Finance Commission - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

ANSWER: N K Singh

Explanation:
The government has announced the 15th Finance Commission and it will be chaired by former parliamentarian and revenue and expenditure secretary N K Singh.

Its tenure will be till October 30, 2019, by when it will have to give its final report on distributing divisible funds between the Centre and the states for a five-year period starting April 1, 2020.

Earlier, the government appointed the former Planning Commission Member as head of the 15th Finance Commission.

Other members of the commission, which is required to submit its report by October 2019, are former economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das, former chief economic advisor Ashok Lahiri, Niti Aayog Member Ramesh Chand and Georgetown University professor Anoop Singh.

The commission will review the current status of the finance, deficit, debt levels, cash balances and fiscal discipline efforts of the Union and the states. It will also recommend a fiscal consolidation road map for sound fiscal management.

As per Article 280 of the Constitution, the commission is required to make recommendations on the distribution of the net proceeds of taxes between the Centre and the states.

The new Finance Commission will cover five-year period commencing April 1, 2020.

The 14th Finance Commission was set up on January 2, 2013. Its recommendations cover the period from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2020.

ANSWER: Article 280 (1)

Explanation:
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved setting up of 15th Finance Commission (FC). It is a constitutional obligation to set up FC under Article 280 (1) of the Constitution.

The Terms of Reference for 15th FC will be notified in due course of time. In terms of constitutional provisions, setting up 15th FC, its recommendations will cover five years commencing on April 1, 2020.

15^th Finance Commission

• The recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission will be implemented in the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2025.
• The 14th Finance Commission is considered to have fundamentally reset the centre-state fiscal relationship by raising the untied share of states in net central taxes to 42% from 32% after ending discretionary resource transfers from the centre to the states.
• Economist Indira Rajaraman, who was a member of the 13th Finance Commission opined the 15th Finance Commission will change considerably after GST was implemented.