NITI Aayog: a revolutionary idea or an old wine in a new bottle?

NITI AAYOG - a MODIfied planning commission

Snapshot:

"Times have changed since the Planning Commission was created"

-Mr. Narendra Modi

Planning Commission was established by Nehruji in early 1950’s for development of the country. It was a symbol of Nehruvian Socialism and did its work at the best level by formulating 12 five year plans. However, except some initial plans, especially post ‘97 era, none of the plans achieved its target completely. Former Prime Minister of India Shri Rajiv Gandhi famously commented that Planning Commission is a “bunch of jokers”. It signified the decreasing relevance of planning commission. Finally, after 25 years, on 15th august 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the abolishment of Planning Commission.

The Next Chapter:

Now as the era of planning commission has come to an end, it’s become important that how we begin the next chapter. It’s important not to repeat the mistakes. Experience confirms a great reluctance to modify or reject programmes when they don’t work. In the second, the emphasis on interaction with international think tanks and Indian educational and policy research institutions, though expected from a think tank for the government, would be a departure for the Indian bureaucracy. In the third, the emphasis on support systems rather than funds/subsidies is an important departure. The fourth reinforces what was said earlier about good governance and best practices and suggests that improvement in governance will be seriously pursued to improve the delivery of government social and welfare programmes. In the fifth, the recognition of weak capacity and need for “capacity building” for implementation is critical to the success of all new initiatives and many old ones.

The abolition of the Yojana Aayog and its replacement by Niti Aayog by the new government is a bold and long overdue initiative. It will help change the emphasis from projects and programmes to policy and institutions, from expenditure inputs to real outcomes through better governance and from political disputation over incremental allocations to new challenges and opportunities in a global environment. The discussion of India in a global context also reminds one of Gandhiji’s sayings:

“Let the windows of my mind be open to winds from across the world, but let me not be blown away by them.”

Like all new institutions, it will be a challenging job for NITI Aayog to fulfil its high objectives. Now only time will let us know that whether the idea of NITI Aayog is a revolutionary one or just an-old-wine-in-a-new-bottle one.