Former Finance Secretary, Ratan P Watal has been appointed as the Principle Adviser for social sector in Niti Aayog. He has been appointed to the post for three years. The new appointment for Watal comes a fortnight after his two-month extended tenure ended in April. He was to retire in February. However, Watal later got a two-month extension as the Finance Secretary. Watal, a retired IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, had been Finance Secretary between August last year and April this year.

Did You Know?

• The National Institution for Transforming India Aayog  or NITI Aayog is a Government of India policy think-tank established by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to replace the Planning Commission.
• The stated aim for NITI Aayog’s creation is to foster involvement and participation in the economic policy-making process by the State Governments of India.
• It has adopted a “bottom-up” approach in planning which is a remarkable contrast to the Planning Commission’s tradition of “top-down” decision-making.
• One of the important mandates of NITI Aayog is to bring cooperative competitive federalism and to improve centre state relation .
• This is well reflected when Indian Prime Minister appointed three sub-groups of chief ministers for making recommendations in three important areas (centrally sponsored schemes, skill development and Swachh Bharat).
• NITI Aayog will provide opportunities, that the previous Planning Commission structure lacked, to represent the economic interests of the State Governments and Union Territories of India.