Dr Rajiv Kumar, the NITI-Aayog vice-chairman designate, is not a stranger to Lutyens' Delhi, and the ways of the people who live and work here. A senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, one of the best known think tanks that has contributed much to governance in the capital and the economist who did his PhD from Lucknow University and DPhil from Oxford, Kumar is all too familiar with the ways of the political leaders and the bureaucrats—dealing with them was one of the experiences that the incumbent Dr Arvind Panagariya, a teacher from Columbia University, would want to forget.
But more importantly, Kumar has a great rapport with the corporate sector and the industry, with his stints in two apex chambers of commerce and industry—the CII and the FICC. And he is not a newcomer to government service, having been a member of the National Security Advisory Board.
He has turned out to be a dark horse in the race for the job as NITI Aayog vice-chairman, However, with a cabinet rank, and working directly under the prime minister, Kumar's proximity with Narendra Modi is well known. He has given lots of suggestions and ideas to Modi, even without being associated with the government's think tank.
The vice-chairman designate will ensure that the industry and corporate sector are galvanised by out of the box ideas of government, to make them contribute to India's economic growth. Kumar has been votary of the idea that India's growth cannot piggy back ride global growth, and needs a lot more that can be done by the Indian corporate sector. In his view, the government is reluctant to be seen as working in tandem with the corporates. He also feels that growth numbers cannot be just numbers, and people will have to feel the growth.
