BREXIT AND BEYOND

Brexit is the buzzword these days. A portmanteau of “Britain” and “exit”, it means the country’s departure from the European Union (EU). The term is believed to have been coined in 2012 on the lines of ‘Grexit’ (Greece’s potential withdrawal from the Euro zone).

In a historic referendum on June 23, 2016 Britain voted to leave the EU, after over four decades of the UK's membership of the union.  The world waited with bated breath as the UK Electoral Commission's chief counting officer Jenny Watson declared from Manchester Town Hall on June 24 that 51.9 per cent people voted in favour of Brexit and 48.1 per cent in favour of Remain.

Over 30 million people turned out to vote, the percentage of voting being 72.2. Britain, which is the second largest economy in Europe after Germany, became the second country after Greenland to quit the bloc. Greenland departed way back in 1982, when the EU was known as the European Economic Community.

Disentangling from the union is foreseen as the relatively simpler process, with renegotiating a lucrative trade deal and establishing acceptable tariffs and barriers with the UK's biggest trading partner seen as the toughest and most uncertain aspect.

Quitting the EU could cost Britain access to the EU's trade barrier-free single market which means it has to seek new trade accords with countries around the world.

The vote result also opened a fresh debate over issues like immigration and advance of the right-wing across Europe.

The immediate fallout of the vote was that British Prime Minister David Cameron, who campaigned for the country remaining in the EU, announcing his decision to resign saying a new Prime Minister should take charge in October to launch the process to leave the 28-nation bloc.

The process of departure of Britain from the EU will involve invoking Article 50 of the 2009 Lisbon Treaty, which deals with the exit for any member country. Article 50 has provision for a two-year timeframe for negotiations with a scope to extend the negotiation period if all parties involved agree. However, European leaders are said to be keen to conclude Brexit proceedings as quickly as possible to avert any further divisive referendums among its 27 other member-countries.

The terms of exit will be negotiated among EU’s 27 counterparts, and each will have a veto over the conditions, according to reports.

It will also be subject to ratification in national parliaments, which means MPs from individual member countries could squash aspects in their own Parliament.

Two negotiating teams will be created, with the EU side likely to be headed by one of the current commissioners and the British side most likely by a new Prime Minister.

EU President Donald Tusk, after the outcome of the referendum, said the Union was prepared for any negative scenario.

“There's no hiding the fact that we wanted a different outcome of yesterday's referendum. I am fully aware of how serious, or even dramatic, this moment is politically. And there's no way of predicting all the political consequences of this event, especially for the UK. It is a historic moment but for sure not a moment for hysterical reactions. I want to reassure everyone that we are prepared also for this negative scenario. As you know the EU is not only a fair-weather project,” he said in a statement.

He also pledged unity among the remaining members. “Today, on behalf of the 27 leaders I can say that we are determined to keep our unity as 27. For all of us, the Union is the framework for our common future. I would also like to reassure you that there will be no legal vacuum. Until the United Kingdom formally leaves the European Union, EU law will continue to apply to and within the UK. And by this I mean rights and obligations.”

THE EU STRUCTURE:

The EU describes itself as a unique economic and political union among 28 (now 27) European countries that together cover much of the continent. It was created in the aftermath of World War II. The first steps were to foster economic cooperation: the idea being that countries that trade with one another become economically interdependent and so more likely to avoid conflict.

The result was the European Economic Community (EEC), created in 1958, and initially increasing economic cooperation among six countries: Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Since then, a huge single market has been created and continues to develop towards its full potential.

What began as a purely economic union has evolved into an organisation spanning policy areas, from climate, environment and health to external relations and security, justice and migration. A name change from the European Economic Community (EEC) to the European Union (EU) in 1993 reflected this.

The EU is based on the rule of law: everything it does is founded on treaties, voluntarily and democratically agreed by its member countries. It is also governed by the principle of representative democracy, with citizens directly represented at Union level in the European Parliament and Member States represented in the European Council and the Council of the EU.

GLOBAL IMPACT:

Brexit has raised apprehensions in the world community on its impact.

The International Monetary Fund said Britain's referendum has created uncertainty that poses a major threat to the global economy.

"We see the uncertainty right now as probably the biggest risk to the global economy," IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said and called on European leaders and other policymakers to take "decisive" actions that could lower the threat.

