5 December 2017

UKPCS 2016 MAINS PAPER 03:INDIAN POLITY,SOCIAL JUSTICE AND IR

UKPCS 2016 MAINS PAPER 03:INDIAN POLITY,SOCIAL JUSTICE AND IR
#UKPCS2016MAINSPAPER
WE CAN NOT EXPECT THAT QUESTIONS ASKED IN TEST SERIES SHOULD BE REPEATED IN EXAM BUT WHEN IT HAPPENS GIVE IMMENSE PLEASURE.

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EXPLAINING HOW HUNGER INDEX IS CALCULATED AND WHAT ABOUT INDIA

EXPLAINING HOW HUNGER INDEX IS CALCULATED AND WHAT ABOUT INDIA
#HUNGERINDEX
In its calculations, the Global Hunger Index assigns a disproportionate value to child undernourishment
Per capita food production in India has increased by 26% (2004-05 to 2013-14), while it has doubled in the last 50 years. While this kind of growth rate in food production is expected to reduce hunger significantly over time, the Global Hunger Index (GHI) prepared by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), shows India’s hunger level in very poor light.
A closer look
The 2017 GHI score has India ranked 100 out of the 119 countries listed. While a casual reading would create the impression of India being among the worst performers and underachievers in addressing food and nutrition security, closer scrutiny shows that it should not be taken at face value as it is neither appropriate nor representative of hunger prevalent in a country. However, despite improvements, India still faces a problem of undernourishment and poor child health.
The GHI for 2017 is calculated as a weighted average of four standardised indicators, i.e. the percentage of population that is undernourished; percentage of children under five years who suffer from wasting; percentage of children under five who suffer from stunting, and child mortality. Undernourishment and child mortality each make up a third of the GHI score, while child stunting and child wasting make up a sixth of the score, and together make up a third of the score. Three of the four indicators, refer only to children below five who constitute only 11.5% of India’s population. Further, the percentage of the undernourished population is inclusive of undernutrition among children. This way, the GHI assigns 70.5% weightage to children below five who constitute only a minor population share and 29.5% weightage to the population above five, which constitutes 81.5% of the total population. Therefore, the term “Hunger Index” is highly biased towards undernutrition of children rather than representing the status of hunger in the overall population. It would be more appropriate to term the conceptualisation and composition of this composite index as a “Global Hunger and Child Health Index” than as a “Global Hunger Index”.
Evidence shows that weight and height of children are not solely determined by food intake but are an outcome of a complex interaction of factors related to genetics, the environment, sanitation and utilisation of food intake. The IFPRI acknowledges that only 45% of child mortality is due to hunger or undernutrition.
Without undermining the need for improvement in reducing wasting, stunting and mortality of children, our calculations show that if child health indicators are not included in the GHI, India will move to the 77th spot. India’s ranking in terms of child mortality, child stunting and child wasting is 80, 106 and 117, respectively.
Calculating hunger
The incidence of hunger is taken as the proportion of the population whose food intake provides less than its minimum energy requirements. The figure of the incidence of hunger depends on energy norms and the methodological approach used in its estimation.
There is still inconclusive debate on the cut-off for minimum energy requirement calculation. At a global level, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has an average norm of 1,800 kcal, while the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN) specified average norm of 2,400 kcal for rural areas and 2,100 kcal for urban areas in India, varies across age, gender and activity-level. There is a strong case to revise the ICMR-NIN norms as the actual requirement of energy is decreasing due to a shift towards mechanisation and more congenial work conditions and environment.
There is a large difference in the incidence of undernourishment (hunger) reported by the FAO and estimates prepared by various experts. It follows from the large variation in the choice of norm and methodology and data used for such an estimation. The unit-level National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data on Household Consumption Expenditure for the latest year (2011-12) indicate that 72% of India’s population consumed less food than required to meet the calorie norm specified by ICMR-NIN. Applying the ICMR-NIN norm, a significant percentage of the population even in rich income households is undernourished. This shows that either the ICMR-NIN norm is on the higher side or these people voluntarily chose to eat less than what the ICMR-NIN considers normative. If we apply the FAO norm to the household consumption data of the NSSO, the proportion of the population with calorific deficit was 37.32% in 2004-05 and 29.55% in 2011-12. On the other hand, the FAO’s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report has placed the incidence of undernourishment in India at 20.9% for 2004-06 and 17.5% for 2010-12. The much lower estimate here is because it overestimates the proportion of food crops used as food and underestimates the share going for non-food uses such as feed and industrial use. The FAO approach underestimates hunger and undernutrition in those countries where exact and up-to-date estimates of food output diverted to non-food uses are not available.
The FAO norm applied to NSSO data on Household Consumer Expenditure indicates that in 2011-12, about 30% of India was undernourished or suffered from hunger, as per the UN definition of hunger.
To avoid confusion about the status of hunger and undernourishment, India should regularly prepare and publish official estimates of hunger, like that of poverty. It will also help in tackling hunger.
Prof. Ramesh Chand is Member, NITI Aayog and Shivendra Kumar Srivastava is Agricultural Economist, NITI Aayog.

