NITI(National Institution For Transforming India) Aayog,2015-Ministry Of Planning

Policy Update
Kiranmanonmani. Y

Introduction:

NITI Aayog- National Institution for Transforming India, formerly known as the Planning Commission, is the apex organization and a public policy think tank of the Government of India, which carries out the function of planning, allocation of resources, and implementation of government schemes for the welfare of the public. The NITI Aayog serves as the apex public policy think tank of the Government of the Republic of India, and the nodal agency tasked with initiating economic development, fostering cooperative federalism, and moving away from bargaining federalism through the involvement of the State Governments of India.

The Planning Commission was changed into NITI Aayog in the year 2015, as it followed the top-down approach of development. The NITI Aayog is currently headed by our Prime Minister, Mr.Narendra Modi, as the Chairman, Mr.Suman Bery as the Vice Chairman, Mr. BVR. Subrahmanyam as the Chief Executive Officer, and Mr.Rao Inderjit Singh as the Minister of State for the Ministry of Planning.

Background:

The Planning Commission was formed in the 1950s after India’s independence in 1947. The first chairperson was our first prime minister, Mr.Jawaharlal Nehru. The Commission’s functions were to assess and allocate plan resources, formulate plans and programs for area development, determine implementation methodology, identify resource constraints, and appraise and adjust implementation. The Planning Commission, from 1950 to 2014, formulated twelve five-year plans.

The 1^st and 2^nd plans aimed at raising public resources for investments in the public sector, the 3^rd plan focused on increased emphasis on exports, and the 4^th Plan, formulated at a difficult period of balance of payments crisis, focused on agricultural development. The 5^th Plan provided enhanced allocations for social sector spending.

The 6^th and 7^th Plans were infrastructure plans focusing on raising plan resources for infrastructure spending. The 8^th Plan, formulated amid economic reforms, achieved 6.7 percent growth. The 9^th Plan period witnessed a sharp decline in economic growth to 2.4 percent. The 10^th and 11^th Plans implemented in the 2004-2014 period witnessed an economic growth trajectory of above 9 percent.

Objectives:

Develop a shared vision for national development priorities and strategies with active State involvement.
Promote cooperative federalism through ongoing support initiatives, recognizing that strong States contribute to a strong nation.
Create mechanisms for credible planning at the village level, aggregating these plans at higher government levels.
Incorporate national security interests into economic strategies and policies.
Focus on vulnerable sections of society to ensure they benefit from economic progress.
Design and monitor long-term policies and programs, using lessons learned for continuous improvement- Utilize feedback for innovative improvements and necessary adjustments.
Provide strategic advice to foster partnerships among key stakeholders, think tanks, educational institutions, and policy research organizations.
Establish a supportive ecosystem for knowledge, innovation, and entrepreneurship through collaboration with experts and practitioners.
Offer a platform to resolve inter-sectoral and inter-departmental issues to accelerate the implementation of the development agenda.- Utilize feedback for innovative improvements and necessary adjustments.

Functioning of NITI Aayog:

The functions of NITI Aayog can be broadly divided into the following four categories

Policy and Programme framework
Cooperative federalism
Monitoring and evaluation
Think tank, knowledge, and innovation hub

These four categories are further divided into verticals/cells, namely Administration, Agriculture, Education, Economics and Finance, Governance, research, infrastructure, social media and communication, rural development, science and technology, sustainable development goals, state finances and coordination, etc..

The key initiatives of NITI Aayog include NITI for states, Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE), National Data and Analytics Platform(NDAP), Shoonya, E-Amrit, and Women Entrepreneurship Platform.

Lifestyle for Environment(LiFE) – It envisions a circular economy that promotes the use and reuse of products in this world, where excessive consumption prevails. It aims to eliminate the ‘use and dispose’ economy. NITI Aayog actively contributes towards the initiative as one of its key areas of functioning. This mission plans to create a community called P3- Pro planet people who advocate an environment-friendly lifestyle.

National Data and Analytics Platform(NDAP) – The National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP) facilitates and improves access to Indian government data. Through the platform, data sets from across India’s extensive administrative landscape can be accessed. NDAP allows users to search, merge, visualize, and download datasets easily.

Shoonya- This initiative by NITI Aayog aims to promote the usage of electric vehicles as a step to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and ultimately reduce pollution. Shoonya means zero, and it signifies the objective to attain zero pollution. NITI Aayog has partnered with leading industry players in the automobile sector to reduce pollution emissions from passenger vehicles and freight by deploying electric vehicles.

E-Amrit – This initiative by NITI Aayog aims at spreading awareness to the people about electric vehicles and their benefits, investment, subsidies, purchase, etc..The portal has been developed and hosted by NITI Aayog under a collaborative knowledge exchange programme with the UK government and as part of the UK–India Joint Roadmap 2030, signed by the Prime Ministers of the two countries.

NITI for states – This is one of the key functions of NITI Aayog that aims to coordinate the efforts of states’ efforts to attain the ultimate goal of Viksit Bharat(Transforming India). The state’s initiative contributes towards the development of each and every district of India, starting from the grassroots level.

Key Achievements:

Aspirational districts programme – The programme focuses on developing every district of India, especially the backward districts, by improving the basic infrastructural facilities such as education, healthcare, agriculture, and industrial facilities.

Atal Innovation Mission – The mission aims to inculcate the entrepreneurial spirit of the nation’s young generation.

Policy Innovation—It has developed policy frameworks for various schemes, such as e-mobility and production-linked incentives (PLI).

Sustainable Development Goals – NITI Aayog developed the SDG India Index to track progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the national and sub-national levels, fostering healthy competition among states.

Conclusion:

India is one of the Asian nations without a planning commission. The Planning Commission followed a top-to-bottom approach, where the apex body plans and allocates the resources for implementing schemes, but NITI Aayog focuses on to top-down approach where the suggestions of citizens at all levels are welcomed and used in planning. But NITI Aayog should focus more on planning rather than implementation, which is the work of other ministries and departments.

It should be entitled to more autonomy in its operations from the political intervention at the state as well as national levels. There should be more budget allocation for the commission to carry out its operation without any hindrances or obstacles. NITI Aayog’s internship scheme attracts many college students to work directly with the government’s think tank and involve themselves in the policy-making process. They get to learn and work with the government officials and expand their knowledge and exposure.

References:

https://www.pib.gov.in/newsite/printrelease.aspx?relid=170000 – Press Information Bureau
https://niti.gov.in/ – NITI Aayog
https://www.nitiforstates.gov.in/ – NITI for states
https://www.newindianexpress.com/opinions/2024/Dec/31/niti-aayog-lessons-from-decades-past – The New Indian express

About the Contributor: Kiranmanonmani. Y is an Economics Hons student at Hansraj College, University of Delhi, and a research intern at Impact and Policy Research Institute(IMPRI).

Acknowledgement: The author would like to express sincere gratitude to Ms. Aasthaba Jadeja and the IMPRI team for their guidance throughout the writing of this article.

Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organisation.