The names of Deep Joshi, social activist and winner of prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for 2009, and Harsh Mander, who resigned from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 2002 after the Gujarat riots are doing the rounds for appointment as members of the revived National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by Sonia Gandhi.
The names of N C Saxena, a former IAS officer and Dr K Srinath Reddy, renowned cardiologist and personal physician to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, are also in circulation for inclusion in the high-profile Council.
Two MPs are likely to be inducted in the new set up from which Union ministers are likely to be kept out, sources said.
Under the provisions of the NAC, an MP being appointed as a member of the NAC, he or she cannot draw any perks, allowances or remuneration from the Council.
Gandhi, who was reappointed the chairperson of the Council, is finalising the composition of the new team that may be put in place in a couple of days. The advisory body would guide the government in giving a boost to planned key programmes including the proposed Food Security Bill.
The Council is Gandhi's brainchild and it was first set up after UPA-I came to power in 2004.
V Krishnamurthy, NC Saxena, Dr D Swaminadhan, CH Hanumantha Rao, Sehba Hussain, Madhav Chavan, AK Shiva Kumar, professor Mrinal Miri and Jairam Ramesh were members of the first NAC, whose term ended on March 31, 2008.
