Chidambaram appointed chairman of National Integration Council

New Delhi, Oct.19 (ANI): The Government on Tuesday constituted the standing committee of the National Integration Council (NIC) with Home Minister P Chidambaram as its chairman and four Union Ministers and nine Chief Ministers as members.

"The National Integration Council (NIC) has been reconstituted vide Office Order No. 19012/1/2009-NI-II dated 5th April, 2010. The agenda items for the meeting of National Integration Council will be finalized by the Standing Committee," said an official release.

The NIC was reconstituted on April 5, 2010.

The Union Ministers, who are members of the committee, are: Pranab Mukherjee (Finance), M Veerappa Moily (Law and Justice), Mamata Banerjee (Railways) and Sharad Pawar (Agriculture).

The Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Assam, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Gujarat are also members of the standing committee.

Co-opted members of NIC include Shobhan Bhartia, Chairperson, Hindustan Times, Asgar Ali Engineer, Fali S. Nariman, Barkha Dutt, Group Editor, NDTV and E Ahmed, President, Indian Union Muslim League. (ANI)