ISA to become a Treaty-based International Intergovernmental organization

ISA to become a Treaty-based International Intergovernmental organization tomorrow
46 countries sign and 19 ratify the Framework Agreement of ISA
In terms of its Framework Agreement, with ratification by Guinea as the 15th country on 6th November 2017, the International Solar Alliance (ISA) will become a treaty-based international intergovernmental organization tomorrow on 6th December 2017. The ISA, headquartered in India, has its Secretariat located in the campus of National Institute of Solar Energy, Gwalpahari, Gurgaon, Haryana.
The ISA is an Indian initiative, jointly launched by the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi and the President of France on 30th November 2015 in Paris, on the sidelines of COP-21, the UN Climate Conference. It aims at addressing obstacles to deployment at scale of solar energy through better harmonization and aggregation of demand from solar rich countries lying fully or partially between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. As of date, 46 countries have signed and 19 countries have ratified the Framework Agreement of ISA.
Signatory Countries (46)
Australia, Bangladesh. Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chile, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guiana, Fiji, France, Gabonese Republic, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, India, Kiribati, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Nauru, Niger, Nigeria, Peru, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Tonga, Togolese Republic, Tuvalu, UAE, Vanuatu, and Venezuela
Ratifying Countries (19)
India, France, Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, Cuba, Fiji, Guinea, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Nauru, Niger, Peru, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, and Tuvalu
ISA Interim Secretariat has been operational as a de-facto organization since 25th January, 2016. Three programmes - Scaling Solar Applications for Agriculture Use, Affordable Finance at Scale, and Scaling Solar Mini-grids - have been launched. These programmes will help in achieving the overall goal of increasing solar energy deployment in the ISA member countries for achieving universal energy access and speeding up economic development. In addition to the existing 3 programmes, ISA has initiated plans to launch two more programmes: Scaling Solar Rooftops and Scaling Solar E-mobility and Storage.
Further, ISA has also been developing a Common Risk Mitigating Mechanism (CRMM) for de-risking and reducing the financial cost of solar projects in the ISA member countries. The instrument will help diversify and pool risks on mutual public resources and unlock significant investments. An international expert group has been working on the blue print of the mechanism and it will be rolled out by December 2018.
Another major initiative is establishment of Digital Infopedia which will serve as a platform to enable policy makers, Ministers and corporate leaders from ISA countries to interact, connect, communicate and collaborate with one another. The interactive platform was operationalized on 18th May 2017. Digital Infopedia will have three heads: (a) Member countries counter for investment opportunities; (b) at least 1000 best practices on solar energy (audio/visual), and (c) Member countries of ISA and the ISA Secretariat audio and visual interaction.
The Paris Declaration establishing ISA states that the countries share the collective ambition to undertake innovative and concerted efforts for reducing the cost of finance and cost of technology for immediate deployment solar generation assets. This will help pave the way for future solar generation, storage and good technologies for each prospective member countries’ individual needs, by effectively mobilizing more than US$1000 billion in investments that will be required by 2030.
India has offered to meet ISA Secretariat expenses for initial five years. In addition, the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India has set aside US$2 billion for solar projects in Africa out of Government of India's US$10 billion concessional Line of Credit (LOC) for Africa. Government of France has also earmarked Euro 300 million soft loan for solar related projects in ISA member countries.

