Ten special invitees were added to the original five when the government reorganised the NITI Aayog on Tuesday. Among them were five ministers from the BJP’s allies: H D Kumaraswamy (JD-S), Jitan Ram Manjhi (HAM), Rajiv Ranjan Singh (JD-U), K R Naidu (TDP) and Chirag Paswan (LJP-Ram Vilas).
The notification states that economist Suman K. Bery will continue to serve as Vice Chairperson of NITI Aayog and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Chairperson. The government think-tank will still employ scientist V K Saraswat, agricultural economist Ramesh Chand, paediatrician V K Paul, and macroeconomist Arvind Virmani full-time. And BVR Subrahmanyam will continue to serve as CEO.
As an ex-officio member, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has taken the place of his predecessor, Narendra Singh Tomar. Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman are among the other ex-officio members.
Virendra Kumar (Social Justice and Empowerment), Jual Oram (Tribal Affairs), Annapurna Devi (Women and Child Development), J P Nadda (Health), Nitin Gadkari (Road Transport and Highways), and Rao Inderjit Singh (Statistics and Programme Implementation) are among the other special invitees.
Former special invitees Piyush Goyal and Ashwini Vaishnaw, both Union Ministers, are not on the list this time. Virendra Kumar, Gadkari, and Rao Inderjit Singh had previously received special invitations.
The included allies are: Kumaraswamy, who is in charge of Heavy Industries and Steel; Manjhi, who is in charge of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises; Rajiv Ranjan Singh, also known as Lalan Singh, who is in charge of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairy; Naidu, who is in charge of Civil Aviation; and Chirag Paswan, who is in charge of Food Processing Industries.
