New Delhi , April 1: With Congress president and National Advisory Council chairperson Sonia Gandhi busy finalising the names of other members of the reconstituted body, speculation is rife that Deep Joshi, winner of prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for 2009, and Harsh Mander, who resigned from the Indian Administrative Service in 2002 shortly after the Gujarat riots, may join the high-profile body.

The other names doing the rounds include those of former bureaucrats N.C. Saxena and K. Srinath Reddy.
With the National Food Security Act high on the agenda of the National Advisory Council, Mr Saxena’s experience in dealing with issues relating to poverty might prove useful. Similarly, since the Communal Violence Bill is in the pipeline, the services of Mr Mander would be useful as he has seen one of the worst communal outbreaks in the country.
Sources close to the process of finalising names indicated that two MPs (one of whom could be Mani Shankar Aiyar) are likely to be inducted in the reconstituted outfit, from which Union ministers are likely to be kept out.
Under the rules governing the NAC’s working, an MP who is appointed a member of the NAC cannot draw any perks, allowances or remuneration from the council.
Among educationists, the name of Prof Yashpal is also doing the rounds, as implementation of the Right to Education Act, which has been notified from Thursday, would be one of the biggest challenges before the government.

Age Correspondent