Commission & Council

Inter-State Council

» Inter-State Council was constituted in April, 1990 under Art. 263.
» Inter-State Council consists of Prime Minister, 6 Union Cabinet Ministers, the Chief Ministers of all the States and administrators of all UTs.
» The Sarkaria Commission recommended the constitution of a permanent Inter-State Council for co-ordination among States and with the Union. (Justice R.S. Sarkaria died in 2007.)
» Inter-state Council is chaired by the Prime Minister and it meets thrice a year.

Finance Commission

» The Constitution provides for the establishment of a Finance Commission (Art. 270, 273, 275 and 280) by the President. The first Finance Commission was constituted in 1951.
» The Finance Commission consists of a Chairman and four other members.
»According to the qualifications prescribed by the Parliament, the chairman is selected among persons who have had experience in public affairs, while the members are selected among persons who :
  ★ are or have been or are qualified to be appointed judges of the High Court; or
  ★ have special knowledge of the finance and accounts of government; or
  ★ have had wide experience in financial matters and in administration; or
  ★ have special knowledge of economics.

» The members of the commission hold office for such period as may be specified by the President in his orders and are eligible for reappointment.
» The main functions or duties of the Finance Commission are :
  ★ To recommend to the President the basis for distribution of the net proceeds of taxes between the centre and states.
  ★ To recommend the principles which should govern the grants in-aid to be given to states out of the consolidated Fund of India.
  ★ To tender advice to the President on any other matter referred to the Commission in the interest of sound finance.
  ★ To suggest amounts to be paid to the states of Assam, Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal in lieu of the assignment of system of export duty on Jute products.

» The commission submits its recommendations to the President which are generally accepted by the Central Government. The recommendations of the Commission are applicable for a period of five years.

Planning Commission/NITI Aayog

» Planning Commission was not mentioned in the Constitution.
» Planning Commission was an economic advisory body set up by a resolution of the Union Cabinet in March, 1950.
» Pt. Jawahar Lai Nehru was the first and Narendra Modi is the last chairman of Planning Commission
» The Planning Commission consisted of the Chairman, four Ministers as part time members and seven full-time members.
» Prime Minister had been the Chairman of Planning Commission.
» Main functions of the Planning Commission were :
  ★ To prepare an integrated Five Year Plan for the most effective and balanced utilization of the country's resources for economic and social development.
  ★ To act as an advisory body to the Union Government and State Governments.

» On 15th August, 2014 the Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that a new institution would be formed in place of the Planning Commission.
» On 1st January, 2015 the 'NITI Aayog' was announced'.

NITI Aayog

» On the 1st January 2015, by resolution the Government of India constituted a 'NITI Aayog' (NITI stands for National Institution for Transforming India)
» The Prime Minister of India is the chairperson and Chief Ministers of all the States and Lt. Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands (UT) are the members of NITI Aayog's Governing Council.
» The Aayog will have five full-time members, two permanent members, four Union Ministers as ex-officio members and three Union Ministers as special invitees.
» Arvind Pangariya (An Indo-US economist and ex-chief Economist of Asian Development Bank) is the first Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog.
» The first meeting of the newly constituted planning body, the NITI Aayog was held on 6 February, 2015.

National Development Council (NDC)

» The National Development Council was formed in 1952, to associate the States in the formulation of the Plans.
» All members of the Union Cabinet, Chief Ministers of States, the Administrators of the Union Territories and member of the erstwhile Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog) are members and the Prime Minister of India is the Chairman of the NDC.
» Functions of the NDC are :
  ★ Review working of national plan.
  ★ Recommend measures to meet targets of national plan.

» It is an extra constitutional and extra legal body.

National Integration Council

» National Integration Council was set-up in 1986, to deal with welfare measures for the minorities on an All-India basis.
» It includes Union Ministers, Chief Ministers of State, representatives of National and Regional political parties, labour, women, public figures and media representatives. NDC is a non-constitutional body.