The Union Government has replaced the 65-year old Planning Commission, a Soviet-style monolith from the Nehruvian socialist era, with another body, called the National Institution for Transforming India (Niti) Aayog. However, the lexical and logical semantics over the new nomenclature has, expectedly, kept the political class engaged in a verbal slugfest on the first day of the New Year. The Aayog is a bold reformulation which could utilise India's talent and potential as never before. But it could also backfire, if fast growth in some States and slow growth in others result in a further sharpening of the already existing disparities.
Earlier, the Centre could always keep feeding poorer States with revenues earned by richer ones. Will the new system create a set of powerful Chief Ministers heading rich States who defy the Centre and disdain their counterparts from poorer StatesIJ There were similar apprehensions when the economy was opened in early 1990s. But it brought better integration and faster growth.