Daily CA : 24/01/2015

1. Shanta Kumar Committee on Restructuring of FCI submits report to PM

• The High Level Committee (HLC) for Restructuring of Food Corporation of India (FCI) chaired by Shanta Kumar has submitted its report to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Some Recommendations of Shanta Kumar Committee:

On procurement related issues:

• FCI should hand over all procurement operations of wheat, paddy and rice to Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Punjab as they have sufficient experience and reasonable infrastructure for procurement.

• FCI procurement should focus on eastern belt, where farmers do not get minimum support price.

On stocking and movement related issues:

• FCI should outsource its stocking operations to various agencies such as Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), State Warehousing Corporation (SWC), Private Sector under Private Entrepreneur Guarantee (PEG) scheme.

• It should be done on competitive bidding basis, inviting various stakeholders and creating competition to bring down costs of storage.

• Movement of grains should be containerized in order to reduce transit losses. While, railways should have faster turn-around-time by having more mechanized facilities.

NFSA and PDS related issues

• Restructuring the National Food Security Act (NFSA) by virtually diluting its scope and coverage from 67 per cent of population to about 40 per cent population.

• In order to curtail leakages in PDS, government should defer implementation of NFSA in states that have not done end to end computerization.

End to end computerization:

• It recommends end to end computerization of the entire food management system, starting from procurement from farmers, to stocking, movement and finally distribution through PDS.

• It will help for real time basis monitoring in order to curb leakages.

Background:

• In August 2014, Union government had set up 8 members High Level Committee (HLC) on FCI restructuring. It was restructuring chaired by Shanta Kumar.

• Other members are: FCI Chairman-cum-Managing Director C Viswanath, Electronic and IT Secretary Ram Sewak Sharma, Former Chairman of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) Ashok Gulati, Chief Secretaries of Punjab and Chhattisgarh; and Academicians G Raghuram and Gunmadi Nancharaiah of IIM-Ahmedabad.

2. National Girl Child day observed today

• National girl child day is celebrated every year on 24th of January as a national observance day for the girl child.

• National Girl Child Day celebration was started by the Women and Child Development Ministry since 2008 to celebrate as the national observance.

• The purpose of this day is to focus attention on the depleting female to male ratio and take a stand on issues of female foeticide, domestic violence and malnutrition in children

• It is celebrated to increase the awareness among people about all the inequalities faced by the girl child in the society, which includes many areas like inequality in education, nutrition, legal rights, medical care, protection, honour, child marriage and so many.

3. Former Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra impeach

• Former Thailand Premier Yingluck Shinawatra was impeached by an army-backed parliament.

• The impeachment was followed by the ban of the Yingluck Shinawatra from politics for five years.

• Yingluck is the first Prime Minister to be impeached by parliament in Thailand's history. The impeachment was a result of an allegation for failing to stop corruption in rice-pledging scheme.

Note:

• i. Yingluck Shinawatra is a Thai businesswoman and politician. She is a member of the Pheu Thai Party, and the 28th Prime Minister of Thailand following the 2011 general election.
• ii. Yingluck was Thailand's first female Prime Minister at the time and its youngest Prime Minister in over 60 years.

4. Book authoured by late Dr K Anji Reddy released

• An Unfinished Agenda: My Life in the Pharmaceutical Industry', a book written by Late Dr K Anji Reddy (1941-2013), founder-Chairman of Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd, was released here on Friday.

• "The book is not just about himself but about all those who is known to him. We were very glad that we could give a draft of his book to him one week before his demise. He was very glad," he said.

5. India's foreign exchange reserves hit all-time high at $322.14 billion

• India's foreign exchange reserves reached high to 322.135 billion US Dollars for the week ended January 16.

• RBI data shows that the reserves jumped by 2.66 billion US Dollars to reach 322.135 billion dollars during the week.

• Strong FII inflows and reduction in import burden due to a record fall in oil prices have led to accumulation of the record forex reserves. 

6. National Awards for Bravery to 24 children

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented the National Awards for Bravery to 24 children in New Delhi.

• Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that the brave deeds done by these children are proof that God has kept in everyone an element that inspires to live for others.

Note: The Bravery Award Scheme was started by the Indian Council for Child Welfare to give due recognition to the children who distinguish themselves by performing outstanding deeds of bravery and meritorious service and to inspire other children to emulate their examples.

7. Mumbai's dabbawalas honoured today

• A three day philately exhibition MUMBAIPEX 2015 has begun at the Mumbai GPO on Friday, showcasing various aspects of shared heritage and culture.

• Mumbai Dabawalas deliver nearly 2 lakh lunch boxes to offices every day. 

• Complementing the Dabbawalas for rendering a valuable service to the society Zagade said that the logistics management adopted by Mumbai Dabbawala's is so sophisticated that it has become part of Management Studies in reputed institutions.

• The accurate delivery system of Mumbai Dabbawalas was a case study at the Indian Institute of Management as well as the Harvard Business School.

8. India declares national mourning as tribute to Saudi King Abdullah

• India has declared national mourning today as a mark of respect to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia who died yesterday. 

• An official release said, the national flag will be flown at half mast throughout the country and there will be no official entertainment during the day.