Prelims – 17th Nov 23

WHIP

• The concept of the whip was inherited from colonial British rule. It is used in parliamentary parlance often for floor management by political parties in the legislature.
• A whip may refer to both a written order to members of a party in the House to abide by a certain direction, and to a designated official of the party who is authorised to issue such a direction.
• All parties can issue whips to their members. Parties appoint a senior member from among their House contingents to issue whips — this member is called a chief whip, and he/ she is assisted by additional whips.
• The office of ‘whip’, is mentioned neither in the Constitution of India nor in the Rules of the House nor in a Parliamentary Statute. It is based on the conventions of the parliamentary government.
• There are some cases such as Presidential elections where whips cannot direct a Member of Parliament (MP) or Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) on whom to vote.
• If an MP violates his party’s whip, he faces expulsion from the House under the Anti Defection Act. The only exception is when more than a third of legislators vote against a directive, effectively splitting the party.

1st fully e-Governed State

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan declared Kerala to be India’s first fully e-governed state while speaking at the ‘Total e-Governance Kerala’ event held in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday (May 25).  He said that the state government wants to use technology for Kerala’s development and bridge the ‘digital divide’ in addition to creating a network of government offices and citizens.

• He launched the Kerala Fibre Optic Network (KFON) project.
• He also listed out the other initiatives like a single-window portal called e-Sevanam for delivering as many as 900 services.
• It has digitized a range of government services, ensuring prompt and transparent delivery to its citizens
• E-governance, meaning ‘electronic governance’ is using ICTs such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing for the purpose of enhancing governance.

Financial Stability and Development Council 

• Constituted in 2010 on the recommendation of Raghuram Rajan Committee (2008) on financial sector reforms.
• Its Function is – tostrengthen and institutionalise the mechanism for maintaining financial stability, enhancing inter-regulatory coordination and promoting financial sector development.
• It is a non-statutory apex council under the Ministry of Finance constituted by the Executive Order in 2010.
• It is chaired by the Finance Minister and its members include the heads of all Financial Sector Regulators (RBI, SEBI, PFRDA & IRDA), Finance Secretary, Secretary of Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Secretary of Department of Financial Services (DFS), and Chief Economic Adviser.
• In 2018, the government reconstituted FSDC to include the Minister of State responsible for the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Secretary of Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Chairperson of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) and the Revenue Secretary.
• FSDC sub-committee is headed by the Governor of RBI.
• The Council can invite experts to its meeting if required.
• Recently, Finance Minister chaired the 27th meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC).
• No funds are separately allocated to the council for undertaking its activities