NITI Aayog

The government has replaced the 65 year-old Planning Commission, a leftover from the Socialist era, with NITI Aayog or National Institution for Transforming India, marking a major shift in policy-making by involving states.
To be headed by PM Narendra Modi, the new body will have a governing council comprising all state CMs and Lt Governors of Union Territories and will work towards fostering a “co-operative federalism“ to provide a “national agenda“ to the Centre and states. The membership of states has rendered the National Development Council, a body of CMs that would approve 5-year plans, defunct.
The new body , which will remain at its predecessor's address in Lutyen's Delhi, a few blocks from Parliament, will have a vice-chairperson and CEO, to be appointed by the PM. Columbia University professor Arvind Panagariya is reportedly being considered for vice-chairman's post. NITI Aayog, which will be headed by PM Narendra Modi and will serve as a policy think tank for the Centre and state governments, will have around 7-8 full-time members and two part-time members, while four Union ministers will serve as ex-officio members. The two part time members will be from leading universities and research organizations. Experts, specialists and practitioners with relevant domain knowledge will also be part of NITI Aayog as “special invitees nominated by the PM“.
Modi, who announced the dismantling of the Planning Commission in his maiden Independence Day speech last year, hailed the replacement in a series of tweets, saying the inclusion of CMs and LGs will “foster a spirit of cooperative federalism”. “Through NITI Aayog, we bid farewell to a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach towards development. The body celebrates India’s diversity and plurality,” Modi tweeted.
The scrapping of Planning Commission addresses the long-held view that the body which was conceived at a time when the Centre was supposed to occupy “commanding heights of economy” had outlived its relevance because of diminished role of the State and the emergence of the private sector and because of the foci of economic activities shifting to states.
Beginning with former PM Rajiv Gandhi dismissing the body as “bunch of jokers” , the Commission’s utility had been increasingly called into question, with state governments protesting against their limited role in the planning process despite Congress’s protests against what it has called the assault on Nehruvian policies.
In its statement, the Modi government focused on the lament of states about the “top down” approach and how the new body would be the remedy.
An important evolutionary change from the past will be replacing a centre-to-state one way flow of policy by a genuine and continuing partnership with the states. The declared intent to empower states has played well as non-NDA chief ministers have also supported the dissolution of Planning Commission. Significantly, Modi and the official statement also stressed that NITI Aayog would pay special attention to the poor who have not benefited from the development process.
“A pro-people, pro-active and participatory development agenda stressing on empowerment and equality is the guiding principle behind Niti Aayog,” Modi tweeted. The official statement also had the same emphasis, saying the new institution would “pay special attention to sections of our society that may be at risk of not benefiting adequately from economic progress”. It also said the new institution “has to provide at the Centre and state levels relevant strategic and technical advice” on key policy issues.