India ‘dream’ plan to cut freight times to 14 hours from 14 days

India ‘dream’ plan to cut freight times to 14 hours from 14 days
A $7.1 billion rail corridor in Rajasthan that’s set to cut freight times between New Delhi and Mumbai to 14 hours from 14 days is finally showing signs of progress
A $7.1 billion rail corridor in Rajasthan that’s set to cut freight times between India’s capital New Delhi and the business hub of Mumbai to 14 hours from 14 days is finally showing signs of progress.
About 800km away in Gujarat, a 920-square-km industrial area is taking shape near the village of Dholera, with hundreds of workers fusing concrete sections of a sewerage system on a recent visit. Summing up the massive project’s ambition, a sign for a yet-to-be-built housing development reads: “Dream City.”
Plagued by delays, red tape and disputes over land acquisition, for years it seemed the $100 billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) would remain just that—a dream. First proposed more than a decade ago, the sprawling assortment of smart cities and industrial parks on both sides of the freight railway could cut logistics charges that amount to roughly 14% of total costs by bypassing the country’s infamously chaotic major cities.
“It’s not merely a pie-in-the-sky project,” said Michael Kugelman, senior associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington. “It’s a very real initiative that’s gotten off the ground. If it can get over some significant humps, it could make some very real progress.”
Japan, seeking to boost ties with India as a counterweight to China, is partly financing the DMIC project and holds a 26% stake. Indeed, Japan’s Tokyo-Osaka industrial corridor is an inspiration. NEC Corp. has invested in a joint-venture project with the Indian government that is already providing logistics support along the route.
“In the last couple of years, we’ve seen that the pace of construction has quickened considerably,” said Piyush Sinha, who heads the joint venture as NEC’s India director.
For others, initial pledges remain contingent on the project’s progress. Airbus SE signed an agreement to assist in planning an “aerospace and defence manufacturing cluster” in Dholera, but pending an order of military helicopters from the Indian government, the French aviation giant hasn’t made any firm plans to invest there yet.
“We are in touch with several states to identify the right location for setting up the final assembly line and certainly we are looking at Dholera,” said Ashish Saraf, a vice-president at Airbus India, in an email.
Workers in Dholera are laying infrastructure over a 22.5 sq. km area in plots that are mostly owned by the government. Officials say this will be completed by the end of 2019, and they can then sell plots to factories. In three decades, they envision a city larger than Berlin.
The goal is to set up a “plug and play” environment for investors, says Jai Prakash Shivahare, managing director of the Dholera Industrial City Development. “We are looking to tie up with anchor investors so that they can also start their construction and in one-and-half-years, when our site is ready, their factories can also be ready.”
Work has now begun in four of the eight manufacturing destinations proposed in the first phase of the industrial corridor. But it has been far from smooth sailing to get to this point as red tape and budget constraints across six states and numerous sprawling ministries slowed progress, causing some to walk away altogether.
Hindustan Construction Co. Ltd signed two separate agreements in 2009 and 2011 with Gujarat to invest roughly $8 billion for a waterfront city and a renewable energy park. Later the company abandoned the plans. Company spokesman Sandeep Sawant declined to comment.
Development beyond the initial 22.5 sq. km area in Dholera remains uncertain as farmers opposing land sales have a case pending in the Gujarat High Court demanding the government scrap its plans. “The future of Dholera is dark,” said Sagar Rabari, a farmer activist in Gujarat.
In Rajasthan, where roughly 40% of the freight line passes, the state still hasn’t taken possession of land five years after the process began, even as bureaucrats seek to woo investors by publicizing two proposed industrial townships. Unlike Dholera, farmers in the Khushkhera-Bhiwadi-Neemrana area do want to surrender their plots, but can’t as the state government doesn’t have enough money to pay for the 14 square kilometers of land.
Villagers, meantime, aren’t allowed to sell to anyone else. “Farmers are the losers,” says Sube Singh Yadav, 64, a villager in Sahajahanpur.
Rajasthan authorities say they are arranging Rs3,200 crore for the land acquisition. “We will be proceeding with the land acquisition with innovative ways of financing,” says Rajeeva Swarup, additional chief secretary for Rajasthan’s industry department.
Most of the land needed for the freight corridor has been acquired, funding has been completed, contracts have been awarded and a phased start from December 2019 is expected, the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd said in a statement. The whole corridor will be completed a year later, it said.
Much like Moody’s Investors Service—which last month raised India’s sovereign rating for the first time since 2004 citing potential dividends from reforms—some analysts are looking through the haze of short-term uncertainties to bet on the project’s prospects. But even with progress picking up, few expect anything but a bumpy road ahead.
“It’s a national flagship project, yes, but despite a fair amount of coordination from the centre the fact remains that the project just has so many moving parts,” said Jan Zalewski, a Singapore-based Asia analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, a political risk firm. “The DMIC in its entirety will continue to move ahead at a snail’s pace.

