Zee Media Bureau
Secretary of the erstwhile Planning Commission, Sindhushree Khullar is most likely to become the new CEO of NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India).
Arvind Panagariya, a free-market economist who teaches at Columbia University in the US, was on Monday appointed the first Vice-Chairman of the newly created NITI Aayog along with six members and three special invitees.
Economist Bibek Debroy and former DRDO chief V K Saraswat were appointed as full-time members by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will be the Chairman of the body that replaces the 65-year-old Socialist-era Planning Commission.
Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Suresh Prabhu and Radha Mohan Singh were appointed ex-officio members, while Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Zubin Irani and Thawar Chand Gehlot will be special invitees.
62-year-old Panagariya is an Indian-American economist and Professor of Economics at Columbia University. He will be the first Vice-Chairman of the body. The previous avatar, the Planning Commission, had a Deputy Chairperson at the helm.
The new body has been set up by a resolution of Union Cabinet as was done in the case of Planning Commission which was established on March 15, 1950 by the Nehru-led Cabinet.
