Centre Reconstitutes NITI Aayog; Includes NDA Allies (image: niti.gov.in/verticals/governing-council-secretariat)
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the reconstitution of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog). In the reformulation, 15 union ministers, including those from BJP-led NDA allies and four full-time members, formed part of the apex public policy think tank of the government. The revision of the composition came as a result of changes in the council of ministers.
As per official notification, PM Modi and economist Suman K Bery will continue to remain as the chairperson and vice-chairperson of NITI Aayog, respectively.
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Former ISRO Director General and Scientist VK Saraswat, agricultural economist Ramesh Chand, paediatrician Dr VK Paul and renowned economist Arvind Virmani will continue as the full-time members of the think tank.
The four ex-officio members from the Modi cabinet are Union Ministers Rajnath Singh (Defence), Amit Shah (Home), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Agriculture) and Nirmala Sitharaman (Finance).
The special invitees in the revised NITI Aayog will be Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari (Road Transport and Highways), Jagat Prakash Nadda (Health), HD Kumaraswamy (Heavy Industries and Steel), Jitan Ram Manjhi (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises), and Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh (Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying).
Apart from them, other special invitees are Union Ministers Virendra Kumar (Social Justice and Empowerment), Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu (Civil Aviation), Jual Oram (Tribal Affairs), Annpurna Devi (Women and Child Development), Chirag Paswan (Food Processing Industries) and Rao Inderjit Singh (Statistics and Programme Implementation).
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The special invitees include members from NDA partners, as Kumaraswamy belongs to Janata Dal (Secular), Jitan Ram Manjhi belongs to Hindustani Awam Morcha, Rajiv Ranjan Singh is from Janata Dal (United), and Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu belongs to Telugu Desam Party and Chirag Paswan from Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).
The Modi government formulated NITI Aayog in 2015 scrapping the 65-year-old Planning Commission.
