COMMITTEES & COMMISSIONS: UPSC IAS Prelims 2017

  • The Union Ministry of Law and Justice has constituted a High Level Committee (HLC) to review institutionalisation of arbitration mechanism in India. The committee will be headed by Justice B N Srikrishna, the retired Judge of Supreme Court.
  • The Union Government has proposed setting up Financial Data Management Centre (FDMC) based on recommendation of a committee set up under the Department of Economic Affairs (DEC). The Committee was headed by Ajay Tyagi, Additional Secretary in Union Finance Ministry and has submitted its report and a draft bill titled The Financial Data Management Centre Bill, 2016.
  • Union Water Resources Ministry has reconstituted a committee that was tasked with assisting the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB). The new committee will be headed by K. Bajaj, former chairman of the Central Water Commission (CWC)
  • Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has opposed a move to establish a separate entity to regulate payments and settlements as recommended by Ratan Watal Committee for Digital Payments.
  • Union Sports Ministry has constituted committee to frame comprehensive National Sports Development Code across sports disciplines. It will be headed by Injeti Srinivas, Sports Secretary. The committee will study the existing sports governance frame work, issues relating to sports governance in the country, recent developments related to sports governance.
  • Union Ministry of Minority Affairs has decided to set up a six-member committee to look into the Hajj subsidy The decision has been taken in light of a 2012 Supreme Court order on gradually reducing and abolishing subsidy given to pilgrims by 2022.
  • The Expert Group set up to prepare Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) has submitted its report to the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD). The expert group was headed by former Finance Secretary Sumit Bose.
  • The sub-committee under chairmanship of professor Timothy Gonsalves has recommended reservation for girl students in IITs to address the issue of slump in number of female students entering the prestigious institutes.
  • Union Ministry of Water Resources has constituted negotiations committee to assess availability and utilisation of waters of Mahanadi and its tributaries to resolve disputes over sharing of river waters among five states. These five states are Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Jharkhand. The committee will be chaired by member (water planning and projects) of the Central Water Commission (CWC). It will have 11 other members comprising representatives from the state governments.
  • Union Government has constituted committee (Working Group) to frame uniform rules for the states to avoid delay in proper implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 across the country. The Committee will be headed by Secretary from Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD). It will submit its report within three months.
  • The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Committee has submitted its 4 volume report on changes in FRBM Act, 2013 to the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The 5 member committee was headed by NK. Singh, former Revenue and Expenditure Secretary and former MP. Its member included RBI Governor Urjit Patel, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian, former Finance Secretary Sumit Bose, and National Institute of Public Finance and Policy Director Rathin Roy.
  • Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has reconstituted TOP committee with objective of identifying and supporting potential medal prospects for 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games under Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme. The committee will be headed by Abhinav Bindra, Olympic Gold Medalist. Its members are Anil Khanna, Prakash Padukone, Karnam Malleshwari, P. T. Usha, Murlidhar Raja, Anjali Bhagwat, Rekha Yadav, Dr. S.S. Roy and Inder Dhamija.
  • Supreme Court has appointed former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai as head of four-member Committee of Administrators to run Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Other three members of the committee are noted historian Ramachandra Guha, former Indian women’s  cricket team captain Diana Edulji and managing director of IDFC Limited Vikram Limaye. They will function as the interim bosses of the BCCI and run the day-to-day administration of  cricket body till the Lodha Committee reforms are fully implemented and elections held.
    Committee of Administrators’ first task will be to find out how much the BCCI has complied with the recommendations made by the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee.
  • Government appointed ‘Working Group on Migration’ headed by Partha Mukhopadhay has recommended necessary legal and policy framework to protect the interests of the migrants in the country. The panel in its report stated that the migrant population makes substantial contribution to economic growth and so it is necessary to secure their Constitutional rights. The 18-member Working Group was constituted by Union Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) in 2015.
  • The Madhukar Gupta Committee on border protection has submitted its report to the Union Government to strengthen border protection and address vulnerabilities in fencing along the Indo-Pakistan border.
  • Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up of an inter-disciplinary standing committee on cyber security to review the threats inherent in the existing and emerging technology. The 11-member committee will be headed by Meena Hemchandra, RBI Executive Director. It can co-opt more experts and also operate through a framework of sub-committees to examine specific issues.
  • The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has constituted a Panel on Food Fortification and Nutrition to identify critical nutritional gaps in the Indian diet in general and also in specific target groups. The 11 member panel will frame final regulations on fortification of foods and prepare strategies to address malnutrition problem.
  • Union Government has constituted inter-departmental task force comprising members of various regulatory Ministries and enforcement agencies to crack down on benami firms. It is first major post-demonetisation move undertaken by Government for unearthing black money from shell companies used for large-scale money laundering and tax evasion. The task force will be headed by Revenue Secretary and Corporate Affairs Secretary to monitor the actions taken by various agencies.
  • Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has constituted a sub-committee of Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) to look into issues of girl’s education. It will be headed by Telangana’s Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Kadiyam Srihari. It will submit its report to the Union government within one year.

Summary:

  • 8-member inter-ministerial to prepare a blueprint for doubling farmers’ committee income by 2022 – Ashok Dalwai
  • 6 member committee to look into the matter of how to improve the Haj Poilcy of India – Jeddah, Afzal Amanullah
  • Kang committtee – To frame uniform rules for the states to avoid delay in proper implementation ofthe Rights of Persons with Disabilities(RPD) Act across the country – N.S. Kang
  • Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology – To Prevent the fires in the Himalayan forests spread across Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir – Renuka Choudhary
  • One Person Committee- To look into the anomalies, if any, on One Rank One Pension arising out of implementation of OROP – L. Narasimha Reddy
  • Committee on Restructuring of Food Corporation of India (FCI) – Shanta Kumar
  • Companies Law Commitee – To examining and making recommendations on changing of the Companies Act, 2013- Tapan Roy
  • Committee on the restructuring of Indian Railways – Bibek Debroy
  • Committee to examine the business models for e-commerce, identify the direct tax issues in relation to e-commerce transactions and provide suggestions – Akhilesh Ranjan
  • Committee to prepare a draft national policy on marine fishery – S. Ayyapan
  • Committee to analysis the existing framework of IRDA- linked and non-linked insurance product regulations – Amitabh Chaudhry
  • National Committee on Trade Facilitation (NCTF) – To facilitate domestic co-ordination and implementation of TFA provisions – P.K. Sinha
  • Committee on Insolvency and Bankruptcy – To regulate the functioning of Board of India insolvency professionals, insolvency professional agencies and information utilities under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 – Madhusudan Sahoo
  • High-level task force on Indus Water Treaty – To take all important strategic and policy decisions on Indus Water Treaty Nripendra Mishra.
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