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PM recasts economic, infrastructure panels

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today reconstituted his Economic Advisory Council. The council is expected to act as a think-tank and policy advisory body on various aspects of macro economic management.

The reconstituted council comprises Dr I G Patel, Prof P N Dhar, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Dr Kirit Parikh, Dr Amaresh Bagchi, Jagdish Shettigar, Dr Ashok Gulati, Dr Rakesh Mohan and Dr M Narasimham. It will provide a forum for a policy dialogue on crucial economic issues between the prime minister and the members of the council.

The present group has been constituted keeping in view the diverse specialities of its members in various sectors of the economy with focus on macro-economic stabilisation, fiscal management, infrastructure and agriculture, it was officially announced in New Delhi today.

Brajesh Mishra, principal secretary to the prime minister, will also be a member. N K Singh, secretary to the prime minister, will be the member-secretay to the council, the announcement said.

The prime minister also approved the reconstituted taskforce on infrastructure, set up last year to operationalise execution of the National Highways Development Project, development of five airports to world standards and to prepare an integrated transport policy for the country.

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K C Pant continues to head the taskforce while Union ministers Nitish Kumar, Sharad Yadav, Deepak Parekh and IDFC chairman Anand Mahindra and the secretaries of the ministries of surface transport, civil aviation and the department of expenditure will be the other members.

Shankar N Acharya, chief economic advisor in the ministry of finance, is also member-secretary while Ratan Tata will be a permanent invitee to the meeting of this body.

The taskforce is expected to evolve a policy framework for the development of highways in the country with active participation of the private sector. It will also take a view on the participation of the private sector in the management of the country's international airports and finalise a multi-modal integrated transport policy.

UNI

ALSO SEE

Sept 1998, Ashok Mitra's column: Vajpayee's Economic Advisory Council: Not a conclave of economists

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