Prez to chair first meet of panel set up to plan events to mark Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary

President Ram Nath Kovind will tomorrow chair the first meeting of a 'national committee' set up to plan events to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, former prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh and H D Deve Gowda are members of the committee, which also has senior political leaders and several chief ministers as its members.

The committee is mandated to approve policies, plans, programmes and also supervise and guide the commemoration of Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary in 2019.

Union ministers, and BJP veteran L K Advani, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, BSP chief Mayawati, SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, RSS joint general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale are also part of the 114-member committee.

The government has set aside Rs 150 crore to mark the 150th birth anniversary of the Mahatma.

Government sources said Prime Minister Modi recently wrote to the members of the panel to attend the meeting, where they can brainstorm on ideas which can be implemented to mark the occasion.

According to a notification, the committee will decide on the dates for the detailed programme of the celebrations.

"The recommendations of the committee will be considered by the government for implementation, subject to extant rules, instructions and practices," it said.

The Culture Ministry is the nodal body for the planned celebrations.