C Rangarajan back as head of economic panel

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday reconstituted his Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC), bringing back veteran economist C Rangarajan as its head and inducting two new members.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday brought back noted economist, C Rangarajan as head of his five-member Economic Advisory Council, for the second time.

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Rangarajan, 77, resigned as Rajya Sabha MP, and will take over as chairman of the important council on Wednesday. The veteran economist had earlier been in the post between 2005 and 2008, before he was nominated to the upper house of Parliament.

“I have resigned from Rajya Sabha and will take over as head of the council tomorrow,” Rangarajan said.

A former Reserve Bank Governor, Rangarajan has varied experience having served as Planning Commission member, Chairman of the 12th Finance Commission and as Governor of Andhra Pradesh.

The other new members of the council are Suman Bery, Director General of the National Council of Applied Economic Research, and V. S. Vyas, President, Asian Society of Agricultural Economists.

The other economists retained as members are Saumitra Chaudhuri, member, Planning Commission, and Govinda Rao, Director, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP).