NITI Aayog at 10 has been an instrument of cooperative federalism but has not replaced the planning function. With reference to its Governing Council and the Aspirational Districts Programme, examine.

Introduction:

NITI Aayog replaced the Planning Commission on 1 January 2015 by a Union Cabinet resolution as a non-statutory, non-constitutional think-tank with the Prime Minister as Chair and Chief Ministers in the Governing Council; at ten, it has advanced cooperative federalism but has not replaced the planning function.

Governance architecture: The Governing Council anchors federal coordination; the Three Year Action Agenda (2017) and Strategy for New India @ 75 are flagship documents; sectoral verticals, the CEO and a network of resource institutions drive operations, with the 2nd ARC's Fifteenth Report having recommended an institutional replacement for the Planning Commission.

Cooperative federalism instruments: The Aspirational Districts Programme launched 5 January 2018 covering 112 districts, the Aspirational Blocks Programme of January 2023 covering 500 blocks, the SDG India Index (since 2018), the Health Index (Kerala-led for 2021-22) and the Composite Water Management Index institutionalise State-level data, competition and convergence.

Gaps: NITI Aayog has no resource-allocation power (transferred to the Finance Ministry); attendance at the Governing Council has thinned, with several Chief Ministers boycotting the 9th meeting on 27 July 2024; and the absence of an Article 263 statutory base weakens its standing alongside the GST Council and Inter-State Council.

Way forward / Conclusion:

A statutory NITI Aayog under Article 263 with binding minimum standards for index data, clear resource-coordination with the Finance Commission, and concurrent-list mandate areas would consolidate the cooperative-federalism gains of the first decade.