Q.Distinguish between the Planning Commission and NITI Aayog.

The Planning Commission was a centralised, fund-allocating body, while NITI Aayog is a federal think tank without allocation powers.

The Planning Commission and NITI Aayog both occupy the same broad institutional space -- that of India's central development-planning body -- but they differ fundamentally in approach, powers and structure.

The Planning Commission, established in March 1950 by a Cabinet Resolution, worked in a largely top-down manner: it centrally formulated the Five Year Plans, fixed sectoral and state-wise priorities, and -- crucially -- had the power to allocate plan funds to ministries and state governments, which gave it substantial de facto authority over the states' development finances. Its membership was drawn mainly from centrally appointed experts and a Deputy Chairman, and while it did consult states, they were largely on the receiving end of centrally decided plan allocations rather than equal partners in shaping them.

NITI Aayog, established on 1 January 2015 by a similar Cabinet Resolution, was deliberately built differently. It works in a bottom-up manner, with local and state priorities meant to shape national strategy. It has no power to allocate plan funds -- that function now rests with the Ministry of Finance -- so its influence comes from policy advice, knowledge and coordination rather than financial control. Its structure places the Chief Ministers of all states and the Lt. Governors of Union Territories on its Governing Council, giving states a direct, ongoing, institutionalised role that the Planning Commission never offered, and it explicitly promotes both cooperative federalism (states as partners) and competitive federalism (states competing on outcomes). Where the Planning Commission produced rigid Five Year Plans, N …

Students often list only 'NITI Aayog is newer' as the difference; examiners expect the substantive differences in approach (top-down vs bottom-up), financial power (allocation vs none), …