NITI AAYOG:
By mid-2014, India did show a quite strong mandate and a very stable government came at the Centre. We find the new government showing a renewed vigour and zeal in several areas. One such area has been its attempts at ‘redefining’ the federal polity of the country for the purpose of promoting growth and development. We see a pronounced policy shift in the direction of ‘empowering and keeping state in front’ by giving them more financial space and responsiblities.104 Keeping its promises in the direction, the government abolished the Planning Commission (PC) and replaced it by a new body—the NITI Aayog. The acronym NITI stands for National Institution for Transforming India. We see the government aspiring for the emergence of the ‘Team India’ in the new body. It will be premature to be conclusive on this shift from “Planning to NITI” (as the government calls). Even an academic comparison between the old and the new bodies will also not serve enough purpose as it needs some time when the outcome of the change will be available. Judgments on this shift will be only good once it is done after some period of time. In the meantime, India remains a planned economy. The discussion given here is mainly based on the documents and releases which came out from the GoI before and after the NITI Aayog was set up (January 1,2015). In these documents, the government has not only provided the reasons as why does India need to go in for a new body, but charts out a very encouraging and out of tradition role/function for the new body. An attempt has been made to closely follow the ‘government line’ of thinking so that the ‘spirit’ of it is not lost.

TRANSFORMING INDIA:
The government aims at ‘transforming the development agenda of India’ with the help of the NITI Aayog and has given a slogan, ‘from planning to NITI’. India has undergone a paradigm shift over the past six decades—politically, economically, socially, technologically as well as demographically. The role of the government in national development has seen a parallel evolution. Keeping with these changing times, the government decided to set up the NITI Aayog as a means to better serve the needs and aspirations of the people of India. The government thinks the new institution to function as a catalyst to the developmental process—nurturing an overall enabling environment, through a holistic approach to development going beyond the limited sphere of the public sector and the GoI, which will be built on the foundations of:
(i) An empowered role of states as equal partners in national development; operationalising the principle of Cooperative Federalism.
(ii) A knowledge hub of internal as well as external resources, serving as a repository of good governance best practices, and a Think Tank offering domain knowledge as well as strategic expertise to all levels of the government.
(iii) A collaborative platform facilitating Implementation; by monitoring progress, plugging gaps and bringing together the various ministries at the Centre and in states, in the joint pursuit of developmental goals.

CHANGING CONTOURS OF INDIA:
The government agrees that the Planning Commission has served India well. However,India has changed dramatically over the past 65 years at multiple levels and across varied scales. These transformatory forces have changed the very contours of India—highlighted by the government document in the five areas:
1. Demographic shift:
India’s population has increased over three-fold to reach 121 crores. This includes an addition of over 30 crore people to Urban India. As well as an increase of 55 crore youth (below the age of 35), which is more than one and a half times the total population of the country then. With increasing levels of development, literacy and communication, the aspirations of the people have soared, moving from scarcity and survival to safety and surplus. Today, we are looking at a completely different India, and country’s governance systems need to be transformed to keep up with the changing India.

2. Economic shift:
India’s economy has undergone a paradigm shift. It has expanded by over a hundred times, going from a GDP of Rs. 10,000 crore to Rs. 100 lakh crore at current prices, to emerge as one of the world’s largest economics. Agriculture’s share in the GDP has seen a dramatic drop, from more than 50 per cent to less than 15 per cent. The plan size of Rs. 43 lakh crore of the 12th Plan dwarfs the plan size of Rs. 2,400 crore of the 1st Plan. Priorities, strategies and structures dating back to the time of the birth of the Planning Commission, must thus be revisited. To align with this shift and sheer scale, India needs to overhaul the very nature of the planning processes, the government says.

