Prime Minister Narendra Modi has cleared the reconstitution of National Institution for Transforming India (Niti) Aayog and retained economist Rajiv Kumar as its vice-chairman. Former DRDO chief V K Saraswat, agriculture expert Ramesh Chand and noted paediatrician from AIIMS V K Paul have been retained as members.

The Centre said defence minister Rajnath Singh, home minister Amit Shah, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar will Niti’s ex-officio members. Transport and MSME minister Nitin Gadkari, social justice minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot, railway minister Piyush Goyal and planning, statistics and programme implementation minister Rao Inderjit Singh will be special invitees.

Special Invitees

• Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways; Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
• Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment
• Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways; and Minister of Commerce and Industry
• Rao Inderjit Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme
• Implementation and Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Ministry of Planning