Niti Aayog work hit by budget cut
Sources said that the Niti Aayog's budgetary allocation has been considerably reduced over the years.
New Delhi: A limited budget of Rs 250 crore in this fiscal seems to be adversely impacting Niti Aayog’s effectiveness as a top notch policy-making body, which has been involved in some major initiatives of the NDA regime like promotion of digital payments, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and Self Employment and Talent Utilisation (SETU).
Sources said that the Niti Aayog’s budgetary allocation has been considerably reduced over the years.
Highly-placed sources said that unlike its predecessor, the Planning Commission which allotted funds to states, the Niti Aayog has no such mandate.
They added that Niti Aayog has been funding the aforementioned initiatives like AIM and SETU through central sector schemes and being the premier think tank of the Centre, it has been giving directional as well as policy inputs to it.
However its officials have had to do a lot of explanation work before a high profile Parliamentary panel on finance, which in its recent report has raised questions about Niti Aayog’s effectiveness as a think tank.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance which is headed by Congress MP M, Veerappa Moily, has said that though various initiatives, especially AIM and SETU, have been launched by the Niti Aayog with much fanfare, the concrete outcome expected from them seems to be missing and they look more like works in progress.
Simultaneously, the panel has asked the think tank to focus more on a result-oriented approach.
As its budgetary allocation is quite less, the think tank should not be involved in any central scheme, as that should be the work of the administrative ministry concerned, the panel has noted in the report.
Niti Aayog, it has suggested, should be given greater clarity and vision in its assigned role and functions.
The think tank, the panel recommended, should focus more on resolving inter-state issues and conflicts between communities like water disputes.
The Parliamentary panel is not quite sure whether Niti Aayog has the required wherewithal and expertise as well as manpower to handle wide range of subjects like it is currently doing.
It, therefore, has recommended that the think tank’s set-up should be suitably streamlined. The Parliamentary panel has also sought from the Aayog details of the outcomes achieved by it in the aforementioned programmes and specific interventions it has made in them along with the expenses incurred.