NITI Aayog

Prerequisites

• Foundations of Economic Planning in India: the Planning Commission and NDC that NITI Aayog replaced
• The Five Year Plans (1951–2017): why the plan model was wound up
• Centre-State Relations: the federal context of “cooperative federalism”

The Hook: Bastar on the National Table

Why it matters: Prelims asks NITI’s founding date, legal status, composition and flagship programmes. Mains asks you to compare it with the Planning Commission and evaluate it as an instrument of cooperative federalism.

Origin

Composition

graph TD
    PM["Chairperson
Prime Minister"] --> GC["Governing Council
CMs of all States and of UTs with legislatures;
Lt Governors of other UTs"]
    PM --> VC["Vice-Chairperson
(appointed by the PM)"]
    PM --> RC["Regional Councils
CMs and LGs of a region,
for specific issues, fixed tenure"]
    VC --> FT["Full-time Members"]
    VC --> PT["Part-time Members (up to 2)
from universities / research bodies,
ex officio in rotation"]
    VC --> EO["Ex-officio Members (up to 4)
Union Ministers nominated by the PM"]
    VC --> CEO["CEO
Secretary rank, fixed tenure,
appointed by the PM"]
    PM --> SI["Special Invitees
experts and ministers nominated by the PM"]

Office-holders (as of October 2026)

Objectives and Functions

The 2015 Cabinet resolution frames NITI around cooperative federalism (Centre and states as partners) and competitive federalism (states compete on outcomes, measured by indices).

From plans to vision documents

After the Twelfth Plan ended in 2017, NITI proposed a three-tier framework in place of five-year plans:

• a 15-year Vision,
• a 7-year Strategy,
• a 3-year Action Agenda (the first covered 2017–18 to 2019–20).

It also released Strategy for New India @75 (2018). The current long-term goal is Viksit Bharat @2047 (a developed India by the centenary of Independence), around which recent Governing Council meetings have been themed.

Indices: competitive federalism in action

NITI ranks states on outcome indices so that they compete to improve. Learn the names; editions and ranks change.

Aspirational Districts and Aspirational Blocks

Memory hook for the list: the seven Bastar-division districts plus “Korba, Mahasamund, Rajnandgaon” (KMR).

Planning Commission vs NITI Aayog

Evaluation (for Mains)

Chhattisgarh: the State NITI Aayog and Anjor Vision @2047

• State NITI Aayog. The Chhattisgarh cabinet decided to rename the State Planning Commission as the State NITI Aayog (राज्य नीति आयोग), on the model of the national body. Former IAS officer Ganesh Shankar Mishra has taken charge as its Vice-Chairman, and the Chief Minister has described it as the state’s long-term vision and evidence-based planning body.
• Chhattisgarh Anjor Vision @2047 (अंजोर, “light” in Chhattisgarhi) is the state’s Viksit Chhattisgarh roadmap, dedicated to the people by CM Vishnu Deo Sai in 2025. It sets short-term goals to 2030, medium-term goals to 2035 and long-term goals to 2047, and aims to raise the state economy from about ₹5 lakh crore to ₹11 lakh crore by 2030 and ₹75 lakh crore by 2047, through missions across sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, logistics, IT and education. See Chhattisgarh: Economy, Budget and State Schemes.
• Fiscal Health Index 2025 (NITI, January 2025): Chhattisgarh ranked second among 18 major states (score 55.2), behind Odisha and ahead of Goa, in the “achiever” group.
• Ten Aspirational Districts, most in Bastar division (see above).

Memory Tricks

Don’t Confuse

Common Mistakes

Practice

All questions below are original practice questions written in CGPSC style. They are not previous-year questions.

Level 1: Foundation

1. NITI Aayog stands for National Institution for ______ India.
2. The ______ is the ex-officio Chairperson of NITI Aayog.
3. The Aspirational Districts Programme was launched in ______ and covers ______ districts.

Level 2: Prelims MCQs

Q1. Consider the following statements about NITI Aayog:

1. It was set up on 1 January 2015 by a resolution of the Union Cabinet.
2. Its Governing Council includes the Chief Ministers of all states.
3. It recommends the distribution of the divisible pool of central taxes between the Centre and the states.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

• (a) 1 only
• (b) 1 and 2 only
• (c) 2 and 3 only
• (d) 1, 2 and 3

Q2. Who among the following is not appointed or nominated by the Prime Minister under NITI Aayog’s framework?

• (a) The Vice-Chairperson
• (b) The ex-officio members from the Union Council of Ministers
• (c) The Chief Executive Officer
• (d) The Chief Ministers who sit on the Governing Council

Q3. Which of the following districts of Chhattisgarh is not among its Aspirational Districts?

• (a) Korba
• (b) Raipur
• (c) Mahasamund
• (d) Kondagaon

Q4. Match List I with List II:

• (a) A-2, B-1, C-3, D-4
• (b) A-2, B-3, C-1, D-4
• (c) A-3, B-2, C-1, D-4
• (d) A-2, B-3, C-4, D-1

Level 3: Mains Answer Writing

Q1. (60 words) What is meant by “competitive federalism”? Give one example from NITI Aayog’s work.

Q2. (150–200 words) “NITI Aayog is a think tank, not a planning body.” Compare it with the Planning Commission and assess its role in cooperative federalism.

Quick Revision Table

Key Takeaways

What’s Next

• Economic Reforms of 1991: the reforms that made the old planning model obsolete
• Poverty, Unemployment and Inclusive Growth: the multidimensional poverty index and inclusion programmes
• Constitutional and Statutory Bodies: the Finance Commission, NITI’s constitutional counterpart
• Economic Planning and NITI Aayog: Quick Revision