Cabinet approves creation of 3 officer-level posts for 16th Fin Comm (GS Paper 2, Governance)
Why in news?
- The Cabinet recently approved the creation of three officer-level posts for assisting the 16th Finance Commission, chaired by Arvind Panagariya.
- The Union Cabinet has approved the creation of three posts at the level of Joint Secretary i.e. two posts of Joint Secretary and one post of Economic Adviser, for the 16th Finance Commission.
Key Highlights:
- The government appointed former vice chairman of Niti Aayog Panagariya as the chairman of the 16th Finance Commission.
- Ritvik Ranjanam Pandey was named as the Secretary to the Commission.
- The Commission would submit its report to the President by October 31, 2025. The report would be for five years commencing April 1, 2026.
Terms of reference:
- Besides suggesting tax devolution between the Centre and states and revenue augmentation measures, the Commission would review the present arrangements for financing disaster management initiatives with reference to the funds constituted under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
About Finance Commission:
- The Finance Commission is a constitutional body that gives suggestions on centre-state financial relations.
- The erstwhile 15th Finance Commission under NK Singh had recommended that states be given 41 per cent of the divisible tax pool of the Centre during five-year period 2021-22 to 2025-26, which is at the same level as was recommended by the 14th Finance Commission.
India First Graphene Centre, IoT CoE in Kerala
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Why in news?
- MeitY recently launched a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Intelligent Internet of Things (IIoT) Sensors and India’s first graphene centre - India Innovation Centre for Graphene (IICG) in Kerala.
Details:
- The CoE in IIoT Sensors is a unique facility established at Makers Village Kochi by MeitY, Government of India and Government of Kerala to catalyse the development of sensors within the realm of Intelligent IoT systems covering a broad spectrum of applications of intelligent sensors in networks, devices and sensor systems.
- Further, the India Innovation Centre for Graphene (IICG) has also been established at Makers Village Kochi by MeitY and Government of Kerala along with Tata Steel Limited.
- Digital University Kerala (DUK) (formerly IIITMK) and Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (CMET), Thrissur are the technical partners for setting up these centres.
- The complete full-fledged facility for R&D, incubation, innovation, skilling, capacity building, testing and certification shall be established at these centres by the experts of these agencies.
Hardtech 2024:
- It also unveiled Hardtech 2024 - Makers Village's premier annual program on the occasion.
- This program aims to unite key figures from industries, startups, investors, academia, and R&D organisations involved in electronics hardware design and manufacturing.
Way Forward:
- The creation of a complete ecosystem for startups in the area of IoT sensors and graphene & 2D materials is the main objective for setting up these centres in the country.
