Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, shakes hands with newly appointed Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Ashok Lahiri. (PMO via PTI photo)

The government has reconstituted NITI Aayog by appointing Ashok Lahiri as the new vice-chairman and four new members in the think tank’s biggest reshuffle since it was set up in 2015.AIIMS Delhi director M Srinivas has been named member along with Science and Technology Secretary Abhay Karandikar and honorary professor KV Raju of Chanakya University.Gobardhan Das, director of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal, who contested the 2021 assembly elections in West Bengal on a BJP ticket, has also been appointed member, Rajeev Gauba remains the only member who was part of the previous team.The revival of NITI Aayog has been under discussion since the NDA returns to power in 2024, as the think tank had lost steam with very few new ideas emerging from the building that once housed the Planning Commission.The change began last month with BVR Subramaniam, who served as CEO for three years, leaving NITI Aayog. Who will be the new CEO is being actively discussed in policy circles and School Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar is seen as the frontrunner.The new make-up of the team is a mix of experts from all sectors of the economy – from the medical field to rural management.‘Need to make appropriate policies to fulfill PM’s vision’Lahiri is an experienced economist and Raju is a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, with expertise in agriculture, water and rural management.Srinivas is the health expert, while Karandikar will handle science and technology and Das will handle immunology and health. Gauba’s rich experience in administration will provide valuable insights into policy making and reform.“Improving the quality of life of remote areas, farming community and general public is essential for the overall development of the country,” Das said in a post on X. He said that this was a big opportunity for a Dalit coming from a family of farmers in West Bengal.“PM Modi’s dream is to make the country ‘Developed India’ by 2047… To fulfill this vision, we need to ensure that appropriate policies are made… I give credit to the past education policies of West Bengal, which played a big role in my appointment as Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog… It is a great honor for the state of West Bengal,” Lahiri said after meeting the PM.“NITI Aayog has emerged as a key pillar in India’s policy-making architecture, promoting cooperative federalism, driving reforms and promoting ‘ease of living’. It serves as a dynamic platform for innovation and long-term strategic thinking across all sectors,” PM Narendra Modi said in a post on Twitter.

New Delhi: India’s peak power demand hit an all-time high of 252 GW on April 24 as temperatures soared across the country, pushing power consumption to record highs, reports Atul Mathur.According to Grid Controller of India data, power demand reached 252.1 GW at 3.28 pm on Friday, higher than 240.1 GW recorded on April 23, due to increased use of ACs in both domestic and commercial sectors. Earlier, the highest demand till date was recorded on May 30, 2024, when it was 249.9 GW.

Banda was hottest on Saturday

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted a scorching heat this year, with the power ministry estimating the maximum power demand at 271 GW. With heat wave conditions prevailing in large parts of the country, officials said power demand and consumption is likely to increase further this month.To put this in perspective, the peak power demand recorded in April last year was 235 GW. Due to mild weather in 2025, peak demand reached a year’s high of 242.8 GW on June 12, although the power ministry had projected demand to reach 270 GW. Due to extreme cold conditions in North and Northeast India, the power demand crossed the 245 GW mark on January 9 this year.According to data compiled by Grid India, power consumption remained low till April 12 due to mild weather and sporadic rains in North India, but has been increasing steadily since April 13.Demand this week defied the grid controller’s forecast, which had estimated a peak of about 240 GW on April 24. For the week of April 27 – May 3, demand is projected to be low initially, but to increase to 246 GW on May 1.Officials said the demand may increase further as the IMD has indicated that heat wave conditions may develop in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and isolated parts of Delhi, UP, Rajasthan and Central India in the coming days.“These weather conditions will increase power consumption across the country and the power demand may increase further, reaching a new high in the coming days,” an official said.

