Bhalla quits as PMEAC member
Eminent economist Surjit Bhalla, who had raised eyebrows over the involvement of NITI Aayog in the release of re-stated economic growth numbers of the previous UPA regime, has resigned as a member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC).
"I resigned as a part-time member of PMEAC on December 1," he said in a Twitter post.
He broke the news a day after Urjit Patel's unexpected resignation as the RBI Governor amid a standoff with the government over a range of issues.
The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) is an independent body constituted to give advice on economic and related issues to the government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi constituted the council, which was a regular feature in the previous UPA regime, in September last year.
The six-member council consists of economists of high repute and eminence and is headed by Bibek Debroy. It has four part-time members and a member secretary in Ratan P Watal, a former bureaucrat.
A Prime Minister's Office spokesman said that Bhalla's resignation has been accepted by the Prime Minister.
In an another tweet, Bhalla said, "...as I explained in my 6.30 am tweet I resigned from the PMEAC and the reasons were also given - consultancy with CNN IBN and work on a book about Indian elections since 1952 and my resignation was effective Dec 1 when I joined CNN IBN." Bhalla, who appeared to be usually supportive of the government policies, in a newspaper column on December 1 raised questions about the involvement of Niti Aayog in releasing the so-called back-series GDP data.
"I, along with others, also found it inappropriate for Niti Aayog to be directly involved in the presentation of statistical data by the CSO (Central Statistics Office)," he wrote in the December 1 article. He, however, in the article supported lowering of the GDP growth during the UPA regime.
Niti Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar was alongside Pravin Srivastava, Chief Statistician of India, when the CSO on November 28 released the revised GDP growth rates for 2006 to 2012 period on grounds that data was recalibrated to reflect a more accurate picture of the economy.