It has been almost a year since the NDA government rejigged the Planning Commission into Niti Aayog, yet what exactly is its role vis-à-vis the states, is still not clear as the think-tank no more plays any role in whetting their annual plans, a significant process for which the state governments had been approaching the erstwhile plan panel since the past 60 years.
Mindful of the confusion which the reincarnated entity has created in the structure of cooperative federalism, which forms the basis of the Indian republic, the Niti Aayog has called a high-level meeting with chief secretaries of all the states on November 30 in the national capital, where it will seek to clear the air regarding its role as the government’s think-tank and what part the states will play with it in the policy-planning process.
According to highly-placed sources, the interaction will be chaired by the Aayog’s vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya and the states’ representatives will be given the opportunity to clear all their queries related to it.
Having been redesigned on the pattern that the states need not depend on a body like the Planning Commission while finalising their own annual plans, and that they should be empowered to take their own decisions, sources aware of the development said that the proposed interaction clearly indicates that the Niti Aayog is now having second thoughts on whether how successful this arrangement would be in future.
As the erstwhile Planning Commission used to act as a guide to states on issues like how they can alter their annual plans as per their requirements and accordingly the Centre used to grant them funds for implementing various schemes, the states are now feeling a void as the Niti Aayog is no longer playing that role.
The Niti Aayog came into being on January 1, 2015, right towards the fag end of the financial year 2014-15. As the current financial year (2015-16) commenced from April 1, 2015, there was confusion among states as to what kind of annual plans they should have. The finance ministry has been providing states with inputs regarding this, but sources pointed out that it is too much of a burden on North Block officials to help states with their annual plans.
