NITI Aayog to hire seven consultants at monthly salary of Rs 1.55 lakh each

NEW DELHI: NITI Aayog wants to hire seven consultants as officers on special duty (OSD) at a monthly remuneration of Rs 1.55 lakh each, a move that will reduce the workload of vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya and members Bibek Debroy and VK Saraswat at the government’s think tank.

The consultants, who are expected to be experts in areas of economics and social issues, IT, transportation, legal issues and engineering, will assist the core team of the Aayog in its day-to-day research work.

“NITI Aayog seeks to engage seven consultants to be designated as OSD initially for a tenure of one year for carrying out specific tasks in accordance with General Financial Rules 2005,” the Aayog said in an advertisement posted on its website. The think tank is fast becoming a onestop shop for all policy research, a task that under the previous government was shared between the Planning Commission and high-profile Economic Advisory Council headed by former central banker C Rangarajan.

Officials said the lack of domain experts in many areas is restricting the progress of work at the Aayog. The members of the Aayog are appointed directly by the Prime Minister’s Office. Panagariya alone is looking after 10 divisions and 20 key ministries of the government while Debroy has three divisions, 18 ministries and 15 states under him, and Saraswat has 15 ministries and 17 states, making it a humongous task for them to handle.

Barring two, all positions advertised by the Aayog require at least a postgraduate degree, with age limit not exceeding 50 years.