niti-aayog-restructured-modi-adds-15-nda-ministers

The NDA government headed by Narendra Modi has reorganised the NITI Aayog, appointing four full-time members and 15 union ministers, including from BJP allies, as ex-officio members or special invitees.

 

As per an official notification, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will continue to serve as the chairperson of NITI Aayog, while economist Suman K Bery will remain the vice-chairperson.

 

Scientist VK Saraswat, agricultural economist Ramesh Chand, paediatrician V K Paul, and macro-economist Arvind Virmani will retain their full-time positions at the government think tank.

 

Union Ministers Rajnath Singh (Defence), Amit Shah (Home), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Agriculture), and Nirmala Sitharaman (Finance) will be the four ex-officio members.

 

The notification stated that the prime minister had given approval for the revised composition of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog).

 

The reconstituted NITI Aayog will include special invitees such as Union ministers Nitin Gadkari for Road Transport and Highways, Jagat Prakash Nadda for Health, H D Kumaraswamy for Heavy Industries and Steel, Jitan Ram Manjhi for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, and Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.

 

Other special invitees will be Union Ministers Virendra Kumar for Social Justice and Empowerment, Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu for Civil Aviation, Jual Oram for Tribal Affairs, Annapurna Devi for Women and Child Development, Chirag Paswan for Food Processing Industries, and Rao Inderjit Singh for Statistics and Programme Implementation.

 

Kumaraswamy is affiliated with the NDA partner JD-S, Manjhi is associated with Hindustani Awam Morcha, Rajiv Ranjan Singh is from JD-U, Naidu belongs to TDP, and Paswan is from the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).

 

The NITI Aayog, also known as the National Institution for Transforming India, was established in 2015 when the Modi government decided to replace 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 NITI Aayog has been reconstituted by the government due to changes in the council of ministers.