7-Dec-2022: NITI Aayog and GIZ India Hold National Conclave on Soil Health Management for Sustainable Farming

NITI Aayog organized a national conclave on soil health management for sustainable farming on the occasion of the World Soil Day (December 5, 2022).

The conclave was co-hosted by NITI Aayog and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH India on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Cooperation and Economic Development (BMZ).

The conclave brought together policymakers, the scientific community, civil society and sector advocates to understand key initiatives in India and globally.

While delivering the keynote lecture, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar said, “The government is playing a pivotal role in encouraging measures to protect the environment. And in collaboration with the German government, we can help in developing a roadmap to improve soil health and sustainable agriculture practices.”

Earlier in December 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had presented to the nation an alternative path to halt and reverse soil degradation in the agriculture sector. The PM’s call to move towards natural, chemical-free and crop-diverse farming stresses the need to focus on the health of soils across the country to boost productivity, improve ecology and bring about increased prosperity.

Reiterating this point, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid greater emphasis on promoting natural and sustainable farming. I am delighted to see India and Germany working together to ensure healthy soil management and long-term food security.”

“To ensure healthy soil management, there is a need to reduce the usage of agrochemicals; we have to look for healthier alternatives. While agrochemicals improve productivity, they also lead to soil degradation. Therefore, the real cost of production is actually increasing,” NITI Aayog Member (Agriculture) Prof. Ramesh Chand said.

NITI Aayog CEO Param Iyer said, “We have come a long way towards food security since the green revolution and in terms of agricultural production, we are on the right trajectory. However, we need to lay greater focus on sustainable farming, as healthy soil is the basis for a healthy future.”

The conclave highlighted the role of soil protection, restoration, and sustainable soil management to support an agro ecological transition towards sustainable farming and resilient food systems in India.

Dr. Neelam Patel, Senior Adviser (Agriculture), NITI Aayog spoke about the use of IT for translating the  soil health card data for judicious use of fertilizer. She emphasized on the need of research for scientific validation of different sustainable farming practices.

GIZ Natural Resource Management and Agro ecology Director Rajeev Ahal said, “The practice of natural farming and agro ecological farming practices can not only lead the way to rejuvenate and enhance soil heath, biodiversity, and nutrition but also the prosperity of farmers.”

India and Germany are already partnering up to tackle the challenges of soil degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change by promoting holistic solutions for resilient agriculture and food systems like agro ecology. In May 2022, India and Germany signed a joint declaration for the establishment of the first-ever bilateral lighthouse initiative on agro ecology and sustainable management of natural resources. Through this, joint research, knowledge-sharing and innovation will be promoted between academic institutions of both countries and practitioners, including farmers. Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development intends to provide up to 300 million euros by 2025 for financial and technical cooperation for projects under this initiative.

NITI Aayog and the BMZ too also signed a Statement of Intent for collaborations, with agro ecology being one of the priority areas.

Today’s conclave was part of these bilateral initiatives to catalyze the transformation towards resilient and sustainable food systems, including nutritional security and improving rural livelihoods through green and inclusive economic development.

29-Nov-2022: NITI Aayog releases study report on ‘Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) Policy Framework and its Deployment Mechanism in India’

CCUS is key to ensuring sustainable development and growth in India, particularly for the production of clean products and energy, leading to an Atmanirbhar Bharat

A study report, titled ‘Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage Policy Framework and its Deployment Mechanism in India’, was released today. The report explores the importance of Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage as an emission reduction strategy to achieve deep decarbonization from the hard-to-abate sectors. The report outlines broad level policy interventions needed across various sectors for its application.

As, India has updated its NDC targets for achieving 50% of its total installed capacity from non-fossil-based energy sources, 45% reduction in emission intensity by 2030 and taking steps towards achieving Net Zero by 2070, the role of Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) becomes important as reduction strategy to achieve decarbonization from the hard-to abate sectors.

“CCUS can enable the production of clean products while still utilizing our rich endowments of coal, reducing imports and thus leading to an Atmanirbhar Indian economy.” said Suman Bery, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog. Implementation of CCUS technology certainly be an important step to decarbonise the hard-to-abate sector.

CCUS projects will also lead to a significant employment generation. It estimates that about 750 mtpa of carbon capture by 2050 can create employment opportunities of about 8-10 million on full time equivalent (FTE) basis in a phased manner.

“India’s dependency on the fossil-based Energy Resources is likely to continue in future, hence CCUS policy in Indian Context is needed” said Dr. V.K Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog.

The report indicates that CCUS can provide a wide variety of opportunities to convert the captured CO2 to different value-added products like green urea, food and beverage form application, building materials (concrete and aggregates), chemicals (methanol and ethanol), polymers (including bio-plastics) and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) with wide market opportunities in India, thus contributing substantially to a circular economy.

31-Oct-2022: NITI Aayog’s Second In-House Lecture on India’s Reforms Story: The Last 8 years

The second lecture of NITI Aayog’s in-house lecture series, on the theme ‘India's Reforms Story - The Last 8 Years’, was held today, at Sushma Swaraj Bhawan, New Delhi.

The keynote address was delivered by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) Vice President Gautam Chikermane, followed by a Panel discussion moderated by NITI Aayog CEO Parameswaran Iyer. The discussion was held amongst -  Department of School Education & Literacy Secretary Anita Karwal, ORF Vice President Gautam Chikermane and FICCI Senior Vice President Subhrakant Panda.

In his closing remarks, NITI Aayog Vice Chair Suman Bery said, ‘In an economy, we have to always think about growth, but also about distribution dimensions, especially in a data-driven country like ours. The big change that has taken place between 2014 and 2022 is the mastery of scale. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there have been a lot of independent initiatives. What we see now with UPI, Jhan Dhan Yojana and Ayushman Bharat is the remarkable ability to deliver.’

The inaugural lecture of the series, ‘Covid-19 Vaccination: The India Story’, was held on 30 September 2022. The India Development Strategies lecture series will be held every month. The lectures will focus on national developmental priorities, policies for inclusive growth, best practices in various sectors, initiatives to promote cooperative and competitive federalism.

Today's lecture was attended by over 300 people including the senior leadership, joint secretaries, advisers and lateral entrants.

30-Sep-2022: Dr VK Paul Delivers Inaugural Lecture in NITI Aayog’s First India Development Strategies Lecture Series

‘India’s Covid-19 story is a story of Aatmanirbharta, which saved lakhs of life, atmavishwas, that we can fight the coronavirus, and the signature leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Ours is a story of India’s resilient public health system and of everyone working together as team India to battle the pandemic,’ said Dr VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog. Dr Paul was speaking at NITI Aayog’s first in-house lecture series on India’s Development Strategies.

NITI’s flagship in-house lecture series aims to sensitize participants about major initiatives and exercises of the government, develop shared commitments, create a more productive and inclusive environment and provoke innovative thinking for meeting the developmental objectives of the nation.

While delivering the inaugural lecture, ‘Covid-19 Vaccination: The India Story’, Dr Paul walked the audience through India’s journey to 2 billion doses by July 2022. Dr Paul spoke about the enabling structures set up by NITI since 2020 and about the evolution of different vaccines and their impact, and India’s vaccine Maitri programme.

Today’s lecture was followed by a panel discussion between Dr VK Paul; Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary (Health); Dr Krishna Ella, Founder, Bharat Biotech; and Priyam Gandhi-Mody, author and political strategist, moderated by NITI Aayog CEO Param Iyer.

In his closing remarks, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery said, ‘Our vaccination drive, as envisioned by the PM, illustrates what India can accomplish when its people come together in the spirit of jan bhagidari. The global community looks at India as a role model because of its effective vaccination programme based on the “Vasudhaiva Kutumbhakam” ideology.’

The India Development Strategies lecture series will be held every month. The lectures will focus on national developmental priorities, policies for inclusive growth, best practices in various sectors, initiatives to promote cooperative and competitive federalism.

Today's lecture was attended by over 300 people, including the senior leadership, joint secretaries, mission directors, advisers and lateral entrants.

14-Sep-2022: NITI Aayog Celebrates One-Year Anniversary of Shoonya Campaign

NITI Aayog held a day-long forum today to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Shoonya, India’s zero pollution e-mobility campaign.

Shoonya is a consumer awareness campaign to reduce air pollution by promoting the use of electric vehicles (EVs) for ride-hailing and deliveries. The campaign has 130 industry partners, including ride-hailing, delivery and EV companies.

All the partners participated in today’s forum and shared their success stories and commitments toward fleet electrification. G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant, NITI Aayog CEO Param Iyer, MyGov CEO Abhishek Singh, Delhi Government Principal Secretary Ashish Kundra, Mahindra Electric Mobility CEO Suman Mishra, and several others attended the event. 

In his keynote address, G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said, “The success of the Shoonya campaign is evidence that the green mobility revolution is knocking on our doors. The future belongs to a shared and connected world through electric mobility.”

Underscoring the important role of green mobility in achieving India’s decarbonization goals, NITI Aayog CEO Param Iyer said, “The Shoonya campaign has the potential to galvanize participation from all sectors towards the goal of green mobility.”

Today’s forum provided opportunities for partners to share knowledge and learnings and initiate collaborative engagements. During the focused discussions, corporates shared their challenges in scaling EVs and solicited feedback on driving impact through the campaign.

The National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Energy Storage (Part III) report was also launched during the event. The report highlights that India’s $2.5-billion Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) energy storage is critical for meeting the projected cumulative battery demand of 106–260 GWh by 2030 to successfully realize the country’s vision for EV adoption and grid decarbonisation.

About Shoonya:

Rapid global urbanization and e-commerce sales are driving significant growth in urban freight and mobility demand. In India, these sectors are expected to grow at a CAGR of 8% through 2030. If this demand is met by internal combustion vehicles (ICE), it would significantly increase local air pollution, carbon emissions, and lead to adverse public health effects. EVs offer an opportunity to address these challenges. Compared to ICE vehicles, EVs do not emit PM or NOx emissions at the tailpipe; they release 60% less CO2 and have 75% lower operating costs. Shoonya supplements existing national and sub-national EV policies as well as corporate efforts in India by creating consumer awareness and demand for zero pollution rides and deliveries in Indian cities.

Till April 2022, the estimated number of electric deliveries and rides completed by corporate partners via the Shoonya campaign was close to 20 million and 15 million, respectively. This translates to a carbon dioxide emission savings of over 13,000 tonnes.

If all final-mile deliveries and rides in India were shoonya, India would be well on its way to improving air quality, reducing public health costs, enhancing energy security, and achieving its climate targets. The electrification of the ride-hailing and delivery sector in India could mitigate close to 54 MT of CO2 emissions, 16,800 tonnes of PM emissions, and 537,000 tonnes of NOx pollution, saving roughly 5.7 lakh crore in expenditures over a year. Thus, Shoonya can lead to dramatic emission reductions in the transport sector, supporting India’s five-point agenda (Panchamrit), announced at COP 26, to reduce carbon emissions and secure its 2070 climate goals.

5-Sep-2022: NITI Aayog & BMZ hold the inaugural NITI - BMZ Dialogue on Development Cooperation

NITI Aayog and German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) told held the inaugural NITI-BMZ Dialogue of Development Cooperation via video conferencing.

On May 2, 2022, India and Germany signed a Joint Declaration of Intent on Partnership for Green and Sustainable Development (GSDP). During the last G7 summit in Schloss Elmau in June 2022, India and the G7 had agreed to work towards a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). 

Today’s Dialogue laid down a pathway to strengthen mutual cooperation between the two countries, particularly  to reconcile the imperatives of dealing with climate change with the goals of Agenda 2030. 

The NITI-BMZ Dialogue focused on five core areas of cooperation: Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), climate action, energy transition, emerging technologies and agro-ecology. Both sides deliberated ongoing engagements and identified potential cooperation in areas that can produce tangible outputs and learnings for India and Germany.

India’s forthcoming G20 Presidency is of particular relevance in this regard. NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Mr. Suman Bery drew attention to the Prime Minister focus on individual responsibility for sustainable behaviour, embodied in his Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) initiative.  In support of a green and sustainable development partnership, German Federal Minister Schulze today announced an additional funding of EUR 3.5 million, specifically for strengthening of implementation of SDGs and climate action at the level of Indian states.

Federal Minister Svenja Schulze said: “India is a global partner for Germany, the EU and the G7. We are very serious about a real long-term cooperation with India to achieve the Paris Climate Goals, the SDGs and in particular a just energy transition in India. An important basis for the long-term GSDP is to discuss and agree on transformational concepts and policies, be it in the energy transition, sustainable mobility, climate resilience or the agro-ecological transformation. This is why I held a dialogue with Shri Suman Bery and his team today. We are very much looking forward to the Indian G20 Presidency in 2023 and are ready to support India for a strong agenda on climate action and sustainable development.”

NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Shri Suman Bery said: “Germany is one of India’s most important partners. Indo-German partnership is as an example of success in a complex world. NITI-BMZ Dialogue in Development Cooperation will help our two nations realise our potential in  embedding climate action in the SDGs, energy, emerging technologies and agro-ecology”.   

NITI and BMZ reiterated their commitment on collaborating towards strengthening SDG localization at the city level and scaling-up SDG implementation in the context of climate change at the state level with capacity building and incentive systems for implementation.

During the discussion, both sides highlighted the need to deepen engagement on the Lighthouse Cooperation on Agroecology and Natural Resources and to collaborate on (i) scaling up natural farming in India (ii)  strengthening research in different agro-climatic regions for natural farming practices, (iii) working towards standards and certification of natural farming products for facilitating export and (iv) evaluating impact of natural farming for mitigating climate change and adapting to climate risks.

7-Aug-2022: Seventh meeting of Governing Council of NITI Aayog concludes

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today heralded the collective efforts of all the States in the spirit of cooperative federalism as the force that helped India emerge from the Covid pandemic.

Addressing the seventh meeting of the Governing Council (GC) of NITI Aayog, the Prime Minister said, “Every State played a crucial role according to its strength and contributed to India’s fight against Covid. This led to India emerging as an example for the developing nations to look up to as a global leader.”

This was the first physical meeting of the Governing Council since the onset of the pandemic, with the 2021 meeting held via video conferencing. The meeting was attended by 23 Chief Ministers, 3 Lieutenant Governors and 2 Administrators and Union Ministers. The meeting was moderated by Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh.

In his inaugural address, the Prime Minister said India’s federal structure and cooperative federalism emerged as a model for the world during the Covid crisis. He said that India had sent a powerful message to the developing nations of the world—that it is possible to overcome challenges with resilience despite resource limitations. The PM said that the credit for this goes to the State Governments, which focused on grassroots delivery of public services to the people through cooperation across political lines.

The Prime Minister highlighted that the seventh meeting was a culmination of months of rigorous brainstorming and consultations between the Centre and States to identify national priorities. “All Chief Secretaries met together in Dharamshala and over three days, deliberated issues of national importance. This collective process led to the development of the agenda for this meeting," the PM said.

This year, the Governing Council discussed four key agenda items:

1. crop diversification and achieving self-sufficiency in pulses, oilseeds and other Agri-commodities;
2. implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) in school education;
3. implementation of National Education Policy in higher education; and
4. urban governance.

The Prime Minister highlighted the importance of all of the above issues, especially the need for India to focus on modernized agriculture, animal husbandry, and food processing to become self-sufficient and a global leader in the agriculture sector. He said rapid urbanization can become India’s strength instead of weakness by leveraging technology to ensure ease of living, transparent service delivery, and improvement in the quality of life for every citizen of urban India.

The PM also spoke about India’s G20 presidency in 2023 and called it a unique opportunity to show the world that India is not just Delhi—it is every State and Union Territory of the country. The PM said we should develop a mass movement around G20. This will allow us to identify the best talent available in the country. He also said there should be a dedicated team for G20 in the States to derive the maximum possible benefit from this initiative. Speaking about this, the Union Minister of External Affairs, Shri S. Jaishankar, said, “The G20 Presidency presents a great opportunity and a great responsibility. For the first time in the history of G20, India will host the G20 meetings over the year, not only in Delhi, but in every State and Union Territory.”

While highlighting several initiatives undertaken to boost learning outcomes, capacity-building of teachers, and skilling, Union Minister of Education, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, thanked and requested further support of the States for the successful implementation of the National Education Policy.

Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, Shri Suman Bery, reiterated that India’s transformation has to take place in its states. He reaffirmed the need for the combined efforts of the Centre and States to realize the vision of a resurgent India post the pandemic.

Every Chief Minister and Lt Governor present at the meeting addressed the meeting, highlighting the priorities, achievements, and challenges of their respective States and Union Territories with a special focus on the four key agenda items.

In his closing remarks, the Prime Minister said that each state should focus on promoting its 3Ts, Trade, Tourism, Technology, through every Indian Mission around the world. He said the States must focus on reducing imports, increasing exports and identifying opportunities for the same in every state. “We should encourage people to use local goods wherever possible,” he said. ‘Vocal for local’ is not the agenda of an individual political party but a common goal, he said.

The PM said even though GST collection has improved, our potential is much more. “Increasing GST collection requires collective action by the Centre and States. It is crucial for strengthening our economic position and becoming a USD 5 trillion economy,” he said. Speaking on the National Education Policy, the PM said the NEP has been formulated after considerable deliberations. He said we should involve all stakeholders in its implementation and develop a clear, timebound roadmap for the same.

He expressed his gratitude to the CMs and LGs for participating in the meeting and sharing their views and experiences. He said NITI Aayog will study the states’ concerns, challenges, and best practices and subsequently plan the way forward. He said the issues discussed in this meeting will define the national priorities for the next 25 years, adding that the seeds we sow today will define the fruits reaped by India in 2047.

The Principal Secretary to the PM, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman, Members and CEO, the Cabinet Secretary, Secretaries (DoPT, Culture, DoSE&L, Higher Education &MoHUA), Chief Secretaries of States and Union Territories, and other senior officers from the PMO, Cabinet Secretariat, NITI Aayog attended the seventh meeting.

5-Aug-2022: PM to Chair 7th Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog on 7 August

As India commemorates 75 years of Independence, there is a reinforced need for the states to be agile, resilient and self-reliant and move towards ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ in a spirit of cooperative federalism.  In the drive towards building a steady, sustainable and inclusive India, the Seventh Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog will be held on 7th August 2022 and will pave the way for synergies towards a new era of collaboration and cooperation between Centre and States/ Union Territories.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will chair the seventh meeting of the Governing Council at Rashtrapati Bhawan Cultural Centre, New Delhi.  The agenda of the meeting, interalia, includes crop diversification and achieving self-sufficiency in oilseeds and pulses and Agri-communities; implementation of the National Education Policy–school education; implementation of the National Education Policy–higher education; and urban governance.

As part of preparations for the meeting, the National Conference of Chief Secretaries held in Dharamshala in June 2022 which was the culmination of the six month long rigorous exercise by the Centre and States. The conference was chaired by the Prime Minister and attended by the Chief Secretaries of all States and UTs, along with senior officials of the Central and State Governments.  The 7th Governing Council Meeting will endeavour to finalize a roadmap and outcome oriented action plan on each of the above themes.

This would be the first in-person  meeting of the Governing Council since July 2019. It is particularly important as we enter Amrit Kaal against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and in light of India hosting the G20 Presidency and summit next year. The meeting would also lay emphasis on the importance of the Presidency for India for the federal system and the role that states can play in highlighting their progress at the G-20 Platform.

NITI Aayog’s Governing Council is the premier body tasked with evolving a shared vision of national priorities and strategies with the active involvement of States and Union Territories.  The Governing Council presents a platform to discuss inter-sectoral, inter-departmental and federal issues. It comprises the Prime Minister of India; Chief Ministers of all the states and union territories with legislature; Lt Governors of other UTs; Ex-Officio Members; Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog; Full-Time Members, NITI Aayog; and Union Ministers as Special Invitees.  It provides one of the most important forum for deliberations between the Centre and States and identifying key strategies for cohesive action with a whole-of-Government approach.

21-Jul-2022: COP 26 President and NITI Aayog launch initiatives to boost electric mobility and promote battery reuse and recycling market in India

During the visit of COP 26 President Rt Hon’ble Alok Sharma to India on 21-22 July 2022, NITI Aayog today launched two significant initiatives — E-AMRIT (Accelerated e-Mobility Revolution for India's Transportation) mobile application to raise awareness on electric mobility and the Report on Advanced Chemistry Cell Battery Reuse and Recycling Market in India. These are launched by COP 26 President Rt Hon’ble Alok Sharma, Hon’ble Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Mr. Suman Bery, and CEO of NITI Aayog Mr. Parameswaran Iyer.

India is among 42 leaders to back and sign up to the UK's Glasgow Breakthroughs, launched at the COP26 climate summit. India is also a co-convener of the Glasgow Breakthrough on Road Transport, together with the UK and the US. The Breakthrough on Road Transport aims to make ZEVs – including 2&3-wheelers, cars, vans and Heavy-Duty Vehicles – the new normal by making them affordable, accessible and sustainable in all regions by 2030.

To bolster this low carbon infrastructure, NITI Aayog has been collaborating with the UK Government in the areas of e-vehicles, charging infrastructure and battery storage. Speaking during the launch, COP26 President highlighted: “India is the fifth largest and fastest growing vehicle market in the world, providing massive potential for electric vehicle uptake. The shift to Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs) is well underway and accelerating, creating 100,000s of new e-mobility jobs, driving down technology costs, ensuring the air we breathe is cleaner and reducing our reliance on imported fuels.

While launching the UK-NITI Aayog collaborative initiatives on electric mobility, Mr. Alok Sharma said "These initiatives demonstrate the sustained value of UK-India collaboration not only on electric vehicles infrastructure, but on taking action to tackle climate change as a whole. I look forward to continuing our partnership into the future.”

Hon’ble Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, addressing the delegation noted that “electrification of the transport system is the key driver of India’s transformational mobility paradigm. Catalysing this green transition will require a multi-fold increase in public as well as private capital flows to build India’s new green infrastructure.”

During the launch of the EV initiatives, CEO NITI Aayog highlighted that rapid development of the EV ecosystem, increased participation from the industry, international collaboration and supportive government policies, will bolster India’s EV adoption to grow exponentially over the next decade.

The e-AMRIT app offers users key information like engagement tools that enable them to assess benefits of electric vehicles, determine savings and get all the information on developments in the Indian electric vehicle market and industry at their fingertips. The mobile app, which will be available on Google Play store in android version today, is a follow-up to the e-AMRIT (www.e-amrit.niti.gov.in).

The report on “Advanced Chemistry Cell Battery Reuse and Recycling Market in India” supported by the UK’s Green Growth Fund Technical Cooperation Facility, is aimed at promoting battery recycling of current and evolving battery technologies, and the battery supply chain as uptake of electric vehicles increase in India. The report highlights the crucial role of energy storage in accomplishing India’s COP26 goals.

20-Jul-2022: NITI Aayog to launch the third edition of the India Innovation Index

NITI Aayog will release the third edition of the India Innovation Index on the 21st of July, 2022 at an event in the NITI Bhawan. The India Innovation Index 2021 will be released by the Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog, Shri Suman Bery, in the presence of Dr. V K Saraswat, Member; Shri Parameswaran Iyer, Chief Executive Officer and other esteemed dignitaries.

The release of the third edition of the index – the first and second editions were launched in October, 2019 and January, 2021, respectively – corroborates the Government’s continuous commitment towards transforming the nation into an innovation-driven economy.

The India Innovation Index 2021 is set against the backdrop of the pandemic, which has disrupted the global demographic landscape. Resilience and crisis-driven innovation have helped India bounce back, in these trying times. The India Innovation Index 2021, which examines innovation capacities and ecosystems at the sub-national level, highlights the recent factors and catalysts for promoting such crisis-driven innovation.

The third edition strengthens the scope of innovation analysis in the country by drawing on the framework of the Global Innovation Index (GII). The new framework presents a more nuanced and comprehensive outlook for measuring innovation performance in India, with the introduction of 66 unique indicators, as compared to the 36 indicators used in the preceding edition (viz. India Innovation Index 2020). Through this comprehensive framework, the index evaluates the innovation performance of all the states and union territories in India. The states and the union territories have been divided into 17 ‘Major States’, 10 ‘North-East and Hill States’, and 9 ‘Union Territories and City States’, for effectively comparing their performance.

A special section has also been introduced in the India Innovation Index 2021 for showcasing the detailed analysis of the drivers of innovation, by evaluating the improvement in the indicators. The states can assess their position and the factors that led to a change in their ranking vis-à-vis that in the India Innovation Index 2020.

