[GKmojo] Committees formed by RBI & Government

1) Ravindra H Dholakia Committee

The government has set up a 13-member committee to upgrade the norms for
computation of economic data at states and districts level in the backdrop of
plans to revise the base year for National Accounts or GDP calculation. The
Committee for Sub-National Accounts will be headed by Ravindra H
Dholakia, a retired professor of IIM Ahmedabad.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) will

change the base year to 2017-18 for the calculation of GDP and IIP numbers
from the current 2011-12 with an aim to capture changes in the economy.

2) E Sreedharan Committee

The government has set up a committee under former Delhi Metro chief E
Sreedharan to lay down standardisation norms for components with an aim to
cut costs in the construction and operation of metro rail systems in the country
and bring them under the Make in India umbrella.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the proposal, following a meeting at

the PMO to review ongoing and upcoming metro projects. The standards, once
finalised by the committee, will be mandatory for all metro projects coming up
with central assistance.

Currently, metro projects with a total length of 370km are operational in

eight cities, including Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Kochi and
Mumbai.

3. Sunil Mehta committee

The Union finance ministry has set up a committee to examine the possibility of
setting up an Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC) or an Asset Management
Company (AMC) to fast track resolution of stressed assets.

Punjab National Bank’s non executive chairman Sunil Mehta will head the
panel. The Committee will consider whether such an arrangement will be good
for the banking system.
If it is considered advisable, the Committee will also consider the modalities by
which such an ARC / AMC should be set up. It will submit its report in two
weeks.

4. YM Deosthalee committee

In a bid to check loan defaults, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has considered
the recommendations of YM Deosthalee-headed High Level Task Force and
will set up a Public Credit Registry (PCR) in a modular and phased manner.

The PCR is an information repository that collates all loan information of

individuals and corporate borrowers. A credit repository will help banks
distinguish between a bad and a good borrower and accordingly offer attractive
interest rates to good borrowers and higher interest rates to bad borrowers.

The PCR will be the single point of mandatory reporting for all material events
for each loan, notwithstanding any threshold in the loan amount or type of
borrower.

Thereby, the PCR will serve as a registry of all credit contracts, duly verified by
reporting institutions, for all lending in India and any lending by an Indian
institution to a company incorporated in India.

5) Maharashtra Government Forms Study Committee for

Floating Solar Power Plant

The Maharashtra government has set up a committee to study issues related

to the development of a 1,000-MW floating solar power plant at Ujani dam in
Solapur district.
The committee will be headed by the Director (Commercial) of Maharashtra
State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL), Satish Chavan.

Among other things, the committee will study the environmental impact of the
project and monitor the month-wise water level of the dam. Ujani, located in
Madha taluka of Solapur, around 300 kms from Mumbai, is among the largest
dams in Maharashtra.
 6) Suresh Mathur Committee
IRDAI has formed a panel to review the regulations pertaining to insurance
marketing firms. The committee is headed by Suresh Mathur, Executive
Director (insurance marketing firms), IRDAI, with nine more members.

The new distribution channel of insurance marketing firms was introduced

in 2015 by IRDAI, with the objective of increasing insurance penetration in the
country through an area-wise registration approach. The channel has now been
in operation for three years. The committee will come up with recommendations
before July 31, 2018, according to an order issued by IRDAI.

7) SEBI Constitutes Expert Committee to Frame Rules For

Direct Listing Of Indian Firms Abroad
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) constituted an Expert
Committee to frame rules for direct listing of Indian firms abroad.

The committee will examine the economic case for permitting direct listing of
Indian companies overseas and listing of Indian companies on foreign bourses
in India. The committee includes nine members.

8) 15th Finance Commission Constitutes Panel for Health

Sector
The Fifteenth Finance Commission has constituted a High-Level Group
consisting of eminent experts from across the country to examine the strengths
and weaknesses for enabling balanced expansion of Health Sector.High-Level
Group on Health Sector will have Convenor by Dr. Randeep Guleria,
Director, AIIMS (New Delhi).

In the context of ambitious schemes like Ayushman Bharat and also keeping
in mind the needs of the huge young population of the country, this is
considered as an important step to understand the needs of the health sector in
the country.
 9) 15th Finance Commission Constituted Advisory Council
The 15th Finance Commission has constituted an advisory council to advise
and assist the commission. The six-member council will be headed by the
President of Forum for Strategic Initiatives, Arvind Virmani.

The role and functions of the council will be to advise the commission on any
issue or subject related to the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the Commission.
Besides, the council will also assist the commission in the preparation of any
paper or research study which will enhance the Commission’s understanding on
the issues containing in its ToR.

10) India Forms Committee to Reform Higher Defence

Planning
The Union Government formed a new integrated institutional
mechanism, Defence Planning Committee (DPC) to reform the process of
higher defence planning. The permanent body would be chaired by National
Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

The committee is aimed at driving the country’s military and national security
strategy, draft capability development plans and guide and accelerate defence
equipment acquisitions. The Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman
of the Chief of the Staff Committee (CISC) will be the member secretary of the
committee.

