Bihar's Progress in Basic Indicators | Bihar | 08 Oct 2024

Why in News?

Recently, NITI Aayog's CEO highlighted Bihar's achievements in key development areas such as education, health and governance.

Key Points

Performance in Education and Health: Bihar is making notable progress in basic indicators like education and health, expected to catch up with national standards in a few years.
Aspirational Blocks: Improved governance and service delivery are transforming aspirational blocks into inspirational ones.
AI in Governance: Bihar is the first Indian state to implement an AI-driven decision support system for policymakers and mid-career officers.
BIPARD's Role: The Bihar Institute of Public Administration and Rural Development (BIPARD) introduces three advanced labs focused on data-driven governance, simulation-based training, and collaborative policy formulation.
- Introduction of New Labs at BIPARD:
  - GenNext Lab: This lab will leverage secure artificial intelligence to train administrators in data-driven decision-making, predictive analysis, and governance optimization.
  - Niti Shala Lab: An immersive learning environment using advanced simulation technologies. Trainees will engage with real-world scenarios to enhance their governance skills.
  - Viksit Chintan Kaksh: A collaborative space for state officers to strategize and deliberate on pivotal policy decisions. Equipped with communication and data-sharing tools to drive policy consensus and governance reforms.

NITI Aayog

Background:
- Planning Commission was replaced by a new institution NITI Aayog on 1^st January, 2015 with emphasis on ‘Bottom –Up’ approach to envisage the vision of Maximum Governance, Minimum Government, echoing the spirit of ‘Cooperative Federalism’.
- It has two Hubs.
  - Team India Hub acts as interface between States and Centre.
  - Knowledge and Innovation Hub builds the think-tank acumen of NITI Aayog.
Composition:
- Chairperson: Prime minister
- Vice-Chairperson: To be appointed by Prime-Minister
- Governing Council: Chief Ministers of all states and Lt. Governors of Union Territories.
- Regional Council: To address specific regional issues, Comprising Chief Minister and Lt. Governors Chaired by the Prime Minister or his nominee.
- Ad-hoc Membership: Two members in ex-officio capacity from leading Research institutions on a rotational.
- Ex-Officio membership: Maximum four from the Union council of ministers to be nominated by the Prime Minister.
- Chief Executive Officer: Appointed by the Prime-minister for a fixed tenure, in the rank of Secretary to Government of India.
- Special Invitees: Experts, Specialists with domain knowledge nominated by the Prime Minister.
Objectives:
- To foster cooperative federalism through structured support initiatives and mechanisms with the States on a continuous basis, recognizing that strong States make a strong nation.
- To develop mechanisms to formulate credible plans at the village level and aggregate these progressively at higher levels of government.
- To ensure, on areas that are specifically referred to it, that the interests of national security are incorporated in economic strategy and policy.
- To pay special attention to the sections of our society that may be at risk of not benefiting adequately from economic progress.
- To provide advice and encourage partnerships between key stakeholders and national and international like-minded Think Tanks, as well as educational and policy research institutions.
- To create a knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurial support system through a collaborative community of national and international experts, practitioners and other partners.
- To offer a platform for resolution of inter-sectoral and inter-departmental issues in order to accelerate the implementation of the development agenda.
- To maintain a state-of-the-art Resource Centre, be a repository of research on good governance and best practices in sustainable and equitable development as well as help their dissemination to stakeholders.