State Planning Commissions to be replaced by NITI Aayog-like think tanks.

Every state of India will soon have a body like the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog that will replace the existing planning boards for quicker, inclusive economic growth. This will accelerate the country's objective of becoming a developed nation by 2047.

The GDP growth is an aggregate of state rates except for defence, railways and highways. Each state governs its respective health, education and skills. According to NITI Aayog, the state government's participation is crucial for enhancing the ease of doing business, land reforms, infrastructure development, credit flows and urbanisation. "All these areas are necessary for sustainable economic growth," the national think tank stated.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech spoke about his goal of developing India by 2047. On September 6, the NITI Aayog held a conference of state planning secretaries to launch the “state assistance mission". The states had welcomed this think tank that would include specialists from IIMs and IITs.

By March 2023, NITI Aayog hopes to create similar bodies in 8-10 states. Some of the states like Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Assam have already started work. Other states like Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat will start shortly.

The Modi administration has replaced the 65-year-old Planning Commission with NITI Aayog in January 2015.

As per reports, most states, which used to deal with Planning Commission have done nothing to revitalise their planning department/ boards and thus, created parallel state five-year plans with the Centre. According to NITI Aayog, several states have planning offices with a large staff that are essentially extinct and have almost no task. NITI Aayog wants to set up groups that will look at the structure of state planning boards and develop ideas in 4-6 months.

The state level of replica shall encourage the lateral entry of experts to do high-quality analytical work and make policy suggestions. A blueprint of the same will be prepared soon to help states with policy creation, monitoring and evaluate government policies. This will go a long way to offer better technology or delivery methods.

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