Its target is to empower states as equal partners in national development -the principle of Cooperative Federalism.
It’s a Think Tank offering domain knowledge as well as strategic expertise to all levels of the government.
Achieve proper Implementation by monitoring progress
It is a bottom-to-top approach.
Members – Structure
Chairman – Prime Minister of India (de-facto)
Governing Council – comprise the Chief Ministers of all states and Lt. Governors of union territories
Regional Councils
Vice-Chairperson – appointed by the PM
Ex-Officio Members – maximum of 4 members of the Union Council of Ministers to be nominated by the PM
Chief Executive Officer – to be appointed by the PM for a fixed tenure, in the rank of Secretary
Full-time Members
Part-time Members – maximum of 2, from leading universities, research organizations
Special Invitees – have experts, specialists from relevant domains
Functions
Cooperative & Competitive Federalism
State governments and local bodies must be made equal partners in the development process
Implementing a genuine and continuing Center-State partnership
Shared National Agenda
A shared vision of national development priorities and strategies
State’s Best Friend at the Centre
It will support states in addressing their own challenges
Help to build capacity on strengths and comparative advantages
Decentralized Planning
Restructure the planning process into a ‘bottom-up model’
Guiding states to further empower local bodies
It will provide specialised inputs in strategic, functional and technical to centre and states
Vision & Scenario Planning
It will design medium and long-term strategic frameworks for the big picture vision of India’s future
Target will be constantly monitored for necessary mid-course re-calibration for evolving trends and addressing the emerging challenge
Domain Strategies
To build a repository of specialized domain expertise, both secretarial and cross-secretarial
This will enable the imbibing of good governance best practices, both national as well as international, regards to structural reforms in the country
Network of Expertise
Include external ideas and expertise into government policies and programmes through a collaborative community of national and international experts
Harmonisation
It will facilitate harmonization across different layers of govt. in overlapping issues
Conflict Resolution
To provide a ‘platform’ for mutual resolution of inter-sectoral, inter-departmental, inter-state as well as centre-state issues
Coordinating interface with the World
It will be the ‘nodal point’ for strategically harnessing global expertise and resources in India’s developmental process
Capacity Building
To enable ‘capacity building’ and ‘technology up-gradation across governments
Monitoring and Evaluation
It will ‘monitor’ the implementation of policies and programmes, and ‘evaluate’ their impact
Guiding Principles
Aayog will be guided by an overall vision of development which is inclusive, equitable and sustainable
It will follow a strategy of empowerment built on human dignity and national self-respect
It will follow a development model which is all round, all pervasive, all inclusive and holistic
Antyodaya
To prioritise service and upliftment of the poor, marginalized and downtrodden
Inclusion
To empower vulnerable and marginalized sections, redressing identity-based inequalities of all kinds—gender, region, religion, caste or class
Village
To integrate our villages into the development process
Demographic Dividend
To harness our greatest asset, the people of India, by focusing on their development
It can be possible through education and skilling, and their empowerment
People’s Participation
To transform the developmental process into a people-driven one, making an awakened and participative citizenry – the driver of good governance
Governance
To nurture an open, transparent, accountable, proactive and purposeful style
Sustainability
Maintain sustainability at the core of our planning and developmental process
Specialized Wings
Research Wing: It will develop in-house sectoral expertise as a dedicated think tank of top-notch domain experts, specialists and scholars
Consultancy Wing: It will provide panels of expertise and funding, for Central and state govt. to match their requirements with solution providers, public and private, national and international
Team India Wing: It will comprise of representatives from every state and ministry and will serve as a permanent platform for national collaboration.
Niyatam
By late 2015-16, Niti initiated the Niyatam under which it plans to engage with the states on 6 issues:
Size of the government
Number of the government departments is to be cut down to a maximum of 20 to enhance administrative efficiency and effectiveness
Rationalizing schemes
The number of states’ schemes and centrally funded are to be rationalized
It aimed at giving states more revenues (14th Finance Commission) to formulate their Budgets in a better way
Monitoring development
States’ development is to be monitored by collecting data on a set of indicators such as education, health, roads, water, electricity, mobile penetration etc.
