Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon (Committees & Organizations) – July 26, 2020

The Royal Commission on Labour or the Whitley Commission on Labour was set up in 1929 to inquire into the existing conditions of labour in industrial undertakings and plantations in India. The Commission was chaired by John Henry Whitley. The commission submitted its report in 1931.

The Tebhaga movement was led by the share croppers of the Bengal region against the oppressive jotedars in 1946-47.

• The uprising was due to the share cropping system that prevailed in the Bengal. During the early nineteen century a new class of rich peasants known as jotedars emerged in the Bengal region.
• The jotedars collected huge tracts of land in rural areas. They also controlled the local markets, money lending activities, exercised control over the poor cultivators.
• The sharecroppers were encouraged by the Floud Commission which had already recommended their demand to the government.
• The movement was led by the All India Kisan Sabha, the peasant wing of CPI.
• Initially only few peasants were participated but in January 1947, the Bengal Bargadars Temporary Regulation Bill incorporated the demand of the Sharecroppers. This encouraged the movement and led to the increased participation of the peasants from rural areas.
• At the request of the jotedars, the police suppressed the sharecroppers. By March 1947, the movement slowly disappeared due to government promises. But the government failed to pass the bill immediately and it was only in 1950, the bill was passed.

Islington Commission, 1912 a Royal Commission formed to recommend reforms in the Public Service of British India with Lord Islington as its chairman.

• A ten member commission, which included three Indians, was given the task of examining the Indian demand to increase the number of Indians in the Higher Civil Services and, most importantly, holding simultaneous examination in India.
• The commission was guided by three principal considerations: firstly, to maintain high standards of civil administration in British India; secondly, to safeguard the paramount interest of British rule; and thirdly, to satisfy the reasonable aspirations of Indians and promote friendly relations between Indians and Europeans for better governance.
• The commission completed its report in 1915, but owing to the outbreak of the First World War, the report was not published until 1917.
• The commission examined several important issues and made a number of recommendations in regard to the Higher Civil Services.
• It suggested that the services were to be reorganised into higher and lower branches on the basis of work and not on the basis of race or salary and that no other artificial distinction should be maintained.
• Excepting the case of ICS, all other civil servants, once promoted from a lower to a higher service, should enjoy equal benefits and should be treated identically with those directly recruited and should be considered as full members of the service.
• The Civil Services were divided into four categories- Imperial, Central, Provincial and Subordinate.
• The existing problems of recruitment to various services from the point of view of place, fixation of salary, and proportion of Indians were examined.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion 2019-2024 on January 10, 2020.

• It sets forth the vision and objectives of financial inclusion policies in India.
• The strategy was prepared by the RBI with inputs from the central government and financial sector regulators (Securities and Exchange Board of India, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India and Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority of India).

RBI identified six strategic objectives of a national strategy for financial inclusion:

• universal access to financial services,
• providing basic bouquet of financial services,
• access to livelihood and skill development,
• financial literacy and education,
• customer protection and grievance redressal, and
• effective coordination.

To achieve this vision, it identified certain milestones such as:

• providing banking access to every village (or hamlet of 500 households in hilly areas) within a five km radius by March 2020,
• strengthening digital financial services to create infrastructure to move towards a cash less society by March 2022, and
• ensuring that every adult has access to a financial service provider through a mobile device by March 2024.

A Working Group constituted by the Reserve Bank of India to review agricultural credit released its report on September 13, 2019.

• It was asked to examine: (i) reach of institutional credit, (ii) ease of credit and inclusiveness, and (iii) impact of loan waivers on state finances and credit discipline.  Key observations and recommendations of the Working Group include:
• The Working Group noted that the central and state governments need to increase their capital expenditure which will stimulate the demand for investment credit in agriculture.
• It also recommended that banks should provide crop loans under the scheme only through Kisan Credit Cards in order to curb the misuse of interest subsidy.
• The Working Group recommended that: (i) loan waivers should be avoided, and (ii) the central and state governments should undertake a holistic review of agricultural policies and input subsidies in order to improve the overall viability and sustainability of agriculture.
• The Working Group recommended that separate lending targets should be set for allied activities and banks should not insist on land records for up to two lakh rupees of such credit.
• It recommended the central government to push states to timely complete the process of digitization and updation of land records.
• States having highly restrictive land leasing frameworks should be encouraged to adopt reforms based on the Model Land Leasing Act and the Andhra Pradesh Land Licensed Cultivators’ Act, 2011.

The Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India formed a Sub-Committee of the Board to study matters and concerns in the microfinance sector insofar as they are related to the entities regulated by the Bank.

• The Sub-Committee was under the chairmanship of H. Malegam.
• The terms of mention of the Sub-Committee included framing the description of ‘microfinance’ and ‘Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs)’ for the point of regulation of non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) undertaking microfinance by the Reserve Bank of India and giving proper recommendations.
• Also, the committee had to look at the widespread activities of MFIs in relation to interest rates, lending and recovery measures to identify trends that impose on borrowers’ interests.

7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) headed by Justice AK Mathur has recommended 23.55 percent hike in pay and allowances of government employees.

In this regard the commission has submitted its report to Union Finance Ministry in New Delhi and the recommended pay revision will come into effect from 1 January 2016.

The Global Forum on Environment (GFENV) is a venue that brings together international experts from member and non-member economies to share experiences and explore common policy issues focusing principally on the environmental dimension of sustainable development and its linkages with economic and social policies.

Issues to be addressed in the Global Forum on Environment are shaped based on the current work of the OECD Environment Programme, by focusing on one or two priority issues on the global environmental agenda each year.

The Global Climate Action portal (NAZCA) is an online platform where actors from around the globe – countries, regions, cities, companies, investors and other organizations – can display their commitments to act on climate change.

Launched by UN Climate Change (UNFCCC), Peru and France in 2014, the portal was born of the realization that addressing climate change will take ambitious, broad-based action from all segments of society, public and private.

Race To Zero is a global campaign to rally; leadership and support from businesses, cities, regions, investors for a healthy, resilient, zero carbon recovery that prevents future threats, creates decent jobs, and unlocks inclusive, sustainable growth.

• It mobilizes a coalition of leading net zero initiatives, representing 449 cities, 21 regions, 995 businesses, 38 of the biggest investors, and 505 universities.
• These ‘real economy’ actors join 120 countries in the largest ever alliance committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest.
• Collectively these actors now cover nearly 25% global CO2 emissions and over 50% GDP.
• Led by the High-Level Climate Champions for Climate Action – Nigel Topping and Gonzalo Muñoz– Race To Zero mobilizes actors outside of national governments to join the Climate Ambition Alliance, which was launched at the UNSG’s Climate Action Summit 2019 by the President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera.
• The objective is to build momentum around the shift to a decarbonized economy ahead of COP26 (UNFCCC), where governments must strengthen their contributions to the Paris Agreement.
• This will send governments a resounding signal that business, cities, regions and investors are united in meeting the Paris goals and creating a more inclusive and resilient economy.