With the India Innovation Index, NITI Aayog has commenced a journey to develop a coherent tool for benchmarking the innovation ecosystem of the country’s states and union territories, thereby fostering both competitive and cooperative federalism amongst them.

20-Jul-2022: NITI Aayog Releases Report on Digital Banks; Proposes a Licensing and Regulatory Regime for India

NITI Aayog’s report makes a case and offers a template and roadmap for a licensing and regulatory regime for digital banks. It focuses on avoiding any regulatory or policy arbitrage and offers a level playing field to incumbents as well as competitors.

The report was released today by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery and CEO Parameswaran Iyer and Senior Adviser Anna Roy, in the presence of other officials.

‘Given the need for leveraging technology effectively to cater to the needs of banking in India, this report studies the prevailing gaps, the niches that remain underserved, and the global regulatory best practices in licensing digital banks,’ said CEO Parameswaran Iyer.

Recommendations:

The report recommends a carefully calibrated approach, comprising the following steps:

1. Issue of a restricted digital bank licence (to a given applicant) (the license would be restricted in terms of volume/value of customers serviced and the like).
2. Enlistment (of the licensee) in a regulatory sandbox framework enacted by the Reserve Bank of India.
3. Issue of a ‘full-scale’ digital bank licence (contingent on satisfactory performance of the licensee in the regulatory sandbox, including salient, prudential and technological risk management).

The report also maps prevalent business models in this domain and highlights the challenges presented by the ‘partnership model’ of neo-banking—which has emerged in India due to a regulatory vacuum and in the absence of a digital bank licence.

The methodology for the licensing and regulatory template offered by the report is based on an equally weighted ‘digital bank regulatory index’. This comprises four factors—(i) entry barriers; (ii) competition; (iii) business restrictions; and (iv) technological neutrality. The elements of these four factors are then mapped against the five benchmark jurisdictions of Singapore, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Australia and South Korea.

The Context for the Case of Digital Banks in India: Financial Inclusion

In recent years, India has made rapid strides in furthering financial inclusion, catalysed by the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and India Stack. However, credit penetration remains a policy challenge, especially for the nation’s 63-million-odd MSMEs that contribute 30% to GDP, 45% to manufacturing output, and 40% to exports, while creating employment for a significant section of the population.

Over the past few years, thanks to digitization—ushered in by the Jan Dan-Aadhar-Mobile (JAM) trinity and Aadhaar—financial inclusion has become a reality for Indians. This has only been furthered by the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which has witnessed extraordinary adoption. UPI recorded over 4.2 billion transactions worth ₹7.7 trillion in October 2021. The platform approach taken by the government in conceptualizing UPI has resulted in valuable payment products being developed on top of it. As a result, payments can now be made with a click not just at retail outlets but also peer to peer—completely redefining the way in which money is transferred between individuals.

A ‘whole-of-India approach’ towards financial inclusion has also resulted in Direct Benefit Transfer through apps such as PM-KISAN and extending microcredit facilities to street vendors through PM-SVANIDHI.

India has also taken steps towards operationalizing its own version of ‘open banking’ through the Account Aggregator (AA) regulatory framework enacted by the Reserve Bank of India. Once commercially deployed, the AA framework is envisaged to catalyse credit deepening among groups that have been hitherto under-served.

The success that India has witnessed on the payments front is yet to be replicated when it comes to the credit needs of its micro, small and medium businesses. The current credit gap and the business and policy constraints reveal a need for leveraging technology effectively to cater to these needs and bring the under-served further within the formal financial fold.

This report has been prepared by NITI Aayog based on inter-ministerial consultations. Last year, NITI Aayog had released a discussion paper on the subject for wider stakeholder consultations. Comments received from 24 organizations were examined and have been suitably addressed in the final report.

Department of Financial Services Additional Secretary (AS) Suchindra Misra, MeitY AS Amit Aggarwal, MSME Assistant Development Commissioner Dr Ishita Ganguli Tripathy and Indian Banks’ Association Chairman Atul Kumar Goel were also present during today’s launch.

19-Jul-2022: NITI Aayog and WFP Launch Initiative on Mainstreaming Millets in Asia and Africa

NITI Aayog and the World Food Programme (WFP), India, launched the ‘Mapping and Exchange of Good Practices’ initiative for mainstreaming millets in Asia and Africa on 19 July 2022.

The initiative was launched in the presence of NITI Aayog Vice Chairperson Mr. Suman Bery, Member Prof. Ramesh Chand, Senior Adviser Dr Neelam Patel, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Joint Secretary Ms. Shubha Thakur, WFP India Representative and Country Director Mr. Bishow Parajuli, and National Rainfed Area Authority CEO Dr. Ashok Dalwai.

NITI Aayog VC Mr. Suman Bery unveiled the web portal, which invites entries in three categories, namely - millet value chain, millet mainstreaming, and millet recipes and mentioned, “NITI Aayog's initiative to promote millets will bring about a transformational change in the nutritional status of the country.”

Speaking at the event, Member Dr Ramesh Chand said, “Millets are connected to climate resilience. The need of the hour is to understand that it's crucial to increase the productivity of millets, which includes R&D, good care of crops and a robust supply chain”

Sr Adviser Dr. Neelam Patel said, “The Mapping and Exchange of Good Practices (MEGP) initiative will present an opportunity for sharing among the Asian & African countries and trigger informed decisions if they wish to scale up/ replicate this idea”.

Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Joint Secretary Ms. Shubha Thakur elaborated on initiatives taken by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare to mainstream millets in the country and added “It is time to see India become a global millets hub. The international year of millets 2023 will be taken up in a campaign mode and would be a transformational one nationally and globally.”

World Food Programme in India Country Director and Representative Mr. Bishow Parajuli added, “With a massive population living with malnutrition, the Asia region is particularly vulnerable to this crisis. This initiative will strengthen efforts towards building capacities through regional cooperation through sharing around millets not just as a crop but an entire approach, linking farm to plate.”

State Governments from Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, and NCT of Delhi shared the status, issues, concerns, challenges faced, best practices and initiatives taken by them in mainstreaming millets. They gave valuable suggestions like demonstration of varieties of millets at KVKs to popularize millets, provide training on traditional cooking methods using millets, blending of millets with wheat flour for better adaptability amongst consumers, making the crop profitable for farmers, incentivizing lifting of produce from farmers at good prices, varietal development, etc. The event saw wide participation, both physically and virtually.

18-Jul-2022: NITI Aayog and WFP to Launch Initiative on Mainstreaming Millets in Asia and Africa

NITI Aayog and the World Food Programme (WFP), India, will launch the ‘Mapping and Exchange of Good Practices’ initiative for mainstreaming millets in Asia and Africa on 19 July 2022 in a hybrid event.

NITI and WFP will prepare a compendium of good practices for scaling up the production and consumption of millets in India and abroad.

The event will be inaugurated by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery in the presence of Member Prof. Ramesh Chand and Adviser Dr Neelam Patel, WFP Representative and Country Director India Bishow Parajuli, National Rainfed Area Authority CEO Dr Ashok Dalwai, and Agriculture Ministry Joint Secretary Shubha Thakur.

Representatives from ICAR, Central and state government departments, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, industry, Central and state agriculture universities, FPOs, NGOs, start-ups, academic and research institutions, and international organizations such as the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Food Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), etc., will also participate in the event.

11-Jul-2022: NITI Aayog Welcomes Parameswaran Iyer as Its CEO

NITI Aayog welcomes Shri Parameswaran Iyer as NITI Aayog’s CEO.

With over 25 years of experience in the water and sanitation sector, Mr. Iyer spearheaded the implementation of the India’s flagship $20-billion Swachh Bharat Mission, which successfully delivered access to safe sanitation to 550 million people.

“Honoured and humbled to have been given the incredible opportunity to serve the country again—this time as CEO, NITI Aayog. I am deeply grateful to Hon’ble PM Narendra Modi for another chance to work under his leadership towards a transformed India,” Mr. Iyer said.

A 1981-batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, Mr. Iyer has worked with both the public and private sectors. He was Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation in New Delhi during 2016–20.

2-Jul-2022: NITI Aayog releases ‘Mitigation and Management of COVID-19: Compendium of Ayush-Based Practices from Indian States and Union Territories’

NITI Aayog released a compendium of Ayush-based practices from States and Union territories detailing information about various Ayush-based initiatives and practices adopted by the States and Union territories in India for containing and managing the COVID-19 outbreak.

The compendium was released by Shri Suman Bery, Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog,  and Dr. Munjapara Mahendrabhai Kalubhai, Minister of State for Ayush and WCD. The event was also attended by Dr. V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, and Officials of NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Ayush.

Since the year 2020, the world has been facing an unprecedented public health crisis in the form of COVID-19. States and Union territories have been equal partners of the Union Government in managing the COVID-19 outbreak in India. Ayush Departments of States/UTs have joined their hands with State Health Departments to strengthen India’s fight against COVID-19. There is greater visibility of Ayush and need to maintain momentum, build on credibility.

“It is critical to communicate the learnings from the testing times during COVID-19 outbreak about how Ayush practices implemented at national and State level benefited people. The compendium provides information focused on practices adopted by various States and UTs of India for strengthening the country’s fight against COVID-19, using Ayush’s resources and interventions. I am sure this document will be a crucial knowledge resource for stakeholders from other countries who have a good network of traditional medicine systems. It will significantly aid to our fight against COVID-19, other epidemics, and pandemics in future,” stated NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Shri Suman Bery in his message.

“In India, along with the contemporary medicine system, Ayush systems have played an active role on various fronts to tackle the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. I hope that these collective efforts of traditional and conventional healthcare systems will pave the way for the world by providing a holistic healthcare system model,” said Minister of State for Ayush Dr. Munjpara Mahendrabhai Kalubhai during the release of the compendium.

NITI Aayog Member Dr. V K Paul in his message mentioned, “I am hopeful that practices documented in this compendium will be useful to address any future surge of the pandemic and also serve as a model of an integrative approach to health action.”.

In preparing the compendium of Ayush-based practices, NITI Aayog reached out to all State Governments and administrations of Union territories, requesting them to share Ayush practices they have undertaken for Covid-19 mitigation and management.

The practices in the compendium have been disaggregated under five sections: (i) Overview and objectives of practices adopted by the States/UTs (ii) Ayush Human Resource and infrastructure (iii) Interventions and Initiatives (iv) Digital Platform and Tele-medicine (v) Issues occurred or addressed. The compendium has also included a summary of the Ministry of Ayush, Government of India guidelines, and initiatives.

The report indicates that traditional healthcare systems in the country to be strengthened further. The integration of evidence-based Ayush services with the modern system has the potential to significantly strengthen India's healthcare system.

30-Jun-2022: NITI Aayog and World Food Program Releases Report - Take Home Ration: Good Practices across the State/Union Territories

NITI Aayog and World Food Program today launched a report titled ‘Take Home Ration-Good Practices across the State/Union Territories’. The report was released by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman K. Bery in the presence of Member (Health) Dr. V.K. Paul and CEO Amitabh Kant.

Ministry of Women and Child Development Secretary Indevar Pandey, Senior Advisor Rajib Sen and United Nations World Food Programme Deputy Country Director Eric Kenefick were also present at the launch.

The report presents a set of good and innovative practices adopted in the implementation of the Take Home Ration value chain by the States and UTs. Government of India provides Take Home Ration under the Supplementary Nutrition component of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) to fill the gap in nutrition among children as well as pregnant and lactating women (PLW).

Speaking on the occasion, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Sh. Suman K. Bery said, “There is a need to further strengthen THR program to achieve the nutritional targets in a time-bound manner. This document on good practices compiles and collates innovations in THR programmes in various States and Union Territories. Aspects related to production, formulation, distribution, labelling, packaging, monitoring, quality assurance, social and behavioural change have been reviewed to generate a catalogue of good practices. This document will help State Governments/Union Territories to adopt good practices in their THR programmes.”

Member NITI Aayog Dr. V.K. Paul said, “There is a need to develop and maintain highest standards for ensuring quality in THR, where the entire THR value chain must ensure quality, transparency, and efficiency. In this report, various good practices at the State/UTs level have been identified and are documented which would serve as a guidebook to policymakers and administrators in strengthening their Take-Home Ration system.”

CEO Sh. Amitabh Kant said, “Adequate nutrition during infancy and early childhood is essential to ensure that children are healthy and reach their full growth and development potential. After six months of age, complementary feeding is required to meet the infant’s nutritional needs. There has been a lot of innovation in the field of THR in terms of production, distribution, quality control, monitoring, and use of technology. This report will create opportunities for cross-learning between States/UTs.”

As a way forward the report suggests that in order to realize the full potential of the THR, all components of this value chain need to function at optimum. This requires building a robust system for procurement, supply chain management and monitoring that ensures complete transparency, standardized process, sustainability, full coverage, leverages local ties, foster a culture of collaboration and builds trust within a community. These measures improve THR access in rural areas, produce THR with high nutrient value, enhance community ownership involving SHGs and promote income generating activities and female empowerment.

29-Jun-2022: NITI Aayog and TIFAC Launch Report on Future Penetration of Electric Two-Wheelers in the Indian Market

NITI Aayog and TIFAC launched a report titled ‘Forecasting Penetration of Electric Two-Wheelers in India’, on 28 June.

Using a tool made by NITI Aayog and TIFAC, eight scenarios have been developed for analyzing the future penetration of electric two-wheelers in the country.

In an optimistic scenario, the report forecasts 100% penetration of electric two-wheelers in the Indian market by FY 2026–27. In another scenario, which is technology driven and where current incentives are withdrawn by 2024, the report predicts 72% penetration by 2031.

During the launch of the report, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said, “This report provides a much-needed tool to the industry, researchers, academicians, and policymakers to analyze and respond to various scenarios. It can be replicated easily in other segments too, such as four-wheelers, without any hassle.”

The eight scenarios considered are:

1. Challenged Diffusion
2. Performance Driven
3. Low Battery Cost
4. Technology Driven
5. Incentive Driven
6. Battery Cost Challenged
7. Same Performance
8. Optimistic

The future scenarios have been constructed on the basis of three major factors that influence the market penetration of electric two-wheelers: (i) demand incentives (ii) cost of battery (iii) vehicle performance in terms of both range and power.

Four broad constraint levels have also been identified for the eight scenarios, in terms of installed vehicle manufacturing capacity and available charging infrastructure: (i) full constraint (where both vehicle production and charging infrastructure are constraints) (ii) production constraint (where only vehicle production is a constraint) (iii) charge constraint (where only the charging infrastructure is a constraint) (iv) no constraint.

Highlights:

• In the ‘Technology Driven’ scenario, if an R&D programme manages to enhance the range and power of electric two-wheelers by 5% annually between FY 2023–24 and 2025–26, and by 10% in FY 2026–2027, then the penetration of electric-two wheelers may reach about 72% in FY 2031–32—even with no extension of demand incentives.
• The sale of electric two-wheelers may cross 220 lakh units in FY 2028–29 under the ‘Optimistic’, ‘Same Performance’ and ‘Battery Cost Challenged’ scenarios. It may reach 180 lakh units under the ‘Technology-Driven’ scenario. Under the ‘Incentive Drive’ scenario, the sale is expected to reach only 55 lakh units in FY 2031.
• If there is sufficient installed capacity of electric two-wheelers and charging infrastructure, then sale (which finally reaches about 250 lakh units) may at some point even surpass the production under the ‘Optimistic’, ‘Same Performance’ and ‘Battery Cost Challenged’ scenarios.

The report provides important insights into the required infrastructure, manufacturing capability, policies, and technology-development priorities in the area.

The scenarios can be used by government agencies, the industry, and academic/R&D institutions for evidence-based analysis of policies, market scenarios and technology development strategies.

27-Jun-2022: NITI Aayog Launches Report on India's Gig and Platform Economy

NITI Aayog today launched a report titled ‘India's Booming Gig and Platform Economy’. The report was released by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery, CEO Amitabh Kant and Special Secretary Dr. K Rajeswara Rao. 

The report is a first-of-its-kind study that presents comprehensive perspectives and recommendations on the gig–platform economy in India. The report provides a scientific methodological approach to estimate the current size and job-generation potential of the sector. It highlights the opportunities and challenges of this emerging sector and presents global best practices on initiatives for social security and delineates strategies for skill development and job creation for different categories of workers in the sector.

Speaking on the occasion, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery said, “This report will become a valuable knowledge resource in understanding the potential of the sector and drive further research and analysis on gig and platform work.”

CEO Amitabh Kant highlighted the job creation potential of this sector given rising urbanization, widespread access to internet, digital technologies and smartphones in India. He said, “The recommendations in this report will serve as a crucial resource for ministries, state governments, training providers, platform companies and other stakeholders to work in collaboration for promoting growth and employment opportunities in this sector.”

Special Secretary Dr. K Rajeswara Rao presented the key findings and recommendations of the report. The report estimates that in 2020–21, 77 lakh (7.7 million) workers were engaged in the gig economy. They constituted 2.6% of the non-agricultural workforce or 1.5% of the total workforce in India. The gig workforce is expected to expand to 2.35 crore (23.5 million) workers by 2029–30. Gig workers are expected to form 6.7% of the non-agricultural workforce or 4.1% of the total livelihood in India by 2029–30. At present, about 47% of the gig work is in medium skilled jobs, about 22% in high skilled, and about 31% in low skilled jobs. Trend shows the concentration of workers in medium skills is gradually declining and that of the low skilled and high skilled is increasing.

To harness the potential of the gig-platform sector, the report recommends accelerating access to finance through products specifically designed for platform workers, linking self-employed individuals engaged in the business of selling regional and rural cuisine, street food, etc., with platforms to enable them to sell their produce to wider markets in towns and cities. The report puts forth suggestions for platform-led transformational and outcome-based skilling, enhancing social inclusion through gender sensitization and accessibility awareness programmes for workers and their families and extending social security measures in partnership mode as envisaged in the Code on Social Security 2020. Other recommendations include undertaking a separate enumeration exercise to estimate the size of the gig and platform workforce and collecting information during official enumerations ( Periodic Labour Force Survey) to identify gig workers.

1-May-2022: NITI Aayog Welcomes Suman Bery as NITI Aayog Vice Chairman

NITI Aayog welcomes Shri Suman Bery as NITI Aayog’s Vice Chairman with effect from May 1 2022. An experienced policy economist and research administrator, Mr. Bery will take over from Dr Rajiv Kumar as the head of the premier think tank of the Government of India.

“Rajiv Kumar leaves me a dynamic organization with lots of fresh, young talent and strong links with stakeholders inside and outside the government,” observed Mr. Bery. “I am deeply honoured to have been entrusted with its charge at a time of great global uncertainty. NITI’s challenge is to develop a vision of the way ahead based on deep analysis and wide debate, and to work with India’s states, which is where economic development ultimately happens. India’s economic and social choices are of significance to the entire world,” he added.

Mr. Bery has previously served as Director General (Chief Executive) of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and the global Chief Economist of Royal Dutch Shell. He was also a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, Statistical Commission and the Reserve Bank of India’s Technical Advisory Committee on Monetary Policy. Prior to NCAER, Mr. Bery was with the World Bank in Washington DC and his areas included macroeconomy, financial markets and public debt management with a focus on Latin America.

His recent affiliations include Senior Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi; non-resident fellow at Bruegel, Brussels; and Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC.  He has also served on the Board of the Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, New Delhi.

28-Apr-2022: NITI Aayog Holds Day-long Conference on Aspirational Districts Programme

As part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, NITI Aayog held a day-long conference on the Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP).

The conference, ‘Sehbhagita se Samriddhi’, saw wide participation from District Collectors and Central Prabhari Officers of Aspirational Districts, officials from Union Ministries and NITI Aayog, and representatives from development partners.

A report, titled ‘Stories of Change’, on 30 innovative interventions by the Aspirational Districts was also released. These interventions—selected on the basis of the usage of behavioural principles, innovation, replicability and potential for impact—demonstrate how behavioural insights can drive outcomes on the ground.

Drawing attention to the high expectations of the people for health service delivery, NITI Aayog Member Dr VK Paul said we needed to strive towards the saturation of key maternal and child health schemes and focus on last-mile service delivery.

Addressing the participants, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said, ‘ADP has emerged as a unique platform for development partners to work with the government at the grassroots level. Their active engagement has led to significant progress.’ He highlighted how the partnership between the district teams and the development partners has been instrumental in improving the impact of schemes while improving the understanding of critical requirements of the districts.

Five sessions on ‘State Capacity’, ‘Education’, ‘Agriculture’, ‘Skill Development and Livelihood’, and ‘Health’ were held. The ‘State Capacity’ session focused on challenges and emerging best practices for improving last-mile service delivery through behaviour change communication and efficient data management. Local initiatives led by districts, such as that in Dumka in Jharkhand for strengthening block- and panchayat-level functionaries, were discussed.

Efforts of the government and development partners for addressing learning loss among children during the pandemic were discussed in the session on ‘Education’. Special initiatives led by districts such as Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu, and Nuapada, Odisha, for addressing learning gaps and bringing back out-of-school children were presented.

The session on ‘Agriculture’ focused on challenges that directly affect farmers such as dwindling water tables, small per capita land holdings, and climate change. It also focused on developing targeted action plans, infrastructure development for the value chain and ensuring access to market and technology. Several initiatives such as water rejuvenation projects undertaken in Aspirational Districts were shared.

The ‘Skill Development and Livelihood’ session focused on developing demand-based and context-specific livelihoods in the Aspirational Districts, particularly in the context of SHGs and other micro-enterprises. Special initiatives led by districts such as Dantewada in Chhattisgarh in addressing challenges through Farmer Producer Organizations and effective methods of tracking livelihood opportunities and benefits accorded to the households were discussed.

The session on ‘Health’ focused on the role of development partners in supporting existing government staff to build capacity, particularly in initiatives to reduce malnutrition, and anaemia among women through rice fortification, millet-based recipes under the Integrated Child Development Scheme, and NITI’s pilot project to streamline the Government of India’s Anaemia Mukt Bharat interventions in five districts in Jharkhand.

26-Apr-2022: NITI Aayog Meets with Saskatchewan Delegation to Discuss Mutual Trade & Investment

NITI Aayog held a high-level meeting with the Ministry of Trade and Export Development, Saskatchewan, Government of Canada today.

The meeting was led by NITI Aayog Member Dr VK Saraswat and Saskatchewan Minister Jeremy Harrison.

Both sides discussed ways to enhance mutual trade and investment.

While addressing the Saskatchewan delegation, Dr Saraswat emphasized on the growing trade, commerce and economic partnerships between the two countries. He highlighted that the province of Saskatchewan is an important trading partner of India in the areas of pulses, clean energy, bio fuels, fertilizers, science and technology. He also mentioned that the province is popular among Indian students for its higher educational institutions.

Minister Jeremy Harrison stressed on the need for the two countries to collaborate on potential areas of mutual benefit. He mentioned the need for exploring avenues of collaboration in critical minerals and carbon capture, utilization and storage, and understanding India’s approach to critical minerals, food security, water management and grain handling/storage.

Deriving from the strengths of both India and Saskatchewan in the fields of mining, energy and agriculture, Dr Saraswat mentioned that going forward NITI Aayog will facilitate a dialogue between the partner countries to establish collaboration in R&D, manufacturing and innovation.

26-Apr-2022: NITI Aayog Organizes National Workshop on “Innovative Agriculture”

NITI Aayog, as a part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations, organized a National Level Workshop on “Innovative Agriculture” in Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 25th April, 2022 from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM.

Dr. Neelam Patel, Senior Adviser, Agriculture and Allied Sectors (AAS) Vertical, NITI Aayog welcomed the participants and cited the need to understand the science, fundamentals, and processes behind the practice of natural farming. She hoped that the knowledge, research experience, and expertise of the international experts attending the workshop will aid in building capacities of the Indian scientists, researchers, policymakers towards promotion of natural farming in the country.

NITI Aayog CEO Shri Amitabh Kant, during his address, said “Natural farming is the need of the hour and it is important to identify scientific ways so farmers can be assured direct benefits from natural farming and higher incomes.”

Addressing the workshop, Prof. Ramesh Chand, Member, NITI Aayog said “We can give a chance to such alternatives because there is no serious threat to food security since we are food surplus.” He also called for step wise adoption of natural farming.

Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Shri Purushottam Rupala pointed out that the awareness about nutritious food, good health and immunity has increased during the pandemic. In this regard, he also highlighted the role of natural farming in providing nutritious food. He stressed on the importance of cattle and livestock in ensuring better nutrition.

Addressing the workshop, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar mentioned that the Government has been encouraging agricultural practices that work in harmony with nature, reduce the cost of production, and ensure good-quality produce and profits to farmers. He also emphasized the importance of science and technology in natural farming.

Shri Acharya Devvrat, Governor of Gujarat, shared his experience regarding how shifting to natural farming has led to significant reduction in cost of cultivation, improvement in soil health, and enhancement in yield. He also added that adopting natural farming will help optimise the work of farmers and benefit the environment at large, especially when it comes to the use of water. ‘There is huge scope for bringing in innovations in agriculture sector through natural farming’, he added.

Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog mentioned that the time is ripe to encourage natural farming and share the benefits with the people at large, especially our farmers. The shared experiences of States will help build a robust roadmap to adopt innovative agricultural practices in the country. He expressed his enthusiasm to come up with a successful road map towards natural farming in India post the workshop.

A bilingual compendium of success stories of natural farming, comprising of 110 success stories from 13 states across India, was released during the event.

The workshop had four technical sessions: (i) a panel discussion on natural farming in States, (ii) natural farming for soil health restoration and climate change mitigation, (iii) promotion of natural farming, (iv) innovations in natural farming.

During the first technical session, Sh. Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, joined the workshop virtually, and highlighted the importance and traditional aspects of cow based natural farming which helps sequester carbon and improve soil health. Shri. Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh mentioned about the state's plan to promote natural farming on both the sides of the banks of the river Narmada, and 5,200 villages. Shri. Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh stressed on the need to enhance research on natural farming, and stated the need of support from Centre for natural agriculture in the ratio of 90:10. The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Shri Pushkar Singh Dhami spoke about the current status, progress and challenges in natural farming in Uttarakhand.

In the second technical session, academicians, scientists, researchers, and dignitaries discussed the need to promote regenerative agriculture, strategies to reverse and mitigate climate change with traditional farming systems, the importance of sustainable agro ecological food systems in the 21st Century, the role played by natural farming in making agriculture climate resilient, and the need for green economics for a New India.

In the third technical session, the need to scale up natural farming, integration of  National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) resources, and the role played by Cooperatives and FPOs in promotion and scaling up of marketing networks and provision of credit support for natural farming was highlighted. Dr. Rajeshwar Chandel (Executive Director, Prakritik Kheti Khushal Kisan Yojana, Himachal Pradesh) spoke about the Community based certification process in Natural Farming. Dr. Baljit Saharan (Associate Prof. Haryana Agriculture University) said “Improved soil biology and biodiversity play an important role in promotion of natural farming”.

In the last technical session, innovations like pre monsoon dry sowing, experiences on managing crop residue while practicing natural farming, and mechanisation and automation for input preparations and applications in natural farming were shared.

More than 1250 participants from Central Ministries, State Governments, industry, farmers, academic and research institutions, KVK's, and NGOs, delegates from national and international organizations in agriculture and allied sectors, international delegates from France, Australia and Germany joined the workshop physically and virtually. The workshop was also live-streamed on YouTube through link https://youtu.be/sq2BXK3RFY0.

21-Apr-2022: NITI Aayog and UNICEF India Sign Statement of Intent on SDGs Focusing on Children

NITI Aayog and UNICEF India signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a focus on children. Reiterating a mutual commitment towards realizing the rights of children in India, the SoI seeks to formalize a framework of cooperation to launch the first report on the ‘State of India’s Children: Status and Trends in Multidimensional Child Development’.

The SoI was signed by Ms. Sanyukta Samaddar, Nodal Officer -SDGs, NITI Aayog, and Ms. Hyun Hee Ban, Chief of Social Policy, UNICEF India, in the presence of NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar and CEO Amitabh Kant, and Arjan de Wagt, Officer-in-Charge Deputy Representative, UNICEF India.

To achieve the child development priorities under the SDGs, UNICEF India and NITI Aayog are developing a comprehensive measure to understand the multidimensional attainments and deprivations among children across health and nutrition, education, water and sanitation, household living standards; and protective environment, with the aim of analyzing the status of children around critical child related SDGs to establish recent trends. This effort will contribute to the realization of India’s commitments on the 2030 Agenda and provide a set of policy recommendations for concerted action in terms of accelerating progress towards the SDGs to ‘leave no child behind’ and achieving their holistic development.

In his address, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar said, ‘This child-focused SDG initiative builds on our effort of monitoring progress through the SDG India Index and Dashboard, which continues to be a unique data-driven initiative for triggering policy action. This new initiative with UNICEF is built on the ethos of SDG attainments for children and ensuring that no child is left behind.’

Mr. Arjan de Wagt, Officer in Charge Deputy Representative UNICEF India said, ‘Addressing the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on children is vital to recovery efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Agenda. Comprehensive measurement of the status of children will pave the way for multi-sectoral policies and programmes across health and nutrition, education, safe water and sanitation, child protection, social protection and climate action to reach the most vulnerable children. We congratulate NITI Aayog on this pioneering step and stand committed to provide all support.’

Articulating the way forward, Ms. Hyun Hee Ban, Chief of Social Policy, UNICEF India, said, ‘We commend NITI Aayog for this initiative to develop a multidimensional measure of attainments and deprivations among children. It’s a demonstration of India’s strong commitment to achieve the SDGs, by focusing on child related SDGs. One in every third person in India is a child below the age of 18, while one in every fifth person is an adolescent between the ages of 10 to 19. Through this process, we look forward to engaging with various stakeholders particularly children, adolescents and young people.’

The collaboration between NITI Aayog and UNICEF India will draw up the methods, technical analysis, reporting, and action planning for the first report on the ‘Status of India’s Children’, with a focus on the multidimensional aspects of child development like health, education, nutrition, protection, and other relevant areas. This project will undertake a whole-of-society approach of involving all stakeholders ranging from Union Ministries, State Governments, Civil Society Organizations, and child rights collectives.

28-Mar-2022: NITI Aayog to Hold Workshop on Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage on 30 March

NITI Aayog is organizing a national-level workshop on carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) on 30 March 2022.

The workshop will be inaugurated by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar, Member Dr VK Saraswat and CEO Amitabh Kant, Adviser to Prime Minister Amit Khare, Principal Scientific Adviser Prof. K Vijay Raghvan, secretaries of the Government of India, chairpersons and managing directors of PSUs, and senior officials of the national and international companies.

NITI Aayog recognizes the significant role of CCUS in achieving our climate targets. Recently, studies of the inter-governmental panel on climate change have shown the critical importance of carbon capture for rapidly decarbonizing our economy. This is especially important today for industrial emissions, which have not received the required attention. Net-zero carbon emissions from the atmosphere will, perhaps, play an even bigger role—potentially creating a new industry twice as large as today’s oil industry. CCUS is an important imperative for an immediate transition to a zero carbon economy and is, accordingly, essential for the government to deliver its 2070 net zero commitment.

NITI Aayog’s workshop will bring together government officials, industry leaders and the academia to discuss the role of CCUS in enabling a circular economy for India.

22-Mar-2022: NITI Aayog Organizes Fifth Edition of Women Transforming India Awards

NITI Aayog organized the fifth edition of the Women Transforming India (WTI) Awards on 21 March 2022.

This year, as part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate 75 years of India’s independence, the WTI Awards were conferred on 75 women achievers to celebrate their contribution towards a ‘Sashakt Aur Samarth Bharat’.

Today’s award ceremony recognized women entrepreneurs who have made their mark across different sectors. The selection process spanned several months, and the 75 awardees were chosen on the basis of nominations received on WEP and through shortlisting by a search-and-select committee.

In his keynote address, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said, ‘The WTI Awards celebrates the dynamic efforts of women by sharing their exemplary stories and exceptional work. From shattering social boundaries to paving the way for an equal India, these winners lead by example.’

The Awards were conferred by acclaimed personalities such as Kiran Bedi, former Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry; Lakshmi Puri, former Assistant Secretary-General of UN; Dr Tessy Thomas, Director-General of Aeronautical Systems, DRDO; Arundhati Bhattacharya, former Chairperson of State Bank of India; Debjani Ghosh, President of NASSCOM; and Ila Arun, acclaimed singer.

Sports champions Shiny Wilson, Track and Field Athlete; Karnam Malleswari, first Indian woman to win a medal in weightlifting in the 2000 Olympics; Lovlina Borgohain, Tokyo Olympic medalist in boxing; Mansi Joshi, World No. 1 para-badminton singles’ player in SL3; Pranati Naik, Tokyo 2020 Olympian gymnast and 2019 Asian Championship medalist; and Simranjit Kaur, Tokyo 2020 Olympian and 2018 AIBA World Championship medalist; and women defence officers also attended the event.

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and Senior Adviser Anna Roy; Shombi Sharp, UN Resident Coordinator in India; and Padma Shree awardee and acclaimed singer Kailash Kher were present at the event as well.

The event also saw scintillating performances by Kailash Kher and dancers Aishwarya and Shinjini Kulkarni, eventually culminating in the release of a coffee table book on the WTI 2021 award-winners.

The Women Transforming India Awards is NITI Aayog’s annual initiative to highlight the commendable and ground-breaking endeavours of India’s women leaders and change-makers. The WTI Awards have continuously recognized role models who have broken glass ceilings and created a positive impact. Since 2018, the Awards have been hosted under the aegis of NITI Aayog’s Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP), with a special focus on entrepreneurship.

Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) is an aggregator portal that aims to catalyse the entrepreneurial ecosystem for women and address information asymmetry. To build a vibrant ecosystem for women-led enterprises, the platform works to strengthen industry linkages and increase awareness of existing programmes and services.

To date, more than 900 women entrepreneurs have been benefitted through 77 programmes and events hosted on the platform.

22-Feb-2022: Green Financing Critical to Decarbonizing the Indian Transport Sector

NITI Aayog and World Resources Institute (WRI), India, with the support of GIZ India, conducted a virtual consultation workshop on ‘Financing for Decarbonization of Transport’ as part of the NDC-Transport Initiative for Asia (NDC-TIA) project.

The Government of India is actively working towards the decarbonization of transport, with a major focus on the adoption of sustainable mobility.

The aim of the workshop is to identify actionable strategies and bring together financing institutions and transport organizations to collectively work towards furthering innovative financing policies for the decarbonization of transport.

The workshop was attended by dignitaries from various ministries, NDC-TIA project partners, representatives of Indian banks, international financial institutions and private sector companies, and stakeholders and experts from the transport and financing sectors.

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant delivered the keynote address while Dr Stephen Koch, Minister and Head of the Department for Economic and Global Affairs, Germany, gave a special address.

In his keynote address, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said, ‘We need more such financial instruments to provide a further impetus to clean mobility in India. This is why we need to bring states, domestic and international financial institutions, manufacturers and operators on the same page. We must come up with financing mechanisms that are widely applicable, acceptable and, most importantly, sustainable. We must foster shared mobility by leveraging private sector investments and unlocking financing for e-buses, which form the core of public transportation in our cities. Our overarching aim should be to balance the needs and aspirations of our citizens, improve liveability and productivity by improving connectivity, bring down the cost of logistics and accelerate clean mobility while taking an approach which is climate-centric and sustainable—not just from an environment point of view, but also from a financial perspective. Green financing will enable low interest cost financing of electric vehicles.’

Dr Stephen Koch said, ‘India requires a robust roadmap for the electrification of transport. Financing plays a crucial role here. Mobilization of capital is possible through multi-stakeholder collaborations. The NDC-TIA initiative brings together a wide spectrum of participants to facilitate peer-to-peer learning and information exchange on various themes, including “Financing the Decarbonization of Transport”.’

WRI India CEO Dr OP Agrawal said, ‘Transport, the third-most greenhouse-gas-emitting sector in India, accounts for 14% of our energy-related CO2 emissions. It is also the most rapidly growing sector in the country. Therefore, moving towards a low carbon future would necessarily include accelerated decarbonizing of the transport sector.’

Amit Bhatt, Executive Director (Integrated Transport), WRI India, added, ‘The lack of availability of financing is one of the biggest impediments towards the decarbonization of the transport sector. Strategic investments and innovative financial solutions can kickstart an accelerated transition to 100% zero-emission motor vehicles, which is an essential takeaway from the COP26 declaration.’

The NDC-TIA is a joint programme of seven organizations that engages India, China and Vietnam in promoting a comprehensive approach to decarbonizing transport in their respective countries. The project is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) supports the initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag.

NITI Aayog is the implementing partner for the India component of the project.

8-Feb-2022: NITI Aayog and USAID Collaborate to Accelerate Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship in India

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced a new partnership under the Sustainable Access to Markets and Resources for Innovative Delivery of Healthcare (SAMRIDH) initiative, which will improve access to affordable and quality healthcare for vulnerable populations in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, and rural and tribal regions. In 2020, USAID, IPE Global, and stakeholders from the Indian government, academia, and the private sector developed the innovative SAMRIDH blended finance facility to combine public and philanthropic funds with commercial capital to create and rapidly scale market-based health solutions.

This new partnership announced today will enhance SAMRIDH’s efforts to reach vulnerable populations, leveraging AIM’s expertise in innovation and entrepreneurship. AIM and SAMRIDH will leverage philanthropic capital, and public sector resources to offset barriers for commercial investments in small and medium health enterprises to invest in and scale healthcare solutions. The collaboration will focus on innovations across the healthcare landscape with the common goal to mount an effective response to the ongoing third wave of COVID-19 and build health system preparedness for future infectious disease outbreaks and health emergencies.

Speaking during the virtual launch of the event, CEO NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant said that blended financing has the potential to redefine development finance, by enabling partnerships that unlock greater pools of affordable capital for scaling-up businesses that deliver both financial and social returns.

“Given the disruptions triggered by the pandemic, and its continued threat, there is no sector more important than healthcare that needs an accelerated pace of reform and increased investments, to ensure everyone has access to affordable and quality healthcare services. There lies a unique opportunity to catalyze the space of healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship using innovative financing opportunities like blended finance, that leverages philanthropic funding to reduce the risk for commercial investments. This approach enables increased private capital flows to fill the current financing gap in health sector and builds an enabling ecosystem for innovation adoption in health systems,” He further added.

Highlighting the focus of the call for proposals, Mission director Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog Dr Chintan Vaishnav said, “Atal Innovation Mission and SAMRIDH will seek solutions from innovators and entrepreneurs on a range of topics, including solutions to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure, improve diagnostic products and services, build the capacity of healthcare workers, and tactics for communication and behavior change. Notably, there will be a focus on mental health solutions, with an emphasis on support for healthcare providers and patients recovering from adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Reflecting on the partnership, USAID/India Mission Director Veena Reddy said, “USAID celebrates the success of SAMRIDH in this new partnership which will strengthen India’s health systems with sustainable business solutions and innovations. This collaboration will further the shared commitment of Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog and USAID to leverage innovative financing solutions to unlock greater investment towards improving healthcare services for India’s most vulnerable populations.”

Highlighting the new pathways to improve health systems in India, Ashwajit Singh, Managing Director, IPE Global, said, “The disruptions triggered by COVID-19 amplified the gaps in health systems but have also brought to the fore opportunities to accelerate India’s healthcare reforms. The USAID-supported SAMRIDH initiative adopts a holistic approach to provide both financial and technical support to enterprises that bring to the table unique propositions to address complex healthcare challenges. The partnership with AIM, NITI Aayog will bolster SAMRIDH’s efforts to scale sustainable healthcare models and demonstrate innovative financing mechanisms to improve the quality of spending in the health sector.”

Following opening remarks from leaders, an informative and compelling white paper titled, ‘Reimagining Healthcare in India through Blended Finance’, was released. The white paper offers an overview of blended finance and its role in promoting healthcare access in India, while providing case studies on how to apply blended finance approaches, and examining the current challenges to achieving blended financing at scale. The event continued with a call for proposals from innovators and entrepreneurs, particularly women-led enterprises, working on high impact health innovations in India, and concluded with a panel discussion on the need to scale blended financing market solutions and innovations in the Indian healthcare ecosystem.

7-Feb-2022: Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw Flags Off NITI Aayog’s Fintech Open Summit

In an effort to showcase the importance of the fintech industry, NITI Aayog, in collaboration with PhonePe, AWS and EY, has organized a three-week-long virtual summit, ‘Fintech Open’, from 7–28 February. The summit was inaugurated today by Union Minister for Railways, Communications, and Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw in the presence of NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar.

A first-of-its-kind initiative, Fintech Open will bring together regulators, fintech professionals and enthusiasts, industry leaders, the start-up community, and developers to collaborate, exchange ideas and innovate.

While flagging off the event, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw said, ‘Under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, we believe in creating open platforms, such as CoWIN and UPI, for healthcare, logistics and other sectors. An open platform is created using public investment, wherein numerous private entrepreneurs, start-ups and developers can join to create new solutions. For example, today, 270 banks are connected with the UPI and many entrepreneurs and start-ups have provided solutions that have helped increase the country’s fintech adoption rate—which is the highest globally at 87%.’

NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar said, ‘India is witnessing increasing digitization with people getting greater and easier access to financial services. This has led to a shift in consumers’ financial behaviour—from cash to e-wallets and UPI. The expansion of digital payments is an important pivot for creating a more equitable, prosperous and financially inclusive India. The rise of fintech has accelerated financial inclusion. I am excited to see the countless possibilities that will be presented by the bright minds of our country over the next few weeks.’

Fintech Open aims to create an immersive learning experience. It has three objectives:

1. Encourage an open ecosystem across the fintech industry
2. Foster innovation and growth
3. Ensure financial inclusion and leverage new models like Account Aggregator to unleash the next wave of fintech innovation.

The summit will have in-depth conversations, deep-dives, webinars, round-table discussions, etc., highlighting innovations and challenges undertaken by various start-ups. Additionally, fintech-related work will also be showcased, and the most innovative start-up will be recognized in a virtual felicitation ceremony.

Sameer Nigam, Founder and CEO, PhonePe, said, ‘We are delighted to partner with NITI Aayog on this initiative, which is aimed at accelerating India’s fintech revolution. The fintech industry is playing a critical role in facilitating financial inclusion across the country. We look forward to the next few weeks, where we will get an opportunity to collaborate with colleagues from across the industry, to innovate and build meaningful frameworks for the ecosystem.’

A key highlight of the summit will be India’s biggest fintech hackathon ever, which will provide an opportunity to individual developers and the start-up community to present breakthrough ideas with the potential to solve real-world problems. Additionally, to foster creativity, innovation, and an entrepreneurial mindset among children, another hackathon for school students will also be organized via Atal Innovation Mission’s Atal Tinkering Labs network.

The summit will have distinguished speakers such as Nandan Nilekani, Co-Founder, Non-Executive Chairman of Infosys, and Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, along with several business leaders such as Kunal Shah, Founder, Cred; Yashish Dahiya, CEO, Policy Bazaar; Anuj Gulati, Founding MD and CEO, Care Health Insurance; Varun Dua, CEO, Acko General Insurance; Nithin Kamath, CEO, Zerodha; Vijay Chandok, Managing Director, ICICI Securities; Lalit Keshre, CEO, Groww; Kavitha Subramanian Co-Founder, Upstox; and Harshil Mathur, CEO, Founder, Razorpay.

21-Jan-2022: NITI Aayog, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and RMI India release ‘Banking on Electric Vehicles in India’ report

NITI Aayog, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), and RMI India today released a report, titled ‘Banking on Electric Vehicles in India’, which outlines the importance of priority-sector recognition for retail lending in the electric mobility ecosystem. The report provides considerations and recommendations to inform the inclusion of EVs in the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) priority-sector lending (PSL) guidelines.

Banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) in India have the potential to achieve an electric vehicle (EV) financing market size of Rs 40,000 crore (USD 5 billion) by 2025 and Rs 3.7 lakh crore (USD 50 billion) by 2030. However, retail finance for EVs has been slow to pick up.

“Financial institutions have an important role to play in accelerating the adoption of EVs in India and supporting the decarbonisation of road transport,” said Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog. “RBI’s PSL mandate has a proven track record of improving the supply of formal credit towards areas of national priority. It can provide a strong regulatory incentive for banks and NBFCs to scale their financing to EVs.”

Priority-sector lending aims to expand financial access and support employment opportunities in India. In order to meet these goals, the report highlights that the RBI may consider various EV segments and use cases based on five parameters: socio-economic potential, livelihood generation potential, scalability, techno-economic viability, and stakeholder acceptability.

“Buyers are unable to access low-interest rates and long loan tenures for EVs as banks are concerned about resale value and product quality. Priority-sector lending can encourage banks to fast-track India’s transition to EVs and help achieve our 2070 climate goals,” said Clay Stranger, Managing Director, RMI.

The report indicates that electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and commercial four-wheelers are early segments to prioritise under PSL. Moving forward, the engagement of other ministries and industry stakeholders will be important to ensuring the guidelines designed can effectively enhance EV investment in India.

To maximise the impact of the inclusion of EVs, the report also recommends a clear sub-target and penalty mechanism for priority sector lending to renewable energy and EVs. Furthermore, it suggests recognition of EVs as an infrastructure sub-sector by the Ministry of Finance and the incorporation of EVs as a separate reporting category under the RBI. Multiprong solutions such as these are needed not only for EV penetration and businesses, but also for the financial sector and India’s 2070 net-zero target.

17-Jan-2022: NITI Aayog & World Intellectual Property Organization Hold Workshop on Improving India’s Rank in Global Innovation Index

NITI Aayog and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) conducted a workshop virtually on improving India’s ranking in the Global Innovation Index (GII) on 17 January 2021 with stakeholder ministries and departments.

NITI Aayog is the nodal department of GoI for improving India’s performance in the GII. It has been taking several steps in this regard, from the constitution of an inter-ministerial committee to regularly interacting with top-ranking countries in the index to understand and adopt their best practices.

While delivering the opening remarks in the inaugural session of the workshop, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar said, ‘The nations of the world that seek to become a hotbed of innovation, like India, find the Global Innovation Index an indispensable tool to guide the formulation, implementation and monitoring of policies. In particular, innovation is the key for growth and development in emerging economies.’

NITI Aayog Member (Science and Technology) Dr VK Saraswat spoke on the significance of emerging technologies in the growth of innovation. He said, ‘Innovation has been acquiring a significant dimension of creating real value across various sectors, with emerging technologies such as cloud computing, Internet of Things, energy storage, robotics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, etc. These technologies have led to the rise of an innovation economy.’

The interactive session of the workshop began with a presentation by Dr Sacha Wunsch-Vincent, Co-Editor of GII, on the conceptual framework of the index and its ranking mechanism. ‘A core benefit of the GII is that it positions data-based evidence and metrics at the core of evaluating, crafting, and deploying innovation policies. It brings together stakeholders to understand innovation performance and enables leveraging domestic innovation opportunities,’ Dr Wunsch-Vincent said.

The session was then opened up to the participating stakeholder Ministries and Departments for interaction with the GII team from the WIPO. The subsequent discussion was focused on the sourcing and reporting of data for the indicators and the relevance and construction of the indicators in the GII. Several queries were addressed and a channel of communication between the stakeholder Ministries/Departments and the WIPO was established.

India in Global Innovation Index 2021

India has been an ‘Innovation Achiever’ for 11 years in a row and it produces more innovation outputs relative to its level of innovation investments. During the workshop, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant stressed that ‘our policies aim to transform India into a vibrant ecosystem for innovators by encouraging new businesses, attracting global talent and investments and undertaking socially conscious cutting-edge research’. WIPO Assistant Director-General Dr Marco M. Aleman agreed and congratulated India on consistently improving its performance. He said this showed that the country’s policies were indeed proving to be productive in improving innovation.

In the 2021 edition, while India bagged the 46th position overall—two spots higher than 2020—it ranked first among ten economies of Central and Southern Asia and second among 34 lower-middle-income-group economies.

Another important highlight of the index report was that relative to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), India’s performance is above expectation for its level of development.

Inter-Ministerial Committee to Boost India’s Performance in GII

To improve India’s ranking in the Global Innovation Index, NITI Aayog has constituted an inter-ministerial coordination committee, chaired by its CEO Amitabh Kant. The committee monitors the progress of updation of data for the indicators of the index. The workshop is an outcome of a decision taken during one of the committee meetings.