"Brexit has created significant uncertainty and we believe this is likely to dampen growth in the near term, particularly in the UK but with repercussions also for Europe and for the world economy," Rice said, adding, "We need to be ready, all of us policymakers, with decisive actions that can help mitigate that as much as possible."

English language may also be one of the casualties of Brexit as it emerged that no state other than the UK has registered it as a primary language among the member countries within the EU. English has been the top choice for EU institutions but Britain's referendum could trigger a ban on its use.

"We have a regulation where every EU country has the right to notify one official language," said Danuta Hubner, the Polish Member of European Parliament who heads the European Parliament's constitutional affairs committee.

"The Irish have notified Gaelic and the Maltese have notified Maltese, so you have only the UK notifying English."

Stock markets around the world fell sharply on June 24 following the referendum result and businesses said they would be forced to review their UK operations, putting thousands of jobs at risk. The result drove sterling down 10 per cent to a 31-year low of USD 1.3229. European stock markets dropped around eight per cent at the opening bell. British banking shares lost a quarter of their value in morning trade.

However, Britain’s Business Secretary Sajid Javid appealed to UK businesses not to be panicky           saying the country’s economic fundamentals are strong enough to weather any short-term market volatility.

"Words have a magical power. They can either bring the greatest happiness or the deepest despair." -

Words are the basic entities in the making of a language. All words have their own conspicuous meanings, rigid constitution, special context and sacrosanct rituals. They can make and, if not correctly chosen and used, also mar the language and its interpretation. Words heal magically, allure naturally and bind the people in an amazingly cohesive bond. They alleviate the pain and balm the agony of the people.

On the contrary, words also hurt beyond any repair. They also humiliate and embarrass. At the same time words also enrich the wisdom, enlighten the heart        and illuminate the spirit. However, there is no gainsaying the fact that incorrect and irrelevant use of words can wreak havoc upon a host of aspects of human life the repercussions of which may go beyond one's imagination.Jean Paul Sartre, the famous French philosopher and playwright, once had said, "Words are loaded pistols." So we need to be pretty much cautious about the correct use of words, especially in writing which gets permanently recorded in the print and which the intelligentsia across the nations use as references and cross-references.

First, a writer must mind avoiding the use of weak words and dead words in writing. Weak words are usually found in the form of weak verbs. Conventionally, a writer must always use strong verbs which convey actions correctly, emphatically, effectively and surgically.

Auroville , Puducherry

As The Mother had observed, Auroville was to be a universal town. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity.

The large gathering here today, is a reflection of that idea. For ages, India has been a spiritual destination for the world. The great universities of Nalanda and Taxila hosted students from all over the world.  Many of the world's great religions were born here. They motivate people from all walks of life,) to take to a spiritual path in their day to day dealings.

Recently, the United Nations has declared June 21 as International Day of Yoga, recognizing a great Indian tradition. Auroville has brought together men and women, young and old, cutting across boundaries  and identities.

It is  understood that Auroville’s Charter was hand-written in French by the Divine Mother herself. According to the Charter, the Mother set five high principles for Auroville.

The first high principle of Auroville is that it belongs to all humanity. This is a reflection of our ancient credo of VasudhaivaKutumbakam -- the world is one family.

It is  told, that the inauguration ceremony of Auroville in 1968 was attended by delegates of 124 nations. It is  learnt that , it has over two thousand, four hundred residents from forty-nine countries.

This leads us to the second high principle of Auroville. Anyone who is willingly in service of the Divine Consciousness is entitled to live in Auroville.

Maharishi Aurobindo’s philosophy of Consciousness integrates not just humans, but the entire universe.This matches with the ancient saying in the Ishavasya Upanishad.This has been translated by Mahatma Gandhi to mean “everything down to the tiniest atom is divine”.

The third founding principle of Auroville is that it will emerge as the bridge between the past and the future. If one looks at where the world and India were in 1968 when Auroville was founded, the world was living in compartments and in a state of cold war. The idea of Auroville saw the world getting integrated by trade, travel and communication.

Auroville was conceived with the vision of enveloping the whole of humanity in one small area. This would show that the future would see an integrated world. The fourth founding principle of Auroville is that it will connect the spiritual and material approaches of the contemporary world. As the world progresses materially through science and technology, it will increasingly long for and need spiritual orientation for social order and stability.

At Auroville, the material and the spiritual, co-exist in harmony.

The fifth basic principle of Auroville is that it will be a place of un-ending learning and constant progress, so that it never stagnates.

