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The renaming and replacing of the Planning Commission to NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) by the Centre drew flak from the Opposition parties, which termed it as “gimmickry.”
The new body cannot fulfil the Centre’s promise of “co-operative federalism”, said the Opposition parties, adding that they feared that States will be discriminated against by the new set-up. Some regional parties urged the Centre to ensure that the new panel includes members specific to States.
The Congress said the Government’s intention is not “constructive reform” of the Planning Commission, adding that it just wanted to alter the panel’s identity because of “anti-Nehruvianism and anti-Congressism”, said the party .
“Mere name change from Yojana Aayog to NITI Aayog is not objectionable if coupled with real reform. Else, it is purely a cosmetic change, like naming ceremonies,” said party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
The Left parties said a mere change in nomenclature and gimmickry will not serve any purpose. “Let us see what the government plans to do with it,” said CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury. The party has been demanding more say for States in the affairs of the Planning Commission.
The Trinamool Congress feared that corporate houses will now get the upper hand in an “unplanned” economy.
“I am basically opposed to the abolition of the Planning Commission, which had been working for the last so many years. We believe in a planned economy. It will take the country away from the planned economy to an unplanned economy,” said the party’s senior MP Saugata Roy.
The Biju Janata Dal hoped the new panel will avoid straight-jacket thinking on welfare measures.
“We hope that NITI will bring some new thinking. We have a large section of vulnerable people in our State. Their interests have to be protected. The earlier form of the Planning Commission used to come up with straight-jacket ideas. We hope that there will be State-specific measures to address the issues of the marginalised people,” the party’s leader in Lok Sabha, Bhartruhari Mahtab, told BusinessLine .
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