NITI for States Platform

• 16 Mar 2024

Source: PIB

Why in News?

Recently, the Union Minister of Electronics & Information Technology inaugurated the 'NITI for States' platform, a digital initiative aimed at empowering states and union territories (UTs) in their pursuit of national development goals.

• The ‘Viksit Bharat Strategy Room’ at NITI Aayog was also inaugurated.

What is NITI for States Platform?

• About: Developed by NITI Aayog, “the NITI for States” platform serves as a repository of valuable resources, aiming to integrate data across states, centralising findings to inform future decisions by state governments based on data-driven insights.
  • The platform incorporates real-time data updation and monitoring, spanning 10 sectors and two cross-cutting themes.
    • Sectors include agriculture, education, energy, health, livelihoods and skilling, manufacturing, micro, small and medium enterprise, tourism, urban, water resources, and WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene).
    • Cross-cutting themes encompass gender and climate change.
• Features:
  • Extensive Knowledge Base: Curated best practices, policy documents, datasets, data profiles, and NITI Aayog publications.
  • Multilingual Accessibility: Inclusive access in major Indian languages and foreign languages.
  • Capacity Building Initiatives: Tailored digital training modules for officials at block, district, and state levels.
  • Expert Help Desk: Specialised guidance through partnerships with leading institutions.
  • Data Integration: Leverages data from the National Data & Analytics Platform (NDAP) for comprehensive insights.

What is the Viksit Bharat Strategy Room?

• The Viksit Bharat Strategy Room is an interactive space where users will be able to visualise data, trends, best practices and policies in an immersive environment and make a holistic assessment of any problem statement.
• It also allows users to interact through voice-enabled AI, and connect to multiple stakeholders through video conferencing.
  • It is designed to become a plug-and-play model to enable replication at state, district and block levels.

What are the NITI Aayog’s Initiatives Driving Development Across States?

• Development Support Services for States (DSSS): NITI Aayog assists with project planning, financing, and implementation to ensure successful infrastructure creation.
  • It also aims to establish Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) as governance tools supporting larger development agenda.
• Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP): It aims to quickly and effectively transform 112 most under-developed districts across the country.
  • NITI Aayog works with them to improve core metrics in education, health, nutrition, and basic infrastructure.
• Composite Water Management Index (CWMI): It provides an annual snapshot of the water sector status and water management performance of the states and union territories (UTs) in India.
• SDG India Index: This index tracks India's progress towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
  • It provides valuable data for states to identify areas needing greater focus and promotes collaborative action.
• SATH (Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital): It was launched in 2017 to identify and build three ‘role model’ States for the school education sector.
  • Jharkhand, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh were chosen for the same.
• Atal Innovation Mission (AIM): It aims to create and promote an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship across the country at school, university, research institutions, MSME and industry levels.
  • Recently, Atal Innovation Mission and Meta collaborated to launch Frontier Technology Labs (FTLs) in schools across India.
    • AIM has already established 10,000 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) in schools nationwide, focusing on fostering curiosity and creativity among students.
    • FTLs are an advanced version of ATLs, equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure to empower students in frontier technologies like AI, AR/VR, Blockchain, Cybersecurity, Robotics, 3D Printing, and IoT.

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Question (PYQ)

Q. Atal Innovation Mission is set up under the (2019)

(a) Department of Science and Technology
(b) Ministry of Labour and Employment
(c) NITI Aayog
(d) Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

Ans: (c)

Q. The Government of India has established NITI Aayog to replace the (2015)

(a) Human Rights Commission
(b) Finance Commission
(c) Law Commission
(d) Planning Commission

Ans: (d)