Parameswaran Iyer, who led PM Modi’s flagship Swachh Bharat Mission, appointed as NITI Aayog CEO

Parameswaran Iyer has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NITI Aayog on Friday. The 1981-batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre replaces Amitabh Kant whose tenure is set to end on 30 June, 2022.

Iyer becomes the third CEO of the Government of India’s public policy think tank.

“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Shri Parameswaran Iyer, lAS (UP:81), Retd. as Chief Executive Officer, NITI Aayog vice Shri Amitabh Kant upon completion of his tenure on 30.06.2022, for a period of two years or until further orders, whichever is earlier, on the same terms and conditions as were applicable in respect of Shri Amitabh Kant,” the government notification read.

The order stated that Iyer’s appointment has been made on the same terms and conditions as were applicable for Kant.

Kant was appointed as the CEO Niti Aayog on 17 February, 2016, for a fixed two-year term. However, his term was extended thrice since then.

Iyer, who replaces Kant, was in February 2016 appointed by the government appointed as Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. He resigned from the post in July 2020.

Iyer is best known for spearheading Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship Swachh Bharat Mission.

Iyer went to the Doon School in Dehradun, and later attended St. Stephen’s College in Delhi. He also got a one-year exchange scholarship at Davidson College in North Carolina, USA.

Iyer took voluntary retirement from the IAS in 2009 and also had a stint with the World Bank as water and sanitation specialist. It is worth mentioning that it was during his term at the World Bank’s Hanoi office in Vietnam as programme leader and sanitation specialist in 2016 that he was approached by the Government of India to take charge of the drinking and sanitation department.

Before retirement, he had also worked with the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh in the field of education.