Neeti Aayog: Modi to meet CMs

Taking forward the concept of Team India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet chief ministers twice on Sunday to formalise the contours of the new body that will replace the Planning Commission.

Officials said the prime minister would first meet the chief ministers, along with their officials, in the morning. A separate session will follow, in which Modi would meet only the chief ministers.

The meetings are part of the government effort to build a broad consensus on the shape of the new body that will replace the commission.

"Letters are being dispatched to the chief ministers inviting them for the crucial meeting," a senior official said.

The new body - likely to be called Neeti Aayog - is expected to comprise the office of Direct Benefit Transfer, Unique Identification Authority of India, the inter-state councils and Programme Evaluation. Each of the four departments will be headed by a secretary-level officer.

Modi, in his maiden Independence Day speech, had announced the winding up of the five-decade old Planning Commission, replacing it with a new body. The government held a series of meetings with experts and analysts on its shape.

In between, the role and functions of the commission was gradually reduced. Its financial might was clipped through a recent circular which directed all major ministries and departments to furnish their Plan Budget estimates for 2015-16 directly to it.