NAC may be given a quiet burial

NEW DELHI: The high-profile National Advisory Council (NAC) is likely to die a natural death. The NAC has been in a limbo ever since UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi resigned as its chairperson in the wake of the Office of Profit controversy on March 23, and work now appears to have come to a standstill in the organisation.

The NAC office on Akbar Road, which is within walking distance from its former chairperson's residence, bears a deserted look these days. The ten existing members of the NAC now function from their homes, and since Sonia Gandhi's resignation, work at the organisation has come to a standstill.

It's now been five months since Sonia quit as chairperson of the NAC, and the body has been put in the list of the offices that do not constitute an office of profit. However, according to sources in the Congress president's office, she is disinclined to return to the NAC. The buzz in official circles is that given her reluctance to come back to the NAC, the body will be given a quite burial.

The NAC was set up by the UPA government on May 31 in 2004 to oversee the implementation of the Common Minimum Programme. It was also meant to be an interface between the government and the civil society, and it can claim credit for some of the policy initiatives taken by the UPA government like the Right to Information (RTI) and the National Rural Employment guarantee scheme.