Provision: NITI Aayog is a premier policy ‘Think Tank’ of the government of India, which provides directional and policy inputs.

NITI Aayog: Its Origin

• Announcement: The Government of India announced on 14th August 2014 that a new body will be created to replace the erstwhile Planning Commission.
• Creation: Thus, on 1st January 2015, the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog was created by an executive resolution.
• Status: Hence, the NITI Aayog is a non-constitutional and non-statutory body that provides long-term policies and programmes for the Indian government.

NITI Aayog: Its Composition

• Prime Minister of India (Chairperson);
• Governing Council: It includes Chief Ministers of all the States and Lt. Governors of Union Territories in India.
• Regional Councils: It includes the Chief Ministers of States and Lt. Governors of Union Territories. These will be chaired by the Chairperson of the NITI Aayog or his nominee.
• Special invitees: It includes eminent experts, and specialists with relevant domain knowledge, which will be nominated by the Prime Minister.
• The full-time organizational Members:
  • Vice-Chairperson (appointed by the Prime Minister);
  • Full-time Members: They enjoy the rank of Minister of State;
  • Part-time members: Maximum of 2 members from leading universities, research organizations, and other relevant organizations in an ex-officio capacity. They will serve on a rotational basis.
• Ex Officio members: Maximum of 4 members of the Union Council of Ministers (nominated by the Prime Minister);
• Chief Executive Officer: The CEO will be appointed by the Prime Minister for a fixed tenure and will be in the rank of Secretary to the Government of India.

NITI Aayog: Its Significance 

• Collaborative Policy Suggestions: NITI Aayog accommodates diverse points of view through a collaborative method instead of a confrontationist method.
• Bottom-up Approach: It works in a ‘bottom-up’ approach rather than the previous ‘top-down’ approach.
• Cooperative Federalism: It empowers states as equal stakeholders in national development, thus furthering the principle of cooperative federalism.
• Expert Guidance: It is made up of experts who offer knowledge and suggestions at all levels of the government.
• Innovation Ecosystem Boost: NITI Aayog’s programme such as Atal Innovation Mission have helped improve the innovation ecosystem in the country.

NITI Aayog: Its Criticism

• Advisory Body: NITI Aayog acts as an advisory body in policy-making without ensuring the enforceability of its ideas.
• Discretionary Funding: It does not have powers to grant discretionary funds to states, making it toothless to undertake a transformational intervention.
• Combating Inequality: It has been unable to combat inequality which has continued to grow in Indian society.
• Lack of Powers: It has been given the status of a glorified recommendatory body which does not have the power to bring positive change in the government’s actions.

NITI Aayog: Its Famous Initiatives 

• Aspirational District Programme
  • Launched in 2018, the Aspirational District Programme aims to transform districts that have shown relatively lesser progress in key social areas. 
  • There are 112 inspirational districts across the country that are affected by poor socio-economic indicators.
  • Initially, the programme focuses on the strength of each district, identifying low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement and measuring progress by ranking districts on a monthly basis.
  • Aspirational districts are encouraged to first catch up with the best district within their state and subsequently motivated to become one of the best in the country, by competing with and learning from others in the spirit of competitive & cooperative federalism.
• IndiaChain
  • IndiaChain is a blockchain network that is promoted by NITI Aayog for public data, which will be the largest blockchain network in the country.
  • Blockchain for public data will cut down on fraud, accelerate contract execution, improve transaction transparency, and promote the agricultural economy in the country.
  • Once operational, India could become the first among major economies to create a national network of blockchains to power the government.
• India Innovation Index
  • India Innovation Index has been developed as an extensive framework for the continual evaluation of India’s innovation environment.
  • The index seeks to rank states and UTs based on their scores, recognize opportunities and challenges, and assist in tailoring government policies to foster innovation.
• SATH-E Project
  • ‘Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital’ is a programme of the NITI Aayog to initiate transformation in the education and health sectors.
  • The programme will identify and build three future ‘role model’ states for health systems, which includes designing a robust roadmap of intervention, developing a program governance structure, setting up monitoring and tracking mechanisms, hand-holding state institutions through the execution stage, and providing support on a range of institutional measures. 
• SDG India Index
  • The index gauges the progress of States and UTs on the expansive nature of the Goals, including health, education, gender, economic growth, institutions, climate change, and environment.
  • The scores of states/UT range between 0–100, and if a State/UT achieves a score of 100, it signifies it has achieved the 2030 targets. 
• Atal Innovation Mission:
  • NITI Aayog initiated the programme to strengthen the country’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem by creating institutions and programs that boost innovation in schools, colleges, and entrepreneurs in general.
  • Atal Tinkering Labs will be established in schools where students can design and make small prototypes to solve challenges they see around them, using rapid prototyping technologies.
  • Atal Incubation Centres will help startups expand quicker and enable innovation-entrepreneurship, in core sectors such as manufacturing, transport, energy, education, agriculture, water, sanitation, etc.
• Good Governance Index
  • Good Governance Index provides a framework to assess the State of Governance across the States and UTs which enables ranking of States/Districts. 

Way Forward

• Resource Allocation: NITI Aayog must be equipped with adequate resources so that it can bring effective change in society.
• Accountability: NITI Aayog can be made legally accountable to the legislature for its inability to meet the targets.