Daybreak - Four in 10 quit Niti Aayog in a year. Time to think or tank?

Episode Date: October 10, 2023

The NITI Aayog was created in 2015 to replace the decades-old Planning Commission. The idea was to adopt a more bottom-up approach to make India competitive in today's global economy. With CEO Amitabh Kant as the leader, the think tank progressed to become a thriving, open, and empowering space for public policy experts, including those from non-government backgrounds. But ever since Kant's stint ended at the think tank in 2022, the walls between the leadership and non-govt employees at the think tank are getting thicker. From what appears, NITI Aayog is going back to the top down approach, quite like the Planning Commission back in the day.This is making its non-govt employees quite unhappy. In fact 4 out of every 10 of them have quit this year.Tune in.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India's first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories

Hi, this is Rohan Dharma Kumar. If you've heard any of the Ken's podcasts, you've probably heard me, my interruptions, my analogies, and my contrarian takes on most topics. And you might rightly be wondering why am I interrupting this episode too. It's for a special announcement. For the last few months, I and Sita Raman Ganeshan, my colleague and the Ken's deputy editor, have been working on an ambitious new podcast. It's called Intermission.

We want to tell the secret sauce stories of India's greatest companies. Stories of how they were born, how they fought to survive, how they build their organizations and culture, how they manage to innovate and thrive over decades, and most importantly, how they're poised today. To do that, Sita and I have been reading books, poring over reports, going through financial statements, digging up archives, and talking to dozens of people. And if that wasn't enough, we also decided to throw in video into the mix. Yes, you heard that right. Intermission has also had to find its footing in the world of multi-camera shoots in professional studios, laborious editing and extensive post-production.

Sita and I are still reeling from the intensity of our first studio recording. Intermission launches on March 23rd. To get alert, as soon as we release our first video. episode, please follow intermission on Spotify and Apple Podcast or subscribe to the Ken's YouTube channel. You can find all of the links at the ken.com slash I am. With that, back to your episode. It's a funny story. Remember the man who made the now infamous viral, India has too much democracy comment? Please give yourself a pat on the back if you thought Amitab Kant. At the time, he was the CEO of Nita Ayyog, the government of India's public policy think tank that was

established by the BJP-led government in 2015. To put it in the words of the great alternate hip-hop band the Black-eyed piece, the new government was like, the planning commission is so 2000 and late. We need a new public policy body that can make India competitive in today's global economy. Okay, on a serious note, the former finance minister, Arun Jately put it quite well, actually. He said, and I'm quoting, the 65-year-old planning commission was relevant in a command economy structure, but not any longer.

India is a diversified country and its states are in various phases of economic development along with their own strengths and weaknesses. In this context, a one-size-fits-all approach to economic planning is obsolete. End quote. You get it right. Basically, the idea was to adopt a. more bottom-up approach. And I'm sorry for digressing.

Now, coming back to Mr. Amitab Khan. He served as the CEO of Nita Ayyog for six years. And the interesting part of the story is that actually, his tenure is remembered by Niti Ayok staff for being the most democratic. He was known for his open-door approach that allowed the flow of fresh ideas from government as well as non-government professionals alike. Non-government employees at the Niti Ayyog include PhD scholars, academics, professionals who come with degrees from universities like Howard and Oxford or with work experience at big companies. Both category of employees were given equal importance under Amitab Kant.

In fact, former employees reminisce what it was like outside the CEO's Glassdoor office on the fifth floor of the Niti Bhavan building in Central Delhi. They remember a very lively, bustling and often noisy environment because more than 100 non-government employees used to sit right there. One of them told my colleague the Ken's reporter Anushka Jain that there was practically no wall or boundary between there and Kansir's office. But ever since his stint ended at the think tank, the walls are getting thicker, the boundaries are getting wider. It almost seems like the Niteyayayy is going back to the top-down approach, quite like the Planning Commission back in the day. And this is making a section of its employees quite unhappy. In fact, four out of every 10 of them have quit this year.

Ironic, isn't it? Welcome to Daybreak, a business podcast from the Ken. I'm your host, Nicka Sharma, and I don't chase the new cycle. Instead, thrice a week on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays, I will come to you with one business story that is worth understanding and worth your time. Today is Wednesday, the 11th of October. Remember back in school when we had to study about post-independence India and nation building? Planning commission was an important chapter then. I still remember. The first five-year plan, bring the country out of poverty by focusing on the

primary sector like agriculture. And then we had the second five-year plan that focused on the public sector, especially heavy industry, and so on and so forth. Cut to now, seven decades later, and instead of the planning commission, we have the Nite Ayyog that is putting together policies on green energy and artificial intelligence. We've come a long way, haven't we? Since it came to be in January 2015, the Neteyayog has played a decisive role in coming up with and implementing flagship policy initiatives. like Ayushman-Bhara'Han-Bharat, Pridhan-Mantri-Jarogya Yojana, which has shaped insurance in public health care.

