Montek retained as Plan panel deputy chief

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today reconstituted the Planning Commission. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who served as the deputy chairman of the panel in the earlier United Progressive Alliance regime, has been retained in the same capacity, a Prime Minister’s Office release said. This makes Ahluwalia the first person to get the post for a second consecutive term.

According to a member who did not wish to be identified, Singh, who is the chairman of the panel, called up the members on Thursday, inviting them to join the Commission.

Ahluwalia and members of the previous panel had submitted their resignations after the previous UPA government completed its term. They were asked to carry on their duties by Singh till the next panel was reconstituted.

New members of the commission include former member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Saumitra Chaudhuri, an economist with rating agency ICRA.

“I am honoured by this new responsibility. There are challenges ahead. Hope I live up to the expectations,” Chaudhuri told Business Standard.

Other first-time members of the panel are Pune University vice-chancellor Narendra Jadhav and Mihir Shah, secretary of Madhya Pradesh-based civil society group Samaj Pragati Sahayog.

The government has retained B K Chaturvedi, Abhijit Sen and Syeda Hameed in the reconstituted panel.

However, names of V L Chopra, B Mungekar, B N Yugandhar and Kirit Parikh did not figure in the new list.

The apex panel plays a crucial role in the budgetary process. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to present the Budget in the first week of July.