Purpose: GUIDING PRINCIPLES - FROM PLANNING TO NITI TRANSFORMING INDIA’S DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

Purpose: GUIDING PRINCIPLES

In carrying out the above functions, NITI Aayog will be guided by an overall vision of development which is inclusive, equitable and sustainable. A strategy of empowerment built on human dignity and national self-respect, which lives up to Swami Vivekananda’s idea of our duty to encourage

everyone in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea”. A model of development which is SARVADESHIK (all round), SARWASPARSHI (all pervasive), SARWASAMAWESHAK (all inclusive) and SARWAANGI (holistic):

• Antyodaya: Prioritize service and uplift of the poor, marginalized and downtrodden, as enunciated in Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay’s idea of ‘Antyodaya’. Development is incomplete and meaningless, if it does not reach the farthest individual. In the centuries old words ofTiruvalluvar, the sage-poet, nothing is more dreadfully painful than poverty”. 

• Inclusion: Empower vulnerable and marginalized sections, redressing identity-based inequalities of all kinds gender, region, religion, caste or class. As Sankar Dev wrote decades ago: "to see every being as equivalent to one’s own soul is the supreme means (of attaining deliverance)". Weaker sections must be enabled to be masters of their own fate, having equal influence over the choices the nation makes.

• Village: Integrate our villages into the development process, to draw on the vitality and energy of the bedrock of our ethos, culture and sustenance. 

• Demographic dividend: Harness our greatest asset, the people of India; by focussing on their development, through education and skilling, and their empowerment, through productive livelihood opportunities.

• People’s Participation: Transform the developmental process into a people-driven one, making an awakened and participative citizenry the driver of good governance. This includes our extended Indian family of the Non-Resident Indian community spread across the world, whose significant geo-economic and geo-political strength must be harnessed. 

• Governance: Nurture an open, transparent, accountable, pro-active and purposeful style of governance, transitioning focus from Outlay to Output to Outcome. 

• Sustainability: Maintain sustainability at the core of our planning and developmental process, building on our ancient tradition of respect for the environment.