Planning Commission goes Away, Replaced by NITI Aayog

It was during his address to the nation on 15 August 2014 that Prime Minister Narendra Modi hinted at scrapping Planning Commission and replacing it with a new body that fulfils the aspirations of the people in modern times. He has gone ahead and set up NITI Aayog on the first day of the New Year. This new body which is an acronym that stands for National Institution for Transforming India will take the place of the Planning Commission. NITI Aayog will be headed by the Prime Minister himself and it will give direction to the government while also helping in formulation of policies. Chief Ministers of states and Lt. Governors of Union Territories will make up the governing Council of NITI Aayog.

Vice Chairman and the CEO of the NITI Aayog will be appointed by the Prime Minister. Arvind Pangariya, who is a renowned economist and has served ADB earlier, is widely tipped by many to be the first Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog.

NITI Aayog will usher in a new era of cooperative federalism

Planning Commission was always criticized by many as a way to impose the policies of the centre on the states. This one directional manner of policy formulation will be done away with as the new NITI Aayog will draft policies in consultation with all the states. Thus there will be more one way flow of programs and policies as NITI Aayog will serve as a think tank to come up with polices that keep the requirements of the states in mind. It was seen with Planning Commission that reluctant states often caused delays in implementing many polices that they found incoherent with their requirements. This caused a massive waste of resources both in terms of time and money. With increased state and centre coordination, NIYI Aayog aims to foster cooperative federalism. This is the basic premise of NITI Aayog as Prime Minister feels that a strong nation can be made only when the states are also strong.

Programs formulated at village level to be taken up at higher levels

One strong feature of NITI Aayog is that it will have a mechanism in place to formulate programs and policies at village level. These programs will then be implemented at high levels in towns, districts, cities, and metros. This will make sure that weaker sections of the society that often got neglected in the earlier   method of policy formulation in Planning Commission will receive the benefits of all programs and policies. The new body will have experts at all levels that will work in a collaborative manner to make sure that issues and disputes are resolved quickly and the policies are implemented in a speedy manner to fulfill the objective of development.

This is not all as continuous monitoring of the programs and their implementation will be done so as to affect changes midway to prevent misuse of resources. There will be a thrust on making use of the latest technologies and building up of capacities keeping in mind the rising population of the country.

A happy and satisfied Narendra Modi, after setting up f NITI Aayog, said, “It will play a pivotal role in India’s development journey in the years to come. A pro-people, pro-active & participative development agenda stressing on empowerment & equality is the guiding principle behind NITI Aayog,” PM Modi tweeted. “Through the NITI Aayog we wish to ensure that every individual can enjoy the fruits of development & aspire to lead a better life.’’