Index NITI AAYOG ANNUAL REPORT

Transcription

1 NITI AAYOG ANNUAL REPORT The National Institution for Transformation of India or NITI Aayog has been created to serve as the think tank of the Government of India. The Prime Minister of India serves as the Chair of the institution. The institution plays a leadership role in policymaking in the central government, works closely with state governments, serves as a knowledge hub and monitors progress in the implementation of policies and programmes of the Government of India. The institution provides the central and state governments with relevant strategic and technical advice across the spectrum on key policy elements. These include matters of national and international importance on the economic front, dissemination of best practices from within the country and from other nations, the infusion of new policy ideas and specific issue-based support. Hereby, providing the gist of NITI Aayog. It will help in analyzing its functioning in a better way. 1. About NITI Aayog Index 2. Offices attached to the NITI Aayog 3. Steps for establishing cooperative federalism 4. NITI AAYOG proposed Three Year Action Agenda 5. Critical analysis of NITI Aayog functioning 1

2 NITI AAYOG ANNUAL REPORT About NITI Aayog As the premier policy 'Think Tank' of the Government of India, NITI Aayog aims to evolve a shared vision of national development with the active involvement of States. Through consultative and other mechanisms, it endeavours to inform of the best practices developed in one or more states or in other parts of the world to all states for possible adoption. It fosters cooperative federalism through structured support and policy guidance to the states on a continuous basis. NITI Aayog's entire gamut of activities is divided into two main hubs - Team India Hub and Knowledge and Innovation Hub. The two hubs are at the core of NITI's efficient functioning. Team India Hub carries out the mandate of fostering 'Cooperative Federalism' and 'Designing Policy and Programme Frameworks'. It provides requisite coordination and support framework to NITI Aayog in its engagement with the States. Knowledge & Innovation Hub ensures fulfilling the mandate of maintaining a State-of-the-Art Resource Centre; to be a repository of research of good governance and best practices and their dissemination to stakeholders; and to provide advice and encourage partnerships across key stakeholders including colleges, universities, think tanks and non-governmental organizations at home and abroad. The institution designs strategic and long-term policy and programme frameworks and initiatives and monitors their progress and their efficacy regularly. It uses the lessons learnt from monitoring and feedback to make innovative improvements, including necessary mid-course corrections. The Aayog publishes policy research papers on contemporary issues, brings out books on best practices, prepares model laws to help states reform their policies and organizes workshops and conferences. For providing directional and policy inputs it serves as a repository of research on good governance and helps disseminate this research to stakeholders. Offices attached to the NITI Aayog The Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO) has been constituted on 18th September, 2015 by merging the erstwhile Programme Evaluation Organization (PEO) and the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) and notified as an attached office under the aegis of NITI Aayog for fulfilling the mandate of evaluation and monitoring assigned to NITI Aayog. The Government of India established the National Institute of Labour Economics Research and Development (NILERD) in It is a Central Autonomous Organization attached to NITI Aayog, Ministry of Planning. NITI Aayog Vice Chairman, Dr. Arvind Panagariya serves as the President of its General Council, CEO, Shri Amitabh Kant is the Chairperson of the Executive Council and Adviser Dr.YogeshSuri has been given additional charge as the Director General of NILERD. The primary objectives of this Institution are research, data collection, and education and training in all aspects of Human Capital Planning and Human Resource Development. Steps for establishing cooperative federalism NITI Aayog has been constituted to actualize the important goal of cooperative federalism and to enable good governance in India, to build strong states that will make a strong nation. In a truly federal state, several objectives that ought to be achieved may carry political ramifications throughout the country. 2

