NITI Aayog flags judicial, governance reforms

Governing council meets on Monday to discuss three-year strategy

The NITI Aayog is likely to advocate a radical shift in judicial, police and bureaucratic systems at its governing council meeting at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday. 

The proposal is part of a three-year strategic paper the Aayog has prepared in place of the scrapped five-year Plans.

If implemented, this could open the door for outsourcing some tasks done by these institutions and facilitate lateral entry of talent in top positions. 

The idea, mooted by the Aayog, is likely to be shared with chief ministers at the meeting to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Officials said a chapter in the document was devoted to governance and administrative reforms and it touched upon judicial reforms, an area the erstwhile Planning Commission steered clear of.

The Aayog is also likely to dwell on the state of the economy with a focus on agriculture, industry and services, and the job creation potential in each one of them.

The strategic paper, according to officials, is divided into seven chapters with the first one focusing on sector-wise revenue and expenditure for the next three years.

There could also be discussion on regional development, both rural and urban, with a separate strategy for the development of the Northeastern states, coastal parts of the country, islands and drought-prone areas. Growth enablers like the digital economy, public-private partnership, energy, science and technology, and innovation and ecosystems may be part of the strategic paper.

Social sectors such as health, education, sustainability and the environment may figure in the document. Agriculture reforms along with land leasing laws and supply of key inputs needed to double farmers’ incomes may be part of the governing council deliberations.

The strategic paper was the central government’s vision for the entire country that it would like to implement in three years starting from 2017-18, officials said.

The governing council of NITI Aayog, which is meeting for the third time since its inception in 2015, comprises the prime minister as chairman and senior cabinet ministers and chief ministers of all the 29 states as its members. The council is expected to deliberate on a vision of a new India over the next three years and on a wider 15-year timeframe. Chief ministers of all 29 states and two Union Territories that have legislative assemblies, Delhi and Puducherry, have been invited.