Empower NITI Aayog

It's yet to evolve as an authoritative voice in policy making

While Arvind Panagariya has stepped down after two-and-a-half years as the vice-chairman of the National Institute for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, to resume his academic career at Columbia University, the body that replaced the Planning Commission is still to establish itself as an authoritative voice in policy-making. The institution, considerably leaner than the sprawling 65-year-old organisation that it replaced, has certainly been active in dispensing sensible advice — Air India’s privatisation, modifying land lease laws, listing public sector units for closure and disinvestment being some of the more prominent ones. While these do not amount to a transformational agenda, the