3. Shift in the private sector:
The nature of the Indian economy, and the role of the government in it, has undergone a paradigm shift. Driven by an increasingly open and liberalised structure, India’s private sector has matured into a vibrant and dynamic force. The sector is not operating just at the international cutting edge, but also with a global scale and reach. This changed economic landscape requires a new administrative paradigm in which the role of the government must evolve from simply allocating resources in a command and control eco system, to a far more nuanced one of directing, calibrating, supporting and regulating a market eco system. National development must be seen beyond the limited sphere of the ‘Public Sector’. Government must, thus, transition from being a ‘provider of first and last resort’ and ‘major player’ in the economy, to being a ‘catalyst’ nurturing an ‘enabling environment’, where the entrepreneurial spirits of all, from small self-employed entrepreneurs to large corporations, can flourish. This importantly, frees up the government to focus its precious resources on public welfare domains such as essential entitlements of food, nutrition, health, education and livelihood of vulnerable and marginalised groups of the society.

4. Forces of globalisation:
In recent decades, the world at large has also evolved. We live today in a ‘global village’, connected by modern transport, communications and media, and networked international markets and institutions. In this milieu, India’s economic actions ‘contribute’ to the global dynamics, while our economy also get influenced by the happenings far away from us. The framework of policy making together with the functioning of governments need to incorporate the realities of our continuing integration with the global economic system.

5. Role of the states:
Indian states have evolved from being mere appendages of the Centre, to being the actual drivers of national development. The development of states must thus become the national goal, as the nation’s progress lies in the progress of states. As a consequence, the one-size-fits-all approach, often inherent in centralised planning, is no longer practical or efficient. States need to be heard and given the flexibility required for effective implementation. The government quotes Dr. B. R. Ambedkar to bring the point home: “it is unreasonable to centralise powers where central control and uniformity is not clearly essential or is impracticable”. Thus, while emanating from global experiences and national synergy, India’s strategies need to be calibrated and customised to local needs and opportunities.

6. Technology paradigm:
Technology advancements and information access have unleashed the creative energy of India. They have integrated our varied regions and ecosystems in an interlinked national economy and society, opening up newer avenues of coordination and cooperation. Technology is also playing a substantial role in enhancing transparency as well as efficiency, holding the government more accountable. Thus, India needs to make it central to systems of policy and governance.

FUNCTIONS OF NITI AAYOG
With the process of maturity and deepening in Indian nationhood, the country has embraced a greater measure of pluralism and decentralisation. This necessitates a paradigm shift in Central government’s approaches to the governments in the state, as well as at the local levels. The state governments and the local bodies must be made equal partners in the development process through the following changes:
(i) understanding and supportng their developmental needs and aspirations,
(ii) incorporating varied local realities into national policies and programmes with the required flexibility. This way the new body, NITI Aayog, is designed to live up to the principle of ‘Team India’ with its following officially demarcated functions:

1. Cooperative and Competitive Federalism:
It will be the ‘primary platform’ for operationalising cooperative federalism,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. This will be by means of systematic and structured interactions between the Union and state governments, to better understand developmental issues, as well as forge a consensus on strategies and implementation mechanisms. The above would mark the replacement of the one-way flow of policy from centreto- state, with a genuine and continuing Centre-State partnership. The Aayog is supposed to further this cooperation 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.

2. Shared National Agenda:
It will ‘evolve’ a shared vision of national development priorities and strategies, with the active involvement of the states. This will provide the framework ‘national agenda’ for the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers to implement.

3. State’s Best Friend at the Centre:
It will support states in addressing their own challenges, as well as building on strengths and comparative advantages. This will be through various means, such as coordinating with ministries, championing their ideas at the Centre, providing ‘consultancy’ support and ‘building capacity’.

4. Decentralised Planning:
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 the government. The maturing of India’s governmental institutions has enabled increasing the specialisation of their functions. There is, thus, a need to separate as well as energise the distinct ‘strategy’ element of governance from the usual ‘process’ and ‘implementation’ element. As a dedicated ‘Think Tank’ of the government, NITI Aayog will carry out this ‘directional’ role, strategically charting the future of the nation. It will provide specialised inputs—strategic, functional and technical—to the Prime Minister and the government (Centre as well as the state), on matters critical to the fulfillment of the national development agenda. It means, the new body is to function like a ‘think tank’.

