Binayak Sen on Plan panel steering committee
11 May 2011
The Planning Commission has appointed civil rights activist and a doctor caring for tribal children in the country's rural heartland as a member of its steering committee on health for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17).
The announcement comes within weeks of Binayak Sen getting bail from the Supreme Court (See: Binayak Sen freed: SC says sympathy is not sedition).
Sen, who was convicted by a Chhattisgarh court for sedition in a case of allegedly helping Naxalites, will now serve on the 40-member committee on health chaired by Syeda Hameed.
"We have appointed Binayak Sen as member of the steering committee on health to advice for 12th Plan. It was Planning Commission's proposal to appoint him," deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.
Sen, who was released on bail from the Raipur jail last month, has a long innings serving as a paediatrician in Chhattisgarh's tribal belt.
He will represent the Bilaspur-based healthcare organisation, Jan Swasthya Sahyog, and provide inputs on the health of tribal children.
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