INDIA HAS CHANGED - FROM PLANNING TO NITI TRANSFORMING INDIA’S DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

Context: INDIA HAS CHANGED

         

      The Planning Commission was constituted on 15.3.1950 through a Government of India Resolution, and has served India well. India, however, has changed dramatically over the past 65 years. While this has been at multiple levels and across varied scales, the biggest transformatory forces have been the following:

• Demography: Our population has increased over three-fold to reach 121 crores. This includes an addition of over 30 crore people to Urban India. As well as an increase of 55 crore youth (below the age of 35), which is more than one and a half times the total population of the country then. Furthermore, with increasing levels of development, literacy and communication, the aspirations of our people have soared, moving from scarcity and survival to safety and surplus. We are therefore looking at a completely different India today, and our governance systems need to be transformed to keep up with the same.

• Economy: Our economy has undergone a paradigm shift. It has expanded by over a hundred times, going from a GDP of Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 100 lakh crore at current prices, to emerge as one of the world’s largest. Agriculture’s share in this has seen a dramatic drop, from more than 50% to less than 15% of GDP. And our central government’s Twelfth Five Year Plan size of Rs 43 lakh crore, dwarfs the First Five Year Plan size of Rs 2,400 crore. Priorities, strategies and structures dating back to the time of the birth of the Planning Commission, must thus be revisited. The very nature of our planning processes needs to be overhauled to align with this shift in sheer scale.

• Private enterprise: The nature of our economy, and the role of the Government in it, has undergone a paradigm shift as well. Driven by an increasingly open and liberalized structure, our private sector has matured into a vibrant and dynamic force, operating not just at the international cutting edge, but also with a global scale and reach. This changed economic landscape requires a new administrative paradigm in which the role of Government must evolve from simply allocating resources in a command and control eco-system, to a far more nuanced one of directing, calibrating, supporting and regulating a market eco-system. National development must be seen beyond the limited sphere of the ‘Public Sector’. Government must thus transition from being a ‘provider of first and last resort’ and ‘major player’ in the economy, to being a ‘catalyst’ nurturing an ‘enabling environment’, where the entrepreneurial spirits of all, from small self-employed entrepreneurs to large corporations, can flourish. This importantly, frees up the Government to focus its precious resources on public welfare domains such as essential entitlements of food, nutrition, health, education and livelihood of vulnerable and marginalized groups.

• Globalisation: The World at large has also evolved. Today, we live in a ‘global village’, connected by modern transport, communications and media, and networked international markets and institutions. As India ‘contributes’ to global dynamics, it is also influenced by happenings far removed from our borders. This continuing integration with the world needs to be incorporated into our policy making as well as functioning of government.

• States: The States of the Union of India have evolved from being mere appendages of the Centre, to being the actual drivers of national development. The development of States must thus become the national goal, as the nation’s progress lies in the progress of States. As a consequence, the one-size-fits-all approach, often inherent in centralized planning, is no longer practical or efficient. States need to be heard and given the flexibility required for effective implementation. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar had said with great foresight that it is "unreasonable to centralise powers where central control and uniformity is not clearly essential or is impracticable". Therefore, while emanating from global experiences and national synergy, our strategies will need to be calibrated and customized to local needs and opportunities. 

• Technology: Advancements in technology and access to information have unleashed the creative energy that emerges from the Indian kaleidoscope. They have integrated our varied regions and eco-systems in an interlinked national economy and society, opening up newer avenues of coordination and cooperation. Technology is also playing a substantial role in enhancing transparency as well as efficiency, holding government more accountable. It thus needs to be made central to our systems of policy and governance.