NITI Aayog may unveil a makeover post polls, scripts robust role for itself

NEW DELHI: The NITI Aayog has begun brainstorming on a version 2.0 of itself that could be unveiled after the ongoing general election. The Aayog held an internal meeting, a first for the central government’s think tank, to introspect on the tasks it has performed since it was formed on January 1, 2015, and on what needs to be done to make it stronger and its policy recommendations more effective.

Based on the outcome of this meeting, the Aayog is likely to make a presentation to the Prime Minister after the new government takes charge on what needs to be done to make its functioning more robust, said people aware of the matter.

Termed senior officers’ retreat, the meeting was held at the Indian School of Business campus in Mohali in the first week of March. More than 25 senior government officials of the Aayog, including its vice chairman Rajiv Kumar, CEO Amitabh Kant, members Ramesh Chand and VK Saraswat, and three-four lateral entrants participated in the meeting.

NITI Aayog was set up by the NDA government after abolishing the erstwhile Planning Commission, a move that was criticised by the Opposition. Congress president Rahul Gandhi recently said his party, if voted to power, will scrap the Aayog as it has served no purpose other than making marketing presentations for the PM and “fudging data”. Some of the key bottlenecks identified at the three-day meet include lack of funds, which restricts the Aayog’s financial powers to test pilot projects, a senior government official told ET on condition of anonymity.

Significant skill gap in sectors such as education and tourism within the Aayog, filled by random postings of civil servants who do not have enough domain expertise, was another major concern identified at the meeting. According to the official, who was part of the meeting, there was a near consensus on the need for greater interaction of the vice chairman of the Aayog with the PM, who is also the chairman of the institution. The meting also expressed concern over lack of co-ordination and synergy between lateral experts in the Aayog and its government officials, often delaying policy-making.

Another senior government official, also present at the meeting, said that the Aayog will make a strong case for a lump sum budget for three-five years to help start pilot projects. The Aayog has so far reached out to ministries stressed for funds, but pointed out that in some cases the ministries do not oblige if the idea is not in sync with their plan.

Officials said the participants also discussed whether the Aayog’s performance has been up to the expectations, additional things that it needs to do to be more effective and the challenges it faces in accomplishing the tasks envisioned.

Former chairman of the Finance Commission Vijay Kelkar had recently suggested that the Aayog be given financial powers to help address regional imbalances and its vice chairman be made a permanent invitee of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. His view on the need for giving the Aayog some financial powers has been endorsed by the Aayog’s vice chairman.