The progress of humanity calls for continuous thinking and re-thinking, so that the human mind does not become frozen into one idea.

The very fact that Auroville has brought together such huge diversity of people and ideas makes dialogue and debate natural.

Indian society is fundamentally diverse. It has fostered dialogue and a philosophic tradition. Auroville show-cases this ancient Indian tradition to the world by bringing together global diversity.

India has always allowed mutual respect and co-existence of different religions and cultures. India is home to the age old tradition of Gurukul, where learning is not confined to classrooms; where life is a living laboratory. Auroville too has developed as a place of un-ending and life-long education.

In ancient times, our sages and ‘Rishis’ would perform ‘yagya’ to begin great endeavours. Occasionally, those yagyas would shape the course of history.

One such ‘Yagna’ for unity was performed here exactly 50 years ago. Men and Women brought soils from all parts of the world. In the mixing of the soils, began the journey of one-ness.

The world has received positive vibrations from Auroville, in many forms, over the years.

Be it un-ending education, environment regeneration, renewable energy, organic agriculture, appropriate building technologies, water management, or waste management. Auroville has been a pioneer.

A lot is done  to promote quality education in the country. On the occasion of 50 years of Auroville, It is hoped that  you can enhance your efforts in this direction. Serving young minds through education will be a big tribute to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

Many of you may not be aware, but Mr.Modi  too, has been a follower of your efforts on education. Shri Kireet Bhai Joshi, an ardent disciple of Sri Aurobindo, and the Mother, was an eminent educationist.

He was also my Education Advisor, when Mr.Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. He is not amongst us today. But his contribution to the field of education in India, is worth remembering.

The Rig Veda states: “आनो भद्रा: क्रतवो यन्तु विश्वत:”; Let noble thoughts come to us from all sides.

May Auroville continue to come up with ideas to empower the ordinary citizens of this country.

May people from far and wide bring with them new ideas. May Auroville become the centre where these ideas are synthesized.

May Auroville serve as a beacon to the world.

May it be the guardian which calls for breaking down narrow walls of the mind. May it continue to invite everyone to celebrate the possibilities of humanity’s one-ness.

May the spirit of Maharishi Aurobindo and the Divine Mother, continue to guide Auroville to the eventual fulfilment of its lofty founding vision.

INDIA - ASEAN RELATIONS ( 'ACT' EAST POLICY)

India's Republic Day celebrations this year witnessed a spectacle of having ten chief guests. Only twice in its post-independence history, India's Republic Day celebrations had seen two compared to usual one foreign leader as chief guest. This time round, however, national leaders of all the ten members of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) visited New Delhi to participate in a commemorative India-ASEAN summit marking 25 years of their Dialogue Partnership and this was followed by all of them together joining the President of India at the Republic Day parade that showcases India's military might and cultural diversity -- both of which have since emerged as defining pillars of India's growing integration with these nations.

Last 25 years of India's Look East Policy has been one celebrated component of India's foreign policy since it was enunciated in 1992 by prime minister Narasimha Rao. It was part of global structural changes following the collapse of former Soviet Union that Rao had sought to connect his opening up of India's economy with building closer ties towards these tiger economies of Southeast Asia. The 1990s was the decade that also saw expansion of ASEAN from six to ten members. Addition of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam thus were to bring ASEAN closer to share long land borders with India's sensitive northeastern region. Compared to original six ASEAN members whose economies were much advanced, these new members were less developed. This was to open new opportunities for India's investments, technology and skill transfers through training and education making it an influential player in ASEAN seeking to handhold these new members' development process. At the same time, building closer physical connectivity between ASEAN and India's northeastern states was expected to inject development in this restive region and help India resolve their persistent political turmoil as well. This was to make their engagements complimentary and of mutual benefit.

The New Context

It is in this relative ease of doing business and flourish in India's engagements with Southeast Asia, rise of assertive China was to become another important driver for their friendship. Debates on the need for India to move over from 'Look' to 'Act' East had been triggered primarily from the 2011 Hyderbad speech of the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. However it was for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce this tectonic policy shift from 'Look' to 'Act' East during his debut participation at the 12th ASEAN Summit in Yangon (Myanmar) during September 2014. This was also part of his launching his hyperactive foreign policy of mega-events and action-driven hectic meetings with dozens of global leaders. So this can also be seen as result of prime minister Narendra Modi's visits to nine of these ten ASEAN nations -- some of them even twice -- that his personal rapport with each of these leaders made such a historic feet, of having them all as chief guests at 2018 Republic Day parade, possible. To the least this will be seen as a reset India-ASEAN relations by upping the ante for both sides.

