Parameswaran Iyer to be CEO of Niti Aayog after Kant’s term
Premium- The appointments committee of the cabinet also said in its order that Iyer’s appointment is for a term of two years on the same terms as of Kant.
NEW DELHI : The government on Friday appointed Parameswaran Iyer, a former officer of the Indian Administrative Service, as the chief executive officer (CEO) of federal policy think tank NITI Aayog. Iyer succeeds Amitabh Kant, whose tenure ends on 30 June.
Iyer’s appointment is for a term of two years on the same terms as that of Kant, the appointments committee of the cabinet said.
Iyer, a former secretary to the central government, is an expert on water and sanitation and is the programme manager of 2030 Water Resources Group, a public, private, civil society partnership hosted by the World Bank Group. He brings together administrative experience and deep knowledge about climate change and the water crisis in many parts of the world.
India is also facing an acute water crisis, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who chairs NITI Aayog, to launch a scheme, Atal Jal Yojana, in 2019 for the benefit of eight worst affected states, including Maharashtra, Haryana, Karnataka, and Rajasthan, where the situation is very worrisome. NITI Aayog had earlier said that about 600 million people faced high to extreme water stress and about 200,000 people die every year because of inadequate access to safe water.
Kant has been the key driver of several government initiatives such as ‘Make in India’, ‘Startup India’ and ‘Incredible India’ and in NITI Aayog he has been driving initiatives to develop the most backward districts in the country.