New Delhi, Feb 21 (KNN) Minister of State for Planning Rao Inderjeet singh in a press conference today shed light on the budget allocation, achievements and programs of Niti Aayog.

Addressing the press conference he said “it is not about granting money to different sectors as what we used to do earlier under the umbrella of Planning Commission (older version), in a newer version under the ambit of Niti Aayog the job or role is how to transform India in coming years”.

With regard to Niti Aayog policies and programs, following mandates have been given to Niti Aayog in the Budget.

First is 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.

Second is that 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.

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

He further mentioned that Under Atal Innovation Mission out of 700, 655 districts have been covered i.e. almost 93% of the districts in the country have been allocated Atal Tinkering Labs.

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said Niti Aayog moved away from 5 year plan towards 15 years vision document, 3 year action plan and 7 year strategy document.

Commenting on Niti Aayog being a policy making department, amitabh kant highlighted on the various measures that have been taken in direction of transforming India and also shed light on ongoing and forthcoming plans and policies.

He said “ Niti has already done State rankings on health and Kerala is on the number and next target will be to rank states on education and water”.

He mentioned that under Competitive federalism Digital Transformation Index and Innovation Index for ranking states have been introduced.

He further mentioned that115 aspirational districts are being transformed under the Prime Minister's leadership and under Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital Niti ayog is working with 3 states Karnataka, Assam and Uttar Pradesh to transform them in health sectors and Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Jharkhand in education.

Further Niti Aayog working on a position paper on blockchain technology, AI and its applications in governance and Partnering with state governments/UTs to run pilots on land records, Electronic health records, etc. (KNN/YV)