Non-Constitutional Bodies [Part-1] - Porul

NITI AAYOG

NITI AAYOG was an important feature of policy making and governance in India, although it no longer exists as it replaced the Planning Commission on January 1, 2015, with Jawaharlal Nehru as the Prime Minister. Planning Commission is served as a planning vehicle for close to six decades. It did not derive its creation either from the Constitution or statutes but was an arm of the Central/Union government.

ADMINISTRATIVE SKELETAL:

It consists of a

Chair Person(Prime Minister)
Vice Chair Person(Appointed by Prime Minister)
Governing Council(Chief Ministers of all states and Lt. Governors of Union territories)
Regional Council (They address specific regional issues, comprising of Chief Ministers and Lt. Governors chaired by Prime Minister or his nominee.)
Adhoc membership (2 members in ex-officio capacity from leading Research institutions on rotational basis)
Ex-Officio membership (Maximum four from Union council of ministers to be nominated by Prime Minister- FINANCE MINISTER AND PLANNING MINISTER)
Chief Executive Officer (Appointed by Prime Minister for a fixed tenure, in rank of the Secretary to Government of India)
Special invitees(Experts, Specialists with domain knowledge nominated by Prime Minister)

NITI AAYOG HUBS

Niti Aayogs entire range of activities is divided into two main hubs

Team India Hub
Knowledge and Innovation Hub

1. Team India Hub : It acts as interface between States and Centre. It carries out the authorization of further cooperative federalism and designing policy and programming programme frameworks.

2. Knowledge and Innovation Hub : It builds the think-tank awareness of NITI Aayog. This maintains a state-of-the-art resource centre, a repository of research on good governance and best practices, provides advice and encourages partnerships with key stakeholders, including colleges, universities, think tanks and non-governmental organisations at home and abroad.

IMPORTANCE

The 65 year old Planning Commission had become a more than enough organization. It was relevant in a command economy structure, but not any longer.
NITI Aayog is the premier policy think tank of the Government of India, providing directional and policy inputs.
Apart from designing strategic and long-term policies and programmes for the Government of India, NITI Aayog also provides relevant technical advice to the Centre, States, and Union Territories.

OBJECTIVES

To foster cooperative federalism through structured support initiatives and mechanisms with the States on a continuous basis, recognizing that strong States make a strong nation.

To develop mechanisms to plan at the village level and add these at higher levels of government.

To offer a platform for resolution of inter-sectoral and inter-departmental issues to speed up the implementation of the development agenda.

To create a knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurial support system through a collaborative community of national and international experts, practitioners and other partners.
To focus on technology upgradation and capacity building for implementation of programmes and initiatives.

To design strategic and long term policy and programme frameworks and initiatives, and monitor their progress and their efficacy. The lessons learnt through monitoring and feedback will be used for making innovative improvements, including necessary mid-course corrections.

To maintain a state-of-the-art Resource Centre, be a repository of research on good governance and best practices in sustainable and equitable development as well as help their dissemination to stake holders.

To actively monitor and evaluate the implementation of programmes and initiatives, including the identification of the needed resources so as to strengthen the probability of success and scope of delivery.

Comparison between Planning Commission & Niti Aayog

WAY FORWARD

Decentralization of planning but within a five-year plan framework.
Bureaucratic inertia need to be shaken, specializing it and fixing the accountability on basis of the performance.
NITI Aayog could emerge as an agent of change over time and contribute to the government's agenda of improving governance and implementing innovative measures for better delivery of public services.
NITI Aayog continues to be representative of efficient, transparent, innovative, and accountable governance system in country with distinguished work ethics.