In 2014, when the Planning Commission was disbanded, a commentator observed that the defunct body was like “those old men who are no longer harmful but are reviled because they once were.” It was one of the vestiges of centralised planning that India adopted in the early years of the republic, in part inspired by the Soviet model, which it began to shed by the 90s.
The NITI Aayog, which replaced it, was formed with a limited role of a consulting body but with the daunting aim of working towards cooperative federalism. That, however, seems to be a distant goal, as reflected in how the body’s governing council meeting unfolded last week. As of now, the political challenge of combative partisanship and party politics has deflected the focus from the developmental agenda.
