For State Of The Nation, Look At States Of The Nation

Source: The post is based on the article “For State Of The Nation, Look At States Of The Nation” published in The Times of India on 21^st September 2022.

Syllabus: GS 2: Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.

Relevance: Role of Niti Aayog in Viksit Bharat (Developed India) by 2047.

News: In the Independence Day speech, PM set the tone for a Viksit Bharat (Developed India) by 2047. He also said ‘When the states grow India grows.’ Niti Aayog, with its mandate to actualise cooperative federalism, is a perfect platform for the national development agenda.

How can Niti Aayog help in making Viksit Bharat?

The medium between states to implement best practices

States have varying capacities in driving transformational and inclusive growth. But Vision 2047 requires strong and agile institutions with an overall development strategy, setting sectoral targets and bringing together technology, enterprise and efficient management for policy formulation and implementation.

Niti Aayog can act as a medium for states to learn from each other through sharing of their best practices. For example,

Project Excel is a Gujarat government initiative to empower women, youth, orphans, minority communities and marginalised groups by promoting entrepreneurship, farm value chain interventions, etc.

The Farmer Registration and Unified Beneficiary Information System (FRUITS) facilitates faster and targeted delivery of agriculture-related services to farmers in Karnataka.

Enhancing cooperative federalism

With the help of Niti Aayog, state planning departments can reinvent themselves as State Institutions for Transformation (SIT). SITs would identify critical growth drivers and play a vital role in facilitating stakeholder consultations for focussed efforts that balance sustainable growth with social development while addressing climate concerns.

Such SITs will be key to achieving a medium-term vision of SDG 2030 and a longer-term vision of India@100. For example, Karnataka set up the State Institute for Transforming Karnataka (SITK).

Building State Economic Transformation Unit (SETU)

Niti Aayog has begun a State Support Mission (SSM) that will act as a multidisciplinary ecosystem to amplify the impact of existing programmes and initiate cutting-edge projects to catalyse the development strategies of states. The SSM would also focus on providing strategic insights to collectively achieve India’s vision of a $5 trillion economy.

In this, Niti Aayog would also play a vital role in a) Scaling available technologies for the effective delivery of social welfare projects, b) Support states in raising resources for infrastructure needs, c) Establish monitoring systems to facilitate the transition from outlays to outcomes for major government schemes.

Offers Three-way partnership

IIM or IIT will be designated as a Lead Institution to help scale State Institutions for Transformations (SIT). Thus, it would be a three-way partnership between the state, a Lead Institution, and Niti Aayog, each bringing to the fore their complementing competencies for achieving our larger socio-economic growth objectives.

To help India achieve the PM’s vision of becoming an economic superpower, its incredible diversity, demographic dividend and cooperative federalism can play a strategic role. Niti Aayog will play a crucial role in making PM’s vision a reality.