Current Affairs March 2020 - Committees
1 - Task force on Sustainable Public Procurement constituted
A Task Force on Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) was constituted by Department of Expenditure with the following Terms of Reference (ToR) −
(i) Review international best practices in the area of Sustainable Public Procurement
(ii) Inventorise the current status of SPP in India across Government organizations
(iii) Prepare a draft Sustainable Procurement Action Plan
(iv) Recommend an initial set of product / service categories (along with their specifications) where SPP can be implemented.
2 - Government sets up a committee on Kisan Rail
The Government has set up a committee to work out modalities of Kisan Rail. It comprises of representatives of Agriculture and Railway ministries. The committee will also look into cold supply chain for perishables by starting the express and freight trains with refrigerated coaches.
To transport perishable parcel traffic, newly designed Refrigerated Parcel Vans were procured through RCF, Kapurthala. For the movement of fruits and vegetables to different parts of the country, a total of 98 Ventilated Insulated Containers have been procured, through CONCOR.
3 - Finance Commission constituted committee to review fiscal consolidation roadmap
The Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission constituted a committee to review the fiscal consolidation roadmap of the general government. The Committee will be chaired by N. K. Singh. The other Members of the Committee include A. N. Jha and Dr. Anoop Singh, Members of 15th Finance Commission, one representative each from the Office of the CAG and the CGA and the Joint Secretary (Budget) of Economic Affairs.
The Terms of Reference of the Committee were to make recommendations on deficit and debt for the Central government and define contingent liabilities, provide quantifiable measures of such liabilities.
4 - Government constituted high level committee of medical experts for prevention & control of COVID-19
The government has constituted a high level technical committee of Public Health Experts for COVID-19 to guide the prevention and control activities in the country. The 21-member committee is headed by NITI Aayog member Dr V K Paul. Union Health Secretary, Preeti Sudan and Director General Indian Council of Medical Research, Prof. Balram Bhargava are the Co-Chair.
Director, AIIMS, Dr. Randeep Guleria, Director of National Centre for Disease Control, Delhi Dr Sujeet Singh, Director of Institute of Infectious Diseases, Pune Dr. Sanjay Pujari and Additional Chief Secretary of Kerala Dr Rajan Khobragade are among the members of the Task Force.
5 - Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers on genuineness of Fertilizer Subsidy
A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers said that hardly any checks and balances were adopted to verify whether genuine farmers are getting subsidized fertilizers. Kanimozhi Karunanidhi of DMK heads the committee.
The committee, in its report on the Demands for Grants for the financial year 2020-21, said that a total of 1182.04 Lakh Metric Tonnes of fertilizers have been sold through Point of Sale devices under Direct Benefit Transfer scheme till December, 2019. The buyer’s identity is authenticated through biometric, Aadhaar-based Unique Identification Number or Voter ID card or Kisan Credit Card.
6 - Government constituted empowered groups to ramp up healthcare
The Prime Minister's Office constituted 11 different high-level committees to suggest measures to ramp up healthcare, put the economy back on track and reduce misery of people as quickly as possible post 21-day lockdown imposed to contain the Coronavirus pandemic.
The committee has senior representative from PMO and the Cabinet Secretariat to ensure seamless coordination. These groups have been set up under Disaster Management Act. The groups have been empowered to formulate plans and to take all necessary steps for their time bound implementation.
