Introduction
The “Yojna Aayog”
or “Planning Commission” has been replaced by the “National Institution for
Transforming India” or “NITI” for short.
From “Yojana” to “Niti” what is the difference? First and foremost a sharp break from Soviet
inspired National Development (Five Year) Plans to “Niti”, that is “Policy” and
Institutional change for ‘transforming India’. Para three of the cabinet resolution states
that, we “require
institutional reforms in governance and dynamic policy shifts that can seed and
nurture large-scale change.”
Policy And Institutions
“Development” is one of those words that everyone thinks they
understand but means many different things to different people. It covers a
multitude of possibilities as well as a multitude of ideological sins and
special agendas. The cabinet resolution constituting the Niti Aayog approvingly
quotes Mahatma Gandhi “Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always
tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into
a false position”.
The Planning Commission took its first tentative steps towards “policy” 28
years ago, by creating a post of Advisor Development Policy. There was so much resistance,
that the Advisor (yours truly) had to be designated Advisor-Development Policy Research.” Despite decades of effort,
policy solutions always played second fiddle to increasing Plan allocations and
expenditures without any ‘social benefit-cost analysis’ or ‘Macro-economic models’
to back the decisions.[i]
Three other points in the introductory
part of the Cabinet resolution setting up Niti Aayog are noteworthy: First is
the assertion that “our
aspirations have soared and today we seek elimination, rather than alleviation,
of poverty” The second is the
important role given to governance in achieving desirable social outcomes: “The
people of India have great expectations for progress and improvement in
governance, through their participation. They require institutional reforms in
governance and dynamic policy shifts that can seed and nurture large-scale
change (para 3).” Subsequently there
is an indication of how the institutional reforms in governance can be brought
about: “Government and
governance have to be conducted in an environment of total transparency – using
technology to reduce opacity and thereby, the potential for misadventures in
governing(para 6 g).”
An EPW (2002) paper had
raised the issue of corruption & governance and to bring policy-institutional
reform into the development debate, to no avail.[ii] A debate on Poverty elimination, as
against alleviation, was sought to be initiated in 2005-06 through a Planning
Commission paper, but was stymied.[iii]
It is therefore very encouraging that this is an important part of the mandate
of the Niti Aayog.
Third, is the recognition of a changed reality of economy,
society and Government functioning and its implications: “India needs an
administration paradigm in which the government is an “enabler” rather than a
“provider of first and last resort”. The role of the government as a “player”
in the industrial and service sectors has to be reduced. Instead, government
has to focus on enabling legislation, policy making and regulation (para 6a)” Many old style development planners
refused to accept these changes ( even if they paid lip service to it), though
this issue was raised first in 1990s & subsequently in the 2000s.[iv]
A recognition of this reality by the Union cabinet provides a sound basis for
closing the technology gap between India and Advanced countries, that is correlated
with the large income gap between us. The reference to the role of Urbanization
(para 6g) as an aid to technological catch-up, suggests an understanding of the
links between technology gaps and per capita income gaps. This further links to
Welfare gaps through the statement, “Equality of opportunity goes hand in hand with an inclusiveness
agenda(para 8c).” The
open discussion of the global environment and its two way interaction with
India, also displays a degree of self-confidence vis-Ã -vis foreign countries
(para 6c) that bodes well for building a competitive fast growing economy.
Niti Aayog
So what is the specific role of Niti Aayog in this changed
environment: Its primary/central role is to, “Serve as a Think Tank for the Government”..
“to give “strategic and technical advice across the spectrum of key elements of
policy. This includes matters of national and international import on the
economic front, dissemination of best practices from within the country as well
as from other nations, the infusion of new policy ideas and specific
issue-based support.” (para 11). Several of us have argued for a long time, without much
success, that the Old Planning Commission should evolve into a “Think Tank”
with a primary emphasis on policy and institutions, rather than on expenditure
programs and projects. By its bold move to abolish the Yojna Aayog and set up
the Niti Aayog the new Government has set the stage for a wholesale
transformation in this direction. Given the absence of any formal social
benefit-cost analysis of programs and projects and the limited capacity for
appraisal of outcomes, one had also suggested to the Deputy Chairman a decade
ago that the Planning Commission develop a data base of best practices to guide
future decisions. It is hoped that a
full fledged division will be set up in the Niti Aayog to translate this into
reality, with all such information digitally accessible to experts and policy
makers.
