Columbia University Professor to Join Institute of Transforming India

Headquartered in New Delhi, the newly constituted think tank National Institute of Transforming India Ayog will advise government on social and economic issues.

NEW DELHI, January 5 (Sputnik) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed Professor Arvind Panagariya, a noted US economist of Indian origin and Professor of Economics at Columbia University, as vice-chairman of the newly constituted think tank National Institute of Transforming India (NITI) Ayog, on Monday.

NITI Ayog will be headed by the Indian prime minister.

Other noted full time members of the unprecedented institution include Bibek Debroy, an Indian economist and Professor at the New Delhi Centre for Policy Research and Vijay Kumar Saraswat, who previously served as the Chief Scientific Adviser to the India’s Minister of Defense.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu and Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh will be ex-officio members of the NITI Ayog. Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Thawar Chand Gehlot and Smriti Zubin Irani will be the Institute’s special invitees.

On January 1, the Indian Prime Minister disbanded the ten year old Planning Commission and replaced it with the NITI Ayog. Headquartered in New Delhi, NITI Ayog will advise government on social and economic issues.