Fate of planning process still undecided: NITI Aayog CEO

With the abolition of Planning Commission, the fate of planning process of the country is yet to be decided by the governing council of NITI Aayog, an official of the newly-formed body said today.

"It is not decided finally either by the government or the governing council of NITI Aayog whether the planning process will continue to stay," NITI Aayog CEO Sindhushree Khullar told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.

The current 12th Five-Year Plan would continue till 2017.

"Part of the resolution creating NITI Aayog" said that it would do strategic planning, look at medium and long-term policy issues in the key sectors of the economy, she said.

Khullar said that the important difference with the Planning Comission was that in NITI Aayog, the stakeholders would be the state governments and the top-down approach would cease to operate.

The states would give their suggestions to the governing council of NITI Aayog and the policies would be tailor-made to suit the needs of states, Khullar said.

Regarding mid-term appraisal of the 12th Plan, she said official level drafting was going on after which it would go to the full body of NITI Aayog.

The entire 12th plan would run its course, Khullar said.

Unlike Five Year Plans in the past, there would no allocation of funds by NITI Aayog. "Instead, the funds will be allocated by the finance ministry", Khullar said.

The key sectors broadly defined were health, education, nutrition, sanitation and irrigation among others.