3 It is impossible for any federal government to achieve the national objectives without active cooperation from state governments. It is, therefore, crucial that the Centre and State governments work together as equals. Two key aspects of Cooperative Federalism are: (i) Joint development of the National Development Agenda by the Centre and the States, (ii) Advocacy of State perspectives with Central Ministries. In keeping with this, NITI Aayog has been mandated the task of evolving a shared vision of national development priorities, sectors and strategies with the active involvement of States. NITI Aayog ought also to help states develop mechanisms to formulate credible plans at the village level and aggregate these progressively at higher levels of government. The aim is to progress from a stage when the Centre decided development policies to a truly federal government wherein States are equal stakeholders in the planning process. NITI in has undertaken several crucial initiatives to ensure that States are equal partners in the policy making and implementing process. This section will discuss in detail each of the initiatives: 1. Reforms in Agriculture a. Model Land Leasing Law Taking note of increasing incidents of leasing in and out of land and suboptimal use of land with lesser number of cultivators, NITI Aayog has formulated a Model Agricultural Land Leasing Act, 2016 to both recognize the rights of the tenant and safeguard interest of landowners. A dedicated cell for land reforms was also set up in NITI. Based on the model act, Madhya Pradesh has enacted separate land leasing law and Uttar Pradesh has modified their land leasing laws. Some States, including Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, are already at an advance stage of formulating legislations to enact their land leasing laws for agriculture. The salient features of the Act are: The lease agreement between the land owner and cultivator will include information pertaining to: (i) the location and area of leased out land, (ii) the duration of lease, (iii) the lease amount and the due date by which it has to be paid, and (iv) terms and conditions for the renewal or extension of lease. The lease period and lease amount will be based on a mutual agreement between the land owner and cultivator. The Act talks about "automatic resumption of land after the agreed lease period without requiring any minimum area of land to be left with the tenant even after termination of tenancy. It has give recognition and legitimacy to all land tenants, including share croppers, hence they will be able to access insurance bank credit and bank credit against pledging of expected output". The cultivator and the owner can settle disputes between them using third party mediation, or gram panchayat, or gram sabha. If the dispute cannot be settled by third party mediation, either the landowner or the cultivator can file a petition before the Tahsildar, or an equal rank revenue officer. He will have to adjudicate the dispute within four weeks. In such cases, an appeal can also be made to the collector or district magistrate. 3

4 State governments will constitute a special Land Tribunal, which will be the final authority to adjudicate disputes under the model Act. It will be headed by a retired high court or district court judge. No civil courts will have jurisdiction over disputes under the model Act. b. Reforms of the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act A status note on the implementation of agriculture market reforms by Indian States was prepared by NITI Aayog for circulation among States on three critical reforms - (i) (ii) Agricultural marketing reforms Felling and transit laws for tree produce grown at private land (iii) Agricultural land leasing Three crucial reforms pertaining to marketing in agriculture have been recommended by NITI Aayog with a focus on liberalising markets, de-notification of fruits and vegetables, and creation of IT enabled national market. The new proposed act would likely to remove the concept of notified market or mandi area which will enable farmers to sell their produce to highest bidder. The entire state would likely to be treated as one market for promotion of contract farming. At present states such as Punjab and Haryana levy 14% taxes, including VAT, mandis taxes etc on the grain purchased from the farmers which drives away private procurers of the commodity. c. Agricultural Marketing and Farmer Friendly Reforms Index NITI Aayog has developed the first ever 'Agriculture Marketing and Farmer Friendly Reforms Index' to sensitise states about the need to undertake reforms in the three key areas of Agriculture Market Reforms, Land Lease Reforms and Forestry on Private Land (Felling and Transit of Trees). The index carries a score with a minimum value "0" implying no reforms and maximum value "100" implying complete reforms in the selected areas. States and UTs have been ranked in terms of the score of the index. The indicators aim to reveal the position of each State with respect to ease of doing agri-business, opportunities for farmers to benefit from modern trade & commerce, and options for sale of her/ his produce. They also represent competitiveness, efficiency and transparency in agriculture markets. As per NITI Aayog's index, Maharashtra ranks highest in implementation of various agricultural reforms. The State has implemented most of the marketing reforms and offers the best environment for undertaking agri-business among all the States and UTs. Gujarat ranks second with a score of out of 100, closely followed by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Almost two third States have not been able to reach even the halfway mark of reforms score, in the year Major States like U.P., Punjab, West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and J&K are part of this group. The index, therefore, aims to induce a healthy competition between States and percolate best practices in implementing farmer-friendly reforms. 2. Indices Measuring States' Performance in Health, Education and Water Management The institution is establishing an outcome based monitoring framework in the critical economic and social development sectors of Healthcare, Education and Water. The primary objective of this framework is to determine the implementation of crucial policy by States through a review of their performance with respect to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in each of these sectors. Each State will be requested to submit their respective KPI datasets for review and validation of the given inputs by NITI. 4

5 a. Performance on Health Outcomes Index A 'Performance on Health Outcomes' index to assess the quality of healthcare services provided by the States has been spearheaded by NITI Aayog, along with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The index aims to nudge States towards transformative action in the Health sector. NITI has also developed guidelines for the exercise indicating features of the index, measures and methods of data. This index, and guidelines for its use, has been formulated with technical inputs from domestic and international experts in health and economics, including academicians and development partners, seeking feedback from States through multiple iterations and pre-testing the indicators in two States prior to its finalization. The index will capture the annual incremental improvements by States, rather than focus on historical achievements of each State. This initiative is envisioned to bring about much-required improvements in social sector outcomes, which have not kept pace with the economic growth in this country. It will be used to propel action in the States to improve health outcomes and improve data collection systems. Monitorable indicators that form a part of the Sustainable Development Goal in Health have been included in order to align these initiatives. The index will also aid in the monitoring of health performance at the State level, thereby enabling transparency in the system. b. School Education Quality Index for Improving Learning Outcomes Measurement NITI Aayog, in partnership with the Ministry of Human Resource Development, has conceptualized and designed the School Education Quality Index (SEQI). SEQI is a composite index that will report annual improvements of States on key domains of education quality. The larger vision of the index is to shift the focus of States towards outcomes, provide objective benchmarks for continuous annual improvements and encourage state-led innovations to improve quality. Currently 60 per cent of the SEQI score is based on learning outcomes. Therefore, the availability of high quality learning data is critical. NITI has devised a survey to generate the required data for SEQI with the following features: Representation of all children (government, private and out of school children) Generating a reliable score at Primary, Upper-primary and Secondary grades Calculating percentage of children with basic literacy and numeracy competencies in early grades Recording performance of marginalized sections (SCs/STs) and compare them with the general category Compares previous cycles (Cycle 3/ Cycle 4) of National Achievement Survey NITI Aayog plans to host a technical meeting with experts and organisations to discuss key questions related to assessment design and operations. The expected outcome is to generate an outline of the assessment system that could either be operationalised through the existing measurement exercises (for e.g., National Achievement Survey by NCERT) or measured independently. 5

