Contents
Co operative and
“Competative Federalism”
States Best Friend at the
Centre:
Coordinating interface
with the world:
SPECIALIZED WINGS IN THE
NITI AAYOG
NITI
stands for “National Institution for Transforming India”.
1.
The government abolished
the planning commission (PC) and replaced it by a new body known as NITI AAYOG.
2.
It was set up on 1st
January, 2015.
3.
The government aims at
“transforming the development agenda of India”. It has given a slogan, “from
planning to NITI”.
4.
It was built on the
foundation of
·
Co – operative federation
·
Serving as a “Think Tank”
offering domain knowledge as well as strategic expertise to all levels of the
government.
·
A collaborative platform
is facilitating “Implementation”.
1.
Chairman:
The Prime Minister of India.
2.
In addition to PM, it will
be comprise of
3.
Vice – Chair person – to
be appointed by the PM; present ARVIND PANAGARIYA.
4.
Members: all as full time.
·
Economist Bibek Debroy and
former DRDO chief V.K. Saraswat.
5.
Part time Members :
Maximum 2,
·
Rotational
·
From leading universities,
research organizations and other relevant institutions in an ex – office
capacity.
6.
Ex officio Members:
Maximum 4 of the Union Council of Minister to be nominated by the PM.
·
Rajanath Singh, Arun
Jaitley, Suresh Prabhu and Radha Mohan Singh.
7.
Governing Council : All
Chief Ministers of states and lieutenant
& Governors of Union Territories:
8.
Regional Councils: Formed
on need – basis, in corporate CMs and Lt. Governors of the region.
9.
Special Invitees: Experts,
Specialists, Practitioner, with domain knowledge.
10.
CEO: Sindhu Shree Khullar.
11.
Secretariat: If necessary.
1.
The new body to follow a
development model which is all round, all pervasive, all Inclusive and
holistic.
·
To Priorotise service and
upliftment of the poor, marginalized and downtrodden.
·
To empower vulnerable and
marginalized sections, redressing identity based inequalities of all kinds’
gender, region, religion, and caste or class.
·
Weaker sections must be
enabled to be masters of their own fate, having equal influence over the
choices the nation makes.
·
To harness the people of
India, by focusing on their development, through education & skilling, and
their empowerment, through productive livelihood opportunities.
·
To transform the
developmental process into a people driven one, making an awakened and
participative citizenry
·
To nurture an open,
transparent, accountable, pro-active, and purposeful style of governance.
·
Maintain sustainability at
the core of our planning and development process, building on our ancient
tradition of respect for the environment.
·
It will be the “primary
platform” for operational sing co- operative fed rationalism, enabling states
to have active participation in the formulation of national policy as well as
achieving time-bound implementation of quantitative and qualitative targets
through the combined authority of the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers.
·
The Aayog is supposed to
further this co-operation with the enhanced vibrancy of competitive Federalism:
the centre competing with the states and vice versa and the states competing
with each other, in the joint pursuit of national development.
·
It will evolve a shared
vision of national development priorities and strategies, with the active
involvement of the states.
·
It will support states in
addressing their own challenges, as well as building on strengths and
comparative advantages.
·
The new body is to
“restructure” the planning process into a “bottom – up model” empowering
states, and guiding them to further empower local governments in developing
mechanisms to formulate credible plans at the village level, which are
progressively aggregated up the higher levels of government.
·
To “design” medium &
long-term strategic frame works of the big picture vision of India’s future –
across schemes, sectors, regions & time: factoring in all possible
alternative assumptions & counterfactuals.
·
To “build” a repository of
specialized domain expertise, both sectoral and cross – sectoral; to assist
ministries of the central & state governments in their respective
development planning as well as problem solving needs.
·
To be an “in – house
sounding based” refining government positions through objective criticisms
& comprehensive counter – views in the economy.
1.
To “mainstream” external
ideas and expertise into government policies and programmes through a
collaborative other partners
2.
There would act as
government link to the outside world, roping in universities, think tanks and
research institutions, private sector expertise and the people at large for
close involvement in the policy making process.
·
Making implementation
central to the planning process, through an emphasis on tangible outcomes,
realistic targets, strict time lines and robust monitoring & evaluation – a
transition from the isolated conceptualization of merely “planning” to
“planning for implementation”.
·
To “facilitate”
harmonization” of actions across different layers of the government, when
involving issues across multi role sector through communication, co-ordination,
collaboration and convergence among all stakeholders.
·
The emphases will be on
bringing all together on an integrated and holistic approach to development.
·
To provide a “platform”
for Mutual resolution of inter – sectoral, inter departmental, inter-state well
as center – state issues.
·
Strategically harnessing
global expertise & resources in India’s developmental process.
·
It will offer an internal
“consultancy” function to central and state governments on policy and programme
design i.e., by providing frame works adhering to basic design principles such
as decentralization, flexibility and a focus on results.
·
To enable “capacity
building” and “technology up-gradation” across government, bench marking with
latest global trends and providing managerial and technical knowhow (practical
knowledge or skill).
·
It will “monitor” the
implementation of policies and programmes and “evaluate” their impact.
·
It will develop in-house
sectoral expertise as a dedicated think tank to top notch domain experts,
specialists and scholars.
·
It will provide a market
place of whetted panels of expertise and funding, for central and state
government to tap into: matching their requirements with solution providers
public and private and international.
·
It will comprise of
representatives from every state and ministry and will serve as a permanent
platform for national collaboration.