National Advisory Council headed by Sonia Gandhi

National Advisory Council

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

National Advisory Council
Sonia Gandhi and the fourteen members
Agency overview
Formed	June 2004
Jurisdiction	Government of India (Union Government)
Headquarters	New Delhi
Agency executive	Sonia Gandhi, Chairman
Website
Official site

The National Advisory Council (NAC) of India is an advisory body set up to monitor the implementation of the UPA government's manifesto, the Common Minimum Programme(CMP). It is a brainchild of Congress party president, Sonia Gandhi. It is also informally called as UPA's Planning Commission for social agenda. On 23 March 2006, Sonia gandhi had resigned from the post of chairmanship of the NAC after Office of profit controversy. On 29 March 2010, she was back as the chairperson of NAC.

Contents  [hide] 1 History 2 Organisation 3 NAC - II (2010 - present) 3.1 Focus areas 4 NAC - I (2004 - 2006) 4.1 Achievements 5 Criticisms 6 References 7 External links

[edit]History

NAC was set up on 4 June 2004 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during UPA-I, to implement the National Common Minimum Programme, or CMP. ^[1]

[edit]Organisation

The leader of the Congress party, Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of NAC, holding the status of a cabinet minister. The other members of this council are nominated by the prime minister in consultation with the chairperson. The funds for the functioning of this council are provided from the budgetary allocation for the Prime Minister's Office.

[edit]NAC - II (2010 - present)

The NAC - II is a mix of activists, retired bureaucrats, economists, politicians and an industrialist.

• Sonia Gandhi - Chairman
• Prof. M.S. Swaminathan - Agricultural scientist and MP
• Dr. Ram Dayal Munda - MP
• Aruna Roy - Retired bureaucrat
• Jean Dreze - Development economist
• Narendra Jadhav - former bureaucrat & Member, Planning Commission
• Harsh Mander - Retired Bureaucrat
• Prof. Pramod Tandon - Vice Chancellor, North Eastern Hill University
• Deep Joshi - Social activist
• Madhav Gadgil - Ecologist
• Farah Naqvi - Social activist
• Dr. N. C. Saxena - former bureaucrat
• Anu Aga - Businesswoman
• A. K. Shiva Kumar - Economist^[2]
• Mirai Chatterjee - Coordinator, SEWA, Ahmedabad

The NAC secretariat has Rita Sharma as its Secretary.^[3][4]

[edit]Focus areas

Natural resource management, including revitalisation of agriculture, Development of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Welfare of minorities Poverty elimination and employment generation Land rights and land reforms Right to education, disadvantaged children

Health security and medical insurance Social security and safety net for the disadvantaged groups Urban poverty Development of the northeast Special Component plan for Scheduled Castes and the tribal sub-plan for Scheduled Tribes.

[edit]NAC - I (2004 - 2006)

• Sonia Gandhi - Chairman UPA and Congress party president
• M.S. Swaminathan - Agricultural scientist
• Aruna Roy - Social activist
• Jean Dreze - Development economist
• C.H. Hanumantha Rao - Economist
• Madhav Chavan - Educator, founder Pratham
• Sehba Hussain - Founder, Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA)
• A. K. Shiva Kumar - Economist
• Jairam Ramesh - Politician
• Jayaprakash Narayan (Lok Satta) - Politician and former bureaucrat
• V. Krishnamurthy
• Dr. N. C. Saxena - former bureaucrat
• Mrinal Miri - Educator

[edit]Achievements

• NREGA
• Right to Information Act

The RTE act neglected the constitutional rights of tribal councils in north east India, which are the bodies having controlling powers over Elementary Education in their respective areas.

[edit]Criticisms

The NAC has been criticized by opposition parties and scholars as not in keeping with India's constitution, and that it would emerge as an alternative, unelected cabinet. ^[5][6][7][8]