6 c. Water Management Index In view of the criticality of sustainable management of water resources for India, NITI Aayog is developing a Composite Water Management Index, with pro-active engagement of States and Union Territories. The Index is being developed in consultation with the concerned Central Ministries/Departments, the States and other stakeholders. For this purpose, a set of 33 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) covering irrigation status, drinking water and other water-related sectors have been identified. Critical areas such as source augmentation, major and medium irrigation, watershed development, participatory irrigation practices, sustainable on-farm water use practices, rural drinking water, urban water supply and sanitation, flood management, and policy & governance have been accorded high priority. 3. Capacity Building of Urban Local Bodies The Government of India has initiated urban rejuvenation missions - Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Smart City with the objective of improving availability of basic urban infrastructure in order to improve quality of life of citizens. However, as widely recognized, one of the key limitations in realizing the vision of urban transformation is the capacity constraints of urban local bodies to implement the program. NITI Aayog under its Memorandum of Understanding with Singapore Cooperation Enterprise launched a capacity building programme called the 'Urban Management Programme' with the objective of building capacities of Urban Local Bodies, parastatal bodies and State government officials. The programme covered seven States, namely Tamil Nadu Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, UP, Delhi and Assam. The three critical areas of that the programme covered are: (i) (ii) Urban planning and governance Water, waste water and solid waste management (iii) Public-Private financing (PPP) 4. A Compendium of Best Practices from Our States Cooperative federalism is not just Centre-state cooperation, but also state-state cooperation where there is competition among the state governments in terms of their economic growth. To enable such healthy competition, convergence of best practices amongst the states is imperative. As a premier think-tank of the Government, NITI is developing a state-of-the-art resource centre that will be a repository of research on good governance and best practices of sustainable and equitable development. This compendium on best practices across States is additive to the compilation. By virtue of the sheer size of the Indian subcontinent, the GDP of some states in India far exceeds the GDP of some of the countries in the world. However, for India to achieve a sustainable growth rate of over 9 per cent, most States need to grow at per cent. And one of the enabling factors in this effort is the ability to replicate innovative approaches and best project strategies that some States have successfully implemented. It is remarkable that modern implementation processes, cutting-edge technology, effective Research & Development and efforts at decentralized monitoring, among others, in several States often go unnoticed. This compendium exhaustively lists out some these best practices. NITI Aayog will periodically update this compilation to showcase the best case studies among States. A bottom-up approach has been adopted even in developing the compendium, where States' representatives were contacted to identify best practices of the model project examples within their States. Each contact 6

7 person responsible for the implementation of the project has been identified in the case study. A team of over 60 members, comprising of Senior Officials, Advisers, Officers on Special Duty, Research Officers, and Young Professionals identified and vetted the case studies with the most compelling prospects in other States. NITI Aayog is consistently monitoring the adoption and implementation of projects across States. The intention of promoting learning across sectors and divisions will strengthen cooperative federalism and augment decentralization. This will contribute in evolving a shared vision of national development priorities with the active involvement of States, in light of the national objectives. 5. An Action Plan for Revitalising Sports in India India is the second most populous nation in the world and has the lowest rank in terms of medals per capita. It is disappointing that a country that has world-class talent in various disciplines has not been able to produce champions in the area of sports. Compared to previous years, 2016 witnessed large participation in Olympics. However, India has been able to bag only two medals. Our performance in Olympics over the past 60 years has shown limited improvement in terms of medals won, peaking only in the London 2012 Olympics. This had been achieved on account of increased investment towards constructing sporting facilities, owing to the recent international events such as Common Wealth Games. However, the country still does not harbour a conducive environment for sports to hone the talent of Indian sportspersons, and bring them at par with their global counterparts. Efforts need to be undertaken at every level, right from the household, neighbourhood to schools, regional academies, states and national level. These efforts need to be aimed at radically increasing the level of sporting activities, filling the gaps in the system and monitoring for lags. In this context, NITI Aayog formulated a 20-point action plan highlighting some key areas for improvement. These action points have been divided to a short-term vision (4 to 8 years) and medium to long-term vision (8 to 15 years). The action points identify initiatives to be taken in order to achieve a target of 50 medals in the 2024 Summer Olympics. The action plan has been divided into short term and long term initiatives. These are: Prioritise 10 sports and develop an outcome oriented action plan for each of these sports similar to countries like Kenya and Jamaica participate in only two Olympics sports but have managed to get a medal tally of 100 and 78 respectively. The 10 priority sports should be ones with high winning potential, as well as those in which India has won medals in the past. There is a need for scouting natural sports talent from inaccessible tribal, rural and coastal areas of the country and nurturing it to excel. With the funding being very low at Rs 12,000 per annum, it has demanded that rigorous efforts be made to increase the pool of financial resources for these players to attract more people from remote areas. It has recommended for hiring more national and international coaches per sport and putting in place a "well-defined and transparent selection criteria". It has also suggested implementing a sports injury insurance scheme which should be open to all categories of sportspersons and provide them with life time insurance between the ages of 5 to 35 years in addition to providing families compensation, in case of loss of life. Niti Aayog has also called for strengthening and scaling up of the 56 existing Sports Authority of India (SAI) training centres. It has also demanded that a grievance redressal system be put in place so that children, and in particular girls, do not encounter abuse. 7

