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Question 16 of 27 · Planning in India & NITI Aayog
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NITI Aayog, which replaced the Planning Commission, is a:

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Answer: Option B — Non-constitutional and non-statutory body

Detailed Solution

NITI Aayog was set up on 1 January 2015 by a resolution of the Union Cabinet. It is neither created by the Constitution nor by an Act of Parliament, so it is an extra-constitutional and non-statutory body.

Full form:

  • NITI stands for the National Institution for Transforming India.
  • "Aayog" means commission.

Why it was set up:

  • It replaced the Planning Commission, which had been set up in 1950 and prepared the Five Year Plans.
  • The government felt that a new body was needed to suit a market-based economy and to promote cooperative federalism.

Composition:

  • Chairperson: the Prime Minister.
  • Vice-Chairperson: appointed by the Prime Minister, with the rank of a Cabinet Minister.
  • Full-time members, part-time members and ex officio members (Union ministers).
  • Chief Executive Officer: appointed by the Prime Minister, with the rank of Secretary to the Government of India.
  • Governing Council: all Chief Ministers and the administrators of Union territories, along with others.
  • Regional Councils: formed to deal with specific regional issues.

Functions:

  • To act as a think tank of the government, giving strategic and technical advice.
  • To promote cooperative federalism through structured support to states.
  • To prepare long-term strategy documents, such as vision and action plans, instead of Five Year Plans.
  • To monitor and evaluate the implementation of programmes.
  • To publish indices such as the SDG India Index, the School Education Quality Index and the Composite Water Management Index.
  • To run the Atal Innovation Mission to promote innovation and entrepreneurship.

Differences from the Planning Commission:

  • NITI Aayog has no power to allocate funds to ministries or states.
  • It follows a "bottom-up" approach instead of "top-down" planning.

First Vice-Chairperson:

Arvind Panagariya was the first Vice-Chairperson of NITI Aayog.

Why not the other options?

  • ✗It is not created by the Constitution or by an Act, and it has no judicial functions.

Quick tip

Remember: NITI Aayog = 1 January 2015, by Cabinet resolution; extra-constitutional and non-statutory; PM is Chairperson.

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Planning in India & NITI Aayog — Preparation

This question tests your understanding of Planning in India & NITI Aayog, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.

This topic covers economic planning in India: the Planning Commission and the twelve Five-Year Plans, their models, targets and achievements, the plan holidays, the National Development Council, and NITI Aayog, which replaced the Planning Commission in 2015. Exams test the focus of each plan: the First Plan focused on agriculture, the Second Plan was based on the Mahalanobis model and focused on heavy industry, and the Eleventh Plan aimed at 'faster and more inclusive growth'. Other questions ask who chairs NITI Aayog (the Prime Minister) and when the Planning Commission was set up (1950). Practise the planning in India questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.

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