NITI Aayog v/s Planning Commission

It has been 4 months since NITI Aayog has come into place. But still many Indians are not clear about the need and use of this new body.  I am just trying to build a difference between the two bodies.

Earlier we had Planning Commission which made five years plans and all the states of India worked accordingly. There was no involvement of states in making of plans for themselves. They formulate a plan for the most effective and balanced utilization of country’s resources. They define the stages, on the basis of priority, in which the plan should be carried out and propose the allocation of resources for the due completion of each stage. They determine the conditions which need to be established for the successful execution of the plan within the incumbent socio-political situation of the country.

NITI Aayog is known to be a policy think-tank of Government of India which has replaced Planning Commission and aims to involve the states in economic policy-making in India. Hence is the basic difference between the two bodies. Moreover, it is adopting bottom-up approach rather than traditional top-down approach as in Planning Commission. NITI includes leaders of India’s 29 states and seven union territories. Hence, I think this will help to get the views of all states which will include highly developed states and also under and developing states. Hence, the plans may work out to be more effective for all the states.

The NITI Aayog is also seeking to put an end to slow and tardy implementation of policy, by fostering better Inter-Ministry coordination and better Centre-State coordination. It will help evolve a shared vision of national development priorities, and foster cooperative federalism, recognizing that strong states make a strong Nation.

Change is an important element for development. Today’s world is a fruit of changes that happened in past.

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