Niti Aayog: less government, more governance?

Government of India has finally gone ahead with its approach of less government, more governance.  The new body is slated to give strategic and technical advice. It will be headed by the PM assisted by a Governing Council of Chief Ministers and Lt. Governors. It is set on the same principles as National Development Council.

• It will undertake a bottom-up approach to planning by supporting planning process at the village level and then bring all the so-designed plans together to formulate a national level policy. It will give shape to the ideal of Cooperative Federalism by giving autonomy to states to make plans according to their own needs and requirements. This is done to acknowledge the great diversity of the nation which is highly important for even development as the requirements of all the states may not be same like Kerela may have entirely different needs than Jharkhand etc. The states will have a say to define their development priorities.
• Another notable drift from the Planning Commission is to address the requirements of national security in economic strategy. This is highly essential in terms of energy security as India lacks a proper energy policy unlike China.
• There is a provision for networking with other national and international experts to add more substance to the advice given NITI Aayog. It is also envisaged that the body will give special care to social sections which have not had a taste of economic progress. While advisory and monitoring functions of Planning Commission have been kept while the executive role of allocation of funds for plan assisted schemes.