• NITI Aayog first launched and conceptualized the Composite Water Management Index in 2018 as a tool to instil a sense of cooperative and competitive federalism among the states.
• It provided actionable guidance to States on where they were doing well absolutely and relatively and what they needed to focus on to secure their water

Key Findings

• CWMI 2.0 ranks various states for the reference year 2017-18 as against the base year 2016-17.
• Gujarat (continues to hold on to its rank one in the reference year (2017-18), followed by Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
• In North-Eastern and the Himalayan States, Himachal Pradesh has been awarded rank 1 in 2017-18 followed by Uttarakhand, Tripura and Assam.
• For the first time, Union Territories have submitted their data and Puducherry has been declared the top performer.
• 80% of the states have shown improvement in their water management scores over the last three years.

Importance of report

• The CWMI is an important tool to assess and improve the performance of States and Union Territories in efficient management of water resources.
• The index would provide useful information for the States and also for the concerned Central Ministries/Departments enabling them to formulate and implement suitable strategies for better management of water resources. CWMI 2.0 ranks various states for the reference year 2017-18 as against the base year 2016-17.
• It is a tool to instill the sense of cooperative and competitive federalism among the states.
• This was a first ever attempt at creating a pan-India set of metrics that measured different dimensions of water management and use across the lifecycle of water.
• The report was widely acknowledged and provided actionable guidance to States on where they were doing well absolutely and relatively and what they needed to focus on to secure their water future.

NITI Aayog( National Institution for Transforming India)

• Planning Commission was replaced by a new institution – NITI AAYYOG on January 1, 2015 with emphasis on ‘Bottom –Up’ approach to envisage the vision of Maximum Governance, Minimum Government, echoing the spirit of ‘Cooperative Federalism’.

Objectives

• 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.
• To develop mechanisms to formulate credible plans at the village level and aggregate these progressively at higher levels of government.
• To ensure, on areas that are specifically referred to it, that the interests of national security are incorporated in economic strategy and policy.
• To pay special attention to the sections of our society that may be at risk of not benefitting adequately from economic progress.
• 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.
• To create a knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurial support system through a collaborative community of national and international experts, practitioners and other partners.
• To offer a platform for resolution of inter-sectoral and inter-departmental issues in order to accelerate the implementation of the development agenda.
• 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.

NITI Aayog Hubs

1. Team India Hub acts as interface between States and Centre.
2. Knowledge and Innovation Hub builds the think-tank acumen of NITI Aayog.

• The Aayog planned to come out with three documents — 3-year action agenda, 7-year medium-term strategy paper and 15-year vision document.

Importance

• The 65 year-old Planning Commission had become a redundant organization. It was relevant in a command economy structure, but not any longer.
• India is a diversified country and its states are in various phases of economic development along with their own strengths and weaknesses.
• In this context, a ‘one size fits all’ approach to economic planning is obsolete. It cannot make India competitive in today’s global economy.