District Planning
The Aayog also proposes to work on district planning by examining the baseline indicators, strengths and weaknesses of each district
Result Framework Document
Establishing a result framework document at the block level
Legal reforms
Aimed at improving efficiency in government functioning
Laws are to be revamped by repealing old laws
Rationalising and consolidating the rest of the laws and introducing new laws
Action Agenda of NITI Aayog
The work on the three documents has progressed in parallel
Fifteen-Year Vision
Seven Year Strategy
Three-Year Action Agenda
Three-Year Revenue and Expenditure Framework
Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for the Centre is proposed. based on forecasts of revenue
It proposes sector-wise expenditure allocation for three years
Roadmap consisting of sifting additional revenues towards high priority sectors – health, education, agriculture, rural development, defence, railways, roads
Agriculture
Doubling Farmers’ Income by 2022
Reform the agriculture product marketing to ensure farmers’ income
Raise productivity by irrigation, faster seed replacement and precision agriculture (site specific crop management )
Industry and Services – Job Creation
Create Coastal Employment Zones (CEZs) to boost exports and generate high-productivity jobs
Labour-market flexibility through reforming key laws
Action points for specific sectors – Apparel, Leather and Footwear, Electronics, Food processing., Gems and Jewellery, Tourism, Fïnancc and Real Estate
Urban Development
Bring down land prices for affordable housing through increased supply of urban land
Reform the Rent Control Act along the lines of Model Tenancy Act.
Promote dormitory housing
Address issues related to city transportation infrastructure and waste management
Regional strategies
Actions targeted aimed at improving development outcomes in the
North Eastern Region
Coastal Areas and Islands.
North Himalayan states
Desert and Drought prone states
Transport and Digital Connectivity
Strengthen infrastructure in roadways, railways, shipping and ports, inland waterways and civil aviation
Ensure last-mile digital connectivity, particularly for e-governance and financial inclusion, through developing infrastructure, simplifying the payments structure and improving literacy.
Introducing low cost debt instruments and operationalizing the National Investment Infrastructure Fund (NIIF)
Energy
Providing electricity to all households by 2022
LPG connection to all BPL households, elimination of black carbon by 2022
Extension of the city gas distribution programme to 100 smart cities
Coal sector reform by regulator and encouraging commercial mining
Science and Technology
Create comprehensive database of all government schemes and evaluate them
Develop guidelines for PPPs in science and technology to improve education and demand-driven research
Channel science and technology to address development challenges such as access to education, improving agricultural productivity and waste water management
Create a National Science, Technology and Innovation Foundation (NSTIF) to identify and deliberate national issues
Streamline the administration of the patent regime.
Governance
Re-calibrate the role of the govt. by shrinking its involvement in non-public purpose activities and expanding its role in areas that necessarily require public provision
Implement the roadmap on closing loss-making PSEs and strategic disinvestment of 20 identified CPSEs.
Expand the government’s role in public health and quality education
Strengthen the civil services through better human resource management, e-governance, tenures of secretaries and increasing specialization and lateral entry.
Taxation and Regulation
Tackle tax evasion, expand the tax base through reforms
Strengthen public procurement
The Rule of Law
Undertake significant judicial system reforms through use of ICT
Reduced judicial workload
Legislative administrative and operational reforms of police are suggested to the states.
Education and Skill Development
Shift the emphasis on the quality of school education by focusing on foundational learning
Move away from input-based to outcome based assessments.
Revisit the policy of automatic promotion up to eighth grade.
Create a tiered regulation of universities and colleges to provide greater autonomy to top universities under the current system.
Focus on creating and funding public universities under the World Class Universities program.
Health
Focus on public health through more government expenditure on it
Formulate a model policy on human resources for health
Implement a bridge course for nurses AYUSH practitioners in primary care.
Reform Indian Medical Council Act and the acts governing homeopathy and Indian systems of medicine
Launch the National Nutrition Mission; develop a comprehensive Nutrition Information System.
