Table of Contents

  1. V. Parameswaran is the new CEO of the NITI Aayog
  2. Murmu files nomination for Presidential Poll
  3. J&K to host G20 meeting next year

 

V. Parameswaran is the new CEO of the NITI Aayog

 Context: V. Parameswaran Iyer, a senior official who helmed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet scheme, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, will be the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NITI Aayog.

About V. Parameswaran

  • The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet cleared his name for the post here on Friday. Mr. Iyer will get at least two years in the post.
  • Iyer replaces Amitabh Kant, who completes his term in the office on June 30. A Government Order added that he will work on the same terms and conditions as were applicable to Mr. Kant.
  • At present, Mr. Iyer functions as the Programme Manager of the 2030 Water Resources Group, a platform hosted by the World Bank for water conservation.
  • Iyer joined the IAS in 1981 in the Uttar Pradesh cadre and had served as the Secretary of the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
  • He worked at the United Nations too for a few years as a senior rural water sanitation specialist.
  • He is a Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad in management practices.
  • Kant was appointed CEO of the National Institutions for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog on February 17, 2016, for two years. He got three extensions during his tenure. Under Mr. Kant, the NITI Aayog helped the Centre launch several programs such as Digital India and Make in India.

 

What is Niti Aayog?

Background

  • Planning has been in the Indian psyche as our leaders came under influence of the socialist clime of the erstwhile USSR. The planning commission served as the planning vehicle for close to six decades with a focus on a control and command approach.
  • Planning Commission was replaced by a new institution – NITI AAYYOG on January 1, 2015, with emphasis on the ‘Bottom–Up’ approach to envisage the vision of Maximum Governance, Minimum Government, echoing the spirit of ‘Cooperative Federalism.

Administrative Structure

  • Chairperson: Prime Minister
  • Vice-Chairperson: appointed by Prime-Minister
  • Governing Council: Chief Ministers of all states and Lt. Governors of Union Territories.
  • Regional Council: To address specific regional issues, Comprising Chief Ministers and Lt. Governors Chaired by Prime Minister or his nominee.
  • Adhoc Membership: 2 members in ex-officio capacity from leading Research institutions on a rotational basis.
  • Ex-Officio membership: Maximum of four from the Union council of ministers to be nominated by the Prime minister.
  • Chief Executive Officer: Appointed by the Prime minister for a fixed tenure, in the rank of Secretary to the Government of India.
  • Special Invitees: Experts, Specialists with domain knowledge nominated by the Prime-minister.

NITI Aayog Hubs

  1. Team India Hubacts as an interface between States and the Centre.
  2. Knowledge and Innovation Hub builds the think-tank acumen of NITI Aayog.
  • The Aayog planned to come out with three documents — 3-year action agenda, a 7-year medium-term strategy paper, and a 15-year vision document.

Significance

  • The 65-year-old Planning Commission had become a redundant organization. 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.

Objectives

  • 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, in 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 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 the 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 stakeholders.

Issues related to NITI Aayog

  • To prove its mettle in policy formulation, the NITI Aayog needs to prioritize from the long list of 13 objectives with a clear understanding of the difference in policy, planning, and strategy.
  • To build the trust, faith, and confidence more than the planning commission, NITI Aayog needs freedom of various kinds with budgetary provisions, not in terms of plan and non-plan expenditures but revenue and capital expenditure as the higher rate of increase in capital expenditure can remove infrastructural deficits at all levels of operation in the economy.

 

Murmu files nomination for Presidential poll

Context: The Chief Ministers of all  BJP- ruled states and those of Meghalaya and Nagaland, Conrad Sangma and Neiphiu Rio, respectively, and the ministers of the Biju Janata Dal government of the Odisha were also present. The nomination papers were submitted to P.C. Mody, secretary-general of the Rajya Sabha who is also the Returning Officer.

Who is Murmu?

Here is everything you need to know about BJP’s candidate for Presidency.

  1. If elected, Murmu would become the first tribal President and second female President of India.
  2. Hailing from Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, Murmu started out as a teacher before entering state politics.
  3. She has been an MLA twice, on BJPticket, from Rairangpur in Mayurbhanj (2000 and 2009).
  4. Murmu was first considered a contender five years ago, when President Pranab Mukherjee was set to leave Rashtrapati Bhavan
  5. During the BJP-BJD coalition government that came to power in 2000, she held the Commerce and Transport, and, subsequently, the Fisheries and Animal Husbandry portfolios.
  6. She managed to win in 2009 even as the BJP paled against the challenge put up by the by-then estranged BJD.
  7. In 2015, Murmu was sworn in as the first woman Governor of Jharkhand.
  8. In her personal life, Murmu has seen much tragedy, having lost both her husband Shyam Charan Murmu and two sons.
  9. Before she became an MLA, Murmu served as councillor in the Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat, after winning elections in 1997, and as vice-president of the BJP’s Scheduled Tribes Morcha.
  10. Her expected win as President – with the NDA commanding 48% of the electoral vote – will be a big boost to the BJP’s tribal push.

What is the election process for President?

  • The President is elected by an electoral college consisting of MPs of both Houses of Parliament and MLAs of the states and Delhi and Puducherry. Nominated members of Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha and the Assemblies, and members of state Legislative Councils, are not part of the Electoral College.
  • The votes are weighted, their value determined by the population of each state as per Census 1971. The value of each MLA’s vote varies from a high of 208 in Uttar Pradesh to a low of 7 in Sikkim. This means that UP’s 403 MLAs contribute 208 × 403 = 83,824 votes to the electoral pool, while Sikkim’s 32 MLAs contribute 32 × 7 = 224 votes. The weighted votes from all the Assemblies add up to 5.43 lakh.
  • The process demands that the 776 MPs (543 in Lok Sabha, 233 in Rajya Sabha) should contribute the same total of votes as the MLAs. Thus, the value of each MP’s vote is 5.43 lakh divided by 776, rounded off to 700. The combined electoral pool from the Assemblies and Parliament adds up to 10.86 lakh.

 

J&K to host G20 meeting next year

Context: The Jammu and Kashmir administration has constituted a committee to coordinate with the delegates of G-20 countries scheduled to participate in a meeting to be held in the Union Territory (UT) next year.

 What is G20?

  • The G20 is an international forum that brings together the world’s 20 leading industrialized and emerging economies.
  • The group accounts for 85% of world GDP and two-thirds of its population.
  • Much of the important business takes place on the sidelines and in informal meetings.
  • When it was established 17 years ago, the attendance at G20 summits was limited to the finance ministers and central bank governors of members.
  • But since an inaugural meeting between G20 leaders in Washington DC following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, summits between G20 leaders themselves have become an annual event.

Members of G20