Q.Explain the objectives and functions of NITI Aayog.

NITI Aayog functions mainly as a policy think tank that fosters cooperative and competitive federalism.

NITI Aayog performs a wide range of functions that together define its role as the Government of India's premier policy think tank.

Its most basic function is to act as a think tank, providing directional and strategic policy advice to the Union and state governments on economic and social issues, drawing on experts, academics and practitioners rather than functioning as an implementing agency itself.

It is specifically designed to promote cooperative federalism, treating the states as equal, active partners in national development through the institutionalised platform of the Governing Council (comprising all Chief Ministers and Lt. Governors) and through Regional Councils for issues spanning multiple states -- replacing the earlier, more top-down relationship between the Centre and the states.

Alongside this, it fosters competitive federalism, encouraging states and Union Territories to compete constructively on development outcomes, for instance through comparative indices that rank states on health, education, water management and ease of doing business, so that successful practices in one state spread to others.

It adopts a bottom-up approach to planning, encouraging village- and district-level inputs to shape state and national priorities, in place of the Planning Commission's top-down model.

It has replaced the fixed Five Year Plan with a more flexible three-tier strategic framework -- a fifteen-year Vision document, a seven-year Strategy document and a three-year Action Agenda -- intended to be more adaptable to changing circumstances. …

A frequent mistake is to say NITI Aayog 'allocates funds to states like the Planning Commission did' -- this is incorrect; NITI Aayog has no fund-allocation powe …