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 Page 1


ADMINISTRATION 
AND SUPPORT 
UNITS
SECTION-IX
Page 2


ADMINISTRATION 
AND SUPPORT 
UNITS
SECTION-IX
INTRODUCTION
The NITI Administration functions in 
accordance with the service rules and 
Government of India instructions issued 
by DoPT. The administration is concerned 
with all aspects of service conditions of 
officers and staff, recruitments, promotions, 
postings, transfers, retirements, 
deputations, court cases related to service 
matters, and provides information under 
the RTI Act on these matters as well. 
It is also entrusted with the strategic 
communications of NITI’s policies in the 
public domain. The Hindi section continued 
its efforts towards the greater use of Hindi 
in official work during the year.
ADMINISTRATION 
AND SUPPORT 
UNITS
169
Annual Report 2021–22
Page 3


ADMINISTRATION 
AND SUPPORT 
UNITS
SECTION-IX
INTRODUCTION
The NITI Administration functions in 
accordance with the service rules and 
Government of India instructions issued 
by DoPT. The administration is concerned 
with all aspects of service conditions of 
officers and staff, recruitments, promotions, 
postings, transfers, retirements, 
deputations, court cases related to service 
matters, and provides information under 
the RTI Act on these matters as well. 
It is also entrusted with the strategic 
communications of NITI’s policies in the 
public domain. The Hindi section continued 
its efforts towards the greater use of Hindi 
in official work during the year.
ADMINISTRATION 
AND SUPPORT 
UNITS
169
Annual Report 2021–22
ATTRACTING BRIGHTEST TALENT FOR TEAM NITI
NITI Aayog’s staff is a mix of Government officials as well as domain experts and specialists. The 
latter are engaged through open advertisements on a lateral induction basis. To permit and facilitate 
this necessary induction of specialists, the UPSC waived off its mandatory consultation. Consequently, 
NITI Aayog embarked upon new forms of recruitment for attracting the brightest professionals and 
specialists from a talent pool available countrywide. 
The total number of personnel in the erstwhile Planning Commission was around 1500. After NITI 
Aayog was constituted, a task force was set up under the Chairmanship of the then CEO, NITI Aayog, 
with Secretary, DoPT, Establishment Officer and Secretary, Department of Expenditure, as members, 
which went through the structure of the organization. The task force emphasized the need for inducting 
thinking professionals rather than filling regular duty posts and recommended that the large number of 
supporting staff be shed. As a result, the staff strength in NITI Aayog was reduced to a total number 
of 500 persons, including both professionals and support staff. This has since risen to 714 with the 
addition of staff in the Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office and the Atal Innovation Mission.
Over the years, with NITI Aayog’s evolution as the Government’s premier policy think tank, it has 
been successful in attracting the professional talent from both within and outside the Government. 
In order to attract the best professionals available, NITI Aayog finalized the flexi-pool guidelines, in 
consultation with Department of Personnel and Training, to bring in domain experts/specialists from 
various sectors—Government, public and private sectors as well as multinational and multilateral 
institutions. These guidelines have been rigorously followed and have resulted in a substantial intake 
of high-quality professionals in NITI Aayog.
During 2021–22, recruitment for the regular GCS posts was conducted by the UPSC at various levels—
from Economic Officers to Joint Advisers. In addition, following the flexi-pool guidelines, NITI Aayog 
successfully completed the recruitment for various professional posts, which were re-designated to 
indicate their professional nature—Senior Lead, Lead, Senior Specialists, Specialists, Senior Associates 
and Associates. All of them have been appointed on short-term contacts or fixed-term-deputation 
basis and selected through a fair, transparent and rigorous procedure. 
It is a matter of immense satisfaction for Team NITI that it has been able to attract talent of the highest 
order—many of whom have taken significant pay cuts to work for the organization. We have been 
able to attract professionals who want to make a nationwide impact as NITI Aayog offers them an 
unparalleled canvas and opportunity to utilize their skills to make a difference in their chosen sectors. 