From Plate to Plough: Agri-futures, like China

From Plate to Plough: Agri-futures, like China
A robust futures market helps China’s farmers get better prices for their produce. India must begin by allowing prospecting only for non-sensitive commodities
In November, prices of most major kharif crops crashed below their respective minimum support prices (MSPs), triggering farm distress. One of the many reasons behind this situation is that planting decisions of our farmers are based on last year’s prices, rather than the prices expected at the time of harvest. Signals indicating future prices are largely absent as agri-futures have been decimated by excessive controls and regulation. It is time to think afresh and resurrect agri-futures in India.
In 2003, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government’s decisions to allow futures markets in India — after a long gap — was hailed as a big and bold step towards better price discovery for farmers. This, in turn, was supposed to help farmers take informed planting decisions. In the initial years — 2003-2007 — agri-futures did show promising growth. But around 2007-2008, they were hit by the global food price crisis. Agri-futures picked up momentum again and peaked in 2011-2012. However, since then, there has been heavy government intervention in agri-futures with higher margin requirements as well as absolute suspensions, resulting in their near collapse.
Chinese agri-futures have had a contrasting trajectory. The agri-futures market was introduced in the early 1990s in China. It struggled for a decade, but thereafter Chinese agri-futures had such a robust growth that by 2016, it was at the top of global chart, crossing the 1,000 million mark, dwarfing India’s 20 million contracts in the process.
What lessons can India learn from China in order to promote its agri-futures and help its farmers in better price discovery? Very briefly, China experimented with several things, including inviting experts from the Chicago Board of Trade in the US, rationalising commodities and exchanges by closing down trade in many items and focusing on a few farm products, especially the less sensitive ones. However, to understand India’s story better, we need to look at the perceptions and actions of three key stakeholders: Policy-makers, regulators (FMC/SEBI), and commodity exchanges. A pre-requisite for the development of a agri-futures market is to have a stable policy environment.
The government, including the regulator, should provide a favourable environment for the futures trade to flourish. Commodity exchanges have to invest in designing appropriate contracts for business development. Abrupt interventions, with frequent changes in stocking restrictions on private trade, have reduced the prospects of agri-futures in India. We collated information about various interventions related to margins and suspensions since 2003 and found that suspensions of agri-futures, as well as high margins, have been targeted more towards commodities that are perceived as sensitive in the common man’s food basket (See graph). For example, tur, urad, rice have been suspended for more than a decade now. High margins for sensitive commodities, for example, 100 per cent for potato (August 2014), 95 per cent for chana (June 2016) and 70 per cent for sugar (September 2016) reflect the government’s intention of blocking their futures trade.
So, if one has to develop agri-futures in India, the first lesson is to stay away from sensitive commodities (for example, common rice, wheat, most pulses, and even sugar), at least for some time, till futures gain momentum and some depth. It would be prudent to focus on less sensitive commodities like oilseed complex (oilseeds, meals, and oils), feed (maize), cotton, basmati rice and spices. Once markets are developed and the regulator has a higher degree of comfort, the country can diversify to other commodities in the agri-futures portfolio. This is what China also seems to have done. The largest volumes in agri-futures have come from oilseeds. This points to the significance of the regulator’s role: Giving a clear direction in terms of the choice of commodities, and then staying the course by adopting a stable policy with minimal interventions.
Second, for the government to be assured that speculators are not rigging markets, the regulator should allow only delivery-based contracts, at least till markets deepen. This is another lesson from the Chinese experience: All agri-commodities traded at the Dalian Commodity Exchange are physical-delivery based.
Third, like its Chinese counterpart, the government of India should encourage state trading enterprises (STEs) to trade on the agri-futures platform. This will boost the government’s confidence in agri-futures as it will have ample information from its STEs. In China, STEs, the China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) for example, have a major presence in the agri-futures’ markets. COFCO is directly administered by China’s State Council and is the largest food processor, manufacturer and largest exporter and importer in the country. It trades in agri-commodities like soybean oil and meal, palm oil, cotton and sugar in the futures market. India’s STEs like the MMTC, STC, PEC or even the FCI can participate on the agri-futures platform in a similar manner, helping it to deepen.
Lastly, it has to be recognised that developing agri-futures is as much the responsibility of the regulator as that of commodity exchanges, and both need to work in harmony for the benefit of various stakeholders, especially farmers who need useful information about future prices for their products while they are planting those crops. Can the Narendra Modi government take bold decisions to revive the legacy of the Vajpayee government and scale new heights in agri-futures, say 200 million contracts by 2022? Remember, China crossed the billion mark in 2015.

