Arvind Panagariya takes charge as Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog

Eminent Economist Arvind Panagariya has taken charge as first Vice-Chairman of the newly-created National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog on 13 January 2015.
After taking charges, he was briefed about newly created NITI Aayog by its CEO Sindhushree Khuallar and other senior officials.
About Arvind Panagariya

• He is an Indian-American economist and Professor of Economics at Columbia University. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Economics from prestigious Princeton University.
• He was an ex-Chief Economist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
• He has also worked for the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in various capacities.
• He has written around 10 books and the latest was India: The Emerging Giant published in 2008.

Background
On 5 January 2015, Union government had announced the appointment of Vice- Chairman, 2 full time members, 4 ex-officio members (Union ministers) and 3 special invitees of Aayog.
They were appointed after government on 1 January 2015 had announced that NITI Aayog has replaced the 65-year old Planning Commission.
It should be noted that Prime Minister is Ex-Officio Chairman of NITI Aayog.
Prime Minister Naredra Modi also had appointed Economist Bibek Debroy and former DRDO chief V K Saraswat as full-time members of Aayog.
While, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Suresh Prabhu and Radha Mohan Singh were appointed as the Ex-Officio members of Aayog. Other Union Ministers like Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Zubin Irani and Thawar Chand Gehlot are Special Invitees in Aayog.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2015