NITI Aayog (Hindi Word for Policy Commission), National Institution for Transforming India, is a policy think tank of the Government of India, primarily established with the aim to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. NITI Aayog aspired to enhance cooperative federalism by fostering the involvement of State Governments of India  in the economic policy-making process using a bottom-up approach.
NITI Aayog's innovative initiatives include "15 year roadmap", "7-year vision, strategy and action plan", AMRUT, Digital India, Atal Innovation Mission, Medical Education Reform, agriculture reforms (Model Land Leasing Law, Reforms of the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act, Agricultural Marketing and Farmer Friendly Reforms Index for ranking states), Indices Measuring States’ Performance in Health, Education and Water Management, Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Rationalization of Centrally Sponsored Schemes, Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Skill Development, Task Forces on Agriculture and Elimination of Poverty, and Transforming India Lecture Series.
Established in 2015, by the NDA government, NITI AAyog, was to replace the Planning Commission which followed a top-down model. The Prime Minister is the Ex-officio Chairman. The permanent members of the governing council are all the state Chief Ministers, along with the Chief Ministers of Delhi and Puducherry, the Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar, and a vice chairman nominated by the Prime Minister. In addition, temporary members are selected from leading universities and research institutions. These members include a chief executive officer, four ex-official members and two part-time members.

The center-to-state one-way flow of policy, that was the hallmark of the Planning Commission era, is now sought to be replaced by a genuine and continuing partnership of states.

• NITI Aayog = more a “think tank” than a finance distributing agency.


• NITI Aayog will provide Governments at the central and state levels with relevant strategic and technical advice across the spectrum of key elements of the policy.


• With NITI Aayog, there will be a multi-directional flow of policy (from Center to States, from States to Center, between ministries etc.)


• Better inter-ministry coordination.


• NITI Aayog will develop mechanisms to formulate credible plans to the village level and aggregate these progressively at higher levels of government.


• NITI Aayog will create a knowledge, innovation, and entrepreneurial support system through a collaborative community of national and international experts.


• The National Institution for Transforming India will act as a catalyst for the development by a holistic approach.


• NITI Aayog is based on the 7 pillars of effective governance – (1) Pro-People (2) Pro-Activity (3) Participation (4) Empowering (5) Inclusion of all (6) Equality (7) Transparency.


• In NITI Aayog, the state governments has an equal role in nation’s development process and NITI Aayog promises the principle of co-operative federalism.


• NITI Aayog is planned as a think tank institution which stands not only as a hub for knowledge but also for good governance.


• NITI Aayog is a platform for monitoring and implementation of all government policies by bringing together various ministries at the center and state level.


• Priorities of NITI Aayog include upliftment of the poor, marginalized and downtrodden.


• NITI Aayog also aims to empower vulnerable and marginalized sections, redressing identity-based inequalities of all kinds – gender, region, religion, caste or class.

Objectives and Opportunities
NITI Aayog will aim to accomplish the following objectives and opportunities:

• An administration paradigm in which the Government is an “enabler” rather than a “provider of first and last resort.”


• Progress from “food security” to focus on a mix of agricultural production, as well as actual returns that farmers get from their produce.


• Ensure that India is an active player in the debates and deliberations on the global commons.


• Ensure that the economically vibrant middle-class remains engaged, and its potential is fully realized.


• Leverage India’s pool of entrepreneurial, scientific and intellectual human capital.


• Incorporate the significant geo-economic and geo-political strength of the Non-Resident Indian Community.


• Use urbanization as an opportunity to create a wholesome and secure habitat through the use of modern technology.


• Use technology to reduce opacity and potential for misadventures in governance.

Aims
The NITI Aayog aims to enable India to better face complex challenges, through the following:

• Leveraging of India’s demographic dividend, and realization of the potential of youth, men, and women, through education, skill development, elimination of gender bias, and employment.


• Elimination of poverty, and the chance for every Indian to live a life of dignity and self-respect


• Redressal of inequalities based on gender bias, caste, and economic disparities.


• Integrate villages institutionally into the development process.


• Policy support to more than 50 million small businesses, which are a major source of employment creation.


• Safeguarding of our environmental and ecological assets.

Structure and Composition of NITI Aayog

1.Chairperson: Prime Minister of India.
2. Governing Council: Comprising the Chief Ministers of all States and Lt. Governors of Union Territories.
3. Regional Councils: Will be formed to address specific issues and contingencies impacting more than one state or region.

Strategy and Planning in the NITI Aayog will be anchored from State-level. Regional Councils will be convened by the Prime Minister for identified priority domains, put under the joint the leadership of related sub-groups of States (grouped around commonalities which could be geographic, economic, social or otherwise) and Central Ministries.
Regional Councils

• Have specified tenures, with the mandate to evolve a strategy and oversee implementation.


• Be jointly headed by one of the groups Chief Ministers (on a rotational basis or otherwise) and a corresponding Central Minister.


• Include the sectoral Central Ministers and Secretaries concerned, as well as State Ministers and Secretaries. It will be linked to corresponding domain experts and academic institutions.


• Have a dedicated support cell in the NITI Aayog Secretariat.


• States would thus be empowered to drive the national agenda. As a consequence, deliberation would be more grass-roots informed, and recommendations would have more ownership, given their joint formulation.

Special Invitees: experts, specialists, and practitioners with relevant domain knowledge as special invitees nominated by the Prime Minister.

Full-time Organizational Framework:
Prime Minister is the Chairperson and other members include:

1. Vice-Chairperson: to be appointed by the Prime Minister.
2. Members: full-time: specialists with international exposure.
3. Part-time Members: maximum of 2, from leading universities, research organizations and other relevant institutions in an ex officio capacity. Part-time members will be on a rotational basis.
4. Ex-Officio Members: maximum of 4 members of the Union Council of Ministers to be nominated by the Prime Minister.
5. Chief Executive Officer: to be appointed by the Prime Minister for a fixed tenure, in the rank of Secretary to the Government of India.
6. Secretariat: as deemed necessary.

Specialized Wings

1. Research Wing – That will develop in-house sectoral expertise as a dedicated think tank of top domain experts, specialists and scholars.
2. Consultancy Wing – That will provide a marketplace of whetted panels of expertise and funding for Central and State Governments to tap into; matching their requirements with solution providers, public and private, national and international. By playing matchmaker instead of providing the entire service itself, NITI Aayog will be able to focus its resources on priority matters, providing guidance and an overall quality check to the rest.
3. Team India Wing – Comprising representatives from every State and Ministry, will serve as a permanent platform for national collaboration.

Criticism

• Like planning commission, it’s also a non-constitutional body which is not responsible to parliament.


• Dismantled planning commission without consulting the states.


• UTs are represented by Lieutenant Governors, not by chief ministers. This is against the principles of federalism.


• Fund allocation to welfare schemes may get affected. For example, there is a 20 % reduction in gender budgeting.