5. Vision & Scenario Planning:
To ‘design’ medium and long-term strategic frameworks of the big picture vision of India’s future—across schemes, sectors, regions and time; factoring in all possible alternative assumptions and counterfactuals. These would be the ‘drivers of the national reforms agenda’, especially focussed on identifying critical gaps and harnessing untapped potentialities. The same would need to be intrinsically dynamic with their progress and efficacy constantly monitored for necessary mid-course recalibration; and the overall environment (domestic and global) continuously scanned for incorporating evolving trends and addressing emerging challenges. This would mean a fundamental transition from merely planning for where the nation’s money goes, to planning where we want the nation to go. And given its unique position as the aggregator and integrator of all developmental initiatives of the Government of India and the states, the new body would be ideally suited for the same.

6. Domain Strategies:
To ‘build’ a repository of specialised domain expertise, both sectoral and cross-sectoral; to assist ministries of the Central and state governments in their respective development planning, as well as problem solving needs. This will especially enable the imbibing of good governance best practices, both national as well as international, especially with regards to structural reforms in the country.

7. Sounding Board:
To be an ‘in-house sounding board’ whetting and refining government positions, through objective criticisms and comprehensive counterviews in the economy.

8. Network of Expertise:
To ‘mainstream’ external ideas and expertise into government policies and programmes through a collaborative community of national and international experts, practitioners and other partners. This would entail being government’s link to the outside world, roping in academia (universities, think tanks and research institutions), private sector expertise, and the people at large, for close involvement in the policymaking process. To bring the point home, the document quotes the Rigveda – ‘let us welcome noble thoughts flowing in from all directions’.

9. Knowledge and Innovation Hub:
The body to be an ‘accumulator’ as well as ‘disseminator’ of research and best practices on good governance, through a state-of-the-art Resource Centre which identifies, analyses, shares and facilitates replication of the same. The document further adds, an increasingly mature Indian population has steadily increased the focus on, and demand for, actual delivery and results. To keep up with such enhanced aspirations, the new body will have the mandate to go beyond mere planning and strategising, to facilitating implementation of the development agenda as well. This would involve making implementation central to the planning process, through an emphasis on tangible outcomes, realistic targets, strict time lines and robust monitoring and evaluation—a transition from the isolated conceptualisation of merely ‘planning’, to ‘planning for implementation’. It will also act as a ‘catalyst’ to the government machinery at large—filling gaps, enhancing capabilities and de-clogging bottlenecks, as and where required.

10. Harmonisation:
To ‘facilitate harmonisation’ of actions across different layers of the government, especially when involving cross-cutting and overlapping issues across multiple sectors through: communication, coordination, collaboration and convergence among all stakeholders. The emphasis will be on bringing all together on an integrated and holistic approach to development.

11. Conflict Resolution:
To provide a ‘platform’ for mutual resolution of intersectoral, inter-departmental, inter-state as well as centre-state issues; facilitating consensus acceptable and beneficial to all, to bring about clarity and speed in execution.

12. Coordinating interface with the World:
It will be the ‘nodal point’ for strategically harnessing global expertise and resources in India’s developmental process— coming in from across nations, multilateral institutions and other international organisations.

13. Internal Consultancy:
It will offer an internal ‘consult ncy’ function to Central and state governments on policy and programme design—providing frameworks adhering to basic desigprinciples such as decentralisation, flexibility and a focus on results. This would include specialised skills such as structuring and executing PPPs.

14. Capacity Building:  
To enable ‘capacity building’ and ‘technology up-gradation’ across governments, benchmarking with latest global trends and providing managerial and technical knowhow.

15. Monitoring and Evaluation:
It will ‘monitor’ the implementation of policies and programmes, and ‘evaluate’ their impact; through rigorous tracking of performance metrics and comprehensive programme evaluations. This will not only help identify weaknesses and bottlenecks for necessary course-correction, but also enable data-driven policymaking; encouraging greater efficiency as well as effectiveness.