NITI Aayog doing wonderful work in many areas: Saraswat

NITI Aayog member V K Saraswat Saturday defended the policy think tank amid calls by some opposition parties to close it, and said it is a "great institution" and has been doing "wonderful work" in many areas since its inception in 2014.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi had Friday tweeted that if voted to power, his party would scrap the NITI Aayog.

"These are election times. You cannot debate on such issues," Saraswat told reporters on the sidelines of an event at Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India.

The former head of Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) said, "NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog is a great institution and has done some wonderful work in areas of economy, health, innovation, artificial intelligence, energy and many others since its inception in late 2014."
Gandhi had Friday tweeted, "If voted to power, we will scrap the NITI Aayog. It has served no purpose other than making marketing presentations for the PM & fudging data. We will replace it with a lean Planning Commission whose members will be renowned economists & experts with less than 100 staff."