8 It has recommended for creation of more sports academies. These academies should provide a platform for sub-junior, junior and senior players to get expert guidance on all aspects related to their physical and psychological training under one roof," it said. It has recommended heavy investments in marketing and advertising tournaments, encouraging movie stars to endorse sports leagues in priority sports, allowing private companies or PSUs to acquire naming rights and making leagues more spectator friendly Niti Aayog has also spoken extensively in favour of encouraging development of sports infrastructure through private or public private partnership mode (PPP). 6. Steps in field of Health, Nutrition, Women & Child Development While India has made rapid strides on Health and Nutrition outcomes over the last decade; the outcomes have not kept pace with the level of economic development over the same period. Major achievements of the vertical in are as follows: 1. Tracking the performance of district hospitals: It was decided that an online portal for tracking the performance of government hospitals based on outcome metrics be created and NITI was mandated to create the framework. In order to undertake this exercise, consultations with stakeholders such as the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, State Governments and WHO have taken place. The draft framework has been designed to carry out a holistic assessment of hospitals. It includes selected indicators based on which performance of district hospitals would be measured. 2. Developing model concession agreements for the provision of prevention and treatment services for non-communicable diseases at the district level on PPP mode: NITI Aayog has been mandated to develop model concession agreements for the provision of prevention and treatment services for Non- Communicable diseases namely Cardiac Sciences, Oncology, and Pulmonary Sciences at the district level on PPP mode. As part of the exercise, consultation with stakeholders such as Industry, MoHFW and States have been carried out. Working Groups comprising representation from Industry, MoHFW and States have been constituted to provide inputs on developing the model concession agreements 3. National nutrition strategy: The National Nutrition Strategy for States/ Districts was drafted by NITI Aayog in consultation with M/o WCD and M/o H&FW. The strategy has been finalised. 4. Revamp of Matratva Sehyog Yojana (MSY): The Government of India has decided to universalise the Matritva Sahyog Yojana and rename it as MA_NAVJAT. It has been decided that the financial assistance of Rs will now be provided in three instalments. NITI Aayog has been given the mandate to monitor the scheme every three months for an initial period of two years. In addition, a detailed evaluation will be undertaken six months post the roll-out, examining the need for mid-course corrections, if any. NITI AAYOG proposed Three Year Action Agenda NITI Aayog has circulated the draft "Three Year Action Agenda" to its governing council (which comprises all chief ministers) for review. The Three-Year Action Agenda covers the last years of the Fourteenth Finance Commission I.E. The period from to , This three-year action plan will be part of a seven-year strategy paper and a fifteen-year vision document (spanning to ), which are in progress. The agenda includes some 300 specific action points which is outlined in seven parts covering multiple facets of the Indian economy. 8