Chaired by Dr Rajiv Kumar and Dr Marco M. Aleman, the workshop was attended by key dignitaries from NITI Aayog, WIPO, and all the stakeholder ministries and departments.

The closing remarks were made by NITI Aayog Senior Adviser Neeraj Sinha, who emphasized the importance of the availability of updated data at the point of collection by the WIPO. (For this purpose, the relevant ministries and departments are stipulated to take the necessary action by 31 March 2022.) He also exhorted the ministries and departments to highlight to the WIPO those indicators that were not relevant to India and could be considered for modification.

30-Dec-2021: NITI Aayog Organizes National Workshop on Bamboo Development Mission

NITI Aayog organized a national-level workshop on bamboo development today. Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated the workshop, along with NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar, Member Dr VK Saraswat, and CEO Amitabh Kant.

Through the workshop, participants sought to holistically understand all components of the bamboo value chain—plantation, production, processing, standardization and utilization—in order to develop strategies and a roadmap for the development of a circular economy in the sector. As many as 150 participants attended the workshop, both online and offline.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Jitendra Singh highlighted the urgent need for raising public awareness about the untapped potential of bamboo and encouraged the establishment of entrepreneurial start-ups in the sector. He characterized bamboo as ‘green gold’, recognizing its crucial role in uplifting the Indian economy in the post-Covid scenario.

He added, ‘Bamboo can be used for making bio-ethanol, which would reduce dependence on imported fossil fuel, thereby achieving the goal of Aatmanirbhar Bharat in the petroleum sector.’

NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar said, ‘Bamboo is a natural product that can benefit many industries. The need of the hour is to work on increasing the supply and meet the growing demand for bamboo and its products. There is a strong need to promote the bamboo sector across all states with the development of entrepreneurship amongst farmers and the youth.’

‘The construction sector in India presents tremendous growth opportunities for bamboo, owing to its unique features. Its  versatility as a substitute offers a chance to protect forests; it has immense economic and business potential,' added NITI Aayog Member Dr VK Saraswat.

The workshop had four technical sessions. The first explored the production, value addition, and international experience of bamboo. The second emphasized on government policies, programmes, and opportunities in different sectors. The third deliberated upon a circular economy in the sector, focusing on the techno-commercial utilization of bamboo-based industries. The last session discussed national and international best practices.

The workshop was attended by participants from Central ministries, state governments, KVKs, industry, academic and research institutions, and NGOs.  Key players from the private sector, including bamboo enthusiasts, shared their experience and innovative ideas to enhance the development of bamboo in the country.

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said, ‘From the point of view of job creation and ecological and economic development in India, bamboo has enormous potential for enhancing the quality of life, for both urban and rural communities.’

NITI Aayog Senior Adviser Dr Neelam Patel concluded the session by highlighting the challenges in the production, productivity and development of the overall bamboo value-chain. She mentioned the need for setting up BIS standards of bamboo and FSSAI certification of bamboo products. She requested industries to develop a framework for bamboo cultivation. She also emphasized on the need to link Kisan Rail to bamboo, GI tagging of bamboo products and the development of a nationwide knowledge information system on bamboo.

30-Nov-2021: NITI Aayog organises knowledge sharing workshop on Natural Farming

As a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of progressive India, NITI Aayog is organizing a series of events from November 2021 to April 2022. In this connection, a national workshop on Natural Farming was organized by Agriculture vertical, NITI Aayog on 30th November 2021 from 10 AM to 1 PM involving Krishi Vigyan Kendras across India under the Chairmanship by Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog. Opening remarks of the event was given by Dr. Neelam Patel, Senior Adviser (Agriculture), NITI Aayog which was followed by address by Shri Ramesh Chand, Member (Agriculture). He mentioned about the journey of the Country from food deficient to food surplus and the need to focus on doubling of farmers’ income. He also emphasized on the scientific validation of natural farming practices.

An exclusive website on natural farming developed by NITI Aayog was launched by Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog. The website covers information regarding natural farming including coverage of the practice in India, various schemes and initiatives by Central and State Governments, success stories from farmers and relevant publications among others.  The website can be accessed at https://naturalfarming.niti.gov.in/. During the Chairman’s address Dr. Rajiv Kumar mentioned about the sustainability issues associated with chemical agriculture in view of the impending climate change and emphasized on the need to shift to natural farming for improving farmers’ income, human health, soil health and conservation of environment and the need to propagate this practice among wider farmer community. He also encouraged the scientific community to come forward for scientific validation and holistic cost benefit analysis of natural farming.

Shri Acharya Devvrat, Governor of Gujarat in his presidential address elaborated about his personal experiences in practicing natural farming and his experiences in Himachal Pradesh as Governor of Himachal Pradesh. He stated that shift to natural farming from chemical farming resulted in considerable reduction in cost of cultivation, improvement in the soil health and better yield. He also mentioned about the advantage of natural farming over organic farming considering the lesser input requirement and reduced labour cost. Acharya Devvrat emphasized that natural farming was based on frontline technologies and scientific principles. This was also pointed out by Dr. Rajiv Kumar.

The first technical session of the workshop was chaired by Shri T. Vijayakumar, Vice Chairman, Rythu Sadhkar Sanstha, Andhra Pradesh. He shared the experiences of Andhra Pradesh in natural farming.  Shri Priya Ranjan, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, highlighted the schemes and initiatives of Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare for promotion of natural farming. The potential of natural farming for addressing the global challenges related to agriculture sector were underlined by Dr. Ravi Prabhu, DDG, World Agroforestry Centre, ICRAF. Dr. A. K. Singh, DDG (Agriculture Extension), ICAR elaborated on the role of KVKs to demonstrate and disseminate natural farming practices. Dr. Rajeshwar Chandel, Executive Director, Prakritik Kheti Kushal Kisan Yojana, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh deliberated on natural farming for fruits and vegetables.

The second technical session of the workshop was chaired by Prof. J. P .Sharma, Vice Chancellor, SKUAST, Jammu & Srinagar and included experience sharing by farmers and KVKs from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana and Maharashtra followed by open house discussion.

More than 1000 participants including State Government and KVK officials, researchers from ICAR and Agriculture Universities and farmers have attended the workshop virtually from across the country.

23-Nov-2021: NITI Aayog signs Statement of Intent with Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation & Development (BMZ), initiates “NITI- BMZ Dialogue on Development Cooperation”

To promote cooperation between India and Germany on various areas of mutual interest, NITI Aayog and Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation & Development (BMZ) signed Statement of Intent (SoI) on November 23, 2021. The Indian delegation was led by Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairperson, NITI Aayog, Government of India and the German delegation was led by Prof Dr Claudia Warning, Director General, BMZ, Government of Germany.

This SoI intends to establish an overarching mechanism as “NITI- BMZ Dialogue on Development Cooperation” to facilitate a common platform for periodic bilateral discussions, sharing of developmental policy experiences and means to have an overview of other ongoing bilateral programmes.

Under ambit of this SoI,  NITI Aayog and BMZ would conduct joint research to assist in the development of approaches and formulation of policies to address multi-sectoral challenges. Government agencies, leading think tanks, industry and academia would be involved from both the sides to analyse issues of relevance and to offer input to both sides for deliberations.

NITI Aayog and BMZ realise importance of bilateral cooperation in fields of climate and Sustainable Development Goals, energy, emerging technologies and agroecology. Lately, the two sides have been actively engaging for furthering the cooperation in these fields. Signing of the SoI by the two sides will strengthen the bilateral collaboration.

“NITI- BMZ Dialogue on Development Cooperation” would be a bi-annual Dialogue (once in two years) between the two sides to discuss and share insights on key issues being considered by NITI Aayog and BMZ. The Dialogue would be led by the Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog and the Director General responsible for South Asia cooperation, BMZ. The first Dialogue is expected to be held in the month of February of 2022.

On this occasion, Dr Kumar and Prof Dr Warning also launched the inaugural SDG Urban Index & Dashboard (2021-22). The SDG Urban Index and Dashboard ranks 56 urban areas on 77 SDG indicators. The data on these indicators have been sourced from official data sources such as NFHS, NCRB, U-DISE, data portals of various ministries, and other government data sources. The index and dashboard will further strengthen SDG localization and institute robust SDG monitoring at the city level. It highlights the strengths and gaps of ULB-level data, monitoring, and reporting systems. Tools such as this index and dashboard will contribute to the creation of an ecosystem in which all stakeholders will be equipped to adopt and implement data-driven decision making. This transformative change is quite essential, given the increasing prominence of our cities and urban areas in charting the future of development in India.

On the topic of collaboration in fields of frontier technology, Dr Kumar informed that NITI Aayog would explore the possibility to work with the German side for developing Artificial Intelligence based solutions to solve the challenges associated with climate change. NITI Aayog wishes to engage with German side to address the issues of transparency, bias, fairness, accountability and privacy with regards to Artificial Intelligence.

23-Nov-2021: NITI Aayog under the Indo-German Cooperation releases inaugural SDG Urban Index and Dashboard 2021–22

In its journey towards localizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and instituting robust SDG progress monitoring systems at the national, State/UT, and local levels, NITI Aayog has achieved yet another milestone with the launch of the inaugural SDG Urban Index & Dashboard (2021-22) today. The index and dashboard are a result of the NITI Aayog-GIZ and BMZ collaboration focused on driving SDG localization in our cities, under the umbrella of Indo-German Development Cooperation.

The SDG Urban Index and Dashboard ranks 56 urban areas on 77 SDG indicators across 46 targets of the SDG framework. The data on these indicators have been sourced from official data sources such as NFHS, NCRB, U-DISE, data portals of various ministries, and other government data sources.

The index and dashboard will further strengthen SDG localization and institute robust SDG monitoring at the city level. It highlights the strengths and gaps of ULB-level data, monitoring, and reporting systems. Tools such as this index and dashboard will contribute to the creation of an ecosystem in which all stakeholders will be equipped to adopt and implement data-driven decision making. This transformative change is quite essential, given the increasing prominence of our cities and urban areas in charting the future of development in India.

Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairperson, NITI Aayog, Government of India and Prof Dr Claudia Warning, Director General, BMZ, Government of Germany launched the index and dashboard in the presence of Mr. Philipp Knill, Head of South Asia Division BMZ; Dr Julie Reviere, Country Director, GIZ India; Mr. Georg Jahnsen, Head of Sustainable Development of Smart Cities Project, GIZ India; Ms. Sanyukta Samaddar, Adviser (SDG), NITI Aayog, and other senior officials from the two sides.

“Cities are fast becoming engines of growth. The SDG Urban index and dashboard, a product of innovative partnership between NITI Aayog and GIZ, will go a long way in instituting a robust SDG monitoring system in our cities, and is a milestone step in our SDG localisation journey,” Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog said during the launch.

With one-third of the journey towards achieving the 2030 Agenda behind us, measuring progress on the SDG in urban areas is critical. On this theme, Sanyukta Samaddar, Nodal Officer (SDG), said that NITI Aayog, “seeks to empower local administrations to adopt a measurement-based approach to decision making. Only if the SDG agenda is adopted by the last mile stakeholders can we hope to achieve the global 2030 Agenda. The SDG Urban Index is one more step towards localising the SDGs further.”

On the Indo-German Partnership on Sustainable Development Goals, Prof. Dr. Claudia Warning, DG BMZ said that it will, “focus on deepening SDG localisation and monitoring, and addressing critical gaps in institutional capacity and data systems on SDGs at national and state levels. We look forward to strengthening this partnership with NITI Aayog in building capacities on SDGs.”

Methodology: The statistical methodology for the SDG Urban Index is drawn from the globally accepted methodology developed by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). The methodology, used for the SDG India Index and North Eastern Region District SDG Index as well, was finalised in close collaboration with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).A comprehensive list of 77 indicators, covering 46 global SDG targets across 15 SDGs, are used in the index. SDG 14 (life below water) has not been included as it is relevant for only coastal areas, which are only a few of the selected cities, and SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals) has been excluded as the progress of its targets are monitored at the national level. While progress under SDG 15 (life on land) has been measured using two indicators, they have not been used in estimating the scores, owing to lack of adequate coverage. The indicators are aligned with MoSPI’s National Indicator Framework. Relevance to SDG targets and data availability at the urban level are the most important criteria for indicator selection. The most recent data on these indicators have been sourced from various official data sources such as NFHS, NCRB, U-DISE, data portals of ministries, and other government data sources and 62 percent of the indicators are sourced from 2019 or later.

Out of 56 urban areas ranked in the index, 44 are with population of above one million. 12 are State capitals with population of less than a million. While for some indicators, “urban area” implies ULBs, in other cases, it refers to all urban areas within a district collectively. This is owing to the usage of different data sets which have collated urban data at different administrative units. However, for any given indicator, the same definition has been used for all urban areas.

For each SDG, the urban areas are ranked on a scale of 0-100. A score of 100 implies that the urban area has achieved the targets set for 2030; a score of 0 implies that it is the farthest from achieving the targets among the selected urban areas. Overall or composite urban area scores are then generated from the Goal-wise scores to measure aggregate performance of the urban area.

Urban areas have been classified as below based on their composite score:

• Aspirant: 0–49
• Performer: 50–64
• Front-Runner: 65–99
• Achiever: 100

Results

Top 10 Urban Areas

Bottom 10 Urban Areas

29-Oct-2021: NITI Aayog Releases Report on ‘Health Insurance for India’s Missing Middle’

NITI Aayog today released a comprehensive report titled Health Insurance for India’s Missing Middle, which brings out the gaps in the health insurance coverage across the Indian population and offers solutions to address the situation.

The report was launched in the presence of NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and Additional Secretary Dr. Rakesh Sarwal.

NITI Aayog Member Dr V.K. Paul, in the Foreword of the report, highlights the need for health insurance coverage for all and says, “Significant challenges will need to be overcome to increase the penetration of health insurance.” He further mentions, “The government and the private sector will need to come together in this endeavor. Private sector ingenuity and efficiency is required to reach the missing middle and offer compelling products. The government has an important role to play in increasing consumer awareness and confidence, modifying regulation for standardized product and consumer protection, and potentially offering a platform to improve operational efficiency.”

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said, “This report is an effort to re-invigorate the dialogue on increasing financial protection for health and the broader goal of Universal Health Coverage. It outlines the current landscape, existing gaps and articulates broad recommendations and pathways to increase health insurance coverage.”

The Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana—a flagship scheme towards Universal Health Coverage, and State Government extension schemes—provides comprehensive hospitalization cover to the bottom 50% of the population. Around 20% of the population is covered through social health insurance, and private voluntary health insurance primarily designed for high-income groups. The remaining 30% of the population, devoid of health insurance, is termed as the “missing middle”. The missing middle contains multiple groups across all expenditure quintiles and is spread across both urban and rural areas.

The report highlights the need for designing a low-cost comprehensive health insurance product for the missing middle. It primarily recognizes the policy issue of low financial protection for health for the missing middle segment and highlights health insurance as a potential pathway in addressing that. In doing so, the report offers a starting point for broader discussions on solutions, and specific products, to improve insurance coverage for the missing middle.

The report proposes wider industry and government stakeholder consultations, and discussion with consumer groups to delve deeper into the specifics of the problem, and potential solutions.

22-Oct-2021: Plastic-Free Cities & Oceans: A National Policy Dialogue with Cyrill Gutsch, Founder and CEO of “Parley for the Oceans”

In view of the pressing need for combating plastic pollution, NITI Aayog organized a National Policy Dialogue today on “Plastic Free Cities and Oceans” under the Chairmanship of Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, with Mr. Cyrill Gutsch, founder and CEO of “Parley for the Oceans”. Shri Bhupender Yadav, Hon’ble Minister of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change was the Chief Guest at the dialogue.

On World Environment Day in 2018, the Hon’ble Prime Minister had committed to eliminate 100% single-use plastic by 2022. Since then, India has taken several regulatory interventions, including bans and prohibitions, to attain the set targets.

While congratulating Mr. Gutsch, the Hon’ble minister, MoEF&CC Shri Yadav highlighted the key initiatives of the Ministry for tackling the issue of plastic waste—Plastic Waste Management Rules 2021 and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

The dialogue was attended by Mr. Eric Solheim, former Norway minister of environment and international development and former executive director of the UNEP; ambassadors of Japan and Norway; representatives from Denmark and Sweden; India Country Head, UNEP; and several senior officials of relevant ministries. Senior officials of coastal and Ganga-basin states and eminent academics joined virtually.

In his insightful presentation, Mr. Gutsch give highlighted the need for greater participation of large corporates and innovators to achieve results in this area. He put forward the concept of material redesigning for making a clean break from future use of virgin plastics. He shared that he has developed and patented an eco-innovative alternative “Parley Ocean Plastic” – a game-changing fiber from intercepted and upcycled marine plastic debris, and has collaborated with brands like Adidas, Stella McCartney, American Express and Corona to set up new industry standards. These type of breakthroughs are needed to free the world from toxic plastics.

Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, while arguing that plastic waste management brings a unique cross-cutting opportunity to contribute towards 14 of the 17 SDGs, suggested collaboration with National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and Islands for tracing plastics in River Ganga and coastal areas for strengthening plastic waste management.

CEO, NITI Aayog, expressed that the plastic is the classic example of boon turned bane in society. He also advanced that India is a pioneering country for pledging to phase out single-use plastic by 2022. He also highlighted that in the age of technological advancement, innovations shall be the way ahead, and should be promoted while taking care of varied needs of the country.

The dialogue discussed recycling and reuse of plastic products, support for research and innovation to replace single-use plastics, institutional strengthening, public awareness, continued review and improvement of activities and implementation of regulations at regional, national, and international levels.

18-Oct-2021: NITI Aayog Launches Geospatial Energy Map of India

Geospatial Energy Map of India was launched by Dr Rajiv Kumar (Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog), Dr V K Saraswat (Member, NITI Aayog), and Shri Amitabh Kant (CEO, NITI Aayog) on 18 October 2021. Dr K Sivan, Chairman ISRO & Secretary Department of Space attended the launch event.

NITI Aayog in collaboration with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has developed a comprehensive Geographic Information System (GIS) Energy Map of India with the support of Energy Ministries of Government of India. The GIS map provides a holistic picture of all energy resources of the country which enables visualisation of energy installations such as conventional power plants, oil and gas wells, petroleum refineries, coal fields and coal blocks, district-wise data on renewable energy power plants and renewable energy resource potential, etc. through 27 thematic layers.

The map attempts to identify and locate all primary and secondary sources of energy and their transportation/transmission networks to provide a comprehensive view of energy production and distribution in a country. It is a unique effort aimed at integrating energy data scattered across multiple organizations and to present it in a consolidated, visually appealing graphical manner. It leverages latest advancements in web-GIS technology and open-source software to make it interactive and user friendly. The Geospatial Energy Map of India will be useful in planning and making investment decisions. It will also aid in disaster management using available energy assets.

Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, while launching the GIS-based Energy Map of India, stated GIS-mapping of energy assets will be useful for ensuring real-time and integrated planning of energy sector of India, given its large geographical distribution and interdependence. “Energy markets have immense potential to bring in efficiency gains. Going forward, GIS-based mapping of energy assets will be advantageous to all concerned stakeholders and will help in accelerating the policy-making process. Fragmented data has been brought together; this will be a great research instrument.”

12-Oct-2021: NITI Aayog – UNDP Launch Handbook on Sustainable Management of Plastic Waste for ULB’s

NITI Aayog and UNDP India launched a handbook to promote sustainable management of plastic waste in the country.

The report, titled ‘NITI Aayog-UNDP Handbook on Sustainable Urban Plastic Waste Management’, was released on 11th October, 2021 by NITI Aayog Vice Chairperson Dr Rajiv Kumar, CEO Shri Amitabh Kant, Shri. Rameshwar Prasad Gupta, Secretary Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, Special Secretary Dr K. Rajeswara Rao, and Ms. Shoko Noda, Resident Representative, UNDP India.

The report has been jointly developed by UNDP India and NITI Aayog, in consultation with eminent experts and leading organizations in the domain of plastic waste. The discussion for the Handbook was initiated in February 2021. This was followed by over 20 virtual stakeholder consultations, including Urban Local Bodies, Recyclers, Corporates, Civil Society Organizations, Academia, managed by UNDP. The format included expert interviews, focussed group discussions, and technical workshops covering 14 Indian cities and 4 South East Asian cities. The Handbook presents best practices and examples from cities in India and Southeast Asia which face similar infrastructure and plastic waste challenges.

Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairperson, NITI Aayog emphasized, “Generating mass awareness is the key for achieving sustainable plastic waste management in the cities. He further added “The Indore model of spreading mass awareness and explaining importance of waste management at household level needs to be adopted by other cities. It will be the key to make plastic waste management a people’s movement.” He further added that innovations which will eliminate the drudgery of rag picking and provide a better quality life for these workers should be encouraged. This will make waste recycling more efficient.”

Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog emphasized, “The Urban Local Bodies across the country face tremendous pressure to provide efficient waste management services in the midst of an unprecedented scale of urbanisation that India is witnessing. The country has leapfrogged in sanitation sector, and similarly we need to create a massive Jan Andolan around plastic waste management to achieve complete recycling of our waste.”

He further added that “The handbook covers crucial components for sustainable urban plastic waste management including, technical models, recovery facilities, IEC and digitisation, and good governance.”

Dr Rajeswara Rao, Special Secretary, NITI Aayog, said “NITI Aayog has constituted 11 committees for bringing circular economy in various areas of waste management. With complete recycling of plastic waste followed by extraction of valuables and mixing it with virgin materials, the transition to a circular economy in plastic waste sector will be completed.” He further added, “Social inclusion of informal workers is crucial for sustainable plastic waste management. Promoting entrepreneurial opportunities and development of waste pickers cooperatives are important initiatives for formalisation of informal workers in the waste management sector.”

Shri R.P Gupta, Secretary, MoEFCC highlighted “Only about 9% of the total plastic produced globally gets recycled, about 12% is incinerated and energy is recovered, and rest about 79% gets into land, water, and ocean and pollutes the environment.”  He further added “Phasing out single use plastic is crucial and to the extent possible, plastic items for which alternatives are available needs to be abandoned. The handbook on Sustainable Urban Plastic Waste Management will play a major role in fulfilling the goal of reducing the use of plastic and increasing plastic waste recycling, and also ensuring that plastic waste is brought to minimal”

“The Plastic Waste Management programme at UNDP promotes the collection, segregation and recycling of all types of plastic waste to protect our environment and create a circular economy for plastics. The programme also ensures the wellbeing and financial inclusion of waste pickers, one of the most critical stakeholders in the waste value chain,” shared Ms. Shoko Noda, Resident Representative, UNDP India.

She added, “The programme is aligned with the principles of Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0. We are happy to share our learnings in this Handbook and provide urban local bodies with replicable models. UNDP is committed and proud to partner with the Government of India, NITI Aayog, state governments and other development partners for this great initiative to ensure sustainable plastic waste management.

”Sustainable Urban Plastic Waste Management: Summary:

Urban local bodies (ULBs) are mandated under the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, and the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, to manage municipal solid waste and plastic waste at the city level. The handbook is a repository of 18 case studies/best practices from India, including 4 from south Asian countries divided into four major components, including a) Technical models for recycling, b) Material Recovery Facilities (MRF), c) Governance for effective plastic waste management, and d) IEC and Digitization. The book covers every aspect of the entire plastic waste management service chain and will enable Urban Local Bodies and other stakeholders involved in the sector to learn from the successful business and service models covered under this handbook to plan for efficient plastic waste management in their cities according to their requirements and guidelines.

Component I:  Technical model for plastic waste recycling and management

This component based on an integrated and inclusive approach by involving different stakeholders and their social benefits, covers, a) Development of a baseline system of plastic waste management at the city level , b) Systems approach for promoting recycling of plastic waste at the city level, c) Stakeholder identification and partnerships, d) Development of regulatory need-gap analysis and proposals for the holistic management of plastic waste

Component II: Material Recovery Facility – For improved plastic waste management implementation

This component explains the complete functioning of a material recovery facility (MRF), beginning from site identification, construction and waste processing mechanisms at the MRF.

Component III: Institutionalization of MRFs in governance bodies

The mainstreaming of waste pickers in the plastic waste management system would result in improved socio-economic conditions for waste pickers and increased recognition in society. This requires the institutionalization of various recommended models and waste pickers by ULBs for long-term sustainability. Some of the major activities are linking services of the waste pickers with MRFs, capacity building, making them financially literate and opening bank accounts for them, linking them to various social protection schemes, providing occupational ID cards, health benefits and personal protective equipment while working, providing facilities like creches or play areas and other basic child education facilities, and creating self-help groups.

