NITI Aayog formally begins its business without a vision or an action plan.
WITH THE end of the 12th Five Year Plan on March 31, India’s 65-year tryst with five year economic development planning has come to an end. In 2014, when the National Democratic Alliance government scrapped the Planning Commission and replaced it with the National Institute of Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, it announced that the five-year plan, a top-down planning process, would be replaced with a vision document, which will bring states to act together in national interest, and thereby foster cooperative federalism. But on April 1, when officials reach the newly-painted and renamed office building of NITI Aayog in Lutyens’ Delhi, they would be clueless about the task at hand.
“We are neither aware of the timeline of the vision document nor its contents and when it will come into force,” says a NITI Aayog member who does not wish to be named. While some NITI Aayog officials tell Down To Earth that the vision document would provide a three-year strategy, others speculate that it would cover a period of seven or 10 years.
Former Planning Commission members, who agree with the government’s decision of doing away with the institution, are critical of this void in the planning process. “Development plans need to be formulated with long-term vision. But no document available in the public domain offers a sense of that vision,” says B K Chaturvedi, former cabinet secretary, who was instrumental in formulating the Twelfth Five Year Plan.
Denne historien er fra April 01, 2017-utgaven av Down To Earth.
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Denne historien er fra April 01, 2017-utgaven av Down To Earth.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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A SPRIG TO CARE FOR
Punarnava, a perennial herb, is easy to grow and has huge health benefits
DIGGING A DISASTER
Soapstone mining near Dabti Vijaypur village has caused many residents to migrate.
REVIEW THE TREATMENT
Several faecal sludge treatment plants in Uttar Pradesh suffer from design flaws that make the treatment process both expensive and inefficient
MAKE STEEL SUSTAINABLE
As India works to double its GDP by 2030, its steel industry must balance growth with sustainability. By embracing policies like the Steel Scrap Recycling Policy 2019 and adopting green technologies, India is paving the way for a more sustainable future in steel production
Can ANRF pull off the impossible for India?
Anusandhan National Research Foundation is expected to reorient India's innovation goals but funding issues, old mindsets remain a drag
TROUBLED WOODS
Forests are a great bulwark against climate change. But this is fast changing. AKSHIT SANGOMLA travels through some of the pristine patches of the Western Ghats to explore how natural disturbances triggered by global warming now threaten the forest health
BLINDING GLOW
The science is clear: increased illumination has damaging consequences for the health of humans, animals and plants. It’s time governments introduced policies to protect the natural darkness and improved the quality of outdoor lighting.
GROUND REALITY
What happens when the soil loses the ability to grow healthy, high-yield crops on its own?
GM POLICY MUST BE FARMER CENTRIC
On July 23, the Supreme Court of India directed the Union government to develop a national policy on genetically modified (GM) crops for research, cultivation, trade and commerce through public consultation.
Vinchurni's Gandhi
A 96-year-old farmer transforms barren land into a thriving forest in drought-prone region of Satara
