Hyderabad: The Telangana government on February 14 appointed eight civil society members to the Telangana Development Planning Society (TDPS) including noted writer Prof Kancha Ilaiah, activist Nikhil Dey and Prof Bhangya Bhukhya.
The members are part of the TDPS Advisory Committee that is headed by chief minister Revanth Reddy, who is also the planning portfolio, stated the government order (GO). The committee members are: Prof Ilaiah, Prof Shanta Sinha, Prof Himanshu, Sukhdeo Thorat, Nikhil Dey, Praveen Chakravarthy, Prof Bhukya, and Prof Purshotham Reddy.
This is the first time that the Telangana government after the state’s formation appointed academics and activists into an advisory body. The previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government was always criticised from all quarters for ignoring civil society voices and was often accused also of crushing dissenting voices.
The government order on the appointments stated that the purpose behind the move was to conduct a gap and growth analysis of the state’s economic and social sectors, among other things. All the appointees in the Advisory Committee are well-known in their fields. Nikhil Dey is one of the persons who worked for the Right to Information, MNREGA, and Right to Food campaigns.
Similarly, Prof Sinha from the University of Hyderabad has headed the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights for two terms, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and is also known for her anti-child labour campaign.
It may also be noted that the committee is on similar lines to the National Advisory Council (NAC) that was formed by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at the Centre earlier with civil society activists.
