After makeover, NITI Aayog may take to old ways

NEW DELHI: NITI Aayog, established as the government’s think tank, could soon become planning body for the Centre and states, similar to its predecessor — the erstwhile Planning Commission.

However, the institution would adopt a bottom to top approach as it moves on from five year plans to longterm perspective planning.

This would keep it in sync with the government’s focus on cooperative federalism.

A senior government official told ET that a division in the Aayog is working on a national plan spanning over a decade, dovetailing the salient features of state plans in a bottom to top approach of decentralised planning while also incorporating national programmes and social priorities.
The long-term national plan, spread over 10 years, could kick-in from financial year 2017-18 after the exiting five year plan ends in 2017. "The central plan could spell out certain priority and focus areas, which are considered as national goals requiring special attention on a country-wide scale," said the official quoted above, requesting not to be identified.

According to the official, the national plan could be a centralised plan with long term perspective planning for sectors such as roads, highways, railways, ports, communication, energy, water and irrigation. This would be besides a host of social sector parameters in line with India's commitment towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

This would require amendment to the role of NITI Aayog, constituted primarily as a think tank in January this year to replace the Nehruvian era Planning Commission which the government felt had lost its relevance in the current scenario.

Alarge number of states as well as central ministries are of the view that planning per se cannot be dispensed with.

"However, they feel that the entire planning process needs to transform in the current scenario where market forces are yet to mature and inequitable distribution of resources continue to be a problem," the official said, explaining the reason behind the fresh look at NITI Aayog’s role.

NITI’s predecessor Planning Commission had evolved a centralised approach towards planning over its last few years of existence, which did not go down well with states and ministries, often resulting in a tussle between them. Consequently when the BJP-led NDA government came to power in 2014 it decided to close down the institution and replace it with a new body that would work as a think tank and give policy directions to the government.