J&K bank
- Recently, the J &K Governor approved a proposal for treating Jammu and Kashmir Bank (J&K Bank) Ltd as a public-sector undertaking.
- It will hence be accountable to the state legislature, and the Finance Department will be required to place the bank’s annual report before the Assembly.
- J & K bank I=is the only bank in India in which a state government holds a majority stake. In all public-sector banks, the majority stake is held by the Centre.
- As per the Banking Companies Act, the central government holding in public-sector banks cannot drop below 51%.
- Though the state government holds 59.3% in J&K Bank, it is not considered a public-sector bank. This unique status needs to be seen in the context of Article 370 of the Constitution, which gives special autonomous status to the state of Jammu & Kashmir.
- Given the existing laws, treating J&K Bank as a PSU faces a couple of obstacles. According to Article 246 of the Seventh Schedule, banking as a subject comes under the Union list.
- The Centre holding majority stake in public-sector banks is fine; J&K Bank being classified as an old private-sector bank is fine too. But changing its character to that of a J&K PSU will be akin to empowering the state to have powers over banking.
NSDC
- NSDC is a public-private-partnership,.
- It works under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship.
- NSDC aims to promote skill development by catalyzing creation of large, quality and for-profit vocational institutions.
- The organisation provides funding to build scalable and profitable vocational training initiatives.
- It also develops appropriate models to enhance, support and coordinate private sector initiatives.
- NSDC supports short-term skill training through a wide network of training providers and district nodal skill centres called Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK).
- Besides, the organisation is involved in re-skilling and also in catering to the skilled manpower requirement of overseas markets, most notably that of Japan and UAE.
Economic growth
- The government, in 2015, changed the methodology and the base-year for the computation of its economic performance.
- The news methodology was Gross Value Added (GVA) method from the earlier GDP calculations.
- Further, the government forwarded the base-year to 2011-12 from 2004-05.
Export
- In the last 6 months, fish oil is the second product to get clearance from China.
- A few months ago, during the Wuhan meet, the protocol for Indian rice export to China was signed.
Blue economy
- Blue Economy remains a critical aspect of India’s economic development agenda, and more than 95% of our trade is being carried on by sea.
- Kenya is hosting the Sustainable Blue Economy Conference with Canada and Japan as co-hosts.
