Lok Sabha Question No. 2462 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-08-01
Subject: Cooperative Federalism
Ministry: PLANNING
Asked by: HEMAMALINI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PLANNING

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2462 TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.08.2018

## COOPERATIVE FEDERALISM

## 2462.   SHRIMATI HEMA MALINI:

Will the Minister of PLANNING be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the promotion of cooperative federalism is one of the major objectives of the NITI Aayog;
- (b)  if so, the details of the efforts made by the NITI Aayog for the promotion of cooperative federalism in the country since its inception;
- (c)  whether the NITI Aayog has been successful in promoting cooperative federalism through sustained constructive cooperation and policy guidance; and
- (d)  if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE   MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS

## (RAO INDERJIT SINGH)

- (a) to  (d):  Yes  Madam.      As  mandated,  promotion  of  cooperative  federalism  is  one  of  the  major objectives of the NITI Aayog. Within the mandate, NITI Aayog has taken following steps, inter-alia, to promote cooperative federalism:
- i.   Within the framework of cooperative federalism, NITI Aayog organized National Conferences as a platform  for  sharing  knowledge  and  experiences  amongst  the  States  /UTs  in  implementing  the  best practices.
- ii.    NITI Aayog has initiated a policy to provide institutional support to States to deliver excellence in social  and  infrastructure  sector  through  an  initiative  of  'Development  Support  Services  for  States  for infrastructure  (D3S-i)  projects'.  The  key  objective  of  this  policy  is  to  support  State  Governments  for implementation of projects that are critical for development of State/region in a timely and cost effective manner. Presently, 10 projects have been selected from eight States for undertaking under the initiatives of D3S-i.

iii.   In education and Health, NITI Aayog has initiated a Project-SATH for providing 'Sustainable Action for Transforming Human capital (SATH)'. In Education sector, this project is being implemented in three States namely, Jharkhand, Odisha & Madhya Pradesh, and for Health sector, this is being implemented in Assam.

iv.    NITI  Aayog  has  initiated  web  portal  for  social  indicators  by  establishing  an  outcome  monitoring framework in critical economic and social development sectors namely, Healthcare, Education & Water Sector  with  the  primary  objective  of  determining  performance  of  various  States  through  their  Key Performance  Indicators  and  thereby  nurture  healthy  competition  among  the  States  under  the  spirit  of cooperative federalism.

v.      Total  number  of  115  aspirational  districts  have  been  identified  based  on  composite  index which encompasses percentage of households depend on manual labour, performance of districts in terms of health,  nutrition,  education  and  infrastructure.  These  districts  require  a  focused  attention  by  the  State Governments and the Central Government for rapid transformation.

vi.  A Task Force on Agriculture Development has been constituted by NITI Aayog to coordinate and develop synergy with the Central  Ministries  and  State  Governments,  to  recommend  strategies  for  reinvigorating Agriculture, to formulate strategies for reforms, for innovation and technology diffusion, and to identify successful experiments and programmes from which all States and UTs may learn.

vii.  NITI Aayog has convened four Governing Council Meetings upto July, 2018.  The First Meeting of the Governing Council was held on 8 th February, 2015 with the prime objective of fostering cooperative federalism and addressing national issues through active participation of the States. The Second Meeting of the Governing Council took place on 15 th 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 th June, 2018. It laid down a platform  to  discuss  inter-sectoral,  inter-departmental  and  federal  issues  in  order  to  accelerate  the implementation of the national development agenda. 23 Chief Ministers and the Lieutenant Governor of Andaman  &  Nicobar  Islands,  apart  from  Union  Ministers  had  attended  the  Fourth  meeting  of  the Governing Council.

viii.  NITI Forum for North Eastern has been constituted by NITI Aayog on 20 th February, 2018 with the mandate to identify various constraints on the development of the North East Region and to recommend suitable interventions.

ix.  Vice Chairman, Members and Senior Officers of NITI Aayog visited various States for participating meetings attended by Chief Ministers of the concerned States along with State Officials to discuss the State specific issues.

The responses from the States against the initiatives taken by the NITI Aayog have been encouraging. NITI Aayog has been successfully undertaking its mandate for promoting cooperative federalism with the cooperation and participation of States, and addressing the State specific issues under the rule of Central Government.

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