From ASEAN side as well, such unprecedented gesture reflects their strong endorsement of India's ever widening and deepening of its strategic partnership with these Southeast Asian nations that both endorses and celebrates 'centrality' and 'legitimacy' of ASEAN on the driving seat of Asian relations. This centrality of ASEAN has been premised on its parleys not hurting core interests of any of the major powers. But rise of China has seen their turf war hotting up things for this region. In this new context, these growing synergies between India and ASEAN promise to become a catalyst for a gradual drift in discourses from their conventional Asia-Pacific geopolitics towards the newer Indo-Pacific frame of reference with India at its centre. There are already experts who project India trying to fill the vacuum created by rapidly shrinking regional leadership of the United States. ASEAN seems to welcome it such projections.  Indeed since 1990s itself, ASEAN has sought to engage India as an alternative, if not a counterweight, to the unprecedented rise of China.

India, however, has evolved from its policy of nonalignment to multi-alignments so it has so far refused to bite the bait hedging all bets for confrontation with rising China. India's policy of multi-alignments seeks to engage as many nations on as many issues as possible, and this includes engaging China as well. In West Asia, for instance, we are friends with Saudi Arabia, Iran and United Arab Emirates but also with Israel. Same is true of East Asia where India has been closely engaged with Australia, Japan and China as also with Russia and ASEAN.  But increasingly assertive China, especially in face of rapidly shrinking global leadership of the United States has pushed rest of Asia, especially India and ASEAN to follow the example set by European nations in asserting their autonomy from the United States in building regional balance of power to ensure where no single nation is able to flaunt established norms and institutions.

China's Economic Might

Unprecedented economic growth of China since early 1990s have coincided with India's increasing engagement with ASEAN. Indeed, starting from India's decision to become Dialogue Partner of ASEAN in 1992 its follow-up decisions of joining the ASEAN Regional Forum, initiating India-ASEAN summits, or becoming founding member of East Asia Summits have all been viewed as driven by China's increasing influence in this larger region. All ten ASEAN members today see China as their largest trading partner. China's economic might was first put in display during the East Asian financial crisis of 1997 when one-party ruled China proved much efficient to come to their rescue while all other major powers remained trailing behind. Today again China's incessant construction of artificial islands in disputed waters of South China Sea for ASEAN and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor for India seem to bring them closer together and ASEAN once again wishes India to play an assertive role in the region.

So just like the East Asian financial crisis of 1997, presence of all ten ASEAN national leaders at the 2018 Republic Day parade, therefore marks a historic inflection point the evolution of regional balance of power in this region. ASEAN was originally created in 1967 as part of US containment of China and to control spread of communism in general. Thirty years later financial crisis in ASEAN laid foundations of its major economic engagement with China. Therefore both may be desirous of this change yet this poses formidable challenges for both India and ASEAN. China's bilateral trade with ASEAN today stands at $450 billion and India, that currently has a trade of $70 billion with ASEAN, has now decided to take it to $200 billion by 2020 which also seems too ambitious.  Even with the United States that till recently was the greatest influence in the region and voters of propping India as a major player in the region has trade with China that stands five times that of its trade with India.  And now, President Xi Jinping's ambitious Belt and Road Initiatives seems all set to widen these asymmetries further.

China with a $12 trillion economy and a $4 trillion annual trade with $3.5 trillion foreign exchange reserves remains far too strong to India that stands little comparison with its $2.6 trillion economy and less than $1 trillion trade and about $400 million foreign exchange reserves. Politically as well, compared to China's one-party rule and rise of Xi Jinping as China's uncontested supreme leader, India's Westminster system of multiple political parties and diversity-driven federalism have come to be seen as cumbersome in making quick turnarounds. But this is exactly what explains the ongoing shift where India is trying to broad base its relations with ASEAN to front load its advantages over China. While India today seeks to strengthen strategic and economic cooperation with ASEAN, it wishes to locate these as also take these far beyond to emphasise on India's robust democracy and civilisational connect with Southeast Asian nations. This broad-based engagement of India and ASEAN promises to prove India's greatest advantage against China's economic prowess and commerce driven engagement of ASEAN.

