Centre reconstitutes NITI Aayog, brings in allies as special invitees
- The government reconstituted the NITI Aayog, increasing the number of special invitees from five to 11,
Highlights:
- The Prime Minister remains the Chairperson and economist Suman K Bery will continue to be the Vice Chairperson of NITI Aayog, according to the notification.
- Scientist V K Saraswat, agricultural economist Ramesh Chand, pediatrician V K Paul and macro-economist Arvind Virmani will also continue to be full-time members of the government think-tank. BVR Subrahmanyam will also remain the CEO.
- The new Union Agriculture Minister has replaced his predecessor as an ex-officio member.
- The other ex-officio members include Finance Minister, Home Minister and Defence Minister.
- Among the other special invitees are Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari (Road Transport and Highways), J P Nadda (Health), Virendra Kumar (Social Justice and Empowerment), Jual Oram (Tribal Affairs), Annapurna Devi (Women and Child Development) and Rao Inderjit Singh (Statistics and Programme Implementation).
- Among the allies who have been included,
- Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel portfolio,
- Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises,
- Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying,
- Minister for Civil Aviation, and
- Minister for Food Processing Industries.
Prelims Takeaway:
- Niti Aayog
- India Council