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What to Study: Remember the date of the 2014 decision to scrap the Planning Commission and the date on which NITI Aayog was set up. What does NITI stand for? Also remember how long the Planning Commission had existed when it was replaced.
What to Study: How was NITI Aayog created? Understand why this makes it neither a constitutional nor a statutory body, and what each of these two terms means. Is its legal basis the same as that of the Planning Commission?
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 2019
What to Study: Understand NITI Aayog's role as the government's policy think tank and the kind of advice it gives to the Centre and States. How does its approach differ from the Planning Commission era in the flow of policy, the style of working (command and control or collaboration) and the direction of thinking (top-down or bottom-up)?
What to Study: What reason did the government give for replacing the Planning Commission? Understand the changes India went through over six decades (political, economic, social, technological and demographic) and how the government's role changed. Also understand what it means for NITI to be a catalyst for development beyond the public sector.
What to Study: On which three foundations is NITI Aayog meant to be built? Remember each one in terms of the role of States, knowledge and best practices, and a platform for implementation.
What to Study: Who called the Planning Commission redundant, and what reasons did he give (command economy, diverse States, one-size-fits-all planning)? Understand what the "Bharatiya approach" to development means, and why no single model can simply be copied from outside.
What to Study: Who chairs NITI Aayog? Who sit on its Governing Council today? Be clear about the Chief Ministers, the Vice-Chairperson, and the full-time and ex-officio members. Also be clear about how Union Territories with legislatures are treated differently from the other Union Territories.
What to Study: Why are Regional Councils formed, and for how long? Who convenes them, who chairs them and who are their members? Also remember who the special invitees are and who nominates them.
What to Study: Who appoints the Vice-Chairperson and the Chief Executive Officer? Remember the rank each of them holds, and what kind of tenure the Chief Executive Officer has.
What to Study: What rank do full-time members hold? Where do part-time members come from, how many can there be, and how do they serve? Who can be ex-officio members, how many, and who nominates them? How is the size of the Secretariat decided?
What to Study: Remember the first six objectives: a shared vision with States, cooperative federalism, plans from village level, national security, sections of society at risk, and long-term frameworks with mid-course corrections. Understand how village-level plans build upward. On which areas does the national security objective apply?
What to Study: Remember the remaining objectives in outline: partnerships with think tanks, a support system for innovation and entrepreneurship, a platform for inter-sectoral issues, a resource centre, monitoring and evaluation, technology and capacity building, and a closing objective for other necessary activities.
What to Study: What work does each of the two hubs carry out? Understand how the Team India Hub differs from the Knowledge and Innovation Hub.
What to Study: Under which four heads can NITI Aayog's functions be grouped? Remember them.
What to Study: Understand why NITI Aayog works through sectoral verticals and cells. Remember a few notable ones, such as the Aspirational Districts Programme Cell, Sustainable Development Goals, Public-Private Partnership, State Finances and Coordination, and Governing Council Secretariat and Coordination.
What to Study: What are the seven principles that guide NITI Aayog? Understand "Antyodaya" and whose idea it is. Also understand what the move from outlay to output to outcome means under the principle of Governance.
What to Study: Remember the seven pillars of effective governance on which NITI Aayog is based. Understand its core mission: what kind of input it gives to development, and what role it plays for new ideas.
What to Study: How does NITI Aayog serve cooperative federalism? Understand the idea that strong States make a strong nation, what "Team India" means, and how NITI supports States and Union Territories on a continuing basis.
What to Study: Remember the steps NITI Aayog has taken to foster cooperative federalism. These include meetings of the Prime Minister with Chief Ministers, subgroups of Chief Ministers, the Aspirational Districts Programme, model laws on land leasing and agricultural marketing, and area-specific work for the North-East, the Himalayan States and islands.
What to Study: What kind of partnership is the DSSS, and what is it meant to support? What does SATH stand for? Remember both as programmes through which NITI Aayog works with States.
What to Study: How does NITI Aayog promote competitive federalism? Understand the use of transparent rankings, measurable criteria and indicator frameworks built with stakeholders, and the support given to States to improve. How does competitive federalism differ from cooperative federalism?
What to Study: Which indices does NITI Aayog release? Remember the main ones, covering school education, health, water management, sustainable development goals, innovation, exports, the fiscal health of States and multidimensional poverty. What are delta rankings, and which districts do they cover?
What to Study: Remember NILERD's status under NITI Aayog, its former name, and when it was renamed. Under which law and in which year was the earlier institute set up? What are its main objectives, and how is it funded?
What to Study: From which two earlier bodies was the DMEO formed? Remember the year each was set up, why the second was created, and the year the DMEO began. Remember which of the DMEO and NILERD is the attached office and which is the autonomous body.
What to Study: What is the DMEO's position among monitoring and evaluation bodies in the country? Remember its two-part mandate and its advisory role for States. What were its regional offices, how many were there, and what happened to them?
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 2002UPSC 2013
What to Study: When and how was the Planning Commission set up, and on whose recommendation? Remember the year and chairman of that earlier Advisory Planning Board. Understand why the Commission was neither constitutional nor statutory, and what its place in planning was.
What to Study: What were the seven functions of the Planning Commission? Remember them in outline, from assessing the country's resources to making recommendations.
What to Study: Was the Planning Commission an executive body? Understand what "staff agency" means here, and who was responsible for taking and carrying out decisions.
What to Study: Who was the chairman of the Planning Commission, and who was its de facto executive head? Remember the other kinds of members. Were States represented in it? Compare this with the Governing Council of NITI Aayog.
What to Study: How did a body meant only to advise come to be seen as a powerful, directive authority? Remember the labels critics gave it.
What to Study: Remember what each of these three said about the Planning Commission's dominant role. What reputation did the First ARC say it had earned? What did K. Santhanam say planning had done to the federal system? What overlap did P.V. Rajamannar point out, and in which office was he speaking?
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 1995UPSC 2013
What to Study: When and how was the National Development Council (NDC) set up, and on what recommendation? Understand why it is neither a constitutional nor a statutory body.
What to Study: When did the NDC last meet, and what did that meeting approve? What was reported in 2016 about transferring its powers to NITI Aayog's Governing Council, and was this ever formalised?
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 2002UPSC 2013
What to Study: Who are the members of the NDC? Remember the five categories of members, and the year from which all Union Cabinet Ministers became members.
What to Study: What four objectives was the NDC set up to achieve? Understand them in relation to the Plan, the States and balanced development across the country.
What to Study: What are the six functions of the NDC? Be clear about how its role differs from that of the Planning Commission in relation to the national Plan.