Strengthening Norms and Institutions

Countering China's display of military and economic prowess, India also seeks today to strengthen rule of law that ensures that all states respect established norms and institutions. ASEAN today is not just the most institutionalised regional grouping across Asia, it is also the one most acceptable to major world powers who have stakes in peace and stability of this region. These dynamic economies of ASEAN are all democracies and seek to connect India for their democratic credentials. This can also be seen as result of incremental rise of India as also part of global power shift from Atlantic to the Pacific. India-ASEAN relations also present an example of drift from hard to soft power with C3 -- Culture, Commerce, Connectivity -- becoming the buzzword for their future collaborations. Neither India nor ASEAN are known for any territorial aggrandisement or for aggressive behaviour that sets them apart from China. But both sides so far have failed to address or redress their dichotomy of their continued engagement and discomfort with rising economic power of China. In the most recent episode of India's 73-day long military standoff at Doklam that saw India standing up to China, ASEAN was found wary of taking sides. Likewise, India has occasionally endorsed U.S. positions on ensuring freedom of navigation in the South China Sea yet has remained sensitive to China's harsh reactions.

Geo-Civilisational Links

But what gives hope for ensuring efficacy of India-ASEAN joint initiatives is the fact that they now seem to emphasise building their geo-strategic partnerships on their wider geo-civilisational connections. This promises to be both far more enduring and should be far more acceptable to all major world powers as also their populace that will provide domestic constituencies behind their leaders' initiatives. Both India and ASEAN have chosen to focus on highlighting their civilisational links that go back to ancient times and had thrived till the end of first millennium when Islam and later Christianity were to become a stronger influences. Ancient epic of Ramayana remains India's umbilical cord with each of these nations that have, over centuries, evolved their own versions yet Ramayana remain central to their cultures and everyday life. No doubt the commemorative India-Asian summit issued a special postal stamp on Ramayana on 25th June and New Delhi hosted a week-long Ramayana  festival starting 20th January 2018. This festival showcased various versions of Ramayana performed by over 120 artists from these ten Southeast Asian nations.

Buddhism remains their equally strong connection. Prince Sidhartha was born in Lumbini in Nepal. But he attained enlightenment and Buddhism, therefore, was born at Gaya in India. Later, it was King Asoka the Great who popularised Buddhism across Asia, especially Southeast Asia. Today, Buddhism is State Religion in Cambodia and 95 percent of Thailand, 87 per cent of Myanmar, 33 per cent of Singapore, 20 per cent of Malaysia, 12 per cent of Vietnam population are Buddhists. But here again, last decade has seen China leading the World Buddhist Forum with biannual mega congregations. These were initiated in 2006 by China's president Hu Jintao but organised by China's current President Xi Jinping who was then Party Secretary in Zhejiang. India has also been making similar efforts but both India and ASEAN need to work together to ensure that China is not allowed to hijack this cultural discourse as well. Buddhists in China, especially in Tibet, have faced difficult times for their dissensions and even in China they have sustained their close connections with India. So in being a pious link in building inter-societal relations, Buddhism should not be allowed to become victim to complex inter-state equations.

Other than Buddhism, Indonesia and Malaysia respectively have 87 per cent and 61 per cent Muslim populations and the Philippines has 92 per cent Christian population yet given India's multicultural history and milieu they feel equally connected to India. Indeed, successive leaders of ASEAN's largest nation, Indonesia, have repeatedly underlined that while they may follow Islam as their religion and faith yet they remain culturally rooted to Indian traditions. India is home to world's second largest Muslim population and a large Christian population. This enduring Indian multicultural connect till date reflects itself in Southeast Asian languages, names, folklore, sculpture, architecture, songs and musical traditions.  As late as 802AD King Jayavarman had united all Khmer groups to establish his Kingdom of Kambuja (today's Cambodia) and Angkorvat -- renovations of which has seen India's continued participation -- represents today perhaps the most apt symbol of their enduring close geo-civilisational connections.

The Way Forward

To conclude, therefore, it is this geo-civilisational connect of India and ASEAN that undergirds their geo-strategic partnerships. No doubt China also has had cultural connect with Southeast Asia but its Cultural Revolution had privileged ideological links over culture and recent past has witnessed China emphasising on its stronger commercial connections with ASEAN. This is partly what makes both India and ASEAN seem increasingly ill-at-east with assertive China. And this is also what promises to keep India and ASEAN closer together. With exponential inclusion of technologies empowering common people inter-societal connections will become increasingly influential in determining state policies. And as India and ASEAN explore into their unique elements that will strengthen their synergies their democratic systems and connect with common people will stand out as their advantage to counter China's negative influence on their own national interest and aspirations. This is what explains their attempts to broad base India-ASEAN partnerships by backing their inter-state initiatives with inter-societal liaisons, people-to-people at all levels of skill building, trainings and information exchange. They today are seeking to compete China's sharp power with their peoples' smart power.

