Arvind Panagariya, an Indian-American economist, was appointed as the Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog on Monday. NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog, an ambitious project by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is set to replace the 65-year-old Planning Commission in a few weeks.
The following are the five important things you need to know about the newly appointed Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog.
1. Panagariya's profile boasts of working at the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organisation and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in various capacities. The Ph. D degree holder from Princeton University has also acted as the Chief Economist at the Asian Development Bank.
2. Panagariya was a professor of Indian Political Economy at Columbia University. He has also been a Professor of Economics and co-director for Center for International Economics at University of Maryland at College Park
3. Panagariya is a disciple of eminent economist Jagdish Bhagwati with whom he has co-authored two books, The Economics of Preferential Trade Agreements, 1996 and Lectures on International trade, 1998. Panagariya has written and/or edited 10 books in all. His last book, India: The emerging Giant, 2008, was hailed as the 'definitive book on the Indian Economy' by Fareed Zakaria and 'a tour de horizon and tour de force' by his mentor Jagdish Bhagwati.
4. Panagariya has been known to be an ardent supporter of Narendra Modi and has openly praised Gujarat's economic policies. In an interview to dna in February 2014, before the general elections, he had said, 'Narendra Modi is best positioned to deliver growth from among the various participant for the PM slot.' He had also mentioned during the same interview that he had proposed the idea to dismantle Planning Commission if the NDA Government to power. On Monday, Panagariya has been announced as the Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog of the committee which has replaced the same Planning Commission.
Read full interview from February 2014, at: http://www.dnaindia.com/money/interview-narendra-modi-is-best-positioned-to-deliver-growth-arvind-panagariya-1962252
5. Panagariya has written guest columns for The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and Outlook among others. He has also appeared on numerous national and foreign television shows. He also features on Bloomberg TV India's 'Transforming India With Arvind Panagariya'.
It will be interesting to see how Panagariya with years of experience does the balancing act of keeping up with demand from state governments without compromising on his key policy goals.
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