Planning Commission

Planning Commision was the national planning commission of India. The commission’s original objective was to improve the standard of living of ordinary Indians by more effectively utilizing the country’s material and human resources, increasing productivity, and providing opportunities for all. It is now in charge of reviewing the country’s resources on a regular basis, establishing five-year plans and strategies for implementing them, monitoring the plans’ implementation, and suggesting policy changes as needed. It has been dissolved and has been replaced by Niti Ayog.

History

The Planning Commission was established by a resolution of the Government of India in March 1950 in order to achieve the Government’s stated objectives of promoting a rapid rise in the people’s standard of living through efficient exploitation of the country’s resources, increased production, and providing opportunities for all to work in the community’s service. The Planning Commission was tasked with assessing all of the country’s resources, supplementing those that were insufficient, devising plans for the most efficient and balanced use of resources, and determining priorities. The first Chairman of the Planning Commission was Jawaharlal Nehru.

Organization

The national planning committee had a nominated Deputy Chairman, who had the rank of a full Cabinet Minister, with the Prime Minister as ex officio Chairman. Ex officio members of the Commission were Cabinet Ministers with major ministries, while full-time members were professionals in subjects such as economics, industry, science, and general administration.

Functions

The following are the functions of the Indian Planning Commission, as described in the Government’s 1950 resolution:

• To examine India’s material, capital, and human resources, especially technical professionals, and to look into the possibility of supplementing those resources that are deemed to be lacking in relation to the country’s needs.
• To develop a strategy for the most efficient and balanced use of the country’s resources.
• Define the stages in which the plan should be carried out, based on priority, and propose resource allocations to ensure that each stage is completed on time.
• To identify the variables that are likely to stifle economic growth.
• Determine the conditions that must be developed for the plan’s successful execution given the country’s current socio-political context.

• Determine the type of machinery needed to ensure the proper execution of each stage of the plan in all of its features.
• To evaluate the progress made in the execution of each stage of the plan on a regular basis and to provide recommendations for policy and measure changes that are judged necessary for the plan’s successful implementation.
• To provide required recommendations from time to time regarding those things that are judged necessary for the performance of these functions. These suggestions could be related to present economic conditions, policies, initiatives, or development programmes. They may also be distributed in response to specific issues brought to the commission by the federal or state governments.

Social Media Campaign

The Planning Commission started a large social media campaign to raise awareness of the 12th Five-Year Plan in March 2013. A series of Google+ Hangouts and a Plan Hackathon followed. By September 2013, it had amassed a sizable social media following, with over 100,000 Twitter followers and significant followings on Facebook, YouTube, SlideShare, and Instagram.

Why is Niti Ayog Replaced?

The Planning Commission, which had been established in 1950, was replaced by NITI Aayog by the Indian government. This action was taken to better serve the people’s needs and ambitions. NITI Aayog is a significant evolutionary change in that it serves as the Government of India’s primary platform for bringing the States together in the national interest, fostering cooperative federalism.

Niti Ayog

The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) is the Government of India’s apex public policy think tank and the nodal agency tasked with catalyzing economic development and fostering cooperative federalism by involving the State Governments of India in the economic policy-making process through a bottom-up approach. Its initiatives include the “15-year road map,” “7-year vision, strategy, and action plan,” AMRUT, Digital India, Atal Innovation Mission, Medical Education Reform, agriculture reforms (Model Land Leasing Law, Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act Reforms, Agricultural Marketing and Farmer Friendly Reforms Index for ranking states), Indices Measuring States’ Performance in Health, Education, and Water Management, and others.

The goal is to connect IndiaChain to IndiaStack, the digital infrastructure that underpins the Aadhaar initiative. The NITI Aayog’s blockchain programme will aid farmers by enforcing contracts more quickly, preventing fraudulent transactions, and ensuring that subsidies are distributed efficiently. This project is the first step toward a bigger record-keeping and public-goods distribution system. Due to the statewide lockdown, the NITI Aayog is building a job site to connect employers with workers who have returned to their home states.

Conclusion

A lot of people have criticized the Planning Committee’s role. The one concerning its role as an extra-constitutional body is the most crucial. The NITI Aayog has been working hard to transform India’s development agenda. It requested recommendations for the Accelerated Growth and Inclusion Strategy, Employment Generation, Energy Conservation and Efficiency, Good Governance, and Swachh Bharat from all central ministries. The NITI Aayog’s overarching theme was the shift from central planning to cooperative federalism. To summarize, the NITI Aayog has accomplished ground-breaking work in its first three years, and the nation should expect the Institution to inject new vigour into India’s developmental process in the future.