The National Institution for Transforming India, also called NITI Aayog, was formed via a resolution of the Union Cabinet on 1 January 2015. NITI Aayog is the premier policy ‘Think Tank’ of the Government of India, providing both directional and policy inputs. While designing strategic and long term policies and programs for the Government of India, NITI Aayog also provides relevant technical advice to the Centre and States.
The Government of India, in keeping with its reform agenda, constituted the NITI Aayog to replace the Planning Commission instituted in 1950. This was done in order to better serve the needs and aspirations of the people of India. An important evolutionary change from the past, NITI Aayog acts as the quintessential platform of the Government of India to bring States to act together in the national interest, and thereby fosters Cooperative Federalism.
On 7 June 2018, the Prime Minister approved the reconstitution of NITI Aayog to include Ex-officio members and special invitees.
Objectives
1. To evolve a shared vision of national development priorities, sectors and strategies with the active involvement of States.
2. 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.
3. To develop mechanisms to formulate credible plans at the village level and aggregate these progressively at higher levels of government.
4. To ensure, on areas that are specifically referred to it, that the interests of national security are incorporated in economic strategy and policy.
5. To pay special attention to the sections of our society that may be at risk of not benefiting adequately from economic progress.
6. 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.
7. To provide advice and encourage partnerships between key stakeholders and national and international like-minded Think tanks, as well as educational and policy research institutions.
8. To create a knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurial support system through a collaborative community of national and international experts, practitioners and other partners.
9. To offer a platform for resolution of inter-sectoral and inter departmental issues in order to accelerate the implementation of the development agenda.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. To focus on technology up-gradation and capacity building for the implementation of programmes and initiatives.
13. To undertake other activities as may be necessary in order to further the execution of the national development agenda, and the objectives mentioned above.
Features
NITI Aayog is developing itself as a State-of-the-art Resource Centre, with the necessary resources, knowledge and skills, that will enable it to act with speed, promote research and innovation, provide strategic policy vision for the government, and deal with contingent issues.
NITI Aayog’s entire gamut of activities can be divided into four main heads:
1. Design Policy & Programme Framework2. Foster Cooperative Federalism3. Monitoring & Evaluation4. Think Tank and Knowledge & Innovation Hub
Verticals
The different verticals of NITI provide the requisite coordination and support framework for NITI to carry out its mandate. The list of verticals is as below:
1. Agriculture
2. Health
3. Women & Child Development
4. Governance & Research
5. HRD
6. Skill Development & Employment
7. Rural Development
8. Sustainable Development Goals
9. Energy
10. Managing Urbanization
11. Industry
12. Infrastructure
13. Financial Resources
14. Natural Resources & Environment
15. Science & Tech
16. State Coordination & Decentralized Planning (SC&DP)
17. Social Justice & Empowerment
18. Land & Water Resources
19. Data management & Analysis
20. Public-Private Partnerships
21. Project Appraisal and Management Division (PAMD)
22. Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office
23. National Institute of Labour Economics Research and Development (NILERD)