Human Development Profile of the Indian States

Human Development Profile of the Indian States
Kerala continues to remain at the top
Among the 17 major states of India, Kerala continues to remain at the top of human development rankings (see Chart 1). The southern state retains its top ranking compared with a 2007-08 HDI constructed by the National Institute of Labour Economics Research and Development (earlier known as the Institute of Applied Manpower Research), an arm of the NITI Aayog.
The Human Development Report (HDR) published annually by UNDP has defined development as a process of widening people’s choices. Identifying three critical choices, viz., to have access to income and assets needed for a decent standard of living, to acquire knowledge, and to lead a long and healthy life, the HDR proposes a composite index- the Human Development Index (HDI) which combines the critical indicators in some way. The index has been used in ranking the countries according to this new paradigm of development.
The HDI, though superior to the traditional aggregate indices like GDP, is also an aggregate index failing to reveal disparities among population subgroups. It is thus, not useful for policy prescriptions for raising level of human development. Human development should from an integral part of the overall development plan to ensure successful translation of economic growth into improved quality and content of human life. A prerequisite to identification of the range of social concerns and fixation of goals and priorities for human development strategy is a detailed Human Development profile (HDP). The profile should address a broad range of national concerns relevant for the country depending on the current status of and deficiencies in various dimensions of human development. It should indicate the positions of various population subgroups in the human development ladder- who stands where, to make it easier to set long and short term goals, decide priorities and identify areas needing micro intervention.
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If Indian states were countries, they would rank between 104 and 163
The 17 major states of India, with their sizeable population and geographical area, are bigger than many countries in the world. If the 17 states were to be deemed as separate countries, then these would rank from 104 (Kerala) to 163 (Bihar), according to the scores in the latest UN report.
Thus, Kerala would be the only state classified by the UN to have high human development since it has a score greater than 0.7 (in a scale of 0-1). The remaining 16 would be classified as either medium or low human development
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Know everything about NITI AYOG: composition,function,and achievement. samveg ias

NITI Aayog: Objectives and Composition
The Government has replaced Planning Commission with a new institution named NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India). A cabinet Resolution issued today gave details of the new institutions. The institutional framework of government has developed and matured over the years. This has allowed the development of domain expertise which allows us the chance to increase the specificity of functions given to institutions. Specific to the planning process, there is a need to separate as well as energize the distinct ‘process’ of governance from the ‘strategy’ of governance.
In the context of governance structures, the changed requirements of our country, point to the need for setting up an institution that serves as a Think Tank of the government – a directional and policy dynamo. The proposed institution has to provide governments at the central and state levels with relevant strategic and technical advice across the spectrum of key elements of policy. This includes matters of national and international import on the economic front, dissemination of best practices from within the country as well as from other nations, the infusion of new policy ideas and specific issue-based support. The institution has to be able to respond to the changing and more integrated world that India is part of.
An important evolutionary change from the past will be replacing a centre-to-state one-way flow of policy by a genuine and continuing partnership with the states. The institution must have the necessary resources, knowledge, skills and, ability to act with speed to provide the strategic policy vision for the government as well as deal with contingent issues.
Perhaps most importantly, the institution must adhere to the tenet that while incorporating positive influences from the world, no single model can be transplanted from outside into the Indian scenario. We need to find our own strategy for growth. The new institution has to zero in on what will work in and for India. It will be a Bharatiya approach to development.
The institution to give life to these aspirations is the NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India). This is being proposed after extensive consultation across the spectrum of stakeholders including inter alia state governments, domain experts and relevant institutions. The NITI Aayog will work towards the following objectives:

To evolve a shared vision of national development priorities, sectors and strategies with the active involvement of States in the light of national objectives. The vision of the NITI Aayog will then provide a framework ‘national agenda’ for the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers to provide impetus to.

