Current Affairs May 2018 - Committees

1 - 15^th Finance Commission constituted Advisory Council

The Fifteenth Finance Commission has constituted an Advisory Council to advise and assist the Commission. The role of the Advisory Council will be to advise the Commission on any issue, assist in the preparation of any research and help in practices on matters pertaining to fiscal devolution.

Advisory Council will have 6 members named as Arvind Virmani (President, Forum for Strategic Initiatives), Surjit S. Bhalla (part-time member of PMEAC), Sanjeev Gupta (Ex-Deputy Director, IMF), Pinaki Chakraborty, Sajjid Chinoy (JP Morgan) and Neelkanth Mishra (Credit Suisse India Economist).

2 - Committee constituted to probe into black money recovery of PSBs

A thirty member estimates committee has been formed to probe recovery of black money and performance of public sector banks among a host of subjects.The parliamentary panel will be headed by veteran BJP leader Murali Manohar Joshi. The panel has also been named continuous economy committee, to study import of uranium for nuclear plants, mining activities and environment, upgrading of India Post offices and the drought situation among other matters.

On the other hand, Public Accounts Committee has also been looking into the issue of black money recovery after demonitisation.

3 - High-level committee approved central assistance of Rs 1,161 crores to states

A high level committee chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh approved central assistance of Rs 1,161.17 crores to states of Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Rajasthan and UT of Lakshadweep, affected by floods/ landslides during 2017-18. Committee included Union Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Shri Ajay Narayan Jha and senior officers of the Ministries of Home Affairs.

4 - 15^th Finance Commission constituted a High Level Group for enabling balanced expansion of Health Sector

The Fifteenth Finance Commission has constituted a high level group consisting of eminent experts from across the country in Health Sector. Dr. Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS, New Delhi will be its Convenor.

The main role and function of the High Level Groupon Health Sector will be to evaluate the existing regulatory framework in the Health sector and examine its strength and weaknesses for enabling a balanced yet faster expansion of the health sector keeping in view of India’s demographic profile.

5 - Inter-State Council Standing Committee completes deliberations on Punchhi Commission report

The Standing Committee of the Inter-State Council (ISC) has completed the onerous task of deliberations on all the 273 recommendations of the Punchhi Commission. The ISC is headed by the Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh.

The Punchhi Commission was notified in 2005 submitted its report in 2010. The Commission made 273 recommendations in its seven volume report. The recommendations of the Punchhi Commission pertain to History of Centre-State Relations in India; Constitutional Governance and Management of Centre-State Relations etc.