Some of the specific objectives of the Niti Aayog are, at the
level of generality of the Cabinet note, not significantly different from those
of the Planning Commission or other organs of Government. However, the
following objectives suggest a greater priority and emphasis on the issues
mentioned in them:
1)
To design strategic and long term policy and programme
frameworks and initiatives, and monitor their progress and their efficacy. The lessons learnt through monitoring and
feedback will be used for making innovative improvements, including necessary
mid-course corrections
2)
To provide advice and encourage partnerships
between key stakeholders and national and international like minded Think
Tanks, as well as educational and policy research institutions
3)
To create a knowledge, innovation and
entrepreneurial support system through a collaborative community of national
and international experts, practitioners and other partners
4)
To maintain a state-of-the-art Resource
Centre, be a repository of research on good governance and best practices in sustainable and equitable development as well as
help their dissemination to stake-holders
5)
To focus on technology up gradation and capacity building for implementation of programs
and initiatives
In the first of these, the emphasis on “lessons learnt” is very important. Experience
confirms a great reluctance to modify or junk programs when they don’t work. Vested
build up and become so strong that it becomes impossible to overcome them.
In the second the
emphasis on interaction with international think tanks and Indian educational
and policy research institutions, though expected from a ‘Think Tank for the
government,’ would be a departure for Indian bureaucracy.
In the third, the emphasis on support systems, rather than funds/subsidies is an important
departure.
The fourth reinforces what was said earlier about good governance and best practices and
suggests that improvement in governance will be seriously pursued to improve
delivery of government social & welfare programs.
In the fifth the recognition of weak capacity and need for “capacity building” for implementation is
critical to success of all new initiatives and many failed/failing old ones.
For instance Urban development won’t work properly, unless we train hundreds of
Urban planners. Similarly, setting up of traditional “Bric and Mortar” educational
institutions (as against e-learning/education) will be quite ineffective unless
we have scores of highly trained professors.
Conclusion
The abolition of the Yojana Aayog and its replacement by the
Niti Aayog, by the new government, is a bold and long overdue initiative.[v] It will help change the emphasis from
Projects and programs to Policy and institutions, from expenditure inputs to
real outcomes through better governance and from political disputation over
Incremental allocations to new challenges and opportunities in a global
environment. The discussion of India in a global context also reminds one of
Gandhi ji’s saying, “Let the windows of my mind be open to winds from across
the World, but let me not be blown away by them.” Like all new institutions, it
will be an extremely challenging job for Niti Aayog to fulfill its high
objectives.
--------------------------------
A version of this article appeared on the OpEd
page of The Hindu of 18th January 2015, under the banner,” The New
Name of Planning”: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/niti-aayog-the-new-name-of-planning/article6799483.ece
[i]
When I first arrived at the Planning Commission I was shocked to find no sign
of “Social Cost-Benefit analysis” (as against Economic appraisal/cost-benefit
analysis), the original justification & Sina-Qua-non of “Project appraisal”.
The “models” that were sometimes said to be used in Planning Commission were of
US undergraduate level. In 2000s we did
commission 3-4 Indian think tanks to build macro/CGE models suitable for policy
analysis, but these were quite separate from five year or annual expenditure
allocations, which were done by traditional methods.
[ii]
Arvind
Virmani, “A New Development Paradigm: Employment, Entitlement and Empowerment,”
Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XXXVII No. 22, June 1-7, 2002, pp. 2145-2154. https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxkcmFydmluZHZpcm1hbml8Z3g6MjQ4ODc3YWI2ZDcxZmE5NQ
.
[iii]
Arvind Virmani, “Poverty And Hunger In India:
What is needed To Eliminate Them,” Working Paper No. 1/2006-PC, Planning Commission, February 2006.
[iv] Arvind Virmani, “Size
and Role of Government: Quality vs. Quantity of Intervention”, Indian Economic
Journal, Vol. 37, No. 4, April-June 1990;
and Virmani(2002) op cit
[v]
See, http://dravirmani.blogspot.in/2014/08/bharatiya-vikas-niti-sansthan-bvns.html
for more on what will happen to planning and what “Niti Ayog” may do in future.