9 Benefits of three year agenda over five year plans The tree year action agenda has replaced the five year plans - an economic approach adopted by PM Nehru - which became history when the 12th Plan, the last of the Five-Year Plans, came to an end on March 31. The benefits are: In a country as big and diverse as India, centralized planning could not work beyond a point due to its one-size-fits-all approach. Thus it was time to come out of the legacy of five-year plans which are reminiscent of centrally planned economies like the Soviet Union and Romania. The cycle of five year plan and the term of government are not synchronous. With the three year cycle, government is held more accountable for its action on the plan. By making this three-year action plan a part of a seven-year strategy paper and a 15-year vision document, government can focus on short-term goals which can be changed from time to time in a dynamic environment with eyes firmly stuck on the long-term policy objectives. They will also be aligned with the finance commission recommendations as the finances would be provided through the finance commissions. Selected Key Action Agenda Items a) Three Year Revenue and Expenditure Framework: A tentative medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) for the Centre is proposed. Based on forecasts of revenue, it proposes sector-wise expenditure allocation for three years. Proposes reduction of the fiscal deficit to 3% of the GDP by , and the revenue deficit to 0.9% of the GDP by The roadmap consisting of shifting additional revenues towards high priority sectors: health, education, agriculture, rural development, defence, railways, roads and other categories of capital expenditure. b) Agriculture: Doubling Farmers' Incomes by 2022 Reform the Agricultural Produce Marketing to ensure that farmers receive remunerative prices. Raise productivity through enhanced irrigation, faster seed replacement and precision agriculture. Shift to high value commodities: horticulture, animal husbandry, fisheries. c) Industry and Services: Job Creation Overarching Action Points Create Coastal Employment Zones to boost exports and generate high-productivity jobs. Enhance labour-market flexibility through reforming key laws Address the high and rising share of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) in India's banks through supporting the auction of larger assets to private asset reconstruction companies (ARCs), and strengthening the State Bank of India-led ARC. Action points for specific sectors I. Apparel II. Leather and footwear 9

10 III. IV. Electronics Food processing V. Gems and jewelry VI. Tourism VII. Finance VIII.Real estate. d) Urban Development Need to bring down land prices to make housing affordable through increased supply of urban land I. More flexible conversion rules from one use to another II. III. IV. Release of land held by sick units Release of other urban land potentially available More generous Floor Space Index. Reform the Rent Control Act along the lines of Model Tenancy Act; Initiate titles of urban property Promote dormitory housing Address issues related to city transportation infrastructure and waste management. e) Regional strategies Actions targeted aimed at improving development outcomes in the (i) North Eastern Region, (ii) Coastal Areas & Islands, (iii) North Himalayan states and (iv) Desert and Drought prone states. f) Transport and Digital Connectivity Strengthen infrastructure in roadways, railways, shipping & ports, inland waterways and civil aviation. Ensure last-mile digital connectivity, particularly for e-governance and financial inclusion, through developing infrastructure, simplifying the payments structure and improving literacy. Facilitate Public-Private Partnerships.by reorienting the role of the India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd. (IIFCL), introducing low cost debt instruments and operationalizing the National Investment Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). g) Energy Adopt consumer friendly measures such as provision of electricity to all households by 2022, LPG connection to all BPL households, elimination of black carbon by 2022, and extension of the city gas distribution programme to 100 smart cities. Reduce the cross-subsidy in the power sector to ensure competitive supply of electricity to industry. Reform the coal sector by setting up a regulator, encouraging commercial mining and improving labour productivity. 10

11 h) Science & Technology Create comprehensive database of all government schemes and evaluate them for desirable changes Develop guidelines for PPPs in S&T to improve education and industry-academia linkages for demanddriven research Channel S&T to address development challenges such as access to education, improving agricultural productivity and wastewater management. Create a "National Science, Technology & Innovation Foundation" to identify and deliberate national issues, recommend priority interventions in S&T and prepare frameworks for their implementation Streamline the administration of the patent regime i) Governance Re-calibrate the role of the government by shrinking its involvement in activities that do not serve a public purpose and expanding its role in areas that necessarily require public provision Implement the roadmap on closing select loss-making PSEs and strategic disinvestment of 20 identified CPSEs. Expand the government's role in public health and quality education. Strengthen the civil services through better human resource management, e-governance, addressing anomalies in tenures of secretaries and increasing specialization and lateral entry. j) Taxation and Regulation Tackle tax evasion, expand the tax base and simplify the tax system through reforms. For example, consolidate existing custom duty rates to a unified rate. Create an institutional mechanism for promoting competition through comprehensive review and reform of government regulations across all sectors. Strengthen public procurement k) The Rule of Law Undertake significant judicial system reforms including increased ICT use, structured performance evaluation and reduced judicial workload. Legislative, administrative and operational reforms of police are suggested to the states. l) Education and Skill Development Shift the emphasis on the quality of school education paying particular attention to foundational learning Move away from input-based to outcome-based assessments Rank outcomes across jurisdictions Use ICT judiciously to align teaching to the student's level and pace Revisit the policy of automatic promotion up to eighth grade Create a tiered regulation of universities and college to provide greater autonomy to top universities under the current system. 11

