The government has re-constituted the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).

A notification was issued and published in the Gazette on January 9.

Atomic Energy Commission

• The Atomic Energy Commission was first set up in August 1948 in the Department of Scientific Research, which was created a few months earlier in June 1948. 

• The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) was set up on August 3, 1954 under the direct charge of the Prime Minister through a Presidential Order. 

• Subsequently, in accordance with a government Resolution dated March 1, 1958, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was established in the Department of Atomic Energy. 

• The AEC is responsible for formulating the policy of the Department of Atomic Energy.

• The secretary to the government of India in the Department of Atomic Energy is ex-officio chairman of the Commission. The other members of the AEC are appointed for each calendar year on the recommendation of the AEC chairman and after approval by the Prime Minister.

Reconstitution of AEC

• The reconstituted AEC has Ajit Kumar Mohanty, secretary, Department of Atomic Energy, as its chairman. 

• It includes T.V. Somanathan and Manoj Govil, who took over as the Cabinet Secretary and Expenditure Secretary respectively.

• The AEC also includes Pankaj Kumar Mishra who took over as Member (Finance) last year, 

• The Commission has National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Pramod Kumar Mishra, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, Somanathan and Govil as ex-officio members.

• Other members include former chairpersons of the AEC M.R. Srinivasan and Anil Kakodkar, former Secretary Department of Science and Technology P. Rama Rao, former principal adviser DAE Ravi B. Grover, and former Space Commission chairman K. Kasturirangan.

• Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Director Vivek Bhasin is also an ex-officio member of the Commission.

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