Turn G-20 Sherpa into separate entity, says Arvind Panagariya

New Delhi: Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya, who sent in his resignation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 1, has suggested him that keeping in mind India’s rapidly rising global stature, which was quite evident from the kind of attention Mr Modi received at last month’s G-20 summit in Hamburg, the G-20 Sherpa should be turned into a separate entity and its responsibilities be segregated from that of the vice-chairman’s.

Mr Panagariya was the Prime Minister’s Sherpa during the G-20 Hamburg summit, which was held on July 7-8. In his letter (a copy of which is with this newspaper) to the Prime Minister where Mr Panagariya requested Mr Modi to be relieved from the Niti Aayog vice-chairman’s post as his leave from Columbia University (where he is a full time professor) was ending by August-end, he suggested that as the Sherpa’s role is going to expand, it should be set up as a separate responsibility.

The suggestion made by Mr Panagariya was also based on the premise that in the past two years of his tenure in Niti Aayog, the responsibilities of the vice-chairman have multiplied at a fast pace, which translates into rising demands on the time of a vice chairman.

Simultaneously owing to India’s growing global stature, in future the Sherpa’s role is going to expand. Therefore to ensure that work of Niti Aayog and G-20 engagements receive due attention, “it may be worth considering separating these roles in future”.

Mr Panagariya was appointed India’s Sherpa for G-20 talks in September 2015, replacing railway minister Suresh Prabhu. Sherpas, who are representatives of leaders of G20 member countries, coordinate on the agenda of a summit.

As per the practice, the deputy chairman of the erstwhile Planni ng Commission used to be the Sherpa. During the UPA rule, former deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia was Sherpa for G-20 talks.