With the accumulated experience in successfully attracting and recruiting talent independently, NITI 
Aayog feels much more confident of being able to attract the professional talent required to meet the 
requirement of a vibrant think tank. 
In addition, in terms of consultancy guidelines NITI Aayog has been successful in engaging domain 
experts through the well-defined and regulated consultancy guidelines under the extant provisions of 
General Financial Rules 2017.  
Currently, NITI Aayog has a judicious balance of administrative and domain professionals who join 
NITI through various recruitment channels. The total number of personnel and their category-wise 
distribution in NITI Aayog, including the staff engaged in DMEO and AIM, is given below in Table I. 
It may be pointed out that currently, the number of professionals recruited laterally or engaged as 
consultants numbers 87 (from the Additional Secretary to Under Secretary levels and excluding young 
professionals) as compared to 115 staff directly engaged or deputed from Government channels. This 
balance will be further improved in the coming years. 
170
Annual Report 2021–22
Administration and Support Units
Page 4


ADMINISTRATION 
AND SUPPORT 
UNITS
SECTION-IX
INTRODUCTION
The NITI Administration functions in 
accordance with the service rules and 
Government of India instructions issued 
by DoPT. The administration is concerned 
with all aspects of service conditions of 
officers and staff, recruitments, promotions, 
postings, transfers, retirements, 
deputations, court cases related to service 
matters, and provides information under 
the RTI Act on these matters as well. 
It is also entrusted with the strategic 
communications of NITI’s policies in the 
public domain. The Hindi section continued 
its efforts towards the greater use of Hindi 
in official work during the year.
ADMINISTRATION 
AND SUPPORT 
UNITS
169
Annual Report 2021–22
ATTRACTING BRIGHTEST TALENT FOR TEAM NITI
NITI Aayog’s staff is a mix of Government officials as well as domain experts and specialists. The 
latter are engaged through open advertisements on a lateral induction basis. To permit and facilitate 
this necessary induction of specialists, the UPSC waived off its mandatory consultation. Consequently, 
NITI Aayog embarked upon new forms of recruitment for attracting the brightest professionals and 
specialists from a talent pool available countrywide. 
The total number of personnel in the erstwhile Planning Commission was around 1500. After NITI 
Aayog was constituted, a task force was set up under the Chairmanship of the then CEO, NITI Aayog, 
with Secretary, DoPT, Establishment Officer and Secretary, Department of Expenditure, as members, 
which went through the structure of the organization. The task force emphasized the need for inducting 
thinking professionals rather than filling regular duty posts and recommended that the large number of 
supporting staff be shed. As a result, the staff strength in NITI Aayog was reduced to a total number 
of 500 persons, including both professionals and support staff. This has since risen to 714 with the 
addition of staff in the Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office and the Atal Innovation Mission.
Over the years, with NITI Aayog’s evolution as the Government’s premier policy think tank, it has 
been successful in attracting the professional talent from both within and outside the Government. 
In order to attract the best professionals available, NITI Aayog finalized the flexi-pool guidelines, in 
consultation with Department of Personnel and Training, to bring in domain experts/specialists from 
various sectors—Government, public and private sectors as well as multinational and multilateral 
institutions. These guidelines have been rigorously followed and have resulted in a substantial intake 
of high-quality professionals in NITI Aayog.
During 2021–22, recruitment for the regular GCS posts was conducted by the UPSC at various levels—
from Economic Officers to Joint Advisers. In addition, following the flexi-pool guidelines, NITI Aayog 
successfully completed the recruitment for various professional posts, which were re-designated to 
indicate their professional nature—Senior Lead, Lead, Senior Specialists, Specialists, Senior Associates 
and Associates. All of them have been appointed on short-term contacts or fixed-term-deputation 
basis and selected through a fair, transparent and rigorous procedure. 
It is a matter of immense satisfaction for Team NITI that it has been able to attract talent of the highest 
order—many of whom have taken significant pay cuts to work for the organization. We have been 
able to attract professionals who want to make a nationwide impact as NITI Aayog offers them an 
unparalleled canvas and opportunity to utilize their skills to make a difference in their chosen sectors. 
