NEW DELHI: Renowned economist Arvind Panagariya is likely to be appointed Vice Chairman of the revamped Planning Commission , which has now been named NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog, reported ET Now.The Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog will be given Cabinet rank, the channel said. According to ET Now, the Narendra Modi-led NDA government will make an announcement on the same by next week.The body will be headed by the prime minister and comprise a vice-chairperson, besides full-time and part-time members. Aside from that, it will have up to four members of the council of ministers and a chief executive officer of secretary rank."The institution will serve as a 'Think Tank' of the government - a directional and policy dynamo. NITI Aayog will provide governments at the central and state levels with relevant strategic and technical advice across the spectrum of key elements of policy," said a government press release. "This includes matters of national and international import on the economic front, dissemination of best practices from within the country as well as from other nations, the infusion of new policy ideas and specific issue-based support," the release said.The NITI Aayog will work towards the following objectives; to evolve a shared vision of national development priorities; to foster cooperative federalism; to develop mechanisms to formulate credible plans at the village level; to focus on technology upgradation, among other things.The Planning Commission, which was set up in 1950, was among the principal targets of the Narendra Modi government that came to power in May, seeing it as symptomatic of a way of thinking that was obsolete.The decision comes nearly three weeks after Modi held consultations with chief ministers at a meeting where most favoured restructuring of the Socialist-era Planning Commission while some belonging to Congress opposed disbanding the existing setup.Modi had announced in his Independence Day speech that the Planning Commission would be replaced by a new body that was in sync with the global economy.(With inputs from ET Bureau)