THE GUIDING PRINCIPLE
The government document has categorically pointed out the very ‘purpose’ of the new body —in the process of carrying out its functions, the Aayog will be guided by an overall vision of development which is inclusive, equitable and sustainable. The institution is to follow a strategy of empowerment built on human dignity and national self-respect—the document quote Swami Vivekanada to emphasise this: “to encourage everyone in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea”. The new body to follow a development model which is all round, all pervasive, all inclusive and holistic.

Antyodaya:
To prioritise service and upliftment of the poor, marginalised and downtrodden, (the document quotes the idea of ‘Antodaya’ as articulted by Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay). Development is incomplete and meaningless, if it does not reach the farthest individual. “Nothing is more dreadfully painful than poverty” (the centuries old sage-poet Tiruvallur has been quoted).

Inclusion:
To empower vulnerable and marginalised sections, redressing identity-based inequalities of all kinds—gender, region, religion, caste or class—the document quoted from Sankar Dev—“to see every being as equivalent to one’s own soul is the supreme means (of attaining deliverance)”. Weaker sections must be enabled to be masters of their own fate, having equal influence over the choices the nation makes.

Village:
To integrate our villages into the development process, to draw on the vitality and energy of the bedrock of our ethos, culture and sustenance.

Demographic Dividend:
To harness our greatest asset, the people of India, by focussing on their development, through education and skilling, and their empowerment, through productive livelihood opportunities.

People’s Participation:
To transform the developmental process into a people-driven one, making an awakened and participative citizenry— the driver of good governance. This includes our extended Indian family of the non-resident Indian community spread across the world, whose significant geo-economic and geo-political strength must be harnessed.

Governance:
To nurture an open, transparent, accountable, pro-active and purposeful style of governance, transitioning focus from Outlay to Output to Outcome.

Sustainability:
Maintain sustainability at the core of our planning and developmental process, building on our ancient tradition of respect for the environment.

STRUCTURE OF THE NITI:
The Aayog will be a lean organisation, modelled as a network of expertise, focusing on functionality, flexibility and domain knowledge, with the following ‘structure’ and ‘mechnaism’:

(i) Chairman: the Prime Minister of India (de-facto).
(ii) Governing Council: will comprise the Chief Ministers of all states and Lt. Governors of union territories.
(iii) Regional Councils: will be formed to address specific issues and contingencies impacting more than one state or region. Strategy and planning in the Aayog will be anchored from state-level; with regional councils convened by the Prime Minister for identified priority domains, put under the joint leadership of related sub-groups of states (grouped around commonalities which could be geographic, economic, social or otherwise) and central ministries.The regional councils will have the following features:
(a) Will have specified tenures, with the mandate to evolve strategy and oversee implementation.
(b) Will be jointly headed by one of the group Chief Ministers (on a rotational basis or otherwise) and a corresponding Central Minister.
(c) Will include the sectoral central ministers and secretaries concerned, as well as state ministers and secretaries.
(d) Will be linked with corresponding domain experts and academic institutions.
(e) Will have a dedicated support cell in the Aayog’s secretariat.

(iv) Special Invitees: It will have experts, specialists and practitioners with relevant domain knowledge as special invitees nominated by the Prime Minister.
(v) Full-time Organisational Framework: In addition to PM as its Chairman it will comprise:
(a) Vice-Chairperson—to be appointed by the PM.
(b) Members: all as full-time.
(c) Part-time Members: maximum of 2, from leading universities, research organisations and other relevant institutions in an ex-officio capacity. Part time members will be on a rotational basis.
(d) Ex-Officio Members: maximum of 4 members of the Union Council of Ministers to be nominated by the PM.
(e) Chief Executive Officer: to be appointed by the PM for a fixed tenure, in the rank of Secretary to the Government of India.
(f) Secretariat: as deemed necessary.

SPECIALISED WINGS IN NITI AAYOG:
The Aayog will house a number of specialised ‘Wings’, as per the government document:
(i) Research Wing:
It will develop in-house sectoral expertise as a dedicated think tank of top notch domain experts, specialists and scholars.

(ii) Consultancy Wing:
It will provide a market-place of whetted panels of expertise and funding, for Central and state governments to tap into; matching their requirements with solution providers, public and private, national and international. By playing matchmaker instead of providing the entire service itself, NITI Aayog will be able to focus its resources on priority matters, providing guidance and an overall quality check to the rest.

(iii) Team India Wing:
It will comprise representatives from every state andministry and will serve as a permanent platform for national collaboration. Each representative in this Wing will:
(a) Ensure every state/ministry has a continuous voice and stake in the Aayog.
(b) Establish a direct communication channel between the state/ministry and the Aayog for all development related matters, as the dedicated liaison interface.

A national “Hub-Spoke” institutional model will be developed, with each state and ministry encouraged to build dedicated mirror institutions, serving as the interface of interaction. These institutions, in turn, will nurture their own networks of expertise at the state and ministry level. NITI Aayog will function in close cooperation, consultation and coordination with the ministries of the Central government, and state governments. While it will make recommendations to the Central and state governments, the responsibility for taking and implementing decisions will rest with them.

NIYATAM
The NITI is supposed to work on a ‘shared national agenda’ which has co-operative federalism as its backbone. It requires streamlining and synchronising of the administrative, developmental and legal structure of the state governments so that the national developmental agenda can be promoted. Things at the state level have not been upto the mark (as the 10th Plan highlighted in 2002 about the poor quality of ‘governance’ at the state level). In this regard, the Niyatam (NITI Initiative to Yield Aspirational Targets and Actionable Means) is being considered as an effective initiative. By late 2015-16, Niti initiated the Niyatam under which it plans to engage with the states on six issues:

1. Size of the government:
Number of the government departments is to be cut down to maximum 20 to enhance administrative efficiency and effectiveness. Though the sizes of the governments are mandated to be maximum 15 per cent of the total members in the Lok Sabha or State Assemblies (91st Constitution Amendment Act, 2003), presently, several state governments have larger numbers of ministries and departments.

2. Rationalising schemes:
The number of states’ schemes and those which are centrally funded are to be rationalised aimed at giving states more revenues (after the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission have been implemented) helps them formulate their Budgets in a better way.

3. Monitoring development:
Under it, states’ development is to be monitored by collecting data on a set of indicators such as education, health, roads, water, electricity, mobile penetration—the data will be used to monitor each state individually and not for inter-state comparisons.

4. District planning:
The Aayog also proposes to work on district planning by examining the baseline indicators, strengths and weaknesses of each district aimed at figuring out the needed actions to promote public and private participation.

5. Result Framework Document:
Establishing a result framework document at block level to serve two main purposes— firstly, moving the focus from processorientation to result-orientation, and secondly, providing an objective and fair basis to evaluate overall performance at the end of the year.

6. Legal reforms:
Aimed at improving efficiency in government functioning, the laws are to be revamped by repealing old laws, rationalising and consolidating the rest of the laws and introducing new laws where there is a vacuum. Experts believe that to realise the targets of national agenda of development the Niyatam initiative is a big push towards streamlining the efforts of the governments.