About NITI AYOG

Formation: 1 January 2015

Preceding: Planning Commission

Headquarters: New Delhi

Agency Executive:
Mr. Narendra Modi (Chairman)
Arvind Pangariya (Vice Chairman)
Bibek Debroy (Member)
V. K. Saraswat (Member)
Ramesh Chand (Member)
Amitabh kant (CEO)

About NITI AYOG
National Institution for Transforming India is a Government of India policy think-tank established by the Narendra Modi government to replace the Planning Commission which followed the top-down model .
The stated aim for NITI Aayog's creation is to foster involvement and participation in the economic policy-making process by the State Governments of India. The emphasis is on bottom-up approach and make the country to move towards cooperative federalism . The Union Government of India announced the formation of NITI Aayog on 1 January 2015, and the first meeting was held on 8 February 2015. The Prime Minister serves as the Ex-officio chairman.

HISTORY
On May 29, 2014, the Independent Evaluation Office submitted an assessment report to Prime Minister Modi with the recommendation to replace the Planning Commission with a "control commission". On August 13, 2014, the Union Cabinet scrapped the Planning Commission, to be replaced with a diluted version of the National Advisory Council (NAC) of India. On January 1, 2015 a Cabinet resolution was passed to replace the Planning Commission with the newly formed NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India). The first meeting of NITI Aayog was chaired by Narendra Modi on February 8, 2015.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made the following observation on the necessity of creating NITI Aayog, "The 65-year-old Planning Commission had become a redundant organisation. It was relevant in a command economy structure, but not any longer. India is a diversified country and its states are in various phases of economic development along with their own strengths and weaknesses. In this context, a ‘one size fits all’ approach to economic planning is obsolete. It cannot make India competitive in today’s global economy."

MEMBERS
1. Vice Chairperson: Arvind Panagariya

2. Ex-Officio Members: Rajnath Singh , Arun Jaitley , Suresh Prabhu and Radha Mohan Singh

3. Special Invitees: Nitin Gadkari , Smriti Zubin Irani and Thawar Chand Gehlot

4. Full-time Members: Bibek Debroy (Economist), V. K. Saraswat (former DRDO Chief) and Ramesh Chand (Agriculture Expert)

5. Chief Executive Officer: Amitabh Kant

6. Governing Council: All Chief Ministers and Lieutenant Governors of States and Union Territories