Electoral Bond Scheme 2018

The Government of India has notified the Electoral Bond Scheme 2018 vide Gazette Notification S.O. No.29 (E) dated 02nd January 2018.

 As per provisions of the Scheme, Electoral Bonds may be purchased by a person, who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India. A person being an individual can buy Electoral Bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals. 

Only the Political Parties registered under  section 29A  of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and which secured not less than one per cent of the votes polled in the last general election to the House of the People or  the  Legislative Assembly of the State, shall be eligible to receive the Electoral Bonds. 

The Bond shall be encashed by an eligible political party only through a bank account with the authorized bank.

 State Bank of India (SBI) has been authorised to issue and encash Electoral Bonds initially at its 4 Authorised Branches, as given below. 

Chennai,

Kolakata

Mumbai

New Delhi 

The first issue of the Scheme will be opened in March 2018 in place of January 2018 for the first quarter of 2018. Accordingly, the first sale of Electoral Bonds will commence from 01st March 2018 for a period of 10 days i.e. up to 10th March 2018.

It may be noted that Electoral Bond shall be valid for fifteen days from the date of issue and no payment shall be made to any payee Political Party if the Bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period. The bond deposited by any eligible political party to its account shall be credited on the same day.

WRITE AN ESSAY ON THE ROLE OF NITI AAYOG

The New India Budget presented by the  Finance Minister has cemented NITI Aayog’s role as a driver of transformational change in the country.  The following are the highlights about  the budget allocations (2017-18), achievements and programmes of NITI Aayog.

Allocations for the Ministry of Planning, which is embodied by the NITI Aayog, have increased by more than 20% over last year i.e. to Rs 339.65 crore in 2018-19 from Rs 279.79 crore in 2017-18.

Further, the budget envisages a defined role for NITI Aayog in critical areas of artificial intelligence and agriculture policy, apart from reiterating a shared vision for national development in line with NITI Aayog’s Three Year Action Agenda, the Seven Year Strategy and the 15 Year Vision Document.                        

NITI in the Budget

NITI Aayog, in consultation with Central and State Governments, will put in place a fool-proof mechanism so that farmers will get adequate price for their produce.

NITI Aayog, in consultation with State Governments, will evolve a suitable mechanism to enable access of lessee cultivators to credit without compromising the rights of the land owners.

NITI Aayog will initiate a national program to direct our efforts in the area of artificial intelligence, including research and development of its applications.

Apart from the above mentions, NITI Aayog through its officers, advisers and policy shaping role has been predominant in the planning of Ayushman Bharat, the world’s largest health insurance scheme.

NITI: Learning from the past, shaping the future

Since its inception NITI Aayog has occupied a niche space in India’s policy environment. Through ambitious recommendations and dynamic initiatives, NITI has mobilized its expertise as the ‘think-tank’ of the government, in areas such as:

• Envisaging a roadmap for revitalizing Indian agriculture and doubling farmer’s income
• Framing of new guidelines for devolution of dedicated funds for SC/ST community
• National Energy Policy
• National Nutrition Strategy
• National Medical Council Bill
• National Medical Strategy
• Recommendations on strategic disinvestment of CPSEs
• Formulation of Model Land Leasing Bill
• Development support to the North East through North East Industrial Development Scheme (NEIDS) 2017
• Employment task force
• Appraisal of the 12th Five Year Plan
• Evolving policy on shared and connected mobility
• Holistic development of Islands

NITI Aayog is also directly involved in on-ground policy interventions through various programmes and schemes. Some of these are outlined below.

1. Atal Innovation Mission:

Spurring innovation through Atal Tinkering Labs in schools and Atal Incubation Centres across the country, AIM has been a widely popular programme of NITI. Atal Grand Challenges and Tinkering Marathons have encouraged young entrepreneurs across the country to learn, innovate and engage with cutting-edge technology.

