Planning Commission renamed 'Neeti Ayog'

Move comes months after PM announced PlanCom will be replaced by a new body

The Planning Commission, established in 1950, will now be called 'Neeti Ayog' in its new avatar, months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that it will replaced by a new body.

The decision comes nearly three weeks after Modi held consultations with chief ministers at a meeting where most favoured restructuring of the socialist-era body but some Congress Chief Ministers opposed disbanding of the existing set-up.

Modi had announced in his Independence Day speech that the Planning Commission would be replaced by a new body which is in sync with the contemporary economic world.

While addressing the Chief Ministers on December 7, he had invoked former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had said on April 30 last year that the current structure has "no futuristic vision in the post-reform period".

He had pushed for an effective structure which strengthens "cooperative federalism" and the concept of "Team India".

There were indications that the new structure will have the Prime Minister, some Cabinet ministers and chief ministers along with technocrats and experts in various fields.