NITI Aayog should be federally-empowered: TN

Says it should ensure a genuine and continuing partnership with the states

Tamil Nadu today said the newly-created NITI Aayog, set up in place of Planning Commission, should not be a one-way and top-down flow of ideas from the Centre to the States, but should rather ensure a genuine and continuing partnership with the states.

Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam today said a strong Union could emerge only out of strong states, and India's governance structure had to reflect more and more federal features, it said.

Speaking at the first meeting of the Governing Council of the NITI Aayog at New Delhi today, he said the broad objectives and the intent had been expressed in the resolution along with strategies meant for achieving the body's objectives.

Welcoming the decision to include state chief ministers in the Governing Council, Panneerselvam said the Council should not become a ritualistic exercise similar to the previous National Development Council and the inter-state Council.

Among the several steps to be followed for its success, he said, processes and procedures for the chief ministers' Council should be laid down clearly and meetings should be held with adequate notice; agenda papers should be finalised after due consultation and circulated well in advance.

"To make the NITI Aayog a federally-empowered institution with active participation of the states, the views of the states need to be heard at different levels in the hierarchy of the Aayog.

An appropriate arrangement needs to be developed for this purpose," said the chief minister, who also suggested for a blue print with clearly laid down goals and objectives to be achieved within a given timeframe.

The chief minister said the body should address the basic issues confronting the economy and find ways to resolve them. By securing the consensus of both the Centre and the states, the NITI Aayog should create sectorwise Strategic Vision documents, he added.

For several decades now, the Union Planning Commission had been holding annual Plan discussions to finalise the Plan size for each state. With its scrapping, the key question remains whether the plan and non-plan distinction itself would be relevant in the current context.

Speaking on this, Panneerselvam said the continuance of plan and non-plan distinction now appears to be even less relevant. He also raised concern on how the resource flow to states would be in the new system.