Component IV: IEC and Digitalization

This component includes the development of knowledge management mechanisms by establishing an in-built adoptive feedback system from different stages of plastic waste value chain. It also involves the identification of various technology platforms, or technical service providers, linkages with relevant stakeholders such as bulk waste generators (BWGs), recyclers and waste pickers, and the development of protocols for more effective online reporting, monitoring and information exchange.

Various models including, development of entrepreneurial opportunities for waste pickers, development of waste pickers cooperatives to build their own non-profit organization, development of a blended workforce combining waste pickers and non-waste pickers etc. are covered under the handbook. The models detailed in this Handbook aim to bring sustainable plastic waste management into practice. The various systems approach detailed out in the report are aligned with the Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 and the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 and 2018. These models ensure compliance with regulations and improve resource utilization. The models not only focus on managing plastic waste but also on social inclusion and protection for waste pickers by improving their socio-economic conditions. To implement these models, the role of different stakeholders such as ULBs, recyclers, service providers, brand owners and waste pickers are detailed in this Handbook.

1-Oct-2021: NITI Aayog, in a joint effort with IFPRI, IIPS, UNICEF and IEG launch ‘The State Nutrition Profiles” for 19 States and Union Territories

NITI Aayog, in a joint effort with International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Indian Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS), UNICEF and Institute of Economic Growth (IEG) launched ‘The State Nutrition Profiles” for 19 States and Union Territories on 30th September, 2021. The State nutrition profiles were released by Dr. Rakesh Sarwal, Additional Secretary, NITI Aayog in a webinar titled “Towards progress on nutrition in India: Insights from National Family Health Survey (Phase -1)” organized by IFPRI.

The ‘State Nutrition Profiles’ (SNPs) give insights on nutrition outcomes, immediate and underlying determinants and interventions based on NFHS-rounds 3, 4 and 5. The SNPs include a comprehensive compilation of crucial data that can positively affect policy decisions and facilitate research in the area. The trend analysis of key indicators such as wasting, stunting, anemia, underweight and overweight and NCDs (Diabetes and High blood pressure) showcase the variability of performance across districts. The reports highlight the best and worst performing districts, highest burden districts and top coverage districts of the country. The SNPs are based on the headcount-based analyses and use of data from NFHS-5 to provide evidence that helps identify priority districts and number of districts in the state with public health concern as per WHO guidelines. Each SNP has incorporated key takeaways for children, women and men and identifies areas where the state has the potential to improve further.

Presentations on NFHS-5 analysis of health and nutrition outcomes and determinants were made by eminent speakers (Divya Nair, IDinsight; Divij Sinha, Institute for Human Settlements; Sheila Vir, Public Health Nutrition and Development Centre and Rasmi Avula, IFPRI; S.K Singh, IIPS; Robert Johnston, UNICEF; William Joe, IEG) from partner organizations. The webinar was attended by over 200 participants from various organizations. The SNPs are available on: http://poshan.ifpri.info/category/publications/data-notes/

30-Sep-2021: NITI Aayog, AWS, and Intel Collaborate to Accelerate Digital Innovation in India

The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), the Government of India’s national policy think tank, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Intel have come together to establish a new experience studio at the NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Center (CIC). Located in NITI Aayog’s New Delhi premises, the studio will be a hub for collaboration and experimentation to enable problem solving and innovation between government stakeholders, startups, enterprises, and industry domain experts.

The studio will help showcase the potential of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/ VR), blockchain, and robotics to accelerate their application in public sector use cases. The studio will encourage open innovation and serve as a hub for government, healthcare, education, and nonprofit startups from India to showcase their solutions. It will also provide startups with an option to access necessary support to enhance and scale their solutions.

NITI Aayog will also leverage the studio to demonstrate the application of geospatial, AR/VR, drone, and IoT solutions in verticals such as healthcare, agriculture, and smart infrastructure. Major homegrown industry leaders in respective fields of technology and research – like MapMyIndia in geospatial solutions, Raphe mPhibr Pvt. Ltd. in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and the Centre for Advanced Research in Imaging, Neuroscience and Genomics (CARING), which delivers AI in healthcare – and global leaders like Dassault Systemes are demonstrating their solutions at the studio. Start-ups like Vizara Technologies and Agatsa Software private Ltd will be showcasing their innovative products. Startups will also be encouraged to participate actively in the studio through hackathons, grand challenges, and other capacity building initiatives, in collaboration with the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and Atal Incubation Centres (AIC).

The studio was inaugurated today in the presence of Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, by Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog and Rahul Sharma, President, Public Sector – Amazon Internet Services Pvt. Ltd. (AISPL), AWS India and South Asia. Prakash Mallya, VP & MD – Sales, Marketing & Communications Group, Intel India attended the inauguration virtually.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that effective collaboration and experimentation matter significantly when developing innovative solutions to address problems of scale in the country. As the NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies CIC identifies societal challenges to address, it is important to embrace a culture of open innovation and working backwards from problem statements. The new experience studio with AWS and Intel will further support our mission to identify and deploy leading edge technologies to drive continuous innovation in delivering citizen services,” said Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog.

“The new experience studio at the NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies CIC, based on the AWS Cloud Innovation Centers program, aims to quickly solve public sector challenges through collaboration and actualize innovations from experimentation and prototypes. The studio will help subject matter experts from different verticals, government stakeholders, and startups to apply design thinking to go deeper into problem areas and develop solutions to enable digital healthcare, build the digital agriculture ecosystem, and develop the digital infrastructure for smart cities in India. It will be a hub for creativity, experimentation, and testing new ideas to solve challenges sourced from the community,” said Rahul Sharma, President, Public Sector – AISPL, AWS India and South Asia.

“Cloud innovation is fundamental to unlocking the potential of future technologies to create scalable impact across sectors. Intel is committed to expanding access to technology resources and knowledge through our collaboration with NITI Aayog and AWS to develop, build, and support cloud services that can enrich the lives of people in India and around the world. The new NITI Aayog CIC Experience Studio is a powerful example of industry collaboration to accelerate technology solutions for meaningful social impact,” said Prakash Mallya, VP & MD – Sales, Marketing & Communications Group, Intel India.

The experience studio at the NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies CIC will adopt a hybrid model enabling physical and virtual workspaces to collaborate seamlessly. The physical workspace design in the studio will enable solutions showcase, interactive demos, and rapid prototyping among stakeholders to converge on ideas for further action. The studio’s digital workspace will enable state-of-the-art collaborative environments to invite experts from various verticals, government departments, research institutions, and not-for-profit organisations for hands-on workshops.

The NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies CIC was established in October 2020 as part of the AWS Cloud Innovation Centers Global Program. Focusing on tackling the challenges facing India, the CIC recently developed COvAID during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Developed in five days, COvAID provided a platform for consolidating the end-to-end flow of aid received to support COVID-19 affected people, distributing the aid in a transparent manner, and accelerating the speed at which the aid reaches beneficiaries. In another example, working with the Digi Yatra Foundation, the CIC also anchored the Digital Yatra Central Ecosystem (DYCE) Challenge, inviting startups to develop a real time facial biometric validation solution to provide a friction-less, hassle-free, contact-less, and safe experience to passengers during air travel.

AWS Public Sector CICs are also present across Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Germany, South Korea, and United States. Earlier this year, AWS also collaborated with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in India to establish a Quantum Computing Applications Lab in the country, focused on accelerating quantum computing-led research and development, and enabling new scientific discoveries aligned to the government’s science and technology priorities.

16-Sep-2021: NITI Aayog Launches Report on Reforms in Urban Planning Capacity in India

NITI Aayog today launched a report on measures to ramp up urban planning capacity in India.

The report, titled ‘Reforms in Urban Planning Capacity in India’, was released by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar, CEO Shri Amitabh Kant and Special Secretary Dr K. Rajeswara Rao.

Secretaries of the ministries of housing and urban affairs, higher education, and Panchayati raj, and chairpersons of AICTE and TCPO, Director of NIUA and President of ITPI also attended the event.

The report has been developed by NITI Aayog, in consultation with concerned ministries and eminent experts in the domain of urban and regional planning. It presents a condensed outcome of the extensive deliberations and consultations conducted over a period of 9 months.

 “In the coming years, urban India will power the growth of the Indian economy. Urban challenges, including town planning, need greater policy attention in our country. There is a compelling need to plug the gaps in urban planning capacity in the country, else a huge opportunity for rapid, sustainable and equitable growth would be at risk of being missed,” said NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar.

CEO Shri Amitabh Kant emphasized, “Urbanization is the driving force of the Indian economy. The country has reached a turning point in its transformation. It will be half urban in a couple of decades. This is the first time in the history of India that the question of urban planning capacity has been dealt with in depth.”

He also added that, “Greater synergies among the public and private sectors and education institutions will provide a massive boost towards making Indian cities more liveable, competitive, and sustainable.”

Reforms in Urban Planning Capacity: Summary

India is home to 11% of the total global urban population. By 2027, India will surpass China as the most populous country in the world. Unplanned urbanization, however, exerts great strain on our cities. In fact, the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the dire need for the planning and management of our cities.

Urban planning is the foundation for an integrated development of cities, citizens, and the environment. Unfortunately, it has received due attention so far. The existing urban planning and governance framework is complex, which often leads to ambiguity and lack of accountability.

The report makes several recommendations that can unblock bottlenecks in the value chain of urban planning capacity in India. Some of them are:

1. Programmatic Intervention for Planning of Healthy Cities: Every city must aspire to become a ‘Healthy City for All’ by 2030. The report recommends a Central Sector Scheme ‘500 Healthy Cities Programme’, for a period of 5 years, wherein priority cities and towns would be selected jointly by the states and local bodies.
2. Programmatic Intervention for Optimum Utilization of Urban Land: All the cities and towns under the proposed ‘Healthy Cities Programme’ should strengthen development control regulations based on scientific evidence to maximize the efficiency of urban land (or planning area). The report recommends a sub-scheme ‘Preparation/Revision of Development Control Regulations’ for this purpose.
3. Ramping Up of Human Resources: To combat the shortage of urban planners in the public sector, the report recommends that the states/UTs may need to a) expedite the filling up of vacant positions of town planners, and b) additionally sanction 8268 town planners’ posts as lateral entry positions for a minimum period of 3 years and a maximum of 5 years to meet the gaps.
4. Ensuring Qualified Professionals for Undertaking Urban Planning: State town and country planning departments face an acute shortage of town planners. This is compounded by the fact that in several states, ironically, a qualification in town planning is not even an essential criterion for such jobs. States may need to undertake requisite amendments in their recruitment rules to ensure the entry of qualified candidates into town-planning positions.
5. Re-engineering of Urban Governance: There is a need to bring in more institutional clarity and also multi-disciplinary expertise to solve urban challenges. The report recommends the constitution of a high-powered committee to re-engineer the present urban-planning governance structure. The key aspects that would need to be addressed in this effort are: i) clear division of the roles and responsibilities of various authorities, appropriate revision of rules and regulations, etc., ii) creation of a more dynamic organizational structure, standardisation of the job descriptions of town planners and other experts, and iii) extensive adoption of technology for enabling public participation and inter-agency coordination.
6. Revision of Town and Country Planning Acts: Most States have enacted the Town and Country Planning Acts, that enable them to prepare and notify master plans for implementation. However, many need to be reviewed and upgraded. Therefore, the formation of an apex committee at the state level is recommended to undertake a regular review of planning legislations (including town and country planning or urban and regional development acts or other relevant acts).
7. Demystifying Planning and Involving Citizens: While it is important to maintain the master plans’ technical rigour, it is equally important to demystify them for enabling citizens’ participation at relevant stages. Therefore, the committee strongly recommends a ‘Citizen Outreach Campaign’ for demystifying urban planning.
8. Steps for Enhancing the Role of Private Sector: The report recommends that concerted measures must be taken at multiple levels to strengthen the role of the private sector to improve the overall planning capacity in the country. These include the adoption of fair processes for procuring technical consultancy services, strengthening project structuring and management skills in the public sector, and empanelment of private sector consultancies.
9. Steps for Strengthening Urban Planning Education System
   1. The Central universities and technical institutions in all the other States/UTs are encouraged to offer postgraduate degree programmes (MTech Planning) to cater to the requirement of planners in the country in a phased manner.
   2. The committee also recommends that all such institutions may synergize with Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Panchayati Raj and respective state rural development departments/directorates and develop demand-driven short-term programmes on rural area planning.
   3. ‘Planning’ as an umbrella term, including all its specializations such as environment, housing, transportation, infrastructure, logistics, rural area, regional, etc., or any other nomenclature approved by AICTE, should be included as a discipline under the National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) of MoE to encourage a healthy competition among the institutions.
   4. The committee recommends that AICTE may retain the names of specializations based on industry requirements, while limiting them to an appropriate number, as 25 nomenclatures seem too high for market acknowledgement and absorption.
   5. Faculty shortage in educational institutions conducting degree and PhD programmes in planning need to be resolved in a time bound manner by 2022.
10. Measures for Strengthening Human Resource and Match Demand–Supply: The report recommends the constitution of a ‘National Council of Town and Country Planners’ as a statutory body of the Government of India. Also, a ‘National Digital Platform of Town and Country Planners’ is suggested to be created within the National Urban Innovation Stack of MoHUA. This portal will enable self-registration of all planners and evolve as a marketplace for potential employers and urban planners.

26-Aug-2021: NITI Aayog partners with Cisco to foster women entrepreneurship in India

Building on their shared commitment to empower women entrepreneurs across India, NITI Aayog, the Government's public policy think tank, and Cisco today launched the next phase of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP). Titled "WEP Nxt", this next phase of NITI Aayog's flagship platform will leverage Cisco's technology and experience working with India's startup ecosystem to enable more women-owned businesses across the country. Amitabh Kant (CEO NITI Aayog), Anna Roy (Senior Adviser NITI Aayog),Maria Martinez (EVP & COO, Cisco), Daisy Chittilapilly (President, Cisco India & SAARC) and Harish Krishnan, (Managing Director, Public Affairs and Strategic Engagements, Cisco India and SAARC), were present at the launch.

WEP, initially launched by NITI Aayog in 2017, is a first-of-its-kind, unified portal that brings together women from diverse backgrounds and offers them access to a multitude of resources, support, and learning. WEP Nxt is a significant step to augment these efforts. Based on a focused study of Indian women entrepreneurs and their most urgent needs across six key verticals – community and networking, skilling and mentorship, incubation and acceleration programs, and financial, compliance, and marketing assistance - WEPNxt will be driven by evidence-based decision-making. The focused study, fuelling this transition, is also being made available for the benefit of the ecosystem.

Additionally, as a part of this initiative, Cisco, in collaboration with the NASSCOM Foundation, Sattva Consulting, and the DeAsra Foundation, will enable technology-led experiences and engagements to address the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs at individual and enterprise levels and create new opportunities for growth.

“As per the Sixth Economic Census, women only constitute 13.76% of the total entrepreneurs, i.e., 8.05 million out of the 58.5 million entrepreneurs in the country. This may have been a missed opportunity in the past, but I am confident as the Government of India and Private sector hold hands through initiatives such as the WEP, we will realise this vision of a new India – where men and women have the equal opportunity to build and to share in the glory of achievement, “ said Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog. “WEP Nxt will further catalyse this movement and I am confident with Cisco as our partner, this technology platform will soon be the personalized guide for every woman entrepreneur in the country to realize her dreams “

"As we enter a new phase of recovery, we see a collective agreement that a diverse, inclusive, and digitally-enabled world is far more prosperous," said Cisco Chief Operating Officer, Maria Martinez. "It is our responsibility to step up to the challenges of inequity and create new pathways to economic prosperity that enable people and communities, especially women, to break through barriers, spark new ideas, and ignite innovation. We are excited about our partnership with NITI Aayog and hope to bring the benefits of digital technologies to more women-owned enterprises."

"According to the WEP focused study, in addition to greater innovation, up to 170 million jobs could be created by 2030, and our annual GDP could rise by 1.5% if more women took up entrepreneurship – a massive opportunity lost if we delay action to uplift women-owned businesses," said Harish Krishnan, Managing Director & Chief Policy Officer, Cisco India & SAARC.."WEP Nxt is aimed at bridging the existing gaps and forging new possibilities for women in India. We are proud to partner with NITI Aayog to accelerate our shared vision of a more inclusive and equitable future for all."

About Cisco: Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in technology that powers the Internet. Cisco inspires new possibilities by reimagining your applications, securing your data, transforming your infrastructure, and empowering your teams for a global and inclusive future. Discover more on Cisco.com and follow us on Twitter @Cisco.

About Women Entrepreneurship Platform, NITI Aayog: The Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) is NITI Aayog's flagship initiative – a one-of-its-kind, unified information portal for women entrepreneurs. It strives to improve industry linkages and awareness of existing programs and services and provide access to peer support, learning resources, fundraising opportunities and mentorship. With an overarching objective of becoming an aggregator platform that solves for the information asymmetry in the ecosystem, WEP serves as a one stop solution for information and services relevant to women entrepreneurs. The platform currently hosts over 16,000 registered users and 30 partners and caters to six focus areas: Funding & Financial Management, Incubation Connects, Taxation & Compliance Support, Entrepreneur Skilling & Mentorship, Community & Networking and Marketing Assistance.

24-Aug-2021: NITI Aayog and World Resources Institute India Jointly Launch ‘Forum for Decarbonizing Transport’ in India

NITI Aayog and World Resources Institute(WRI), India, jointly launched the ‘Forum for Decarbonizing Transport’ in India as part of the NDC-Transport Initiative for Asia (NDC-TIA) project on 23 August.

The launch was held virtually and inaugurated by NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant. Dignitaries from various ministries and NDC-TIA project partners, along with stakeholders from the mobility and the energy sector, were present during the launch. The project aims at bringing down the peak level of GHG emissions (transport sector) in Asia (in line with a well below 2-degree pathway), resulting in problems like congestion and air pollution.

India has a massive and diverse transport sector, which is also the third most CO2 emitting sector. Data from (IEA, 2020; Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, 2018) suggests that within the transport sector, road transport contributes to more than 90% of the total CO2 emissions. Through various policy measures and initiatives, the Government of India is continuously working towards the decarbonisation of road transport, with a major focus on the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in the country. NITI Aayog has been at the helm of the promotion of EVs and sustainable mobility through the National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage.

However, to leverage and streamline EVs across the country, there is a need is to create a favourable ecosystem for different stakeholders. These stakeholders include Central/state Governments, state-designated agencies, financial institutions, businesses, OEMs, research and technical institutes, private bodies and think tanks. A coordinated effort between these stakeholders will help enable investment, encourage adoption, and ensure fair operation in the industry.

The NDC-TIA India component focuses on developing a coherent strategy of effective policies and the formation of a multi-stakeholder platform for decarbonizing transport in the country. Through this forum, the WRI India team, along with NITI Aayog and other project partners, will work in close coordination with all these stakeholders to formulate strategies and develop appropriate business models to accelerate electric mobility in India. The forum will also provide a platform to initiate dialogues for the development of uniform policies and help achieve specific results in reducing emissions from the transport sector.

In his keynote address, CEO, NITI Aayog said, “The Stakeholder Forum on Transport Decarbonisation is a defining milestone for the electric mobility ecosystem in the country. It will bring together CEOs, researchers, academics, multilateral agencies, financial institutions as well as the Central and state government on a common platform. This will help in the development of innovative business models resulting in targeted results and the holistic growth of the electric mobility space in India. Through effective collaboration, cooperation and convergence, we must work together to usher clean mobility in India.”

Dr OP Agarwal, CEO, WRI India, said, “India has a great opportunity to decarbonize its urban transport sector. Promotion of walking, cycling and public transport coupled with electrification of motor vehicles should be the right strategy for the country.”

Explaining the need of the stakeholder forum in decarbonising Transport, Amit Bhatt, Executive Director (Integrated Transport), WRI India said, “Reducing carbon emissions from the transport sector will require actions on multiple fronts. The Forum for Decarbonisation of Transport will act as the conduit for bringing diverse voices and needs to adopt an integrated approach for greening the transport sector in India.”

The NDC Transport Initiative for Asia (TIA 2020-2023) is a joint programme of seven organisations that will engage China, India, and Vietnam in promoting a comprehensive approach to decarbonizing transport in their respective countries. The project is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) support the initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag.

NITI Aayog is the implementing partner for the India component of the project.

24-Jul-2021: NITI Aayog -TRIFED join hands for successful implementation of  Van Dhan Yojana in Tribal Clusters of Aspirational Districts of India

Keeping in line with the Prime Minister's call for “Atmanirbhar Bharat” aligned to the slogan of “Be Vocal for Local Buy Tribal”, towards realizing the goal of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”, TRIFED is collaborating with NITI Aayog to implement the Van Dhan Yojana in the districts that have been identified as aspirational districts by NITI Aayog. As a follow-up for the implementation of the Van Dhan Yojana in the Tribal Aspirational Districts, TRIFED team briefed about the Van Dhan Yojana to the DMs/DCs of aspirational districts in a meeting on July 23, 2021 chaired by Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog.

The Van Dhan tribal start-ups and the Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) Through Minimum Support Price (MSP) & Development of Value Chain for MFP’ Scheme that provides MSP to gatherers of forest produces and introduce value addition and marketing through tribal groups and clusters are among the many initiatives of TRIFED, Ministry of Tribal Affairs that have proved helpful by generating employment and income for the tribal population.

These initiatives, spearheaded by TRIFED, exemplify MFP-led Tribal Development in Mission Mode. Tribals have been made legal owners of MFP in their areas. Minimum Support Price (MSP) has been announced for several MFPs. Under the program the processing and value-addition to MFP will be done in a well-equipped common facility centres which are to be called Van Dhan Vikas Kendra.

As per TRIFED , 37,904 Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKs), subsumed into 2275Van Dhan Vikas Kendra Clusters (VDVKCs) of 300 forest dwellers each,  have been sanctioned by TRIFED as of date. A typical Van Dhan Vikas Kendra includes 20 tribal members. 15 such Van Dhan Vikas Kendras form 1 Van Dhan Vikas Kendra cluster. The Van Dhan Vikas Kendra Clusters will provide the Van Dhan Vikas Kendras economies of scale, livelihood and market-linkages, as well as entrepreneurship opportunities to nearly 6.77 lakh Tribal forest gatherers in 27 states and 2 UTs. 50 lakh tribals have been impacted by the Van Dhan start-ups programme up until now.

This plan has proved to be a boon during the pandemic times with dwindling livelihoods for the marginalised. With good planning and implementation, TRIFED and its State Agency partners in 27 states, have brought about a paradigm shift in the program outcomes.

TRIFED’s Van Dhan Yojana is in different stages of implementation in the 124 districts which have been declared as Aspirational Districts. In these districts the classification has been done based on the percentage of tribal population as well as the economic feasibility of formation of VDVKCs in the district. TRIFED is already working in 65 Aspirational Districts where 521 Van Dhan Clusters (VDVKCs) have been sanctioned involving 1.55 lakhs tribal beneficiaries. This can be extended to all tribal clusters of Aspirational districts.

Out of the 41 aspirational districts under Category I with Tribal Population more than 50%, VDVKCs are sanctioned in 39 aspirational districts which includes districts in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Telangana and Tripura.

The collaboration and partnership with NITI Aayog along with the support of the collectors and other district officials is aimed at a complete transformation of the tribal ecosystem across the country.

23-Jul-2021: NITI Aayog and IEA launch ‘Renewables Integration in India 2021’

A report on “Renewables Integration in India 2021” was jointly launched by Dr. Rakesh Sarwal, Additional Secretary, NITI Aayog & Mr. Keisuke Sadamori, Director of Energy Markets and Security, IEA on 22nd July, 2021. The report is based on the outcome of three states workshops held with the Governments of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat to understand the specific energy transition challenges faced by these renewable-rich states. The report uses IEA modelling results to show the effects of different flexibility options on the power system.

The report highlights that India’s power system can efficiently integrate renewables (175 GW by 2022 and 450 GW by 2030), but it would require identification of resources and proper planning, regulatory, policy and institutional support, energy storage and advance technology initiatives.

Indian states need to employ a wide range of flexibility options – such as demand response, more flexible operation of coal based power plants, storage, and grid improvements – to transition to cleaner electricity systems. Larger shares of renewables can be better managed by shifting time of use in agriculture. Time of Use (ToU) tariffs will be an effective tool to incentivise demand side management and encourage flexible consumption.