• 2441 ATL Schools selected as on Date:
  • • 941 Selected in Phase 1 announced from the applications invited in 2016.
    • 1500 Selected in Phase 2 announced on 25-Dec-2017 i.e. on Atal Ji’s 93rd Birthday from applications invited in 2017.
    • Grant-in-aid including one-time establishment cost of Rs 10 lakh and operational expenses of Rs 10 lakh for maximum of 5 years for each ATL
    • All States are covered as of now in ATL Selections

• Incubation Centres:
  • • Established Incubation Centre: 6 EIC Supported in 16-17. Around 8-10 are in pipeline for approval during 2017-18.
    • Funding support for scaling up of operations of Rs 10 crore for EICs,  to be paid in installments
    • Atal Incubation Centre: 13 selected in 16-17, around 20-25 in pipeline for consideration during 17-18. Funding support upto Rs 10 crore for maximum of 5 years

2. Cooperative Federalism

• • Sub-groups of Chief Ministers on critical subjects(April 2017):

• • • Restructuring of Centrally sponsored schemes
    • Skill development
    • Swachh Bharat
    • Promotion of Digital Payments

• • National consultations with Chief Secretaries of all states and Finance secretaries

• • Programme to transform Aspirational Districts by engaging with DMs and Prabhari officers of 115 districts across the country

• • Representations made to NITI by groups of Secretaries, creating cross ministry interactions and collaborations

3. Competitive federalism

• Introduction of Digital Transformation Index and Innovation Index for ranking states
• Launch of the Health Index, which is to become an annual exercise across the country evaluating health outcomes.       
• Organized extensive workshops for consultation with States and UTs on indices
• Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital (SATH): handholding for states to develop key indicators across areas of health and education
• School Education Quality Index (SEQI), Composite Water Management Index

4. Sustainable Development Goals

• As nodal body for monitoring implementation of SDGs, KPI created by NITI Aayog to assess progress of states
• Draft mapping of goals with measurable indicators

5. Outcome based evaluation and monitoring across 15 key sectors of the economy

• Extensive data-based, performance evaluation of states through DMEO dashboard and progress tracker
• A rigorous exercise to bring qualitative improvement in the Output-Outcome Framework by
  • reviewing and identifying relevant outputs and outcomes
  • quantifiable and measurable indicators to monitor
  • Strategic Outcomes Verification Process (SOVP) for performance monitoring
  • Program Evaluation
    • 12 programs evaluated
    • Evaluation report finalised for
      • Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme
      • National Scheduled Caste Finance Development Corporation
      • RTE
      • Harmonized Sarv Siksha Abhiyaan
      • PMAY (Urban)

• Compiling, transmitting and emulating best practices across states.
• SAMAVESH: enabling cooperation between NITI and knowledge, research partners and institutions

6. National and International Partnerships:

• NITI Lecture Series: 3 lectures held so far by luminaries on governance
• NITI-DRC dialogue: China Cell constituted at NITI to foster cooperation
• Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017: US India summit with over 2500 top entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem players
• Champions of Change: Facilitated Hon’ble Prime Minister’s stakeholder consultation with start-ups and industry for policy inputs across 12 sectors

7. Adoption of Frontier Technologies

• NITI Aayog working on a position paper on blockchain technology, AI and its applications in governance
• Partnering with state governments/UTs to run pilots on land records, Electronic health records, etc.

• Working on a concept paper for “IndiaChain” – a shared, India specific blockchain infrastructure
• Implementation of MIS database for NITI Aayog
• Arbitration and enforcement in India Conference.
• Digital Hub for Govt. Best Practices for NITI Aayog

8.  Research, Study and Collaborations

• 5 Research Studies completed
• 7 National Seminars and 2 International Seminars Approved
• 10 New Research Studies approved and 1st instalment Released
• Release of 2nd instalment for 9 Research studies
• 15 Logo support proposals approved

9. Strengthening Arbitration and Legal Reforms

• Global Conference on ‘Strengthening Arbitration and Enforcement in India’
• Law Day Conference on ‘Balancing Roles of Three Wings of the State’ in association with Law Commission of India
• Participation of over 1500 participants each day including Hon’ble President, Speaker, Lok Sabha; PM, other Ministers, Judges of Supreme Court, High Court, legal fraternity and academia.

NITI Aayog, as the premier ‘think-tank’ of the Government of India has been crucial in navigating and charting the course of the country in matters of national and international importance on the economic front, dissemination of best practices from within the country and from other nations, the infusion of new policy ideas and specific issue-based support.