Current Affairs January 2020 - Committees

1 - High Level Committee approved over Rs. 5,908 crore of additional Central assistance to 7 States

The High Level Committee (HLC), chaired by the Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah, additional central assistance of Rs. 5908.56 crore to seven States from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) - Rs. 616.63 crore to Assam, Rs. 284.93 crore to Himachal Pradesh, Rs. 1869.85 crore to Karnataka, Rs. 1749.73 crore to Madhya Pradesh, Rs. 956.93 crore to Maharashtra, Rs. 63.32 to Tripura and Rs 367.17 crore to Uttar Pradesh for floods/ landslides/cloudburst during south west monsoon 2019.

Earlier, the Central Government has released an interim financial assistance of Rs. 3,200 crore to 4 States - Rs 1200 crore to Karnataka, Rs 1000 crore to Madhya Pradesh, Rs 600 crore to Maharashtra and Rs 400 crore to Bihar.

2 - Tenure of the Commission constituted under Article 340 extended

The Union Cabinet has approved the extension of the term of the Commission to examine the issue of Sub-categorization of Other Backward Classes, by six months that is up to 31.7.2020. The Commission was constituted under article 340 of the Constitution on 2^nd October, 2017.

The Commission is headed by Justice (Retd.) Smt. G. Rohini. The Commission is likely to make recommendations for benefit of marginalized communities in the Central List of OBCs.

3 - Central Government notified National Startup Advisory Council

The Central Government notified the structure of the National Startup Advisory Council to advise the Government on measures needed to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country to drive sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities.

The National Startup Advisory Council will be chaired by Minster for Commerce & Industry. The Council will suggest measures to foster a culture of innovation amongst citizens and students in particular, promote innovation in all sectors of economy across the country and create an environment of absorption of innovation in industry.

4 - Committee to draft legislation on mediation set up by Supreme Court of India

The Supreme Court of India has set up a panel to firm up a draft legislation on giving legal sanctity to disputes settled through mediation, which would then be sent to the government as a suggestion from the apex court. The panel will have responsibility to recommend a code of conduct for mediators.

Committee will be headed by mediator Niranjan Bhat. The other members of the panel included Justice K Kanan, former ASGs AS Chandok and PS Narsimha, senior advocates Sriram Panchu and JP Singh, and senior mediators Susheela S, Sadhna Ramchandran, Laila Ollapally, and Anil Xavier.

5 - Center sets up 3 high-level steering committees to dispose of enemy properties

Union government constituted 3 high-level steering committees to handle the disposal of enemy properties present in the country and to raise money from them.