It has also designed aspects of fame to scheme or the faster adoption and manufacturing of hybrid and electric vehicle scheme to boost electric vehicle adoption in India. And it's also played a role in the setting up of a bunch of production-linked incentive schemes or PLI schemes. But if you go behind the scenes like our Anushka did, something is definitely shifting inside Niti Ayyog. In Anushka's own words, it is a cultural shift that makes plain Niti Ayyog's increasingly bureaucratic and centralized nature, which in turn is making it take a more conservative approach. Stay tuned to find out more about this.

Let me put it directly. The non-government employees of Nitiayyog, are quite unhappy. From sitting outside Amitab Khan's office, bursting with fresh ideas to now seeing their role in the government think tank diminish right in front of their eyes. So it is no wonder that the 8-year-old Neity Ayyogue is seeing an exodus of talented policy thinkers. At least a hundred of them have quit since Khan's tenure came to an end last year.

A senior official who ended a five-year stint at Nityayao earlier this year told the Ken that it's an extraordinary number of exits never seen before. Some officials estimate the number of people who have quit this year to be between 100 and 150. Now, for an organization that employed around 360 officials at the end of last year, that is a huge number of people quitting. So basically, four out of every 10 people at the Niti Ayyog have quit. And core departments such as the Knowledge and Innovation Hub and the Data Monitoring and Evaluation Office were the worst hit. Niti Ayyog did not respond to the Ken's questions about their staff exodus. But before we get to why this is happening,

let me quickly take you through the structure of the think tank. One half of it is bureaucrats or members of the civil services. The other half is hired from the private sector. The NIDIO mandates that these non-government professionals help bring innovations by forming ties within academia and leveraging networks within their respective industries. An early employee of the think tank explained to us why it was important to have non-bureaucrats as employees.

And I'm quoting, we were trying to build a high-quality think tank at Niti Ayyog and that cannot be done with only generalists who come from either the IAS or any other civil service. You need domain specialists. End quote. This attitude formed a very important part of the culture that Amitab Kant instilled at the think tank. He was someone who was known for his unb bureaucratic ways and he did. struck a comfortable working relationship with the private sector.

From what we've heard, he was very approachable. But ever since he left, it's almost the opposite at Niti Ayyog. Coming up next, what changed after Kant left the government thing tank? Stay tuned. You know what they say about places? It is the people that make them. The story of the shift inside of Niti Ayyog has got a lot to do with exactly the this. After Kant finished his tenure as the CEO, the government brought in a retired bureaucrat to take

his place, Parmeshwaram Ayyar of the Swatch-Bharath mission fame. Ayer came in and almost recalibrated the think tank's focus towards what he was good at, social development stuff like sanitation, clean water and the likes. Under Kant, it was more about electric mobility, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology. You can see, right, it is a world of a difference. And now you can imagine what it must have been like for those especially non-government employees who worked under Kant. Plus, Ayer's style of working was quite the opposite of his predecessor. This is from what we've heard from multiple former and current Nitya Ayurk officials. Within three months, he built himself a team of four to five bureaucrats and a few non-government entrants. With this

small team, Ayer reshuffled verticals within the agency and gave them some priority projects. A needy Iog official told the Kenanam, quoting, whatever these teams were working on was important, others were not. End quote. Naturally, the seeds of disgruntledment gradually grew. In fact, it got worse because Ayer's chosen group of officials poached the best talent from other teams into their team. This obviously created a lot of resentment towards the CEO's team within the organisation. Ayer, however, quit in February this year and moved on to World Bank.

He was followed by BVR Subramaniam, a retired IAS officer who had previously worked in the Prime Minister's office. By now, though, the damage had been already done. A bunch of Niti Ayurga officials had already begun to leave. And then, even though Subramanian did, dismantled the team that was put in place by Ayer, he kind of continued the top-down culture at Niti Ayyub that Ayr had started. So, from being an empowered organization that was full of life, brimming with ideas,

to now seeing this exodus of talent. Niti Ayyog is at the risk of turning into just another directionless agency. Daybreak is produced from the Newsroom of the Ken, India's first subscriber-focused business news platform. What you're listening to is just a small sample of our subscriber-only offerings. A full subscription unlocks daily long-form feature stories, newsletters, subscriber-only apps and podcast extras. Head to the ken.com and click on the red subscribe button on the top of the website.

I am Snigda Sharma, your host, and today's episode was edited by my colleague Rajiv Sien.