NITI Aayog gets overwhelming response for post of consultants, young professionals

Around 3,500 applications have been received for seven posts of consultants

NITI Aayog has received overwhelming response for the posts of consultants to employed as Officer on special duty and young professionals, which it advertised a few days back.

Officials in the know said that for the seven post of consultants which it wants engage to support the members and the vice-chairman, the Aayog has so far received around 3,500 applications, while for the 20 post of young professionals, it has received over 4,400 applications. The number of applicants is expected to substantially go up till the time the last date for submission ends.

Officials said the of the seven consultants, three would be attached with vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya and two each with members Bibek Debroy and V K Saraswat.

For the 20-odd young professionals, the bio-data of the selected candidates would be circulated among the members and the vice-chairman office depending upon their qualification and expertise, they will absorb.

For the consultants, NITI Aayog has advertised for people who can do research and policy work on various fields like transportation, legal areas, energy etc.

The minimum age limit is 50 years and the employment will be on contractual basis for one-year with a minimum emolument of Rs 1.55 lakh per month.

In the case of young professionals, officials said that the age limit is below 32 years and the interested candidate will be paid a minimum of Rs 40,000 per month (with a ceiling of Rs 70,000) which includes  transport allowance and there would be an annual increase of Rs 5,000. The advertisement said that candidates must have a master’s degree.

The Aayog is also in the midst of a massive restructure of its staff strength and plans to retain less than half of its over 1,100-odd staff, many of whom were on deputation from other ministries and departments.

“Through this restructuring process and employment of people and experts and others from outside, we are trying to become closer to the people,” a senior official said.

NITI Aayog was constituted in January 2015 to replace the decades old Planning Commission of India, the scrapping of which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first Independence Day speech. The Commission currently has one vice chairman and two members, along with a CEO.