With the accumulated experience in successfully attracting and recruiting talent independently, NITI 
Aayog feels much more confident of being able to attract the professional talent required to meet the 
requirement of a vibrant think tank. 
In addition, in terms of consultancy guidelines NITI Aayog has been successful in engaging domain 
experts through the well-defined and regulated consultancy guidelines under the extant provisions of 
General Financial Rules 2017.  
Currently, NITI Aayog has a judicious balance of administrative and domain professionals who join 
NITI through various recruitment channels. The total number of personnel and their category-wise 
distribution in NITI Aayog, including the staff engaged in DMEO and AIM, is given below in Table I. 
It may be pointed out that currently, the number of professionals recruited laterally or engaged as 
consultants numbers 87 (from the Additional Secretary to Under Secretary levels and excluding young 
professionals) as compared to 115 staff directly engaged or deputed from Government channels. This 
balance will be further improved in the coming years. 
170
Annual Report 2021–22
Administration and Support Units
S. No. Level of Officers Government
Lateral Entrant 
Professionals
Other 
Professionals 
Outsourced
Total
1
Additional Secretary and 
equivalent
6 2 — 8
2
Joint Secretary and 
equivalent
10 2 6 18
3 Director and equivalent 21 23 — 44
4
Deputy Secretary and 
equivalent
27 3 10 40
5
Under Secretary and 
equivalent
51 19 22 92
6
Section Officer and 
equivalent
84 19 *74 177
7
Assistant Section Officer 
and equivalent
55 — — 55
8 Other support staff 163 — — 163
8 Outsourced Personnel — — 117 117
Total 417 68 229 714
*Young Professionals 
The NITI Aayog internship scheme was initiated in 2016. It has elicited significant response and was 
continued in 2021–22. Strict and transparent guidelines for internship were formulated in November 
2018. Further, in pursuance of the guidelines, a comprehensive internship portal was set up, which 
has enabled decentralization and streamlining of this scheme, leading to efficiency and effectiveness. 
The scheme seeks to engage students pursuing undergraduate/postgraduate degrees or research 
scholars enrolled in any recognized university/institute within India or abroad as interns. 
Launched in 2016, the NITI Fellowship Programme seeks to tap into the best minds from across the 
world. It has continued in accordance with the fellowship guidelines of 29 December 2016. NITI Aayog 
has taken on board ten expert professionals as  fellows under the scheme.
COMMUNICATIONS AND SOCIAL MEDIA CELL
The Communications and Social 
Media Cell comprises the charts, 
maps and equipment and photostat 
units, and the editorial and social 
media cell.
The charts, maps and equipment 
unit is a centralized designing and 
technical support unit of NITI Aayog. 
It provides logistical, technical and 
equipment support to all Verticals 
and Divisions of NITI Aayog. During 
FY 2021–22, the unit provided support for PM-level meetings as well as for various other virtual 
meetings and seminars.
171
Administration and Support Units
Annual Report 2021–22
Page 5


ADMINISTRATION 
AND SUPPORT 
UNITS
SECTION-IX
INTRODUCTION
The NITI Administration functions in 
accordance with the service rules and 
Government of India instructions issued 
by DoPT. The administration is concerned 
with all aspects of service conditions of 
officers and staff, recruitments, promotions, 
postings, transfers, retirements, 
deputations, court cases related to service 
matters, and provides information under 
the RTI Act on these matters as well. 
It is also entrusted with the strategic 
communications of NITI’s policies in the 
public domain. The Hindi section continued 
its efforts towards the greater use of Hindi 
in official work during the year.
ADMINISTRATION 
AND SUPPORT 
UNITS
169
Annual Report 2021–22
ATTRACTING BRIGHTEST TALENT FOR TEAM NITI
NITI Aayog’s staff is a mix of Government officials as well as domain experts and specialists. The 
latter are engaged through open advertisements on a lateral induction basis. To permit and facilitate 
this necessary induction of specialists, the UPSC waived off its mandatory consultation. Consequently, 
NITI Aayog embarked upon new forms of recruitment for attracting the brightest professionals and 
specialists from a talent pool available countrywide. 
