G. Vijaya Raghavan, PP Balan of the four members appointed to the Kerala State Planning Board

The state government has appointed four members to the Kerala State Planning Board including former technocrat G. Vijayi Raghavan and local governance expert PP Balan.

The other two members are environmentalist Sridhar Radhakrishnan and New Delhi-based Varun Santhosh, the planning and economic affairs department said in an August 29 order. This is Mr. Vijayi Raghavan’s third tenure as a member of the Planning Board. Mr. Balan was the former director of the Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA).

The appointment was made “in the interest of strengthening the board’s advisory and planning capacity,” the department said.

In July, the UDF government reconstituted the Planning Board with Chief Minister VD Satheesan as chairman and former union cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar as vice-chairman. And in August, the state government appointed D. Narayan, former director of the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation (GIFT), as chief economic adviser and Kiran Kumar Kakarlapudi, assistant professor, GIFT, and M. Parameswaran, professor, Center for Development Studies, as economic advisers to Mr. Chandrasekhar.

The appointments are being closely watched given the UDF government’s plans to turn the Planning Board into a “think tank” for the government. The first recommendation in this regard came in the White Paper presented at the June State Assembly. The proposal was also included in the revised budget for the 2026–27 fiscal period. The proposal drew flak from the opposition LDF, which alleged that the government was emulating the BJP government that replaced the planning commission with the NITI Aayog.

However, in a written reply to the state legislative assembly on July 1 this year, Mr Satheesan said the Planning Board “which plays a key role in the development of the state” and the five-year plans would continue.

Published – 29 Aug 2026 21:28 IST