To foster cooperative federalism through structured support initiatives and mechanisms with the States on a continuous basis, recognizing that strong States make a strong nation.

To develop mechanisms to formulate credible plans at the village level and aggregate these progressively at higher levels of government.

To ensure, on areas that are specifically referred to it, that the interests of national security are incorporated in economic strategy and policy.

To pay special attention to the sections of our society that may be at risk of not benefitting adequately from economic progress.

To design strategic and long term policy and programme frameworks and initiatives, and monitor their progress and their efficacy. The lessons learnt through monitoring and feedback will be used for making innovative improvements, including necessary mid-course corrections.

To provide advice and encourage partnerships between key stakeholders and national and international like-minded Think Tanks, as well as educational and policy research institutions.

To create a knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurial support system through a collaborative community of national and international experts, practitioners and other partners.
To offer a platform for resolution of inter-sectoral and inter-departmental issues in order to accelerate the implementation of the development agenda.

To maintain a state-of-the-art Resource Centre, be a repository of research on good governance and best practices in sustainable and equitable development as well as help their dissemination to stake-holders.

To actively monitor and evaluate the implementation of programmes and initiatives, including the identification of the needed resources so as to strengthen the probability of success and scope of delivery.

To focus on technology upgradation and capacity building for implementation of programmes and initiatives.

To undertake other activities as may be necessary in order to further the execution of the national development agenda, and the objectives mentioned above.

The NITI Aayog will comprise the following:

Prime Minister of India as the Chairperson

Governing Council comprising the Chief Ministers of all the States and Lt. Governors of Union Territories

Regional Councils will be formed to address specific issues and contingencies impacting more than one state or a region. These will be formed for a specified tenure. The Regional Councils will be convened by the Prime Minister and will comprise of the Chief Ministers of States and Lt. Governors of Union Territories in the region. These will be chaired by the Chairperson of the NITI Aayog or his nominee.

Experts, specialists and practitioners with relevant domain knowledge as special invitees nominated by the Prime Minister

The full-time organizational framework will comprise of, in addition to the Prime Minister as the Chairperson:

i. Vice-Chairperson: To be appointed by the Prime Minister
ii. Members: Full-time
iii. Part-time members: Maximum of 2 from leading universities research organizations and other relevant institutions in an ex-officio capacity. Part time members will be on a rotational basis.
iv. Ex Officio members: Maximum of 4 members of the Union Council of Ministers to be nominated by the Prime Minister.
v. Chief Executive Officer : To be appointed by the Prime Minister for a fixed tenure, in the rank of Secretary to the Government of India.
vi. Secretariat as deemed necessary.
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...................................................COMPOSITION OF NITI AYOG
Designation Name
Chairperson Shri Narendra Modi (link is external)
Vice Chairperson Dr. Rajiv Kumar
Full-Time Member Prof. Ramesh Chand
Full-Time Member Profile - Shri V.K. Saraswat
Full-Time Member Profile - Shri Bibek Debroy
Full-Time Member Profile - Dr. V.K. Paul
Chief Executive Officer Shri Amitabh Kant
The National Institution for Transforming India, also called NITI Aayog, was formed via a resolution of the Union Cabinet on January 1, 2015. NITI Aayog is the premier policy ‘Think Tank’ of the Government of India, providing both directional and policy inputs. While designing strategic and long term policies and programmes for the Government of India, NITI Aayog also provides relevant technical advice to the Centre and States.
The Government of India, in keeping with its reform agenda, constituted the NITI Aayog to replace the Planning Commission instituted in 1950. This was done in order to better serve the needs and aspirations of the people of India. An important evolutionary change from the past, NITI Aayog acts as the quintessential platform of the Government of India to bring States to act together in national interest, and thereby fosters Cooperative Federalism.
At the core of NITI Aayog’s creation are two hubs – Team India Hub and the Knowledge and Innovation Hub. The Team India Hub leads the engagement of states with the Central government, while the Knowledge and Innovation Hub builds NITI’s think-tank capabilities. These hubs reflect the two key tasks of the Aayog.
NITI Aayog is also developing itself as a State of the Art Resource Centre, with the necessary resources, knowledge and skills, that will enable it to act with speed, promote research and innovation, provide strategic policy vision for the government, and deal with contingent issues.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Significant Achievements of NITI Aayog over the last three years.
I. Vision Document, Strategy & Action Agenda beyond 12th Five Year Plan: Replacing the Five Year Plans beyond 31st March, 2017, NITI Aayog is in the process of preparing the 15-year vision document keeping in view the social goals set and/ or proposed for a period of 15 years; A 7-year strategy document spanning 2017-18 to 2023-24 to convert the longer-term vision into implementable policy and action as a part of a “National Development Agenda” is also being worked upon. The 3-year Action Agenda for 2017-18 to 2019-20, aligned to the predictability of financial resources during the 14th Finance Commission Award period, has been completed and will be submitted before the Prime Minister on April 23rd at the 3rd Governing Council Meeting
II. Reforms in Agriculture:
a. Model Land Leasing Law
Taking note of increasing incidents of leasing in and out of land and suboptimal use of land with lesser number of cultivators, NITI Aayog has formulated a Model Agricultural Land Leasing Act, 2016 to both recognize the rights of the tenant and safeguard interest of landowners. A dedicated cell for land reforms was also set up in NITI. Based on the model act, Madhya Pradesh has enacted separate land leasing law and Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand have modified their land leasing laws. Some States, including Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, are already at an advance stage of formulating legislations to enact their land leasing laws for agriculture.
b. Reforms of the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act
NITI Aayog consulted with the States on 21 October 2016 on three critical reforms –
(i) Agricultural marketing reforms
(ii) Felling and transit laws for tree produce grown at private land
(iii) Agricultural land leasing

