Parameswaran Iyer to take over as CEO of NITI Aayog after Amitabh Kant leaves
After a long tenure of six years, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant is set to leave the government policy think tank at the end of June. He will be replaced by Parameswaran Iyer, former secretary of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, who headed the government’s Swachh Bharat Mission.
According to the notification issued by the Department of Personnel and Training, Iyer will have an initial tenure of two years.
A 1980 batch retired IAS officer (Kerala cadre), Kant took over as the CEO of NITI Aayog in 2016 – he last got a one-year extension in June 2021. During his time in the organization, Kant made policy push in areas related to industrial development, technology and investment. He is seen as playing a key role in the government’s flagship ‘Make in India’ plan and was also behind the Aspirational District Program, which aimed to improve socio-economic outcomes in some of the most backward districts.
He was also the chairman of Empowered Group-3, one of the 11 groups set up by the Center to tackle the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The group worked with the private sector, NGOs and international organizations for pandemic management activities, including the management of international aid.
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Earlier, as secretary of the then Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Kant spearheaded the Ease of Doing Business initiative, which led to the emergence of state-specific rankings.
Meanwhile, 63-year-old Iyer took voluntary retirement from the IAS in 2009 after serving 17 years. In 2016, he returned to the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation as Secretary. He spearheaded the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, a campaign to eliminate open defecation by building over 90 million toilets in rural India. He resigned from the position in July 2020, and later joined the World Bank in the US.
Iyer previously worked at the United Nations as Senior Rural Water Sanitation Specialist. He also worked with the then Mayawati government of Uttar Pradesh in the field of education.