Ø Differences emerged on Sunday between the Reserve Bank and the Finance
Ministry over the structure of a committee that will set interest rates and
take monetary policy decisions — instead of the central bank’s Governor. However,
both the RBI and the government played down reports of friction over the
biggest regulatory shake-up in its 80-year- old history. While the RBI Act
empowers the Governor ‘singularly’ and ‘solely’ to set rates, the Ministry is
making a case for the task to be given to an eight-member monetary policy
committee that includes a government nominee but with no voting rights. The
Reserve Bank, however, favours a five-member panel where the majority would
determine policy decisions and the Governor would act as tiebreaker only if a
member was absent. The Reserve Bank’s proposed five-member committee would
include two outside experts picked by it but no government nominee. In an
agreement the RBI signed last month with the government, it committed to bring
inflation below 6 per cent by January 2016. The consumer inflation target has
been set at 4 per cent, with a band of plus or minus 2 percentage points, for
the financial year 2016-17.
Ø Special Representatives (SRs) of India and China will sit down on Monday
for the 18th round of talks on the border dispute, with a view to finalising
the framework for resolution, as well as prepare for Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s visit to China. Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi, who is in Delhi
ahead of his meeting with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, will meet Mr.
Modi.
Ø The Sri Lankan Navy arrested 54 Indian fishermen early Sunday on charges
of poaching.
Ø To deepen markets and help raise funds for business and infrastructure
projects, SEBI on Sunday announced a slew of measures including listing of
municipal bonds and setting up of a global financial hub within India on the
lines of Singapore and Dubai.
Ø A massive network of seismic stations, accelerometers and GPS
instruments is being established in the Jammu and Kashmir region to assess
areas more prone to severe earthquakes. The work is being done by
scientists of the CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute under a project
sanctioned by the Union Earth Sciences Ministry.
Ø Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday said that as many as
38 countries are sending their defence personnel for training in India and the
country is considering encouraging export of defence equipment to these
countries. Without naming the countries for security reasons, Mr.
Parrikar said that India is encouraging those countries and giving them more
slots so that they depend on India for their defence preparedness.
Ø A tiny central Pacific community, forced to evacuate their homes because
of U.S. nuclear testing, are now demanding refuge in the United States as they
face a new threat from climate change.
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