By IANS,
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has appointed 14 members to the National Advisory Council in consultation with its chair Sonia Gandhi, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) announced Tuesday.
The members of the high-profile NAC include eminent scientists, academics, intellectuals and civil society activists. While four members of the previous NAC — Aruna Roy, Jean Dreze, N.C. Saxena and A.K. Shiva Kumar – have been renominated to the panel, the rest are new faces.
The new names include agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan, technocrat V. Krishnamurthy, also a member of Planning Commission, economist Narendra Jadhav, Mirai Chatterjee, coordinator of social security at NGO SEWA, civil rights activist Farah Naqvi, vice-chancellor of North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Pramod Tandon, and former IAS officer and social activist Harsh Mander.
Ram Dayal Munda, MP, entrepreneur Anu Aga of Thermax Ltd and Madhav Gadgil of Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, have also been nominated to the new NAC that is expected to push for inclusive growth and social justice.
In its last incarnation during the first tenure of the United Progressive Alliance, the NAC became identified with signature social sector reforms such as introduction of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Right to Information Act.
The NAC-II is expected to prioritise the Food Security Act.