Niti Aayog may rope in Mohandas Pai, Deutsche's Sanyal as full time members

In a first, the government’s think tank NITI Aayog has reportedly proposed to rope in Sanjeev Sanyal, Deutsche Bank’s global strategist based in Singapore, and T V Mohandas Pai, chairman, Manipal Global Education, and former member of the Infosys as full-time members. According to an Indian Express report, Sanyal is to help Prime Minister Narendra Modi deliver on his promise to develop 100 “smart cities”. [caption id=“attachment_2086911” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PIB Image[/caption] Economist and a protege of Jagdish Bhagwati, Arvind Panagariya, was in January appointment as the first head of NITI Aayog, the successor to the Planning Commission. The aim of the think tank is to provide Governments at the central and state levels with relevant strategic and technical advice across the spectrum of key elements of policy. Another mandate is to look at existing welfare programmes, and suggest improvements. It’s current members include Chairperson: Prime Minister Narendra Modi CEO: Sindhushree Khullar Vice Chairperson: Arvind Panagariya Ex-Officio Members: Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Suresh Prabhu and Radha Mohan Singh Special Invitees: Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Zubin Irani and Thawar Chand Gehlot Full-time Members: Bibek Debroy & VK Saraswat Governing Council: All Chief Ministers and Lieutenant Governors of States and Union Territories