Maharashtra educationist's daughter named Sweden Prime Minister's adviser

Nila Vikhe Patil, a person of Indian descent, has been named political adviser in the Swedish Prime Minister's Office. Ms Patil, 32, daughter of leading educationist Ashok Vikhe Patil, would be working with Stefan Lofven, the Social Democrat leader who was last month elected as Swedish prime minister, leading a Social Democrat-Green Party coalition. "Nila has been appointed as the Political Adviser to the Prime Ministers Office in charge of Finance and will handle taxes, budgets, financial markets and housing," her father told PTI. She has also been elected to the City Council of the Stockholm Municipal Corporation. Also a Political Adviser in the PMO during the previous government, Ms Nila has been active member of the Green Party and is a member of the Election Committee of the Stockholm Green Party, he said. Born in Sweden, Ms Nila spent early years in Ahmednagar in Maharashtra and is the granddaughter of former Union Minister Balasaheb Vikhe Patil and niece of Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly. She holds a Bachelor's degree and MBA from Gothenburg School of Business, with Economics and Law and also studied MBA in University de Complutense in Madrid. Ms Nila has been a member of the Board of the Green Party, Swedish Young Greens, Green Party Gothenburg, Green students of Sweden, and also a member of the executive committee of the Green Party Stockholm, her father said. Sweden has been on a charm offensive towards India, supporting PM Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' manufacturing summit with Lofven leading a delegation of the Swedish industry leaders to the launch event in 2016. India is also an increasingly important market for Sweden, with over 160 Swedish companies now established in the country, said Ashok Vikhe Patil, chairman of the Vikhe Patil Foundation, which runs 102 educational institutes across Maharashtra. Speaking to PTI, Ms Nila said, "I love India dearly and I feel very connected. I have lots of close Indian friends. I miss my grandfather a lot. He used to call me almost weekly during his last years." "I also hope that India will make smart ecological choices as it develops to avoid all the environmental problems and further impact on climate change that will now be one of the world's greatest challenges to overcome," she said. Source: NDTV