Benji is busy preparing dishes at his adoptive family’s eatery in Kolkata

Kolkata: Born into destitution in Kerala, raised without the memory of his parents and searching for a home after decades of wandering, 50-year-old Benjamin – “Benji” in Kolkata’s Beleghata – says the state has made him an orphan again. The Election Commission’s SIR of the voter list has struck off his name, breaking the link to his only formal identity as a voter. Intended to clean up the rolls, this practice has left cases stranded between identification and evidence, where the resident family does not meet the documentary thresholds. Orphaned since childhood, Benji lost his mother at birth and his father soon after. After spending time in an orphanage in Kerala, he ran away, joined a circus troupe, and at the age of 21 was brought to Kolkata as a shop assistant. Months later, he was taken in by Jayant Baral, a fast-food stall owner. Since 1999, Benji has been living with the Baral family, calling octogenarian Padmarani Baral his mother. This arrangement provided them with stability – and ultimately, citizenship on paper. After years of persuasion, he applied for a voter ID card and voted ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He also has a ration card. That fragile identity collapsed during SIR. In his enumeration form Benji again named Padmarani as the guardian. This time this relationship was not acceptable to the authorities. Because there was no record of the biological parents – names he could not remember – his case was stalled and his name was removed. “For the first time in my lonely life, I felt important during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” he said. “After that, losing rights hurts more.” Regulars around the stall where he has worked for decades say paperwork has trumped attendance. Benji is now trying to prove that he exists through papers, affidavits and appeals, trying to find a way back into the role.

BJP president Nitin Nabin (second, right) welcomes Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, others into BJP

New Delhi: Despite the breakaway faction of AAP MPs claiming that they have strengthened themselves legally with the merger of two-thirds of the party’s members in the Upper House with the BJP, the Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday announced that they will write to Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan seeking disqualification of its seven members who had quit the party a day earlier.Chief Minister of Punjab Bhagwant Maan He has also sought time from President Draupadi Murmu for a meeting with party MLAs regarding the demand to recall seven MPs. Incidentally, the Constitution does not provide for the ‘right of recall’ to MPs or MLAs, guaranteeing them a fixed tenure.Claiming that the move by the seven – Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Swati Maliwal and Vikramjit Sahni – was “unconstitutional and illegal”, AAP leader in Rajya Sabha Sanjay Singh highlighted that “the anti-defection law clearly says that no division of any kind is allowed in the Assembly, Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha. It has no legal validity and this has been clearly established in the Shiv Sena case also.“However, most legal experts, except Kapil Sibal, have been unanimous in highlighting the inability of the Tenth Schedule to prevent political defection when it reaches the scale of “merger” and have said that AAP MPs joining the BJP would not violate the anti-defection law, which allows two-thirds of the members of a legislative party to secede and merge with another party.However, Sanjay Singh cited the Tenth Schedule and said it clearly provides that any form of division has no legal validity, whether it involves a two-thirds majority or an increase from seven to eight members.He said, “Therefore, the defection of these seven Rajya Sabha MPs from AAP is completely illegal, wrong, unconstitutional and against the parliamentary rules.” He said that he will submit a letter to the Rajya Sabha Chairman citing all these rules and demanding complete termination of membership of all the seven MPs.Meanwhile, reiterating his stance, Chadha was quoted by news agency PTI on Saturday as saying that those leaving the party have not done so out of fear but due to a growing feeling of “frustration, alienation and hatred” towards the current leadership.Sources said that party insiders say that the AAP leadership was aware for the last few days that its MPs had been contacted by the BJP. Some last-ditch efforts were made by the AAP top leadership to stop at least two MPs from defecting to the BJP.Apart from the discussion that MPs like Mittal defected to the BJP allegedly due to the pressure of the ED cases, this development highlights the organizational challenges within the AAP.For example, not only Chaddha, but also Pathak’s displeasure had been increasing for a long time. Both of them had played an important role in ticket distribution in Punjab and paved the way for victory in the state. However, sources said Pathak was gradually marginalized after the party lost the Delhi elections.Speaking to TOI, Vikramjit Sahni said one of the reasons for his decision was the growing disillusionment with the functioning of the state government and the serious crisis Punjab was facing – ranging from rising debt which has crossed Rs 4.5 lakh crore, agrarian distress, no agro-processing, drug menace and slow implementation of projects. “Some of us MPs also felt that the leadership was not accessible – especially Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann who was difficult to reach and not open to suggestions,” he alleged.