Centre reconstitutes NITI Aayog; appoints 15 Union ministers to it
Leaders from NDA allies like JD(S)’s HD Kumaraswamy, HAM’s Jitan Ram Manjhi, JD(U)’s Rajiv Ranjan Singh and TDP’s Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu are part of the think tank
The central government on Tuesday (July 16) reconstituted the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, with four full-time members and 15 union ministers, including from BJP allies, as either ex-officio members or special invitees.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and economist Suman K Bery will continue in their role of chairman and vice-chairman of the body respectively, official sources said.
Scientist VK Saraswat, agricultural economist Ramesh Chand, paediatrician VK Paul and macro-economist Arvind Virmani will also continue to be full-time members of the government think-tank.
Ex-officio members, invitees
The four ex-officio members will be Union ministers Rajnath Singh (Defence), Amit Shah (Home), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Agriculture) and Nirmala Sitharaman (Finance).
Modi has approved the revised composition of the NITI Aayog, the notification said.
The special invitees in the reconstituted 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), Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh (Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying).
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).
Kumaraswamy belongs to NDA partner JD(S), Manjhi is from Hindustani Awam Morcha, Rajiv Ranjan Singh is from JD(U), Naidu belongs to TDP and Paswan is from Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).
Role of think tank
National Institution for Transforming India, better known as 'NITI Aayog', was constituted in 2015 when the Modi government chose to scrap the 65-year-old Planning Commission.
"Embracing a vision for holistic development and innovation, NITI Aayog is on a journey of transformative initiatives that promise to redefine India's future," the Aayog said in a Facebook post.
The government has reconstituted the NITI Aayog following changes in the council of ministers.
