National Advisory Council
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 4 June 2004 |
| Dissolved | 25 May 2014 |
| Jurisdiction | Government of India (Union Government) |
| Headquarters | New Delhi |
| Agency executive |
|
| Website | Official site |
The National Advisory Council (NAC) of India was an advisory body set up by the first United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to advise the Prime Minister of India. Sonia Gandhi served as its Chairperson for much of the tenure of the UPA.
History
The NAC was set up on 4 June 2004 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during the tenure of the first UPA government, to implement the National Common Minimum Programme.[1]
Organization (2010 - 2014)
The NAC - II consisted of a mix of activists, bureaucrats, economists, politicians and industrialists.
- Sonia Gandhi - Chairperson
- Mihir Shah - Member, Planning Commission[2]
- Narendra Jadhav - former bureaucrat & Member, Planning Commission
- Ashis Mondal - Director of Action for Social Advancement (ASA), Bhopal[3]
- Prof. Pramod Tandon - Vice Chancellor, North Eastern Hill University
- Deep Joshi - Social activist
- Farah Naqvi - Social activist
- Dr. N. C. Saxena - former bureaucrat
- Anu Aga - Businessperson
- A. K. Shiva Kumar - Economist[4]
- Mirai Chatterjee - Coordinator, SEWA, Ahmedabad
- Virginius Xaxa - Deputy Director, TISS, Guwahati Campus
The members who served on the NAC and later resigned are
- Aruna Roy - former bureaucrat
- Prof. M.S. Swaminathan - Agricultural scientist and MP
- Yogendra Yadav - Psephologist and political commentator
- Dr. Ram Dayal Munda - MP
- Jean Dreze - Development economist
- Harsh Mander - former Bureaucrat
- Madhav Gadgil - Ecologist
- Jayaprakash Narayan (Lok Satta)- Former Bureaucrat[5]
Achievements
The NAC was responsible for the drafting of several key bills passed by both UPA governments, including the Right to Information Act, Right to Education Act, Employee Guarantee Act, and the Food Security Bill.
Criticisms
The concept of a NAC has been criticized by opposition parties and some scholars as not being in keeping with India's constitution, because of the possibility that it might emerge as an alternative cabinet.[6][7][8][9] However an alternative view was that the existence of the NAC could deepen democracy by facilitating greater pre-legislative/pre-policy consultation.[10] The NAC also finalized draft recommendations for a mandatory pre-legislative consultative process[11] which have remarkable potential to democratize lawmaking.[12] The council ceased to exist when the Narendra Modi government took office after the 2014 Indian general elections.
References
- ↑ ' + val.created_at + ' (2010-03-29). "Sonia Gandhi returns as Head of National Advisory Council (NAC)". NDTV.com. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
- ↑ "About Us: Planning Commission, Government of India". Planningcommission.nic.in. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
- ↑ Archived January 28, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Smita Gupta (2010-06-10). "Manmohan acknowledges key role of NAC". The Hindu. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
- ↑ Jayaprakash Narayan (Lok Satta)
- ↑ Archived September 22, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Mathew Idiculla (2010-06-02). "NAC: think tank, super cabinet or unconstitutional?". GovernanceNow.com. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
- ↑ "'Formation Of Nac Unconstitutional; Sonia Super PM'". Financial Express. 2004-07-19. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
- ↑ "Sonia as NAC head is psuedo-Constitutional [sic] power centre: BJP". Indian Express. 2010-03-30. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
BJP on Tuesday said that Congress President Sonia Gandhi's appointment as Chairperson of National Advisory Council has created a 'psuedo-Constitutional power centre' which would lead to 'redundancy' of the post of Prime Minister.
- ↑ "624 Comment". India-seminar.com. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
- ↑ Archived August 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "Laws for citizens, and by them too". Indian Express. 2013-05-20. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
External links
- Editorial in the Times of India on NAC.
- statement by George Fernandez, leader of the opposition on the formation of NAC.