Mandate of NITI Aayog

 

• To evolve a shared vision of national development priorities, sectors and strategies with the active involvement of States.

• To foster cooperative federalism through structured support initiatives and mechanisms with the States on a continuous basis, recognizing that strong States make a strong nation.

• To develop mechanisms to formulate credible plans at the village level and aggregate these progressively at higher levels of government.

• To ensure, on areas that are specifically referred to it, that the interests of national security are incorporated in economic strategy and policy.

• To pay special attention to the sections of our society that may be at risk of not benefiting adequately from economic progress.

• To design strategic and long term policy and programme frameworks and initiatives, and monitor their progress and their efficacy. The lessons learnt through monitoring and feedback will be used for making innovative improvements, including necessary mid-course corrections.

• To provide advice and encourage partnerships between key stakeholders and national and international like-minded Think tanks, as well as educational and policy research institutions.

• To create a knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurial support system through a collaborative community of national and international experts, practitioners and other partners.

• To offer a platform for resolution of inter-sectoral and inter­ departmental issues in order to accelerate the implementation of the development agenda.

• To maintain a state-of-the-art Resource Centre, be a repository of research on good governance and best practices in sustainable and equitable development as well as help their dissemination to stake-holders.

• To actively monitor and evaluate the implementation of programmes and initiatives, including the identification of the needed resources so as to strengthen the probability of success and scope of delivery.

• To focus on technology upgradation and capacity building for implementation of programmes and initiatives.

• To undertake other activities as may be necessary in order to further the execution of the national development agenda, and the objectives mentioned above.

 

Features

 

NITI Aayog is developing itself as a State-of-the-art Resource Centre, with the necessary resources, knowledge and skills, that will enable it to act with speed, promote research and innovation, provide strategic policy vision for the government, and deal with contingent issues.

NITI Aayog’s entire gamut of activities can be divided into four main heads:

1. Design Policy & Programme Framework

2. Foster Cooperative Federalism

3. Monitoring & Evaluation

4. Think Tank and Knowledge & Innovation Hub

 

 

The different verticals of NITI provide the requisite coordination and support framework for NITI to carry out its mandate. The list of verticals is as below:

1. Agriculture

2. Health

3. Women & Child Development

4. Governance & Research

5. HRD

6. Skill Development & Employment

7. Rural Development

8. Sustainable Development Goals

9. Energy

10. Managing Urbanization

11. Industry

12. Infrastructure

13. Financial Resources

14. Natural Resources & Environment

15. Science & Tech

16. State Coordination & Decentralized Planning (SC&DP)

17. Social Justice & Empowerment

18. Land & Water Resources

19. Data management & Analysis

20. Public-Private Partnerships

21. Project Appraisal and Management Division (PAMD)

22. Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office

23. National Institute of Labour Economics Research and Development (NILERD)

 

Brief About NITI Aayog

 

National Institution for Transforming India, also known as NITI Aayog, was formed via a resolution of the Union Cabinet on 1 January 2015. It is the premier policy think tank of the Government of India, providing directional and policy inputs. Apart from designing strategic and long-term policies and programmes for the Government of India, NITI Aayog also provides relevant technical advice to the Centre, States, and Union Territories.

 

 The Governing Council of NITI Aayog is chaired by the Hon'ble Prime Minister and comprises Chief Ministers of all the States and Union Territories with legislatures and Lt Governors of other Union Territories. The Governing Council was reconstituted vide a notification dated 19 February 2021 by the Cabinet Secretariat.

 

 The Government of India constituted NITI Aayog to replace the Planning Commission, which had been instituted in 1950. This step was taken to better serve the needs and aspirations of the people. An important evolutionary change, NITI Aayog acts as the quintessential platform of the Government of India to bring the States to act together in national interest, and thereby fosters cooperative federalism.