The total number of personnel in the erstwhile Planning Commission was around 1500. After NITI 
Aayog was constituted, a task force was set up under the Chairmanship of the then CEO, NITI Aayog, 
with Secretary, DoPT, Establishment Officer and Secretary, Department of Expenditure, as members, 
which went through the structure of the organization. The task force emphasized the need for inducting 
thinking professionals rather than filling regular duty posts and recommended that the large number of 
supporting staff be shed. As a result, the staff strength in NITI Aayog was reduced to a total number 
of 500 persons, including both professionals and support staff. This has since risen to 714 with the 
addition of staff in the Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office and the Atal Innovation Mission.
Over the years, with NITI Aayog’s evolution as the Government’s premier policy think tank, it has 
been successful in attracting the professional talent from both within and outside the Government. 
In order to attract the best professionals available, NITI Aayog finalized the flexi-pool guidelines, in 
consultation with Department of Personnel and Training, to bring in domain experts/specialists from 
various sectors—Government, public and private sectors as well as multinational and multilateral 
institutions. These guidelines have been rigorously followed and have resulted in a substantial intake 
of high-quality professionals in NITI Aayog.
During 2021–22, recruitment for the regular GCS posts was conducted by the UPSC at various levels—
from Economic Officers to Joint Advisers. In addition, following the flexi-pool guidelines, NITI Aayog 
successfully completed the recruitment for various professional posts, which were re-designated to 
indicate their professional nature—Senior Lead, Lead, Senior Specialists, Specialists, Senior Associates 
and Associates. All of them have been appointed on short-term contacts or fixed-term-deputation 
basis and selected through a fair, transparent and rigorous procedure. 
It is a matter of immense satisfaction for Team NITI that it has been able to attract talent of the highest 
order—many of whom have taken significant pay cuts to work for the organization. We have been 
able to attract professionals who want to make a nationwide impact as NITI Aayog offers them an 
unparalleled canvas and opportunity to utilize their skills to make a difference in their chosen sectors. 
With the accumulated experience in successfully attracting and recruiting talent independently, NITI 
Aayog feels much more confident of being able to attract the professional talent required to meet the 
requirement of a vibrant think tank. 
In addition, in terms of consultancy guidelines NITI Aayog has been successful in engaging domain 
experts through the well-defined and regulated consultancy guidelines under the extant provisions of 
General Financial Rules 2017.  
Currently, NITI Aayog has a judicious balance of administrative and domain professionals who join 
NITI through various recruitment channels. The total number of personnel and their category-wise 
distribution in NITI Aayog, including the staff engaged in DMEO and AIM, is given below in Table I. 
It may be pointed out that currently, the number of professionals recruited laterally or engaged as 
consultants numbers 87 (from the Additional Secretary to Under Secretary levels and excluding young 
professionals) as compared to 115 staff directly engaged or deputed from Government channels. This 
balance will be further improved in the coming years. 
170
Annual Report 2021–22
Administration and Support Units
S. No. Level of Officers Government
Lateral Entrant 
Professionals
Other 
Professionals 
Outsourced
Total
1
Additional Secretary and 
equivalent
6 2 — 8
2
Joint Secretary and 
equivalent
10 2 6 18
3 Director and equivalent 21 23 — 44
4
Deputy Secretary and 
equivalent
27 3 10 40
5
Under Secretary and 
equivalent
51 19 22 92
6
Section Officer and 
equivalent
84 19 *74 177
7
Assistant Section Officer 
and equivalent
55 — — 55
8 Other support staff 163 — — 163
8 Outsourced Personnel — — 117 117
Total 417 68 229 714
*Young Professionals 
The NITI Aayog internship scheme was initiated in 2016. It has elicited significant response and was 
continued in 2021–22. Strict and transparent guidelines for internship were formulated in November 
2018. Further, in pursuance of the guidelines, a comprehensive internship portal was set up, which 
has enabled decentralization and streamlining of this scheme, leading to efficiency and effectiveness. 
