NITI Aayog's success will depend on quality of people in it

One of the more far reaching and refreshing decisions of the Modi government has been the scrapping of the old Planning Commission - a totally fossilised institution, and replacing it with the new NITI Aayog; the contours of which have just come into the public domain. The old Planning Commission may have been relevant up to the '70s and '80s, when the limited resources available at the nation's command had to be deployed in a manner to ensure equitable growth across all regions and states. This centralised planning body started losing its relevance as soon as the private sector started to come of age to become an engine of growth after we dispensed with the licence-permit-quota raj in 1991.

This nominated body, based on the socialist Soviet model, was created by an executive order rather than by an Act of Parliament. It assumed huge importance because it had the powers to allocate resources to the states, a function which should normally have been part of the finance ministry. Chief ministers were frequently seen lining up outside the deputy chairman's office with begging bowls in hand. The entire process was based on the belief that some favoured retired bureaucrats of the government of the day and some so-called experts sitting in air conditioned offices of the Yojana Bhavan knew more about the state's growth requirements than the elected representatives of the people. It enjoyed huge discretionary powers, and in many cases, used these at the behest of its political masters to benefit the states which were ruled by their party.

The Planning Commission functioned on the presumption that a single model of development suited all states despite their vastly diverse and divergent socio-economic conditions and development needs. Further, it was used as a tool to promote strict fiscal control by the Centre at the cost of the state's autonomy - a vital aspect of federalism.

India has moved away from a system where the same party ruled the centre and most states. Today's India is shaped by a member of national and regional parties; thousands of NGOs; a vibrant media; a sharp private sector; and integration with the global economy.

In such a scenario, the old body which was allocated resources to the states in a top down management and control system has to be dismantled. Keeping in view the diversity of the Indian economy; growing regional aspirations; the need to target double-digit growth to provide jobs to our young population, there is a need for transformative thinking.

What we need now more than an alternative body is an alternative approach. We must get out of the, "Five year plan" syndrome and go back to the Gandhian grassroots approach, in which fiscal powers and the decision-making process percolates to the level of the state, district and panchayat.

The role of the new body should be that of an ideas commission. It should develop strategies for meeting the goals of the new economy by engaging with think-tanks and experts both nationally and internationally. The NITI Aayog should provide a platform for states to learn from each other's experiences from their respective planning process, and help cities to learn from each other as well as from cities in other countries.

We need a body that engages by means of consultations with the private sector as well as the government sector in a fair and transparent manner, particularly on the matters of policy-making. Additionally, we need a body that provides assistance to the systemic grievance redressal mechanism between the various stakeholders and the government. In Japan, such collaboration led to the total quality management doctrine (TQM).

The Aayog could also act as a systems reform commission by giving fresh ideas to various stakeholders on improved ways of evaluating, monitoring and auditing various development and other social schemes of both central and state governments. It must have the scholarship and capacity for 21st century's methods of planning in order to examine the forces that are emerging and bringing reforms.

To achieve these objectives, it is imperative that the Aayog engages with multiple stakeholders through non-bureaucratic and modern communication methods. An efficient, transparent system is the need of the nation.

Irrespective of how laudable its constitution and objectives, the success of the Aayog will depend on the quality of people who are selected to man the project. Merit and merit alone must be the sole criterion for selecting the Aayog team.