Names cleared for National Advisory Council

The National Advisory Council (NAC) is likely to be reconstituted with some new members. While four members of the previous NAC--Aruna Roy, Jean Dreze, NC Saxena and AK Shiva Kumar--will remain in the panel, six new faces will be inducted.

Agriculture scientist MS Swaminathan, technocrat V Krishnamurthy, Planning Commission member and economist Narendra Jadhav, coordinator of social security at NGO SEWA, Mirai Chatterjee, Muslim civil rights activist Farah Naqvi and former IAS officer and social activist, Harsh Mander will be the new members.

Congressman Jairam Ramesh, an important element in the previous council, is absent from the list. Whether any Congress members will be included in the list is yet to be decided.

The advisory body--for the flagship National Rural Employment Guarantees Programme (NREGP)--for the ministry of rural development that was packed with Congress leaders, had evoked criticism from the civil society.