Recently the Prime
Minister of India unveiled one of his dream reform agenda, a re-structured
Planning Commission to formulate the
economic policies for the Government of India. The name NITI Aayog, is not entirely
clear, with two components, "NITI" & "Aayog",
where the word NITI has been further expanded as National Institution
for Transforming India. The key constituents of the new commission are at the core of
this change which the Prime Minister emphasises to
include the stakeholders from all over the
country.
In today's
development eminent free market economist Arvind Panagariya, an Indian-born
economics professor at Columbia University in New York, has been appointed as
the first Vice Chairperson of the body.
For the first time,
the Chief Ministers of all the States and the Lieutenant Governors of the Union
Territories have been included in the Governing Council of the body. Further,
there would be region based regional councils
consisting of the Chairperson of the body, the Prime Minister and the Chief
Ministers and Lieutenant Governors of the region.
The earlier model of
the Planning Commission was also headed by the Prime Minister and primarily
managed by the Deputy Chairman and an expert body consisting of Economic
Advisers and a few Union Ministers. The Commission had 31 divisions to look
after different areas of the economy.
There is also a new
role of Chief Executive Officer in the new commission, however, his role is not very clear at this stage,
though we can assume that, he would report to the Governing Council
representing the external experts, representatives from the Union Council of
Ministers and the executive members who'd be appointed by the Prime Minister. Detailed
criteria to become the executive member are awaited. Also, no other member of
parliament has been included in any role of the Commission.
The new Commission is definitely a major leap from the earlier
structure which was in force for almost seven decades. However, it'd be interesting to find out how in
practical life, the Governing Council of all the Chief Ministers agree on a
common path for the entire nation to formulate critical
policies which are meaningful, specific, target oriented and inclusive to all the sections across geographies and demographics. As the
time will tell how successful the change is, the intention is certainly there,
now the determination of all the stakeholders would decide the course of the
nation on the verge of Gen Y growth.
You can read the
original announcement on the formation of NITI Aayog at http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=114268
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