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5 things that differentiate NITI Aayog from Planning Commission

January 07, 2015 07:41 IST

State governments are expected to play a more significant role

Recently, the decades-old Yojana Bhavan wore a new look and feel, and the corridors of the five-storeyed building were painted afresh.

The body occupying the building, the Planning Commission, had been restructured and renamed the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog.

Even as the employees of the erstwhile Planning Commission face teething troubles, with no clearly defined function or role, Business Standard takes a look at five key counts on which the new body differs from the Planning Commission of India.

Parameter        NITI Aayog Planning Commission
Financial clout       To be an advisory body, or a think-tank. The powers to allocate funds might be vested in the finance ministry 
Enjoyed the powers to allocate funds to ministries and state governments
Full-time members        The number of full-time members could be fewer than Planning Commission The last Commission had eight full-time members
States' role        State governments are expected to play a more significant role than they did in the Planning Commission States' role was limited to the National Development Council and annual interaction during Plan meetings
Member secretary        To be known at the CEO and to be appointed by the prime minister Secretaries or member secretaries were appointment through the usual process
Part-time members        To have a number of part-time members, depending on the need from time to time Full Planning Commission had no provision for part-time members
Sanjeeb Mukherjee in New Delhi
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