11) HRD Ministry Constitutes Committee To Prevent Exam

Paper Leakages

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has constituted a High

Powered Committee to examine the entire system of conducting Class X
and Class XII examination conducted by the CBSE with a view to prevent
leakages.
Mr Vinay Sheel Oberoi, Retd. Secretary (Higher Education), MHRD will
be the Chairperson of the 7 member High Power Committee.
12) RBI Sets Up Committee Under YH Malegam To Monitor
Bad Loans

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has constituted an expert committee under

the chairmanship of YH Malegam to look into a range of issues relating
to classification of bad loans, rising incidents of frauds and effectiveness
of audits.

Y H Malegam is a former member of the Central Board of Directors of

RBI. A K Misra – Executive Director of RBI will be the Member-
Secretary of the committee.

13) Government Constitutes a Steering Committee

on Fintech Related Issues

A Steering Committee has been constituted by the Ministry of Finance

under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Shri Subhash Chandra Garg,
Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) to consider various issues
relating to the development of Fintech space in India.

The constitution of the committee is in pursuance of the announcement made by

the Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Arun Jaitley in his Budget
Speech 2018-19

14) Centre Constitutes Committee To Study

Brahmaputra And Flood Control Measures In Assam
The Centre has constituted a committee headed by the Vice Chairman
of the NITI Aayog Mr Rajiv Kumar to study the Brahmaputra and
flood control measures in Assam and neighbouring states.

According to the Assam Water Resource minister, Keshab Mahanta,

measures are being taken by the Water Resource department to repair the
damaged river embankment due to flood.
 15) Govt Sets Up Panel to Address NPAs In Power Sector
The government has set up a high-level committee headed by NITI Aayog
chief executive Amitabh Kant to address the problem of stressed assets in
India's power sector.

Non-performing assets (NPAs) in power generation accounted for around 5.9%

of the banking sector’s total outstanding advances of Rs4.73 trillion, according
to the second volume of the Economic Survey 2016-17.

16) Environment Ministry Forms 7-Member Panel For Air

Pollution In Delhi-NCR

The Union environment ministry formed a seven-member

committee headed by environment secretary, to formulate short and
long-term measures to solve the problem of air pollution in the Delhi-
NCR region.
Delhi’s air quality plunged this week with the air quality index (AQI),
which measures the concentration of pollutants in the air, 465, indicating
severe levels of pollution.

17) Haj Committee Recommends Abolishing Of Subsidy

The government was appointed Committee on Haj Policy has recommended
phasing out of subsidy for Haj pilgrims and allowing women devotees above 45
years of age to travel in a group of at least four without a male. The Committee
presented its report on New Haj policy 2018-22 to Minority Affairs
Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in Mumbai.

In view of the Supreme Court direction, the Ministry had set up the Panel under
the Chairmanship of former Secretary Afzal Amanullah to review the
existing Haj Policy and to suggest a framework for new Haj policy 2018-22.

18) Government Sets Up High-Level Committee for Water

Management
Centre has set up a high-level committee for proper management of water
resources in the North-Eastern region. The Committee will be headed by NITI
Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar.
It will facilitate optimising benefits of appropriate water management in the
form of hydro-electric power, agriculture, biodiversity conservation, reduced
flood damage erosion, inland water transport, forestry, fishery and eco-tourism.
The committee is also tasked with spelling out actionable steps for optimizing
water resources in the region and chalking out an action plan for the dovetailing
of Central schemes.

19) PM Narendra Modi Forms Economic Advisory

Council
PM Narendra Modi reconstituted the Economic Advisory Council
(EAC) to guide him on economic issues and appointed economist Bibek
Debroy as its chairman. Debroy is a member of government think tank Niti
Aayog.

The council has been defunct since former RBI governor C Rangarajan resigned
as its chairman. The four other part-time EAC members are Surjit Bhalla,
Rathin Roy, Ashima Goyal and Ratan Watal.

20) Commerce Ministry Sets Up Task Force On Artificial

Intelligence
Commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman has constituted
a task force on artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure “India’s economic
transformation”. The task force will be headed by V. Kamakoti, a professor in
the department of computer science and engineering at Indian Institute of
Technology, Madras.

The committee will focus on a wide spectrum of areas including agriculture and
transportation. The panel will comprise 18 experts, academics, researchers and
industry leaders and will explore possibilities to leverage AI for development
across various fields.

21) Dr. Tarun Ramadorai Committee

Reserve Bank of India appointed committee on Household Finance has
suggested that banks link their home loan rates to the RBI's repo rate, the
rate at which it lends to banks.
In the past three years the central bank has reduced the policy rate by 200 basis
points, but the weighted average lending rates have fallen by 145 basis points. A
basis point is 0.01 percentage point.
The committee was chaired by Dr Tarun Ramadorai, who is Professor of
Financial Economics, Imperial College Business School in London.

22) Justice Srikrishna Committee On Institutionalization

Of Arbitration Mechanism
A High-Level Committee set up to review the Institutionalization of
Arbitration Mechanism in India has submitted its report to the Union Law
Ministry. It was headed by Justice (retired) BN Srikrishna.

The Union Government is committed to the speedy resolution of commercial

disputes and to make India an international hub of Arbitration. So the
government has decided to look into the recommendations and amended laws
according to need.

All the best by GKmojo