While prime minister Narendra Modi was always a votary of cooperative federalism, the first two meetings of the Niti Aayog have made it evident he is clear about his model. The idea of having structured mechanism for interaction based on specific issues and relative strengths of states is a good idea, as is the plan to have regional councils addressing state-specific or region-specific problems impacting more than one state or a region—this is in sharp contrast to the earlier centralised one-size-fits-all approach of the Planning Commission. As against the current practice of the centrally-sponsored schemes being handled by the central government ministries and departments, under the NITI Aayog model, one of the three sub-groups of chief ministers will study the 66 such schemes in existence now, and recommend how many of them should continue, which ones should be transferred to the states, and which ones should be cut down. The second sub-group will suggest how NITI Aayog can promote skill development and create skilled manpower within states—so far, this was something handled predominantly by the Centre. The third sub-group will ensure commitment to Swachh Bharat.
All of this suggests that the replacement of a top-down approach by a bottom-up approach will now be possible, for the first time in policy-making. The immediate challenge, however, for the NITI Aayog is to marry the 12th five-year plan goals with the new thought process since finance minister Arun Jaitley has made it clear that the government is not chucking the plan for now, as was being sought by many, and the scheduled mid-year review would continue. The Niti Aayog will now get a few years more to make the shift from the current five year plan model to a perspective plan framework—one with active participation of the states. If Niti Aayog is to answer its critics, who argue that abolishing the Planning Commission is one of the big mistakes the Modi government has made, it needs this time.