Mr. Keisuke Sadamori, the IEA Director of Energy Markets and Security, indicated that the joint report underscores IEA’s commitment to provide support to India with its clean energy transition agenda.

Launching the report, Dr. Rakesh Sarwal, Additional Secretary, NITI Aayog, said that the joint report provides useful suggestions for the states to consider to best manage their integration challenge.

Mr. Amitesh Kumar Sinha mentioned that after 2023-24, RE integration will become an issue and could be addressed through supply and demand side measures. He also emphasized the role of distributed solar which will play a major role in reducing integration challenges. Mr. Vivek Kumar Dewangan, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Power said that the report on renewables integration will serve as repository of vast knowledge for stakeholders in India. He highlighted Government’s policies on thermal power plant flexibility and strengthening of transmission network through green corridors and stressed on the need for cost effective solutions for storage technologies.

Mr. Dinesh Waghmare, Principal Secretary (Energy), Government of Maharashtra, stated that Ministry of Power proposed Market Based Economic Dispatch (MBED) model for better optimization of scheduling and economic dispatch of generation capacities purely on economic principles which will replace the current practice of Self Scheduling by Discom.

Dr. N Manjula, Managing Director, Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited emphasized that to absorb maximum RE power, State has shifted 70% -80% agriculture load to the day time, providing incentives to industrial consumers for consuming more electricity and increasing State share in the Green Energy Trading (now, approx. 50%). All these measures have helped to reduce the curtailments, which is almost zero now. Government of Karnataka is in the process of bringing in new RE policy.

Mr. K V S Baba, Chairman and Managing Director, POSOCO stated that RE integration can start with proper resources planning and better implementation of technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, base power system management and smart grid intervention.

Mr. Anand Kumar, Former Chairman, Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission was of the view that old regulations needs to be revised and regulatory commissions need to play more proactive role to implement the revised regulations. Smart meters, Time of the Day tariff and overall demand response program would be useful for RE load management.

Sh. Rajnath Ram, Adviser (Energy) concluded the meeting with remarks that the NITI Aayog looks forward to giving continuous support to the state governments in order to support their development plan for affordable, secure and clean power systems of the future.

22-Jul-2021: Economic programmes and projects for North Eastern Region

NITI Aayog has constituted 17 Sub-Groups on 17 thematic areas of development in September, 2020.  NITI Aayog has not done any mid-term evaluation of present status of different projects of North East specifically on education and other sixteen thematic groups including the export situation. The evaluation of Central Sector and Centrally Sponsored Scheme is done by concerned Departments/Ministries. The third-party evaluation of schemes implemented by Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region and North Eastern Council has been completed.

For the current financial year (2021-22), an amount of Rs 68020 crore has been earmarked by 54 non-exempted Ministries/Departments at the Budget Estimates (BE) stage for North Eastern Region under 10% GBS. During the FY 2020-21, Government announced a special economic and comprehensive package, which included Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) and three Aatma Nirbhar Bharat (ANB) packages to combat the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to revive economic growth. The Union Budget 2021-22 also announced increase in investment in Health Infrastructure, Mega Investment Textiles Parks (MITRA), enhancing agricultural credit and infrastructure funds, additional budget allocation to MSME Sector etc. Further, in June, 2021, Government announced a relief package of Rs 6.29 lakh crore comprising of 17 measures to support the Indian economy in its fight against the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic which includes strengthening public health and provides impetus for growth and employment.  Many of these programmes and policies will benefit the North Eastern Region as well.

The COVID-19 situation in North Eastern Region is regularly reviewed by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare   and coordinated action is taken by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region as well. To mitigate the difficulties of people in the North Eastern States, the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region/ North Eastern Council sanctioned untied funds amounting to Rs. 26.09 crore to combat COVID-19 pandemic in 8 NER States. Projects worth Rs. 36.50 crore have also been sanctioned to North Eastern Region States for livelihood generation for returnee migrant worker due to COVID-19. Eleven projects amounting to Rs. 313.98 crore have been sanctioned by the Ministry of DoNER under the North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS) for strengthening health infrastructure of North Eastern States, especially for fighting COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region has also coordinated with Central Ministries/Departments to resolve issues related to medical supplies, creation of testing infrastructure etc. During 2020-21, Rs. 322.89 crore was released to the North Eastern States towards the India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Packages through National Health Mission (NHM). During 2019-20, an amount of Rs 111.34 crore was released to North Eastern States under National Health Mission. For the containment measures allowed under SDRF, State Government were allowed to spend upto 35% of the annual allocation of SDRF during the financial year 2019-20. The ceiling of 35% was further enhanced to 50% during the financial year 2020-21 and 2021-22.

29-Jun-2021: NITI Aayog Releases Report on Not-for-Profit Hospital Model in India

NITI Aayog today released a comprehensive study on the not-for-profit hospital model in the country, in a step towards closing the information gap on such institutions and facilitating robust policymaking in this area.

“There has been relatively low investment in the expansion of the health sector in the private domain. The stimulus announced yesterday provides us an opportunity to change this situation. The report on the not-for-profit sector is a small step in that direction,” said Dr VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog.

The report was released by NITI Aayog Member Dr VK Paul, in the presence of CEO Mr. Amitabh Kant, Additional Secretary Dr Rakesh Sarwal, and representatives of hospitals across the country who participated in the study.

The study provides insights into the operation model of not-for-profit hospitals. It presents research-based findings on such hospitals—categorized under ownership and premise of service—and makes subsequent comparisons with private hospitals and health schemes of the Union government.

NITI Aayog has been extensively studying the private-sector healthcare-delivery landscape in the country. While there exists adequate information on for-profit healthcare providers and institutions, there is a dearth of reliable and structured information on their not-for-profit counterparts, known for their tireless service in making quality healthcare accessible and affordable to everyone.

The not-for-profit hospital sector provides not only curative but also preventive healthcare. It links healthcare with social reform, community engagement, and education. It uses government resources and grants to provide cost-effective healthcare to people without being concerned about profits. However, over the years, this sector has remained understudied.

The study discusses in detail the cost-containment strategies implemented by not-for-profit hospitals. It seeks to understand the challenges that burden the operations of these institutions and hinder their growth.

The report proposes short- and long-term policy interventions—such as developing criteria to identify these hospitals, ranking them through a performance index, and promoting top hospitals for practicing philanthropy, among others. It also highlights the need to use the expertise of these hospitals in managing human resources with limited finance in remote areas.

25-Jun-2021: NITI Aayog convenes the National Convention on Prevention of Maternal, Adolescent and Childhood Obesity

NITI Aayog convened the National Convention on Prevention of Maternal, Adolescent and Childhood Obesity under the chairmanship of Dr. V.K. Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog and Co-chairmanship of Dr. R Hemalatha, Director, Nutrition Institute of India.

Presenting the problem, Dr. Rakesh Sarwal, Additional Secretary (Health and Nutrition), NITI Aayog described obesity as a “silent epidemic” .In the National Consultation global experts, representatives from UN bodies, central ministries and national research institutions presented their evidence regarding increasing prevalence of obesity and presented best practices for obesity reduction.

Arjan de Wagt, Chief Nutrition, UNICEF presented evidence on the increasing burden of over nutrition in India. Professor William Joe, IEG shared valuable data on the current and emerging trends of obesity in certain geographies of India.

Shariqua Yunus, Head of Unit and Programme Officer (Health and Nutrition), WFP emphasized on the need to diversify food-based social safety nets to prevent obesity. Monika Arora, Director of Health Promotion Division, PHFI along with Rachita Gupta, National Professional Officer (Nutrition) WHO deliberated on obesogenic marketing strategies on Indian Television. Global experts Kathryn Backholer, Professor at Deakin University and Tim Lobstein, Policy Director, World Obesity Federation conveyed how obese population is an unhealthy population and the cost of treating obesity, is the cost of junk food marketing.

In the convention, Secretaries of Ministry of AYUSH and Department of Youth Affairs placed their suggestions on promoting healthy behaviour. Senior officers of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Ministry of Women & Child Development, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Information & Broadcasting echoed the need for introducing behavioural change and a favourable policy landscape. UNICEF Country representative, Yasmine Haque also endorsed the same.

All panelists expressed unanimous need to address this issue on a priority basis, with a resounding emphasis on better mass communication around encouraging physical activity, healthy eating and lifestyle. A need for a whole of government and a whole of society approach was emphasised in tackling the twin challenge of obesity and under. An urgent need for adopting strategies related to fiscal measures, regulating front-of-package labelling, promoting healthy diet, physical activity and lifestyle options emerged as key themes for future deliberations and actions.

In conclusion, Dr. V.K Paul, Member (Health and Nutrition), NITI Aayog called for a multi-sectoral approach targeting the adolescents to promote activity and healthy lifestyle.

8-Jun-2021: NITI Aayog & Piramal Foundation Launch Surakshit Hum Surakshit Tum Abhiyaan in 112 Aspirational Districts

NITI Aayog and Piramal Foundation today launched Surakshit Hum Surakshit Tum Abhiyaan in 112 Aspirational Districts to assist district administrations in providing home-care support to Covid-19 patients who are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms.

The Abhiyaan is being part of a special initiative, Aspirational Districts Collaborative, in which local leaders, civil societies and volunteers work with district administrations to address emerging problems across key focus areas of the Aspirational Districts Programme.

Surakshit Hum Surakshit Tum Abhiyaan will be led by district magistrates in partnership with over 1000 local NGOs, which will enlist and train over 1 lakh volunteers to connect with patients through inbound/outbound calls. Piramal Foundation will work with district magistrates to support the training of NGOs and volunteers.

While launching the campaign, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said, ‘Surakshit Hum Surakshit Tum Abhiyaan is a significant initiative that responds to immediate needs and will provide long-term support to India’s poorest communities in the Aspirational Districts by addressing the lasting impact of Covid-19.’

The campaign is expected to play a key role in district preparedness for managing nearly 70% of Covid cases at home, reducing pressure on the health system, and stemming the spread of fear amongst the people. The campaign will also undertake capacity building of citizens for correct usage of Oxygen concentrators that have been supplied to these districts.

NGOs will mobilize local volunteers to provide home-care support to those affected, based on the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Volunteers will be trained to support 20 affected families each by educating caretakers to follow Covid protocols, provide psycho-social support and timely updates about patients to the administration.

‘In line with Piramal Foundation’s value of Sewa, we aim to reach every affected person in the 112 Aspirational Districts. We call all stakeholders—Government, NGOs, communities, and others—to join hands and offer their service in this initiative of the Aspirational Districts Collaborative,’ said Piramal Group Chairman Ajay Piramal.

3-Jun-2021: NITI Aayog Releases SDG India Index and Dashboard 2020–21

The third edition of the SDG India Index and Dashboard 2020–21 was released by NITI Aayog today. Since its inaugural launch in 2018, the index has been comprehensively documenting and ranking the progress made by States and Union Territories towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Now in its third year, the index has become the primary tool for monitoring progress on the SDGs in the country and has simultaneously fostered competition among the States and Union Territories.

NITI Aayog Vice Chairperson Dr Rajiv Kumar launched the report titled, SDG India Index and Dashboard 2020–21: Partnerships in the Decade of Action, in the presence of Dr Vinod Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, and Ms. Sanyukta Samaddar, Adviser (SDGs), NITI Aayog. Designed and developed by NITI Aayog, the preparation of the index followed extensive consultations with the primary stakeholders—the States and Union Territories; the UN agencies led by United Nations in India; Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), and the key Union Ministries.

“Our effort of monitoring SDGs through the SDG India Index & Dashboard continues to be widely noticed and applauded around the world. It remains a rare data-driven initiative to rank our States and Union Territories by computing a composite index on the SDGs. We are confident that it will remain a matter of aspiration and emulation and help propel monitoring efforts at the international level,” Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog said during the launch.

With one-third of the journey towards achieving the 2030 Agenda behind us, this edition of the index report focuses on the significance of partnerships as its theme. Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog said, “The report reflects on the partnerships we have built and strengthened during our SDG efforts. The narrative throws light on how collaborative initiatives can result in better outcomes and greater impacts.”

On the theme of partnerships which is central to Goal 17, Dr. Vinod Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, said, “It is clear that by working together we can build a more resilient and sustainable future, where no one is left behind.”

“From covering 13 Goals with 62 indicators in its first edition in 2018, the third edition covers 16 Goals on 115 quantitative indicators, with a qualitative assessment on Goal 17, thereby reflecting our continuous efforts towards refining this important tool,” said Ms. Sanyukta Samaddar, Adviser (SDGs), NITI Aayog.

NITI Aayog has the twin mandate to oversee the adoption and monitoring of the SDGs in the country, and also promote competitive and cooperative federalism among States and UTs. The index represents the articulation of the comprehensive nature of the Global Goals under the 2030 Agenda while being attuned to the national priorities. The modular nature of the index has become a policy tool and a ready reckoner for gauging progress of States and UTs on the expansive nature of the Goals, including health, education, gender, economic growth, institutions, climate change and environment.

The SDG India Index 2020–21, developed in collaboration with the United Nations in India, tracks progress of all States and UTs on 115 indicators that are aligned to MoSPI’s National Indicator Framework (NIF). The initiative to refine and improve this important tool with each edition has been steered by the need to continuously benchmark performance and measure progress, and to account for the availability of latest SDG-related data on States and UTs. The process of selecting these 115 indicators included multiple consultations with Union Ministries. Feedback was sought from all States and UTs and as the essential stakeholder and audience of this localisation tool, they played a crucial role in shaping the index by enriching the feedback process with localised insights and experience from the ground.

The SDG India Index 2020–21 is more robust than the previous editions on account of wider coverage of targets and indicators with greater alignment with the NIF. The 115 indicators incorporate16 out of 17 SDGs, with a qualitative assessment on Goal 17,andcover 70 SDG targets. This is an improvement over the 2018–19 and 2019–20 editions of the index, which had utilised 62 indicators across 39 targets and 13 Goals, and 100 indicators across 54 targets and 16 Goals, respectively.

The SDG India Index computes goal-wise scores on the 16 SDGs for each State and Union Territory. Overall State and UT scores are generated from goal-wise scores to measure aggregate performance of the sub-national unit based on its performance across the 16 SDGs. These scores range between 0–100, and if a State/UT achieves a score of 100, it signifies it has achieved the 2030 targets. The higher the score of a State/UT, the greater the distance to target achieved.

States and Union Territories are classified as below based on their SDG India Index score:

• Aspirant: 0–49
• Performer: 50–64
• Front-Runner: 65–99
• Achiever: 100

Overall Results and Findings: The country’s overall SDG score improved by 6 points—from 60 in 2019 to 66 in 2020–21. This positive stride towards achieving the targets is largely driven by exemplary country-wide performance in Goal 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and Goal 7(Affordable and Clean Energy), where the composite Goal scores are 83 and 92, respectively.

Top Fast-Moving States (Score-Wise): While in 2019, ten States/UTs belonged to the category of Front-Runners (score in the range 65–99, including both) twelve more States/UTs find themselves in this category in 2020–21. Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Punjab, Haryana, Tripura, Delhi, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh graduated to the category of Front-Runners (scores between 65 and 99, including both).

A section of the SDG India Index report is dedicated to all the 36 States and UTs of the country. These State and UT profiles will be very useful for policymakers, scholars and the general public, to analyse the performance on the 115 indicators across all Goals.

It is followed by a unique section on the progress on SDG localisation in States and Union Territories. It provides an update on the institutional structures, SDG vision documents, State and District Indicator Frameworks and other initiatives taken by the State and UT governments.

The SDG India Index2020–21 is also live on an online dashboard, which has cross-sectoral relevance across policy, civil society, business, and academia. The index is designed to function as a tool for focused policy dialogue, formulation and implementation through development actions, which are pegged to the globally recognisable metric of the SDG framework. The index and dashboard will also facilitate in identifying crucial gaps related to tracking the SDGs and the need for India to develop its statistical systems at the State/UT levels. As another milestone in the SDG localisation journey of the country, the Index is presently being adapted and developed by NITI Aayog at the granular level of districts for the upcoming North Eastern Region District SDG Index.

NITI Aayog has the mandate for coordinating the adoption and monitoring of SDGs at the national and sub-national levels. The SDG India Index and Dashboard represents NITI Aayog’s efforts in encouraging evidence-based policymaking by supporting States and UTs to benchmark their progress, identify the priority areas and share good practices.

9-Mar-2021: National Workshop on Asset Monetization with States and UTs

NITI Aayog, along with the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), organized a national-level virtual workshop on asset monetization today. Chaired by the Hon’ble Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, the workshop engaged with the Chief Secretaries of States and Administrators of Union Territories. Over 300 participants including respective State and UT secretaries for transport, power, public works department attended the workshop.

The workshop elaborated on the strategic context of core and non-core asset monetization, along with detailed discussions on the need for and modality of such monetization by public sector entities, and the experiences of public and private sector entities in the space.

In her opening remarks, the Hon’ble Finance Minister highlighted the firm support provided by the Government by way of steady economic reforms, including the clear directional change provided under Budget 2021–22. She mentioned that investment planned under the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) is critical for boosting growth in States and the various initiatives in this year’s Budget will facilitate funding for infrastructure creation under NIP. She stressed on the need for monetization as an alternative funding mechanism and the potential therein for improved operational value. She also called for a proactive and collaborative approach by the Central and State agencies for achieving the objectives of the National Monetization Pipeline.

NITI Aayog CEO highlighted the strategic need for monetization and the various modalities therein. Echoing the Finance Minister’s words, he emphasized that the partnership between Central and State agencies is imperative for leveraging the enormous resource efficiencies of the private sector and for recycling public funds for new infrastructure creation.

Secretary, DIPAM, briefed the participants about monetization of non-core assets and disinvestment of public sector enterprises, including the transactions currently underway. He also highlighted the potential monetization opportunities for States and the pre-requisites for being successful in this regard.

Participants were provided a holistic overview of the asset monetization space through presentations on the experiences of asset owners from the public and private sectors.

Chairman, NHAI, shared his experience of successful monetization of National Highways through mechanisms such as Toll Operate Transfer and Infrastructure Investments Trust. Bringing in the State perspective in this space, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation discussed its experience in the monetization of the State expressway. Macquaire India, KKR and IndiGrid shared investors’ perspectives on selection and investment in brownfield assets. The various presentations made by the participants delineated the expectations of domestic and overseas institutional infrastructure investors, while investing in these assets.

The workshop discussed the various benefits and pre-requisites of leveraging private sector participation for monetization. It effectively conceptualized a collaborative partnership framework between Centre and States for realizing the country’s infrastructure vision and growth agenda.

20-Feb-2021: Sixth Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog Concludes

The sixth meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog was held today under the chairmanship of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi via video conferencing. It was attended by 26 Chief Ministers, 3 Lieutenant Governors and 2 Administrators, apart from Union Ministers, who are Ex-Officio Members, and Special Invitees. NITI Aayog Vice Chairman, Members and CEO, Principal Secretary to the PM & other senior officers from PMO; Cabinet Secretary; and Chief Secretaries of States/ Union Territories also attended the meeting. The meeting was moderated by Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh.

Addressing the event, the Prime Minister said that Cooperative Federalism is the foundation of India’s progress. Cooperative and Competitive Federalism should be made more effective and taken to the district level, he said. The country succeeded in managing the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic only because the Centre and the States worked together in a spirit of partnership.

As India stands close to completing 75 years of Independence, this Governing Council meeting assumes even more significance as it provides an opportunity to brainstorm and further strengthen Cooperative and Competitive Federalism, which are essential pillars for successful achievement of the national aspirations, the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister said that several concerted steps have been taken to empower the poor and bring about a noticeable change in their lives. Since 2014, more than 2 crore 40 lakh houses have been constructed in both cities and villages. Similarly, over 3.5 lakh rural houses have been provided with piped drinking water within 18 months of the launch of the Jal Jeevan Mission. He added that the Bharat Net Scheme for internet connectivity in villages is bringing about transformational change. The Prime Minister said the Centre and States should work more closely on such schemes to improve ease of living for our citizens.

The Prime Minister said that the positive response to this year’s Union Budget reflects the mood of the nation. There is an all-round eagerness to push forward with economic development. He added that the private sector is coming forward with enthusiasm in the development journey of the country, and the Government must honour this enthusiasm by ensuring opportunities for the private investors to capitalize on the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan. He added that the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan is a step towards providing opportunities to everyone—to fulfil not only our own needs but also cater to the global demand for goods and services.

The Prime Minister emphasized on strengthening MSMEs and start-ups. Every State, every District, has its unique strengths, he added. He said products should be shortlisted from every District and promoted—this will create healthy competition among all Districts and States, which will help in boosting our exports. He said that the Aspirational Districts Programme implemented in partnership with States holds a unique example in this regard.

In his welcome remarks, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, said that this forum enables the identification of key strategies for cohesive action. He reaffirmed NITI Aayog’s commitment to work tirelessly with States and Union Territories in the spirit of Cooperative Federalism. He added that national progress is contingent on the growth of all States/UTs. He stated that the Sixth Governing Council Meeting was unique as it brought together the country’s highest decision-makers on one platform. The Sixth Governing Council Meeting was preceded by a detailed interaction with senior State officials on 6 February 2021, the feedback for which was duly incorporated while curating the agenda of the meeting.

The Agenda for the Sixth Council Meeting comprised the following items:

1. Making India a Manufacturing Powerhouse
2. Reimagining Agriculture
3. Improving Physical Infrastructure
4. Accelerating Human Resources Development
5. Improving Service Delivery at Grassroots Level
6. Health and Nutrition

The Council deliberated on several steps for making India a manufacturing powerhouse, such as reducing compliance burden, initiating reforms at the State level, improving logistics, promoting exports through district-level competition and creating jobs. For improving physical infrastructure, the Chief Ministers expressed the need to raise public capital investment and completing projects under the National Infrastructure Pipeline, while enhancing investments in infrastructure through private and Public Private Partnerships, improving last-mile connectivity, reducing energy costs and configuring an enhanced and efficient role of States in project implementation.

States/UTs also mentioned efforts made to improve water accessibility, supply of quality and reliable power, internet connectivity and bandwidth availability, quality healthcare services, sustainable agricultural practices to mitigate the risks of climate change, undertake suitable reforms to build an advanced manufacturing and innovation ecosystem, thereby bolstering exports through the One District One Product initiative, apart from building on futuristic tech and inclusive governance models. The Chief Ministers also noted marked improvement in the development of physical infrastructure, including digital connectivity, across the North-Eastern region, along with a greater thrust on the Act East Policy, with the aim of providing impetus to the economies of the NE States.

Keeping in mind the aspirations of a young country like India, the Prime Minister stressed on the need to build modern infrastructure. He said the youth plays an important role in catalysing change in the country and cited the success of Digital India campaign to emphasise this point. Innovation must be encouraged, and more technology should be used to provide better opportunities for education and skill development.

The Governing Council Meeting seeks to build on the strength of every State so that everyone can learn from each other’s best practices. The Council members deliberated on strengthening institutions for skilling, reskilling, and upskilling of workforce. Focus was also laid on improving service delivery at the grassroots level, by ensuring digital infrastructure for the rural regions. Various Chief Ministers presented best practices from their respective States that can serve as templates for replication across the country.

The Prime Minister said policy frameworks and better coordination between the Centre and States are very important. He said the Centre and States must synchronise their budgets to ensure multiplier effect. Technology and community partnership are equally important.

The Prime Minister said the Central Government has introduced the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for various sectors, thus providing an excellent opportunity to increase manufacturing in the country. He urged the States to take full advantage of this scheme and attract maximum global investments and reap the benefits of reduced corporate tax rates.

The Prime Minister said geospatial data was liberalized recently, which would incentivise entrepreneurial endeavour, start-up innovation and the tech sector in general. Focus must be on ease-of-doing business for the international audience and on ease-of-living for our own people, he added.

Even though India is an agricultural economy, it still imports many inputs, the Prime Minister said. He stressed on becoming self-reliant in this area. There are many agricultural products that can be not only produced for the country but also supplied to the rest of the world. For this, he insisted, it is necessary that all States make an agro-climatic regional planning strategy.

The Prime Minister also urged focus on storage and processing of agricultural products to reduce wastage. Reforms are very important for farmers to get the necessary economic resources, better infrastructure and modern technology, he said.

