NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reconstituted the National Institution of Transforming India (NITI) Aayog by inducting a few Cabinet ministers. Rajiv Kumar will continue as Vice Chairman along with full-time members V K Saraswat, Ramesh Chand and V K Paul. But economist Bibek Debroy was dropped. Also, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant’s name was missing in the list.
Debroy had been appointed full-time member when the Aayog was formed. Home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajanth Singh, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar will be ex-officio members. Transport minister Nitin Gadkari, commerce and industry and railway minister Piyush Goyal, social justice minister Thawar Chand Gehlot, and statistics minister Rao Inderjit Singh will be special invitees to the panel.
The council, the top body of NITI Aayog, includes all chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union territories, several Union ministers and senior government officials. Modi will chair the fifth meeting of NITI Aayog’s Governing Council on June 15 to discuss various issues, including water management, agriculture and security.