1. 21-member Committee on corporate governance headed by ___________ submitted its report to Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Rcommendations Include -
- Separation of roles - Roles of chairman and managing director at listed firms should be separated and chairmanship should be limited to only non-executive directors.
- Minimum board strength - Should be increased to 6 members and at least one woman should be appointed as independent director.
- Independent Directors - At least half of board members to be independent directors at listed companies.
- Shareholder meeting and cash flow statement - Top 100 firms by market capitalisation should webcast shareholder meeting and all listed firms should have cash flow statement every six months.
- Credit ratings - Updated list of all credit ratings obtained by the listed entity must be made available at one place, which would be very helpful for investors and other stakeholders.
- Minimum remuneration - Independent directors must get minimum remuneration of Rs 5 lakh per annum and sitting fee of Rs 20,000-50,000 for each board meet.
- Risk management and IT committee - Top-500 listed companies should have risk management committee of boards for cyber security.
2. 5 member committee headed by Prasar Bharati Chairman ____________ has been formed to select editor-in-chief of Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV) ?
3. A Parliamentary Committee under ___________ has been formed to examine operational preparedness of armed forces ?
4. An Internal Committee has been formed by External Affairs Ministry to examine India-China relations. It will be headed by ___________ and will primarily Focus on Doklam and Rohingya Muslims Issues. ?
5. Committee headed by ___________ submitted its report on review of on Section 66A of the IT Act. It was constituted after Supreme Court struck down controversial Section 66A of IT Act in 2015.
- Section 66A of the IT Act deals with arrests of people for posting content deemed to be allegedly objectionable on Internet.
6. GST Council constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) to make GST comPostscheme more attractive, to be headed by ______________ Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
- Committee will look to make GST ComPostscheme more attractive as only 15.50 lakh businesses out of total 98 lakh GST registered ones opted for comPostscheme.
- GoM will also revisit tax structure of different categories of restaurants in order to rationalise rates which is Currently 12% on non-AC restaurants and 18% on air-conditioned ones.
- GST ComPostscheme -
- It is an alternative method of levy of tax designed for small taxpayers whose turnover is up to Rs 75 lakh (Rs 50 lakh in case of 8 north-eastern states and hilly state of Himachal Pradesh). Its aims to bring simplicity for small taxpayers as manufacturers have to pay 2% tax on their annual turnover and file returns quarterly. The tax rate is 5% for restaurant services and 1% for traders ?
7. Government appointed Committee on Haj Policy recommended phasing out Haj pilgrims' subsidy and allowing women devotees above 45 years to travel in a group of at least 4 without a male. Panel was headed by __________ ?
8. Government constituted a high-level committee for proper management of water resources in the North Eastern Region (NER), under Chairmanship of Vice-Chairman in Niti Aayog (______________) ?
9. Home Ministry formed study group under _____________, to examine problems faced by people residing near International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LOC) in Jammu and Kashmir ?
10. Law Ministry created a panel (Second National Judicial Pay Commission) to recommend new salary structure for 21000 judges of lower courts in India. It will be headed by Former SC judge _________________ and will submit its recommendations in early 2019 ?
11. President Ram Nath Kovind appointed a 5 member Committee headed by ____________ to examine subcategorisation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), to ensure more backward among OBC communities can avail benefits of reservation ?
12. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) panel on external benchmark rate for banks headed by ___________ submitted its report. Panel observed that several practices including violation of RBI guidelines, inflating of base rate and arbitrary adjustment of spreads are prevalent among major banks in India. ?
13. Reserve Bank of India constituted a 10-member High Level Task Force on Public Credit Registry (PCR) for India, which will suggest a roadmap for developing a transparent, comprehensive and near-real-time PCR for India. It will be Headed by ___________ ?