- India
- Apr 25
Govt reconstitutes NITI Aayog
• The government has reconstituted the NITI Aayog, appointing Ashok Kumar Lahiri as vice chairman and five full-time members.
The new full-time members are:
1) K.V. Raju - Economist
2) M. Srinivas - Director of AIIMS, Delhi
3) Abhay Karandikar - Secretary, Department of Science and Technology
4) Gobardhan Das - Scientist
5) Rajiv Gauba - Former Cabinet Secretary.
• The Prime Minister is the chairman of the NITI Aayog.
Who is Ashok Kumar Lahiri?
• Lahiri, currently a BJP MLA in West Bengal, is former Chief Economic Advisor to the government of India and a member of the 15th Finance Commission.
• He has served multiple important roles across the policy spectrum.
• He had stints with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as a consultant and senior economist, respectively.
• He is an alumnus of Delhi School of Economics and Presidency University.
What is NITI Aayog?
• National Institution for Transforming India, better known as NITI Aayog, was formed via a resolution of the Union Cabinet on January 1, 2015.
• The government constituted NITI Aayog to replace the Planning Commission, which had been instituted in 1950.
• NITI Aayog acts as the quintessential platform of the government of India to bring the states to act together in national interest, and thereby fosters cooperative federalism.
• It is the premier policy think tank of the government of India, providing directional and policy inputs. Apart from designing long-term policies and programmes for the government of India, NITI Aayog also provides relevant strategic and technical advice to the Centre, states, and Union Territories.
• NITI Aayog is developing itself as a state-of-the-art resource centre with the necessary knowledge and skills that will enable it to act with speed, promote research and innovation, provide strategic policy vision for the government, and deal with contingent issues.
Team NITI Aayog
• The Prime Minister is the chairperson of NITI Aayog. The vice chairperson is appointed by the Prime Minister. Currently, there are five full-time members. Union ministers are nominated by the Prime Minister as Ex-officio members. Special Invitees are also nominated to NITI Aayog.
• Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is appointed by the Prime Minister for a fixed tenure, in the rank of secretary to the government of India.
NITI Aayog’s entire gamut of activities can be divided into four main heads:
i) Policy and Programme Framework
ii) Cooperative Federalism
iii) Monitoring and Evaluation
iv) Think Tank, and Knowledge and Innovation Hub.
• NITI Aayog plays an integrative role — with the active involvement of states, the civil society, and other think tanks — in development of a shared vision of national priorities and strategies in critical areas of human and economic development.
Governing Council of NITI Aayog
• The Governing Council of NITI Aayog, comprising Chief Ministers of all states and Union Territories with legislatures and Lt Governors of other Union Territories, came into effect on February 16, 2015.
• The Governing Council is chaired by the Prime Minister.
• It also includes ex-officio members and special invitees.
• It is the premier body tasked with evolving a shared vision of national priorities and strategies, with the active involvement of states, in shaping the development narrative.
• The Governing Council, which embodies the objectives of cooperative federalism, presents a platform to discuss inter-sectoral, inter-departmental and federal issues to accelerate the implementation of the national development agenda.