The Prime Minister welcomed the rich discussion and constructive suggestions by the Council members, assuring that they would be carefully considered while taking decisions. He expressed confidence that with collective efforts, the aspirations of the people will be fulfilled.

This Governing Council meeting paved the way for synergies across all tiers of the Government, with substantial collaboration and cooperation in the Agenda items. The meeting provided an opportunity to address the objectives of advancing economic, social and demographic welfare.

About the Governing Council of NITI Aayog

The Governing Council of NITI Aayog comprises the Prime Minister of India, Chief Ministers of all the States and Union Territories with Legislature, Lt Governors of other UTs, Ex-Officio Members and Special Invitees. It is the premier body tasked with evolving a shared vision of national development priorities, sectors and strategies with the active involvement of States in shaping the development narrative. Including today, a total of Six meetings have been held so far.

NITI Aayog has been mandated with fostering Cooperative Federalism through structured support initiatives and mechanisms with the States on a continuous basis, recognizing that strong States make a strong nation on the principles of ‘SabkaSaath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas’. It seeks to design and assist the implementation of strategic, long-term policy frameworks and programme initiatives, while monitoring their progress and efficacy. The Governing Council, which embodies these objectives of cooperative federalism, presents a platform to discuss inter-sectoral, inter-departmental and federal issues to accelerate the implementation of the national development agenda.

8-Feb-2021: Setting up of Migration Commission

NITI Aayog has constituted a sub-group to prepare a National Action Plan for Migrant Workers. The sub-group comprises the members from various Ministries of Govt. of India, subject experts, NGOs and civil society organisations, to prepare a tangible action plan to address issues related to migrant workers.

In order to safeguard the interest of the migrant workers, the Central Government had enacted the Inter-state Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979. This Act has now been subsumed in the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 and the Code has been notified on 29.09.2020. The above mentioned code, commonly known as OSH Code, provides for decent working conditions, minimum wages, grievances redressal mechanisms, protection from abuse and exploitation, enhancement of the skills and social security to all category of organised and unorganised workers including Migrant workers.                

The Code is applicable to every establishment in which 10 or more inter-state migrant workers are employed or were employed on any day of the preceding 12 months.

19-Jan-2021: NITI Aayog to Launch Second Edition of India Innovation Index 2020

NITI Aayog will release the second edition of the India Innovation Index 2020 on 20 January in a virtual event. The index will be released by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar in the presence of NITI Aayog Member Dr VK Saraswat and CEO Amitabh Kant.

The release of the second edition of the index—the first was launched in October 2019—demonstrates the Government’s continued commitment towards transforming the country into an innovation-driven economy.

The India Innovation Index 2020 seeks to rank the states and union territories based on their relative performance of supporting innovation, and to empower them to improve their innovation polices by highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. The ranking methodology is designed in a way that states can draw lessons from the national leaders in innovation. Hopefully, this will lead to a healthy competition among the states and union territories, thereby fostering competitive federalism.

The states and union territories have been divided into 17 ‘Major States’, 10 ‘North-East and Hill States’, and 9 ‘City States and Union Territories’, for effectively comparing their performance. The states and union territories have been ranked on two broad categories: outcome and governance. Overall, the framework of India Innovation Index 2020 consists of 36 indicators, which include hard data (32 indicators) and four composite indicators.

India Innovation Index 2020 builds on the previous year’s methodology by introducing more metrics and providing a holistic outlook of the Indian innovation ecosystem. The framework has been updated to include globally considered parameters for measuring innovation (such as the percentage of gross domestic product spent on research and development), while also retaining the parameters specific to the Indian economy.

The index captures the trends and provides detailed analyses of the various factors that drive innovation at the country, state, and district levels. It is believed that these analyses would enable policymakers in identifying catalysts and inhibitors of innovation at the national and sub-national levels.

26-Aug-2020: NITI Aayog to Launch Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)–Transport Initiative for Asia(TIA) India Component tomorrow, 27th August

NITI Aayog will virtually launch the India Component of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)–Transport Initiative for Asia (TIA) tomorrow, 27 August.

GIZ Director, Division South Asia, Corinna Küsel, and Deputy Ambassador German Embassy, Stephan Grabherr, will open the event at 6 pm, followed by opening remarks by Dr Karsten Sach, Director General IK, International and European Policy, Climate Policy, Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).

Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, will deliver the keynote address, followed by a special address by Dr Young Tae Kim, Secretary General, International Transport Forum (ITF).

The event will inform the transport, energy, and climate stakeholders in India about planned project activities for the upcoming year. It will also offer the opportunity to provide input about India’s transport challenges and how they relate to CO2 reduction ambitions. The discussion will help focus the programme further on India’s specific needs and circumstances.

With the aim to promote a comprehensive approach to decarbonize transport in India, Vietnam, and China, NDC–TIA is a joint programme, supported by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and implemented by a consortium of seven organisations, namely:

1. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
2. International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT)
3. World Resources Institute (WRI)
4. International Transport Forum (ITF)
5. Agora Verkehrswende (AGORA)
6. Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT) Foundation
7. Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century e.V. (REN21)

The India Component is implemented by six consortium organisations, all except SLoCaT. On behalf of the Government of India, NITI Aayog, the country’s premier policy think tank, will be the implementing partner.

The NDC-TIA programme has a duration of 4 years and will allow India and other partner countries to achieve accountable long-term targets by making a sectoral contribution through various interventions, coordinated with a large number of stakeholders in the domain. This will contribute towards achieving their NDCs and increasing their ambition in the transport sector of 2025 NDCs.

India has a massive and diverse transport sector that caters to the needs of billion people. It has the world’s second-largest road network, which contributes to maximum greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through all means of transportation. With increasing urbanisation, the fleet size i.e. the number of sales of vehicles is increasing rapidly. It is projected that the total number of vehicles will be doubled by 2030.

The NDC–TIA India Component will focus on establishing a multi-stakeholder dialogue platform for decarbonizing transport in India, strengthening GHG and transport modelling capacities, providing technical support on GHG emission reduction measures, financing climate actions in transport, offering policy recommendations on electric vehicle (EV) demand and supply policies, evaluating business models through cost-benefit analyses and so forth.

A significant focus will be given on electric mobility, which would require coupling of transport and energy sectors and receiving cross-sectoral expertise from ministries, international development agencies, think tanks, public and private organisations. Ultimately, the programme intends to support the development of policies and regulations to promote electric vehicle charging infrastructure uptake and smooth widescale adoption of EVs in India.

The NDC–TIA programme team will work in close cooperation and coordination with India’s government agencies, local decision-makers, researchers, industry experts, think tanks, and civil society organisations. The programme aims at high ambition in the transport sector directly supporting the country’s NDC targets. Successful implementation of these activities requires the political will and interest of political partners and relevant stakeholders in the target countries. Interaction of consortium members with relevant stakeholders in the course of existing programmes and discussions conducted during the scoping mission indicate a high commitment to programme objectives.

13-Jul-2020: NITI Aayog presents India’s second Voluntary National Review at UN’s High-Level Political Forum

NITI Aayog presented India’s second Voluntary National Review (VNR) at the United Nations High-level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, 2020. The HLPF is the foremost international platform for follow-up and review of progress on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, presented the VNR. The India VNR 2020 report titled Decade of Action: Taking SDGs from Global to Local was released by Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, Dr V.K Paul, Member, NITI Aayog, Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, and Smt. Sanyukta Samaddar, Adviser (SDGs), NITI Aayog. At the HLPF this year, which is being hosted virtually in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, 47 Member States are set to present their VNRs between 10th-16th July 2020.

The HLPF meets annually in July for eight days under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the UN. The VNRs presented by Member States at the HLPF are a critical component of the review of progress and implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. The reviews are voluntary and state-led and are aimed at facilitating the sharing of experiences, including successes, challenges and lessons learned. The process of preparation of a country’s VNR provides a platform for partnerships, including through the participation of various relevant stakeholders. NITI Aayog prepared and presented India’s first VNR in 2017.

India VNR 2020

India presented its VNR along with other second time presenters like Bangladesh, Georgia, Kenya, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria and Uganda. The presentation also included a short film which encapsulated the processual aspects of the second VNR and captured some of India’s major progress areas on the SDGs.

In his opening remarks, Dr Rajiv Kumar expressed his solidarity with all the countries which were grappling with challenges brought about by the pandemic, while highlighting the key features of India’s response to the pandemic under the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat campaign. “We should all obliterate all divisions and distinctions amongst us and come together to try and convert the prevailing situation into an opportunity for accelerating our progress towards achieving the SDG targets”, said the Vice Chairman in his statement.

In his statement, Dr Kumar presented the efforts towards ensuring no one is left behind. He also dwelt on the remarkable progress India has achieved in reducing multidimensional poverty, providing food safety, ensuring education for all, universalising access to electricity, clean cooking fuel and sanitation, while also operationalising the world’s largest health insurance programme by covering 500 million citizens.

“We are deeply committed to building on existing efforts and undertake newer initiatives to accelerate progress on the SDG targets for long term transformation. In this endeavour, peer learning and knowledge sharing will play a key role -which we are actively fostering among States and Union Territories”, said Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog

India’s VNR this year has undertaken a paradigm shift in terms of embodying a “whole-of-society” approach in letter and spirit. NITI Aayog engaged with sub-national and local governments, civil society organizations, local communities, people in vulnerable situations and the private sector. As part of this process, NITI Aayog partnered with UN in India and Civil Society Organisations to curate a consultative process which saw more than 50 national and sub-national consultations with over 1000 CSOs from fourteen population groups including women, children, elderly, Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), People Living with HIV (PLHIV), among others .

“The role of international cooperation is more critical than ever before”, observed the Vice Chairman. He highlighted the leading role India has been playing in promoting global engagement platforms such as the International Solar Alliance (ISA), the Coalition for Disaster Resilience Infrastructure (CDRI), and the active participation in implementing the Sendai Framework, UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the Paris Climate Agreement.

The presentation was followed by an interactive segment where Member States such as Ecuador and Bangladesh, and Civil Society Organisations put forth questions pertaining to areas of renewable energy, financial inclusion, and the Government’s future engagement strategy, respectively.

Decade of Action: Taking SDGs from Global to Local

The India VNR 2020 report was also unveiled during this event. The report is a comprehensive account of the adoption and implementation of the 2030 Agenda in India. Apart from presenting a review of progress on the 17 SDGs, the report discusses at length the policy and enabling environment, India’s approach to localising SDGs, and strengthening means of implementation.

The report also includes a chapter which draws from the rich body of data, knowledge and analysis that emanated from the CSO led community-centric consultations, which took place across the length and breadth of the country. The chapter presents a summary of the key concerns and the recommendations voiced by the stakeholders from civil society, non-governmental and community organisations. Similarly, the segment on business integration highlights the important role which businesses and the private sector are envisaged to have in the decade of action.

Leveraging science, technology and innovation for SDGs, and costing and financing of SDGs are the two levers of strengthening means of implementation which have been introduced this year.

In line with the theme of Taking SDGs from Global to Local, the goal-wise account of progress on the SDGs has been appended with examples of a range of diverse good practices and success stories of interventions from the States, especially Aspirational Districts.

NITI Aayog has the mandate of overseeing the adoption and monitoring of SDGs at the national and sub-national level. The India VNR 2020 represents NITI Aayog’s efforts in embodying the whole-of-society approach and its commitment towards localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

4-Feb-2020:  ‘No compromise on patient interests’

The NITI Aayog has come out with draft norms to link existing private medical colleges with district hospitals through viability gap funding, as announced in the Budget 2020-21 for aspirational districts.

The government will not compromise on the interest of patients while handing over district government hospitals to private medical colleges through public-private partnership (PPP) mode, the Health Minister said in the Rajya Sabha, during the question hour.

The Minister said the step was permitted under Section 2(5) of the Medical Council of India (MCI) Act 1999, and made it clear that it was not being done to promote the private sector.

The government said Clause 2(5) of the MCI’s Establishment of Medical College Regulations, 1999, prescribes that the appropriate government may allow utilisation of facilities of a hospital owned and managed by it for establishing a medical college by a person/agency/trust/society/company by entering into a Memorandum of Understanding for this purpose.

The Minister said that the hospital to be linked would be of minimum 300 beds with necessary infrastructural facilities capable of being developed into a teaching institution for the proposed medical college.

17-Jan-2020: MoU between NITI Aayog and Union Territory of Ladakh for Development of Infrastructure Projects

In an important initiative to promote the development of key infrastructure sectors in the newly constituted Union Territory of Ladakh, NITI Aayog entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the UT’s administration on 17 January 2020. Under this MoU, NITI Aayog will be supporting the UT’s administration through its key initiative ‘Development Support Services to States for Infrastructure Projects (D3S-i)’.

The MoU was executed in the presence of NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and Joint Secretary MC Jauhari. It was signed by NITI Aayog Senior Adviser Dr Yogesh Suri and Adviser to the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh Umang Narula.

The partnership lays thrust on the identification of high-impact priority projects, expedited project implementation, addressing structural-level issues and creating unique models of development for the Union Territory of Ladakh. NITI Aayog has committed to assist the UT’s administration in creating a strategic plan for identifying prioritized infrastructure projects and by providing end-to-end transaction-management support for the identified projects. A dedicated team of professionals is expected to be stationed at Ladakh for identification and development of projects in the UT, especially in tourism, solar energy and basic infrastructure.

6-Jun-2019: PM Narendra Modi approves reconstitution of NITI Aayog

Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved reconstitution of policy think tank NITI Aayog, renaming Rajiv Kumar as its vice chairman and appointing Home Minister Amit Shah as ex-officio member.

According to official sources, besides Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar will be ex-officio members.

Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Commerce and Industry and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, Social Justice Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot and Statistics Minister Rao Inderjit Singh will be special invitees to the panel. The panel's current members VK Saraswat, Ramesh Chand and VK Paul have been repeated. Prime Minister Narendra Modi serves as the chairman of the policy think tank.

Members of the re-constituted National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog are as following:

Chairperson: Prime Minister

Vice-Chairperson: Dr Rajiv Kumar.

Full-Time Members

• VK Saraswat.
• Prof Ramesh Chand.
• Dr VK Paul.

Ex-officio Members

• Raj Nath Singh, Minister of Defence.
• Amit Shah, Minister of Home Affairs.
• Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs.
• Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Minister of Rural Development; Minister of Panchayati Raj.

Special Invitees

• Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways; Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
• Thawar Chand Gehlot, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment.
• Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways; and Minister of Commerce and Industry.
• Rao Inderjit Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Ministry of Planning.

14-Aug-2018: NITI Aayog launches “Pitch to MOVE”

NITI Aayog has launched “Pitch to MOVE” - a mobility pitch competition that aims to provide budding entrepreneurs of India a unique opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a distinguished jury. Startups working in the various fields of mobility can pitch their ideas to industry leaders and Venture Capitalists for raising investments. Winners of the event will be felicitated by Hon’ble PM during the Global Mobility Summit.

"Pitch to MOVE aims to identify and incentivise the startups, which will help the Government realize its vision of Shared, Connected, Intermodal and Environment Friendly Mobility for India. The objective is to harness the latest disruption for generating employment and growth in our country. We look forward to working together with these startups", said Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog.

The importance of mobility as the potential driver of innovation, job creation, economic growth and social change for the 21st century is highlighted time and again. With rapidly evolving technologies and business models for delivering mobility services, our goal of cleaner and more efficient mobility systems will be achieved with the help of the dynamic entrepreneurial class of India.

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Amitabh Kant, CEO NITI Aayog noted that “Pitch to MOVE” provides a golden opportunity for early and late startups to push their ideas to reality.

About “Pitch to MOVE”: “Pitch to MOVE” is organised by NITI Aayog in collaboration with Invest India and Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) as a part of a series of engaging featured events in the run up to the main event. The Summit is scheduled to be held on 7th and 8th Sep 2018 at Vigyan Bhawan, in New Delhi and is being inaugurated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India.

The competition aims to identify and reward the start-ups offering innovative solutions for shared, connected, and environment friendly mobility. The Startups can be from the domain of Public Mobility, Electric Vehicles, Shared Transport, Last Mile Connectivity, Passenger Transportation, Battery Technology, Automotive IoT, Freight & Logistics, Powertrain/Drivetrain, Experiential, Travel, Mobility Infrastructure and Automotive Electronics etc. The Mobility Pitch Competition is open to primarily startups from various parts of India who are interested in showcasing their business ideas to jury members.

The event is planned in two rounds

Round 1: Call for Applications(From 12th August 2018 to 23rd August 2018)

Interested participants to fill out a detailed application about their startup on the website (http://mobilitypitch.movesummit.in/). The applications will be screened by experts from the industry and selected candidates will be called for the next round.

Round 2: The Final Pitch: On 4th September 2018 in New Delhi

The participants selected in Round 1 will be called to pitch in front of a Jury in New Delhi. Participants will be judged on various parameters and finally 3 startups will be chosen as winners.

The winners of the mobility pitch will receive support from the VCs and additionally have the opportunity to be felicitated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on the 8th September 2018 during the Valedictory session of MOVE Summit.

3-Jul-2018: NITI Aayog to organise India’s First Global Mobility Summit

Steeply falling technology costs and business – model innovation are driving the world’s transition to renewable energy and electric vehicles.  Against this background, NITI Aayog, in collaboration with various ministries and industry partners, is organising ‘MOVE: Global Mobility Summit’ in New Delhi on 7th and 8th September, 2018. This Summit will help drive Government’s goals for vehicle electrification,  renewable energy integration and job growth and also speed up India’s transition to a clean energy economy.

The Hon’ble Prime Minister  Shri Narendra Modi will be inaugurating the Summit, which will be the first Global Mobility Summit of its kind, with over 1,200 expected participants from across the world including Government leadership, Industry leaders, Research Organizations, Academia ,Think Tanks and Civil Society Organisations.

MOVE Summit aims to bring together and engage with key stakeholders within the rapidly transforming global mobility landscape and to evolve a public interest framework for a shared, connected, zero emission and inclusive mobility agenda for the future. The Summit will constitute three designated components – The Conclave, the Expo and the Featured Events.

The Summit has been organised along key ‘tracks’ to anchor debate and deliberations on towards preparing a collective mobility agenda. The six tracks or themes for the Summit will focus on:

(i)                 Asset Utilization and Services;

(ii)               Comprehensive Electrification ;

(iii)             Alternative Energy;

(iv)             Reinventing Public Transit; 

(v)               Logistics and Goods Transport;

(vi)             Data Analytics and Mobility.

Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog Shri Rajiv Kumar says, “Nowhere in the world is there greater potential to accelerate the transition to a shared, connected and zero emission society than India.  ‘MOVE’ will help catalyse the transition by laying down a futuristic road map”.

The Conclave would include panel discussions featuring global CEOs and transport ministers from across the world.  It will also see participation from countries like Netherlands, Slovakia, USA, UK, Netherlands, China, South Korea, Australia etc.  Special Track sessions with Mayors and Governors from various major cities and capitals are also planned to highlight their experiences with future mobility and evolve development paradigms for India.

‘MOVEMENTUM’, the Expo will feature exciting future technologies and cutting edge innovations which will shape the mobility paradigm, showcasing India’s push towards transformative mobility solutions.

To be spread over 50,000 sq. meters of premium space across the beautiful and picturesque India Gate Lawns, New Delhi, the Global Mobility Summit (GMS) Exhibition will offer a first-hand perspective on automotive solutions, upcoming trends in the logistics sector and will see participation from major global players as well as the Indian industry. The exhibition will have sector-specific focus, showcasing global strengths in various dimensions looking to cater the growing demands of the world. The Expo with be set within a futuristic ‘Smart City’, presenting an immersive experience of future mobility.

The Global Mobility Summit, 2018 also includes Featured Events such as Breakout sessions, Fireside chats, Innovation spotlights, Hackathons, Mobility Pitch Competitions and Networking Sessions. These are planned in collaboration with industry sponsors and partners offering informal insights into what constitutes transformative mobility.

NITI Aayog has additionally planned a series of uniquely curated ‘NITI Talks’, showcasing successful entrepreneurs from across the country  to well-known movers and shakers from the field of mobility, sustainable development, climate change and multimodal transport.

The global innovation agenda has expanded the creative limits of what future mobility would constitute and India has the potential to be a leader in the ‘global mobility movement’. The Summit, hence, aims to encourage synergies between indigenous industries such as Automobile Manufacturing, Information Technology, Electronics, Telecommunications and others, to integrate with global supply chains and cement India’s position as a progressive, forwarding looking nation.

The Summit also envisages mobility as a key driver for generating employment, accelerating economic growth & providing innovative solutions to improve efficiency and efficacy of transport sector.  As NITI Aayog CEO, Amitabh Kant says “Rapidly evolving technologies and business models are transforming the mobility sector.  New pathways are emerging to provide clean, cost effective mobility services that create new jobs, reduce dependence on oil imports and achieve efficient land usage in cities.  India has a leapfrog opportunity”. 

NITI Aayog has also been working towards evolving a National Strategy for Transforming Mobility, in the spirit of cooperative and competitive federalism, urging all States and Union territories to formulate state-specific comprehensive strategies by constituting respective State Task Forces. Inputs received from the various States will be integrated with global best practices to come up with a National Strategy, which will also be launched.

15-Jun-2018: Fifth Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog Concludes

The fifth meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog was held under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at Rashtrapati Bhawan. It was attended by the Governor of Jammu & Kashmir, 26 Chief Ministers and the Lieutenant Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, apart from Union Ministers, who are ex-officio members and special invitees. Vice Chairman, Members, CEO and senior officers of NITI Aayog also attended the  meeting .

Setting the tone of the meeting, the Prime Minister emphasized that this is the meeting of Team India. The PM said that States should recognise their core competence, and work towards raising GDP targets right from the district level.

The Prime Minister highlighted the importance of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog as a platform to inspire cooperative federalism, stressing the need to collectively combat poverty, unemployment, drought, pollution, pockets of under-development and all such factors that constrain India’s progress. He emphasized that the goal is to realize the potential of this great country, to create a New India by 2022 and a USD five trillion economy by 2024.

The Prime Minister emphasized the need for every State to focus on increasing its share in the country’s GDP by evaluating the export potential of the State and determining the steps necessary for increasing exports and boosting employment.

Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog urged all States to offer their suggestions on the policy recommendations contained in NITI Aayog’s ‘Strategy for New India @ 75’ so that they can be tweaked to suit the ground realities in individual States.

Welcoming the constructive discussion and suggestions made by various Chief Ministers, the Prime Minister assured the Council that these suggestions would be seriously considered in the course of decision-making. On the Agenda before the Fifth Council Meeting were the following items:

• Rain-Water Harvesting
• Drought Situation and Relief Measures
• Aspirational Districts Programme – Achievements And Challenges
• Transforming Agriculture: Need For Structural Reforms With Special Emphasis On:
• Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act
• Essential Commodities Act (ECA) 
• Security Related Issues with Specific Focus On LWE Districts

The Prime Minister appreciated the efforts of the States towards water conservation and urged all States to streamline and implement innovative water management measures. The creation of the Ministry of ‘Jal Shakti’ is a key step by the Union Government to develop an integrated and holistic perspective on water as a developmental resource.

There was broad consensus on reducing water wastage, promoting efficient water conservation practices across States, with rain-water harvesting to be undertaken at the household and community level with proactive policy and investment support. Various Chief Ministers presented best practices from their respective states which can serve as templates for replication across the country.

Many States such as Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, Gujarat and Karnataka have adopted good practices in water conservation and rainwater harvesting. Some innovative steps include the Jalyukt Shivarin Maharashtra which made 11,000 villages drought free, Mukhya Mantri Jal Swavalamban Abhiyaan which resulted in five feet rise in groundwater in 21 districts, and Mission Kakatiya in Telangana which irrigates 19 Lakh Acres. Similarly, Sujalam Sufalam in Gujarat and artificial recharge scheme in Karnataka show that determined action produces good results. The spirit of the meeting was to build on the strength of every State so that each State can learn from the innovation and best practices of other States.

The Council also deliberated upon a closely related and deeply important issue of drought management and associate relief measures. The need to safeguard Indian agriculture and protect farmers from the vagaries of unpredictable monsoons was highlighted in the meeting, with various Chief Ministers suggesting possible short-term and long-term solutions for making India a ‘drought-free’ nation. These included reviewing their district agriculture contingency plans, streamlining provision of inputs such as seeds and making contingency plans for irrigation etc. It has been proposed that the Union Government consider developing a comprehensive drought management plan that can be applicable across States.

