PM To Chair Niti Aayog, Also Have a CEO

The Prime Minister will be the chairman of the Newly formed Niti Aayog, replacing the 65-year-old Planning Commission, with a CEO to run its day to day affairs.

The new body will have a governing council comprising all Chief Ministers and Lt Governors. Arvind Panagariya, Professor of Economics at Columbia University, is tipped to be the first vice-chairman of the Aayog. The vice-chairman will be nominated by the Prime Minister. It will have full-time and part-time members.

Regional Councils will be formed to address specific issues and contingencies impacting more than one state or a region. These will be formed for a specified tenure. The Regional Councils will be convened by the Prime Minister and will comprise the Chief Ministers of states and Lt Governors of Union Territories in the region. These will be chaired by the chairperson of the NITI Aayog or his nominee.

According to a Cabinet resolution, under which the NITI Aayog has been set up, the body will provide the government relevant strategic and technical advice on key policy matters.

This includes matters of national and international importance on the economic front, dissemination of best practices from within the country as well as from other nations, the infusion of new policy ideas and specific issue-based support.

The decision comes months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that it will be replaced by a new body. According to the resolution, an important evolutionary change from the past will be replacing a centre-to-state one-way flow of policy by a genuine and continuing partnership with the states.

The Aayog will work towards evolving a shared vision of national development priorities, sectors and strategies with the active involvement of states in the light of national objectives.

The body will provide the government relevant strategic and technical advice on key policy matters.  It includes matters of national and international importance on the economic front, dissemination of best practices from within the country as well as from other nations, the infusion of new policy ideas and specific issue-based support.