RAJIV KUMAR TO TAKE OVER AS NITI AAYOG VICECHAIRMAN

NEW DELHI The government on Saturday appointed economist Rajiv Kumar as the new vicechairman of the NITI Aayog, five days after Arvind Panagariya resigned from the post.

Kumar is expected to take charge after August 31 when Panagariya officially vacates the position. Kumar holds a DPhil in economics from Oxford University and has authored books on economics and national security.

He is currently a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research at Delhi and was also on the National Security Advisory Board from 2006 to 2008 when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was in power.

He has served as secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), director and chief executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and chief economist of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).

Kumar has also served on the Asian Development Bank and in the ministries of industries and finance.

Panagariya surprised many when said last week he was returning to academics and would resume teaching at Columbia University abruptly ending his tenure.

Official sources also said that Dr Vinod Paul, professor and chair of the department of paediatrics of neonatology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at New Delhi, has been appointed a member of the government’s policy think-tank.