12 Focus on creating and funding public universities under the World Class Universities program. m) Health Focus on public health through significantly increasing government expenditure on it, establishing a focal point and creating a dedicated cadre. Generate and disseminate periodic, district-level data as per uniform protocols. Formulate a model policy on human resources for health, implement a bridge course for nurses/ AYUSH practitioners in primary care. Reform IMC Act and the acts governing homeopathy and Indian systems of medicine Launch the National Nutrition Mission; develop a comprehensive Nutrition Information System. n) Building an Inclusive Society Enhance the welfare of women, children, youth, minorities, SC, ST, OBCs, differently abled persons and senior citizens. Develop a composite gender-based index to reflect the status of women in the country. Introduce skill-based education and extra-curricular activities as a mandatory part of school curricula; design innovative conditional cash transfer schemes to encourage girls' education. o) Environment and Water Resources Adopt sustainable practices and streamline regulatory structures to support high economic growth. Adopt measures to tackle city air pollution Revisit the policy towards felling of trees on private land and transport of trees Critical analysis of NITI Aayog functioning During the last two-and-a-half years, NITI Aayog has worked on several agendas, such as the promotion of digital payments, reforms in agriculture, education and railways, helping states undertake social sector reforms. While all these issues were important, and the suggestions made by NITI Aayog critical, it appears that the institution's agenda and priorities are being set by government diktat rather than an organic, independent thought process. NITI Aayog has recently released a draft three-year action agenda, which is part of a 15-year vision and seven-year strategy document. Other documents have not been released in the public domain as yet. The action agenda covers a wide range of issues, including the fiscal framework, agriculture, industry, services, transport, digital connectivity, public private partnership, energy, science, technology, governance, taxation, competition, environment, forests and water. Such a wide-ranging approach is not what one would expect when dealing with imminent challenges. For example, while covering pertinent issues and providing important recommendations such as "Price Deficiency Payment" to remove distortions in the existing minimum support price mechanism in the farm sector, there is limited clarity on how, by whom, and the timelines within which such suggestions would be implemented. The recommendations have no common binding theme, and there's an absence of prioritization. Rather than a document infusing fresh thinking, the action agenda appears more like a document collating several policy-related recommendations provided by experts and government-formulated committees over the years. It puts limited or negligible focus on implementation challenges, bureaucratic reforms and 12

13 government-citizen interaction, which is core to several good ideas remaining on paper and being left unimplemented. But to ensure that it doesn't meet the same fate of the five year plans (targets which remain on paper), NK Singh has recommended the following measures: Firstly, In the case of five year plans, Parliament gave little time in analyzing the broader issues of the five-year plans. Thus we should constitute a separate parliamentary committee on planning, which could meaningfully engage with the NITI Aayog's policy prescriptions. Secondly, for fostering cooperative federalism in true spirit we should create state level bodies on the line of NITI Aayog to ensure that the state-level policies are in sync with the "Three Year Action Agenda". Also rather than focusing on policy-level recommendations, NITI Aayog would have done better had it dealt with implementation-related challenges. A clear action agenda on how policies should be implemented, the creation of a feedback loop, taking into account changes on the ground, and fixing accountability of babus, would have been welcome. In addition, it should have focused on process reforms. Then only NITI Aayog will seek to provide a critical directional and strategic input into the development process. 13