Subsequently, Model APMC Act version 2 prepared. States are being consulted to adopt APMC Act version 2.
c. Agricultural Marketing and Farmer Friendly Reforms Index
NITI Aayog has developed the first ever ‘Agriculture Marketing and Farmer Friendly Reforms Index’ to sensitise states about the need to undertake reforms in the three key areas of Agriculture Market Reforms, Land Lease Reforms and Forestry on Private Land (Felling and Transit of Trees). The index carries a score with a minimum value “0” implying no reforms and maximum value “100” implying complete reforms in the selected areas.
As per NITI Aayog’s index, Maharashtra ranks highest in implementation of various agricultural reforms. The State has implemented most of the marketing reforms and offers the best environment for undertaking agri-business among all the States and UTs. Gujarat ranks second with a score of 71.50 out of 100, closely followed by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Almost two third States have not been able to reach even the halfway mark of reforms score, in the year 2016-17. The index aims to induce a healthy competition between States and percolate best practices in implementing farmer-friendly reforms.

III. Reforming Medical Education
A committee chaired by Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog recommended scrapping of the Medical Council of Indi and suggested a new body for regulating medical education. The draft legislation for the proposed National Medical Commission has been submitted to the Government for further necessary action.
IV. Digital Payments Movement:

a. An action plan on advocacy, awareness and co-ordination of handholding efforts among general public, micro enterprises and other stakeholders was prepared. Appropriate literature in print and multimedia was prepared on the subject for widespread dissemination. Presentations/ interactions were organized by NITI Aayog for training and capacity building of various Ministries/Departments of Government of India, representatives of State/UTs, Trade and Industry Bodies as well as all other stakeholders.
b. NITI Aayog also constituted a Committee of Chief Ministers on Digital Payments on 30th November 2016 with the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu, as the Convener to promote transparency, financial inclusion and a healthy financial ecosystem nationwide. The Committee submitted its interim report to Hon’ble Prime Minister in January 2017.
c. To incentivize the States/UTs for promotion of digital transactions, Central assistance of Rs. 50 crore would be provided to the districts for undertaking Information, Education and Communication activities to bring 5 crore Jan Dhan accounts to digital platform.
d. Cashback and referral bonus schemes were launched by the Prime Minister on 14.4.2017 to promote the use of digital payments through the BHIM App.
e. Niti Aayog also launched two incentive schemes to to promote digital payments across all sections of society - the Lucky Grahak Yojana and the Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana –Over 16 lakh consumers and merchants have won Rs. 256 crore under these two schemes .
f. Digi Dhan Melas were also held for 100 days in 100 cities, from December 25th to April 14th.