The Prime Minister also called upon the Fifth Governing Council Meeting to undertake foundational reforms in the Agro-economy, leading to a complete transformation of the agriculture sector in India. The core agenda items included the need to review the implementation of the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act and possible reform in the form of the Model APMC Act as well as exploring changes in the Essential Commodities Act, to ensure fair remuneration for the farmers, streamlining of supply, driving more investment into the sector and predictability of policy at national and regional levels. The Prime Minister emphasized the need for undertaking structural reforms in agriculture including encouraging corporate investment, strengthening logistics and focusing on food processing.

The Governing Council also reviewed the implementation of the Aspirational Districts Programme, which has emerged as a major policy innovation in driving inclusive growth. Rapid progress has been achieved across all Aspirational Districts that have participated in this programme in 49 key performance indicators of human and social development. Various Chief Ministers noted the success of the programme in their respective States, and discussed possible schemes for extension of the programme to rapidly develop blocks in remote and difficult areas so that the spirit of inclusive development is effectively enforced. The Prime Minister commended the district administration teams on implementing several ‘out-of-the-box’ ideas in the Aspirational Districts resulting in significant transformation in many districts.

The Prime Minister also reaffirmed the commitment of the Government to combat Left Wing Extremism (LWE), noting that many of the aspirational districts are affected by Naxal violence. He assured the Council that the Ministry of Home Affairs will coordinate with all affected States to decisively end LWE violence and drive the agenda of development in these regions.

The Union Home Minister highlighted the initiatives taken by the Central Government over the last five years for ensuring development and security in LWE affected areas, with achievement of significant success through the steadfast implementation of National Policy & Action Plan of 2015. Essential steps such as deployment of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) have helped carry out sustainable operations against Maoists.

He also informed the Council that there has also been an equally strong focus on developing road and telecom infrastructure in these areas. About 11,000 km of roads are being constructed at the cost of Rs 18,000 crore of which 5,500 km of road has already been completed. In order to improve telecom connectivity, 2335 mobile towers have also been installed and in next phase, 4072 towers costing Rs 11,000 Crore will be installed.

The Union Finance Minister appreciated the positive engagement and cooperation between the Centre and the States in the GST Council. She also highlighted the unprecedented devolution of a large share of funds from the Centre to the States over the last four years, noting that there has been massive increase in funds transfers under tax devolution, Finance Commission Grants and through other transfers such as under Centrally Sponsored Schemes. She stated that total transfers under various headings between 2011-12 and 2014-15 amounted to about Rs 20 lakh crore, but in the last four years this has increased to nearly Rs 41 lakh crore.

On the health sector, the Prime Minister said that several targets are to kept in mind, to be achieved by 2022. He also mentioned the target of eliminating TB by 2025. The Prime Minister urged those States who have not implemented PMJAY under Ayushman Bharat so far, to come onboard this scheme at the earliest. He said health and wellness should be the focal point of every decision.

Elaborating on the Union Government's guiding principle of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwaas, the Prime Minister said the schemes of the Union Government are no longer limited to certain people, or to certain regions, and are reaching everyone without discrimination, in a balanced way.

The Prime Minister announced the creation of a high-powered committee on structural reforms in agriculture. He further said that global circumstances currently offer a unique opportunity to India. He said India is establishing itself on global benchmarks such as Ease of Doing Business. To achieve the goal of becoming a five trillion dollar economy by 2024, the Prime Minister urged States to aim to increase their economy by 2 to 2.5 times, which would also increase the common man’s purchasing power. He called upon Chief Ministers to study their State's export potential and work on export promotion.

The Prime Minister said that the mining sector can provide significant employment opportunities. He said that bottlenecks in operationalization of mines continue to exist in several States. He said the NITI Aayog is working on these issues.

The Prime Minister thanked the Chief Ministers for their suggestions and reiterated that that the Union Government is keen to partner with the States, and work together for India's development.

About the Governing Council of NITI Aayog

The Governing Council of NITI Aayog comprises the Prime Minister of India, Chief Ministers of all the States and Union Territories with Legislatures and Lt. Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and four Union Ministers as ex-officio members and three Union Ministers as Special Invitees. It is the premier body tasked with evolving a shared vision of national development priorities, sectors and strategies with the active involvement of States in shaping the development narrative.

The First Meeting was held on 8 February 2015, at which the Prime Minister laid down the key mandates of NITI Aayog such as fostering cooperative federalism and addressing national issues through active participation of the States. The Second Meeting of the Governing Council took place on 15 July 2015 and the Third Meeting was held on 23 April 2017, which laid down milestones in shaping the country’s development agenda through strategy and vision documents.

The Fourth meeting of the Governing Council was held on 17 June 2018 and included reviewing measures taken for doubling farmers’ income and progress made under flagship schemes such as the Ayushman Bharat, POSHAN Abhiyaan and Mission Indradhanush.

The NITI Aayog has been mandated with fostering cooperative federalism through structured support initiatives and mechanisms with the States on a continuous basis, recognizing that strong States make a strong nation. It seeks to design and assist the implementation of strategic, long-term policy frameworks and programme initiatives, and also monitor their progress and efficacy.

The Governing Council, which embodies these objectives of cooperative federalism, presents a platform to discuss inter-sectoral, inter-departmental and federal issues in order to accelerate the implementation of the national development agenda, in the spirit of Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat.

7-May-2018: NITI Aayog and Google sign SoI to help grow AI ecosystem in India

Aiming to foster growth for India’s nascent artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) ecosystem, NITI Aayog and Google have come together to work on a range of initiatives to help build the AI ecosystem across the country.

A Statement of Intent (SoI) was signed to this effect by Ms. Anna Roy, Advisor, NITI Aayog and Shri Rajan Anandan, Vice President, India and South East Asia, Google in the presence of the Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog.

The NITI Aayog has been entrusted to setup a national programme to conduct research and development in frontier technologies such as AI. In furtherance of this mandate, NITI Aayog has been developing India’s national strategy on AI along with the National Data and Analytics Portal to enable the wide deployment and use of AI.

Highlighting the importance of this partnership, Shri Amitabh Kant said, "Artificial Intelligence is going to disrupt the way business is done and India, in particular, is uniquely poised in utilising AI to innovate for social and inclusive good. India is embracing future technologies such as machine learning and AI to augment its capacity in healthcare, improve outcomes in education, develop innovative governance systems for our citizens and improve overall economic productivity of the nation. NITI's partnership with Google will unlock massive training initiatives, support startups and encourage AI research through PhD scholarships, all of which contributes to the larger idea of a technologically-empowered New India."

Under the aegis of this program, Google will train and incubate Indian AI startups in an accelerator program. These startups will be mentored and coached by Google and its affiliates to enable them to better leverage AI in their respective business models.

To help bolster the research ecosystem, one of the initiatives includes funding Indian researchers, scholars and university faculty for conducting AI-based research. Further, Google will also bring its online training courses on AI to students, graduates and engineers to numerous cities across India, in the form of study groups and developer-run courses.

NITI Aayog and Google will organize a AI/ML hackathon that will be focused on solving key challenges within agriculture, education, healthcare, financial inclusion, transportation/mobility and more. This hackathon may use Kaggle, a global platform, to help facilitate international participation into these planned hackathon challenges.

Google through the NITI Aayog, will conduct hands-on training programs that aim to sensitise policymakers and technical experts in governments about relevant AI tools, and how they can be used to streamline governance.

Google and NITI Aayog will work on the following initiatives:

1. Organise trainings for relevant government functionaries to introduce them to open source AI tools with the goal of enabling more effective governance.
2. Awarding grants and scholarships to researchers, scholars and university faculty conducting cutting edge research in the field of AI/ML in India.
3. Organising AI/ML study jams for students and developers based on Google’s Machine Learning Crash Course (MLCC) on the fundamentals of machine learning.
4. Incubating Indian AI/ML startups in a program where they will be mentored by Google to better leverage AI in their respective business models.
5. Organise a Hackathon focused on using AI/ML and open data sets to solve key challenges within agriculture, education, healthcare, etc. in India

28-Mar-2018: NITI Aayog launches baseline ranking of 115 aspirational districts

The NITI Aayog has launched the baseline ranking for 115 aspirational districts based on 49 indicators across five sectors that include health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion and skill development, and basic infrastructure.

This would be followed by delta ranking of these districts from May 2018 based on their "incremental progress".

According to NITI Aayog, the dashboard developed for real-time data collection and monitoring will be open for public viewing from April 1.

The Aayog had organised a workshop on March 23 to train representatives of the districts to familiarise them to the dashboard and its functioning, including data input, verification and presentation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the 'Transformation of Aspirational Districts' programme in January to quickly and effectively transform some of the most underdeveloped districts of the country.

22-Mar-2018: Niti Aayog Initiates implementation of strategy on Resource efficiency

The First meeting of the inter-departmental group of stakeholders on implementation of strategy on resource efficiency was held at NITI Aayog. After detailed discussion, a road map for implementation of the RE in the country was evolved.

Following measures related to implementation of strategy on resource efficiency was announced by the Principal Advisor, NITI Aayog -

• Resource Efficiency is cross-cutting, has implications for all sectors. Synergies need to be established for a robust implementation agenda
• NITI Aayog will facilitate the RE strategy implementation. Implementation however will be the responsibility of the line ministries/departments
• A baseline survey on RE could be considered for better targeting
• A Status paper on RE and Four sectoral strategy papers on RE are to be prepared
• SWACH Bharat also means a clean production/mining environment, therefore resource efficiency and circular economy are also a part of this initiative
• One pilot study on Ease of Doing RE Business in collaboration with DIPP could be considered
• Finally RE is a potential instrument for generating wealth from waste. Measures for promoting effective recycling of scrap generated in the country could be explored

Background: In November 2017, the NITI Aayog along with EU Delegation to India released the Strategy paper on Resource Efficiency (RE). The objective of the RE Strategy is to make recommendations for enhancing the resource-use efficiency in the Indian economy and industry, develop indicators for monitoring progress, and create an ecosystem for improving the resource security and minimising environmental impacts.

The implementation agenda of the RE Strategy consists of Core Action Agenda (2017-2018) and Medium-term Action Plan (2018-2020) in the thematic areas of institutional development, promotion and regulation. The first action agenda was to constitute an inter-departmental group of stakeholders for steering the strategy.

14-Dec-2017: NITI Aayog launches ATL Community Day

NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission will launch the Atal Tinkering Lab’s Community Day on 15th December, 2017. The day will mark the Community Drive Initiative in which 25 young Mentors will engage with more than 200 students who are not enrolled in the formal education system.

CEO NITI Aayog, Mr. Amitabh Kant will launch the initiative in which these mentors will visit four locations in New Delhi to conduct brief sessions with children from various NGOs, on how innovations can help resolve the problems in the communities.

The Atal Tinkering Lab Community Drive Initiative is aimed at maximizing the impact of Atal Tinkering Labs by extending innovation to children in the community who do not have access to formal educational institutions. The purpose of this initiative is to provide these children with the same educational tools as the students in Atal Tinkering Labs to enable them to become problem solvers. The NGOs participating in these interactions include organizations working with disabled children, street and working children, and girls from the weaker sections of society.

1-Dec-2017: NITI Aayog and EU Delegation to India release the First ever Resource Efficiency (RE) Strategy for India

Using the resources efficiently to produce more while utilizing less has been one of the tested and trusted ways for a sustainable future. It not only ensures the security of the resources but also minimizes the environment impact. In order to ensure that the two ends meet, NITI Aayog in collaboration with the European Union delegation to India and the Confederation of Indian Industries, CII has released the first ever Strategy on Resource Efficiency for India which also includes an action plan for promoting resource efficiency in India.

Resource efficiency very simply put is making more with fewer materials. In practice, through a life-cycle approach, it leads to minimizing impact on environment & the associated societal burdens, transforming ‘waste’ into ‘resources’ fostering circular economy, and strengthening resource security. RE Strategy emphasizes on Sustainable Public Procurement (SSP) as an action agenda which will be the market transformation tool to transform to a resource efficient economy.

Highlights of the RE Strategy:

The Resource Efficiency Strategy includes the core-action plan for the period 2017-2018 and medium term action plan for 2017 – 2020 with the following key elements:

• Institutional development including setting up an inter-departmental committee and Task force of experts,
• Capacity development at various levels for strengthening of capacities and sharing of best practices,
• Development of an indicator monitoring framework for baseline analysis
• Launch of Short term course on RE under the MHRD GIAN Programme
• Promotional and regulatory tools in selected sectors (automotive and construction) such as Ecolabeling for Secondary Raw Material (SRM) products, recycling standards, R&D and Technology Development, Sustainable Public Procurement, development of Industrial clusters and waste-exchange platform, information sharing & awareness generation along with development of sectoral action plans.

It is expected that the strategy will pave the way forward in taking the agenda towards resource security and minimizing environment impact by setting up a framework. The strategy implementation would also identify need for setting up a Bureau for Resource Efficiency (BRE) which creates a prominence and enabling platform for this topic like the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) in India.

Background: Resource efficiency is a strategy to achieve the maximum possible benefit with least possible resource input. Fostering resource efficiency aims at governing and intensifying resource utilisation in a purposeful and effective way. Such judicious resource use brings about multiple benefits along the three dimensions of sustainable development - economic, social and environmental.

21-Sep-2017: NITI Aayog and IRF Geneva signs Statement of Intent (SoI) to cooperate in the field of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)

The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) and the International Road Federation, Geneva (IRF Geneva) have, today, signed a Statement of Intent (SoI)  to cooperate in the field of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). 

The objective of the SoI is to create a national platform, involving all relevant Government of India stakeholders, Indian and foreign companies active in the sector, and relevant technical experts for the purpose of developing a National ITS Policy covering:

1) Traffic Management,

2) Parking Management,

3) Electronic Enforcement of Traffic Rules and Regulations,

4) Fleet Management and Monitoring,

5) Innovation in the field of ITS, and

6) Education in the field of ITS. 

The objectives of this national ITS Policy will be to contribute to reducing urban traffic congestion, improving the situation around parking of vehicles in cities, improving road safety, and improving the security of passenger and goods traffic. The work of this National Platform will provide a coherent and consistent National ITS Policy covering domains such as traffic and parking management, enforcement, and security.

22-Aug-2017: NITI Aayog to launch “Mentor India” Campaign

NITI Aayog will launch the Mentor India Campaign, a strategic nation building initiative to engage leaders who can guide and mentor students at more than 900 Atal Tinkering Labs, established across the country as a part of the Atal Innovation Mission. CEO NITI Aayog, Shri Amitabh Kant will unveil the online nationwide initiative in the capital tomorrow on 23rd August.

Mentor India is aimed at maximizing the impact of Atal Tinkering Labs, possibly the biggest disruption in formal education globally. The idea is to engage leaders who will nurture and guide students in the Atal Tinkering Labs. These labs are non-prescriptive by nature, and mentors are expected to be enablers rather than instructors.

NITI Aayog is looking for leaders who can spend anywhere between one to two hours every week in one or more such labs to enable students experience, learn and practice future skills such as design and computational thinking.

Atal Tinkering Labs are dedicated works spaces where students from Class 6th to Class 12th learn innovation skills and develop ideas that will go on to transform India. The labs are powered to acquaint students with state-of-the-art equipment such as 3D printers, robotics & electronics development tools, Internet of things & sensors etc.

NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission is among one of the flagship programs of the Government of India to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the country to set up the Atal Tinkering Labs across the country. The Mission has / is in the process of setting up 900+ such labs across India and aims to have 2,000 such labs by end of 2017.

8-Aug-2017: NITI Aayog selects 3 States for transformative change in Health & Education sectors

In a major push to competitive, cooperative federalism, NITI Aayog announces partnership with three States each to radically transform their Health and Education sectors.

NITI Aayog has selected Uttar Pradesh, Assam, and Karnataka to improve healthcare delivery and key outcomes in these States. In Education, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Jharkhand have been selected for support to better learning outcomes. The six States have been chosen after a rigorous competitive process based on comprehensive metrics to determine potential for impact and likelihood of success.

States were called to, first, express intent of collaborating with NITI Aayog to better their Health and Education indices. States then made presentations for each sector which was assessed by a committee comprised of senior members of NITI Aayog and Health and Education ministries. The States highlighted the initiatives undertaken by them thus far, their willingness to accelerate improvement and justified why they should be selected for the institutional support being offered by NITI Aayog.

On thorough technical evaluation, the chosen States have committed to time-bound, governance reforms in both sectors. A Program Management Unit to push for efficiency and efficacy in governance structures and service delivery will now be available in the six chosen States for a period of 30 months. It is expected that these three years of focussed attention and support from the premier think tank will lead to a marked transformation and also provide a model for other States to replicate and adapt.

This three-way partnership between NITI, State Governments and a knowledge partner for each of the sectors is part of the Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital (SATH) initiative of NITI Aayog.

NITI Aayog has been working to foster co-operative federalism by ranking states through health, water, education, and agricultural indices. However, SATH has been launched to go beyond ranking states and to handhold them in improving their social sector indicators. SATH is a challenging and ambitious initiative as the baseline of various indicators and parameters of education and health in the States are in public domain. It defines a new dimension for cooperative federalism, where NITI Aayog and its knowledge partner will actively aid implementation of their recommendations, in addition to just policy inputs. All stakeholders will be under pressure from the day of signing of the MOU to initiate reforms or processes which will show improvement in education and learning outcomes.

25-Apr-2017: Draft Three Year Action Agenda

In May 2016, the Prime Minister’s Office advised the NITI Aayog, its premier, independent think tank, to prepare a Fifteen Year Vision, Seven Year Strategy and Three Year Action Agenda. The Fifteen Year Vision and Seven Year Strategy document spanning 2017-18 to 2031-32 is in progress. The Action Agenda covers the period from 2017-18 to 2019-20, the last years of the Fourteenth Finance Commission.

How does the Vision, Strategy and Action Agenda exercise differ from the Five Year Plan process?

The 12th Five Year Plan was the last of the Five Year Plans. With an increasingly open and liberalized economy and given the new realities of the global economy, we needed to rethink the tools and approaches to conceptualizing the development process. The Vision, Strategy and Action Agenda framework will allow us to better align the development strategy with the changed reality of India.

An Overview of the Three Year Action Agenda

In preparing the Agenda, the NITI Aayog sought and received inputs from State Governments, Union Territories and Ministries of the Central Government. Extensive consultations were held with groups of scientists, economists, journalists, voluntary organizations, industry associations and experts in education, health, culture, transport and other fields. Numerous experts and institutions provided useful written inputs.

The Draft Agenda was circulated to NITI Aayog’s Governing Council Members on April 23, 2016. It contains ambitious yet achievable proposals to achieve far-reaching changes in India’s economy. Where relevant, we have included possible actions by the states to complement the Centre’s efforts. The document has 7 parts with 24 chapters. The table of contents is attached.

Selected Key Action Agenda Items

Three Year Revenue and Expenditure Framework:

A tentative medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) for the Centre is proposed. Based on forecasts of revenue, it proposes sector-wise expenditure allocation for three years.

Proposes reduction of the fiscal deficit to 3% of the GDP by 2018-19, and the revenue deficit to 0.9% of the GDP by 2019-20.

The roadmap consisting of shifting additional revenues towards high priority sectors: health, education, agriculture, rural development, defence, railways, roads and other categories of capital expenditure.

Agriculture: Doubling Farmers’ Incomes by 2022

• Reform the Agricultural Produce Marketing to ensure that farmers receive remunerative prices.
• Raise productivity through enhanced irrigation, faster seed replacement and precision agriculture.
• Shift to high value commodities: horticulture, animal husbandry, fisheries.
• A separate detailed roadmap issued by Member, Professor Ramesh Chand.

Industry and Services: Job Creation

• Overarching Action Points.
• Create Coastal Employment Zones to boost exports and generate high-productivity jobs.
• Enhance labour-market flexibility through reforming key laws
• Address the high and rising share of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) in India’s banks through supporting the auction of larger assets to private asset reconstruction companies (ARCs), and strengthening the State Bank of India-led ARC.

Action points for specific sectors

• Apparel
• Leather and footwear
• Electronics
• Food processing
• Gems and jewelry
• Tourism
• Finance
• Real estate.

Urban Development

• Need to bring down land prices to make housing affordable through increased supply of urban land
• More flexible conversion rules from one use to another
• Release of land held by sick units
• Release of other urban land potentially available
• More generous Floor Space Index.
• Reform the Rent Control Act along the lines of Model Tenancy Act;
• Initiate titles of urban property
• Promote dormitory housing
• Address issues related to city transportation infrastructure and waste management.

Regional strategies

•  Actions targeted aimed at improving development outcomes in the (i) North Eastern Region, (ii) Coastal Areas & Islands, (iii) North Himalayan states and (iv) Desert and Drought prone states.
• Transport and Digital Connectivity.
• Strengthen infrastructure in roadways, railways, shipping & ports, inland waterways and civil aviation.
• Ensure last-mile digital connectivity, particularly for e-governance and financial inclusion, through developing infrastructure, simplifying the payments structure and improving literacy.
• Facilitate Public-Private Partnerships.by reorienting the role of the India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd. (IIFCL), introducing low cost debt instruments and operationalizing the National Investment Infrastructure Fund (NIIF).

Energy

• Adopt consumer friendly measures such as provision of electricity to all households by 2022, LPG connection to all BPL households, elimination of black carbon by 2022, and extension of the city gas distribution programme to 100 smart cities.
• Reduce the cross-subsidy in the power sector to ensure competitive supply of electricity to industry.
• Reform the coal sector by setting up a regulator, encouraging commercial mining and improving labour productivity.

Science & Technology

• Create comprehensive database of all government schemes and evaluate them for desirable changes
• Develop guidelines for PPPs in S&T to improve education and industry-academia linkages for demand-driven research
• Channel S&T to address development challenges such as access to education, improving agricultural productivity and wastewater management.
• Create a “National Science, Technology & Innovation Foundation” to identify and deliberate national issues, recommend priority interventions in S&T and prepare frameworks for their implementation
• Streamline the administration of the patent regime.

Governance

• Re-calibrate the role of the government by shrinking its involvement in activities that do not serve a public purpose and expanding its role in areas that necessarily require public provision
• Implement the roadmap on closing select loss-making PSEs and strategic disinvestment of 20 identified CPSEs.
• Expand the government’s role in public health and quality education.
• Strengthen the civil services through better human resource management, e-governance, addressing anomalies in tenures of secretaries and increasing specialization and lateral entry. 

Taxation and Regulation

• Tackle tax evasion, expand the tax base and simplify the tax system through reforms. For example, consolidate existing custom duty rates to a unified rate.
• Create an institutional mechanism for promoting competition through comprehensive review and reform of government regulations across all sectors.
• Strengthen public procurement

The Rule of Law

• Undertake significant judicial system reforms including increased ICT use, structured performance evaluation and reduced judicial workload.
• Legislative, administrative and operational reforms of police are suggested to the states.

Education and Skill Development

• Shift the emphasis on the quality of school education paying particular attention to foundational learning
• Move away from input-based to outcome-based assessments
• Rank outcomes across jurisdictions
• Use ICT judiciously to align teaching to the student’s level and pace
• Revisit the policy of automatic promotion up to eighth grade
• Create a tiered regulation of universities and college to provide greater autonomy to top universities under the current system.
• Focus on creating and funding public universities under the World Class Universities program.

Health

• Focus on public health through significantly increasing government expenditure on it, establishing a focal point and creating a dedicated cadre.
• Generate and disseminate periodic, district-level data as per uniform protocols.
• Formulate a model policy on human resources for health, implement a bridge course for nurses/AYUSH practitioners in primary care.
• Reform IMC Act and the acts governing homeopathy and Indian systems of medicine
• Launch the National Nutrition Mission; develop a comprehensive Nutrition Information System.

Building an Inclusive Society

• Enhance the welfare of women, children, youth, minorities, SC, ST, OBCs, differently abled persons and senior citizens.
• Develop a composite gender-based index to reflect the status of women in the country.
• Introduce skill-based education and extra-curricular activities as a mandatory part of school curricula; design innovative conditional cash transfer schemes to encourage girls’ education.

Environment and Water Resources

• Adopt sustainable practices and streamline regulatory structures to support high economic growth.
• Adopt measures to tackle city air pollution
• Revisit the policy towards felling of trees on private land and transport of trees
• Promote sustainable use of water resources by improving groundwater management, adopting smart water meters for specific industrial units and enhancing the regulatory environment in the sector.