 "NITI Aayog reconstituted, Union ministers from NDA allies find place")
The Narendra Modi-led NDA government has reconstituted NITI Aayog, its apex think tank, with four full-time members and 15 union ministers, including from BJP allies, as either ex-officio members or special invitees.
The list of special invitees this time has grown from five in 2021 to 11. Special Invitees are also privy to deliberations on key policy matters in the central think tank.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains the chairperson of NITI Aayog.The core composition of the Aayog stays the same, with economist Suman Bery as vice-chairman, former commerce secretary BVR Subrahmanyam as chief executive office, and VK Paul, VK Saraswat, Virmani, and Ramesh Chand as members, according to an official notification issued late on Tuesday night.
Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been added to the ex-officio members list, replacing former agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
Chouhan is also the Minister of Rural Development.
The Centre has dropped Union Minister for Railways, Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw from the special invitees list, along with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.
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Civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, who is currently the minister of heavy industries and steel, are also part of the special invitee list.
Others inducted into Niti Aayog include Hindustani Awam Morcha leader and former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, Janata Dal United leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh (Lalan Singh), Lok Janshakti Party leader Chirag Paswan, and BJP President JP Nadda. All these leaders are in the Union cabinet. Jual Oram, BJP leader from Odisha who returned as the tribal affairs minister, has also been included.
The prime minister has approved the revised composition of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), the notification said.
The government has reconstituted the NITI Aayog following changes in the council of ministers.
The Aayog was last reconstituted in 2021, and was modified in 2022 to accommodate former chief economic adviser Arvind Virmani.
(With agency inputs)