On Tuesday, the government announced the reconstitution of NITI Aayog, expanding the number of special invitees from five to eleven. This includes five ministers from the BJP’s allies: H D Kumaraswamy (JD-S), Jitan Ram Manjhi (HAM), Rajiv Ranjan Singh (JD-U), K R Naidu (TDP), and Chirag Paswan (LJP-Ram Vilas).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues to serve as the Chairperson, with economist Suman K Bery remaining the Vice Chairperson, according to the official notification. The think-tank’s full-time members, including scientist V K Saraswat, agricultural economist Ramesh Chand, paediatrician V K Paul, and macro-economist Arvind Virmani, retain their positions, along with CEO BVR Subrahmanyam.
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has replaced his predecessor Narendra Singh Tomar as an ex-officio member. Other ex-officio members include Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Additional special invitees comprise 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). Notably, Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Ashwini Vaishnaw, who were special invitees earlier, are not on the current list. However, Gadkari, Virendra Kumar, and Rao Inderjit Singh remain special invitees.
Among the BJP allies newly included in the NITI Aayog, Kumaraswamy oversees Heavy Industries and Steel, Manjhi manages Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, Rajiv Ranjan Singh handles Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying, Naidu is responsible for Civil Aviation, and Chirag Paswan is in charge of Food Processing Industries.
Comments