government, benchmarking with latest global trends and providing managerial and technical knowhow. 
15. Monitoring and Evaluation: Monitor the implementation of policies and programs, and evaluate their impacts.     

Guiding Principles

• Antyodaya: Prioritize service and uplift of the poor, marginalized and downtrodden.
• Inclusion: Empower vulnerable and marginalized sections.
• Village: Integrate our villages into development process.  
• Demographic Dividend: education, skill development and employment opportunities for youth. 
• People's Participation: This includes NRI's spread across the world. 
• Governance: Nurture an open, transparent, accountable, proactive and purposeful style of governance, transitioning focus from Outlay to Output to Outcome. 
• Sustainablity: sustainable development.  

Structure of NITI

• Chairperson: Prime Minister
• Governing Council: CM's of States and Lt. Governors of UT's.
• Regional Councils: will be formed to address specific issues and contingencies impacting more than one state or region.
• RC will have specified tenures. 
• Jointly headed by one of the group CMs (rotational basis) and a corresponding Central Minister.
• sectoral Central Ministries and Secretaries concerned, as well as State Ministries and Secretaries. 
• linked with corresponding domain experts and academic institutions. 
• dedicated support cell in the NITI Aayog Secretariat.
• Special Invitees: experts, specialists, and practitioners with relevant domain knowledge as special invitees nominated by the PM. 
• Full-time Organisational Framework:
• Vice Chairperson: to be appointed by PM.
• Members: full time. 
• Part-time Members: max. 2. from leading universities, research organisations and other relevant institutions in an ex-officio capacity. Rotational basis.
• Chief Executive Officer: to be appointed by PM.
• Secretariat. 
• NITI Aayog will have number of specialised wings,
• Research Wing: develop in house sectoral expertise as a dedicated think tank of top notch domain experts, specialists, and scholars. 
• Consultancy Wing
• Team India Wing: representative from every State and Ministry, will serve as a permanent platform for national collaboration.