V. Atal Innovation Mission: The Government has set up Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) in NITI Aayog with a view to strengthen the country’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem by creating institutions and programs that spur innovation in schools, colleges, and entrepreneurs in general. In 2016-17, the following major schemes were rolled out:
a. Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs): To foster creativity and scientific temper in students, AIM is helping to establish 500 ATLs in schools across India, where students can design and make small prototypes to solve challenges they see around them, using rapid prototyping technologies that have emerged in recent years.
b. Atal Incubation Centres (AICs): AIM will provide financial support of Rs.10 crore and capacity buidling for setting AICs across India, which will help startups expand quicker and enable innovation-entrepreneurship, in core sectors such as manufacturing, transport, energy, education, agriculture, water and sanitation, etc.
VI. Indices Measuring States’ Performance in Health, Education and Water Management: As part of the Prime Minister’s Focus on outcomes, NITI has come out with indices to measure incremental annual outcomes in critical social sectors like health, education and water with a view to nudge the states into competing with each other for better outcomes, while at the same time sharing best practices & innovations to help each other - an example of competitive and cooperative federalism..

VII. Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Rationalization of Centrally Sponsored Schemes: Based on the recommendations of this Sub-Group, a Cabinet note was prepared by NITI Aayog which was approved by the Cabinet on 3rd August, 2016. Among several key decision, the sub-group led to the rationalization of the existing CSSs into 28 umbrella schemes.

VIII. Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Swachh Bharat Abhiyan:Constituted by NITI Aayog on 9th March, 2015, the Sub-Group has submitted its report to the Hon’ble Prime Minister in October, 2015 and most of its recommendations have been accepted.
IX. Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Skill Development:Constituted on 9th March, 2015, the report of the Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Skill Development was presented before the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 31/12/2015. The recommendation and actionable points emerging from the Report were approved by the Hon’ble Prime Minister and are in implementation by the Ministry of Skill Development
X. Task Force on Elimination of Poverty in India:Constituted on 16th March, 2015 under the Chairmanship of Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, the report of the Task Force was finalized and submitted to the Prime Minister on 11th July, 2016.The report of the Task Force primarily focusses on issues of measurement of poverty and strategies to combat poverty. Regarding estimation of poverty, the report of the Task Force states that “a consensus in favour of either the Tendulkar or a higher poverty line did not emerge. Therefore, the Task Force has concluded that the matter be considered in greater depth by the country’s top experts on poverty before a final decision is made. Accordingly, it is recommended that an expert committee be set up to arrive at an informed decision on the level at which the poverty line should be set.” With respect to strategies to combat poverty, the Task Force has made recommendations on faster poverty reduction through employment intensive sustained rapid growth and effective implementation of anti-poverty programs.

XI. Task Force on Agriculture Development: The Task Force on Agricultural development was constituted on 16th March, 2015 under the Chairmanship of Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog. The Task Force based on its works prepared an occasional paper entitled “Raising Agricultural Productivity and Making Farming Remunerative for Farmers” focusing on 5 critical areas of Indian Agriculture. These are (i) Raising Productivity, (ii) Remunerative Prices to Farmers, (iii) Land Leasing, Land Records & Land Titles; (iv) Second Green Revolution-Focus on Eastern States; and (v) Responding to Farmers’ Distress. After taking inputs of all the States on occasional paper and through their reports, the Task Force submitted the final report to Prime Minister on 31st May, 2016. It has suggested important policy measures to bring in reforms in agriculture for the welfare of the farmers as well as enhancing their income.

XII. Transforming India Lecture Series:As the government’s premier think-tank, NITI Aayog views knowledge building & transfer as the enabler of real transformation in States. To build knowledge systems for States and the Centre, NITI Aayog launched the ‘NITI Lectures: Transforming India’ series, with full support of the Prime Minister on 26th August 2016. The lecture series is aimed at addressing the top policy making team of the Government of India, including members of the cabinet and several top layers of the bureaucracy. It aims is to bring cutting edge ideas in development policy to Indian policy makers and public, so as to promote the cause of transformation of India into a prosperous modern economy. The Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, Shri Tharman Shanmugaratnam, delivered the first lecture on the topic: India and the Global Economy. On November 16th, 2016, Bill Gates, Co-Founder, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, delivered the second lecture in the series under the theme: 'Technology and Transformation'.


NITI Aayog's 15 year Vision, 7 year Strategy, and 3 year Action Agenda will reflect in benefits to all States
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