Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said the idea behind having a new body replacing the Planning Commission is to give greater empowerment to states and to fit the command structure as per the current situation.
"One of the key ideas and suggestions behind the setting up of the Niti Aayog been that India has today changed and the conditional structure and command also has to alter. There has to be a greater empowerment of the states. The same central scheme which is applicable to Punjab may not be applicable to Tripura," Jaitley said while speaking at the 'Bengal Global Business Summit 2015' here.
"But to mandate earlier a 130 central schemes, now 67 central schemes on the principle of one size fits all being applicable to every state is no longer acceptable," he added.
Jaitley further said the Niti Aayog will comprise of the Prime Minister, some central ministers, the chief ministers to financially empower the states.
"And, therefore, this is going to further lead the empowerment of the states is concerned," he added.
The Union Government had earlier on January 1 renamed the Planning Commission as the 'Niti Aayog'.
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The decision to change its name came months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that it will be replaced by a new body.
This move came after Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh met the Chief Ministers of all states last year to discuss various aspects relating to restructuring of the Planning Commission.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister had sought the views of the Chief Ministers regarding the structure, scope and role of the new body that will replace the Planning Commission.