The scheme seeks to engage students pursuing undergraduate/postgraduate degrees or research 
scholars enrolled in any recognized university/institute within India or abroad as interns. 
Launched in 2016, the NITI Fellowship Programme seeks to tap into the best minds from across the 
world. It has continued in accordance with the fellowship guidelines of 29 December 2016. NITI Aayog 
has taken on board ten expert professionals as  fellows under the scheme.
COMMUNICATIONS AND SOCIAL MEDIA CELL
The Communications and Social 
Media Cell comprises the charts, 
maps and equipment and photostat 
units, and the editorial and social 
media cell.
The charts, maps and equipment 
unit is a centralized designing and 
technical support unit of NITI Aayog. 
It provides logistical, technical and 
equipment support to all Verticals 
and Divisions of NITI Aayog. During 
FY 2021–22, the unit provided support for PM-level meetings as well as for various other virtual 
meetings and seminars.
171
Administration and Support Units
Annual Report 2021–22
The Editorial and Social Media Cell is currently being managed by two full-time functionaries, who 
regularly interact and liaise with all Verticals, attached bodies, and senior officers of NITI Aayog, the 
creative and digital media amplification agencies, and the Press Information Bureau to provide editorial, 
news, social media and PR-related support.
GOVERNING COUNCIL SECRETARIAT
The Governing Council Secretariat (GCS) coordinates the activities of all the Verticals/Divisions/Units of 
NITI Aayog. It also circulates various correspondence received from different Ministries/Departments/
States/UTs to the concerned Verticals. The Secretariat carried out a number of activities in 2021–22:
1. It coordinated the sixth meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog on 20 February 
2021, under the Chairmanship of the Hon’ble Prime Minister. The Secretariat also organized 
a detailed interaction preceding the sixth Governing Council Meeting on 6 February 2021, 
with over 250 senior State officials, including Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries of 
State departments, and Principal Secretaries/Secretaries to Chief Ministers. The feedback 
from this meeting was duly incorporated while curating the agenda for the Governing 
Council Meeting. The Secretariat coordinated with the respective Ministries/Departments 
for the action taken report on the decisions taken during the fifth meeting of the Governing 
Council and the preparation of agenda notes for the sixth meeting.
2. As a coordination focal point, the Secretariat organizes weekly senior officers’ meetings, 
under the Chairmanship of the Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog.
3. The Secretariat organized meetings of the senior management committee, which has 
recently been reconstituted as the senior management council, under the Chairmanship 
of Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog.
4. GCS coordinated and collated information from the Verticals/Divisions for various references 
received from the PMO and Cabinet Secretariat, such as achievements of NITI Aayog, 
policy decisions about NITI Aayog in last six years, action taken report on the points 
emanating from Independence day speeches of various years.
HINDI SECTION
The Hindi Section continued its efforts towards the greater use of Hindi in official work during the 
year, keeping in view the annual programme issued by the Department of Official Language, Ministry 
of Home Affairs, and the Official Language Policy of the Union, for implementation of the Official 
Language Act, 1963, and Official Language Rules, 1976, made thereunder.
Quarterly progress reports were sent to the Department of Official Language and those received 
from attached offices were reviewed regularly. The Hindi Section translated various documents, like 
the Annual Report, Demands for Grants, material related to the Parliamentary Standing Committees, 
Cabinet Notes, Parliament Questions, Notifications, MoUs, forms and drafts, letters, etc.
Implementation of Section 3(3) of Official Language Act
In pursuance of the Official Language Policy, all documents covered under Section 3(3) of the Official 
Language Act, 1963, are issued both in English and Hindi. The annual programme and other orders/
instructions issued by the Department of Official Language were forwarded to all the Sections of NITI 
Aayog and its attached offices for information and directives.
172
Annual Report 2021–22
Administration and Support Units