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To streamline administration, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday dissolved four Cabinet committees and shifted their functions to either the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) or the cabinet secretary.
The move came over a week after the prime minister did away with nine empowered groups of ministers and 21 groups of ministers.
The dissolved committees are: The Cabinet Committee on Management of Natural Calamities, the Cabinet Committee on Prices, the Cabinet Committee on World Trade Organization (WTO) Matters and the Cabinet Committee on Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)-related issues.
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Now, panel under Cabinet secretary to handle its issues
Now, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs to handle works of the three panels
Modi would now re-constitute CCEA, besides the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs and the Cabinet Committee on Security, an official statement said here. Being Cabinet committees, all are chaired by the prime minister himself.
While functions of the Cabinet Committee on Management of Natural Calamities will be handled by a panel under the cabinet secretary whenever natural calamities occur, tasks of three others will be handled by CCEA. The functions of the committee on WTO matters will also be looked after by the full Cabinet, whenever necessary.
Functions of CCEA currently include a review of economic trends, problems and prospects to evolve a consistent and integrated economic policy framework for the country. Its tasks also include directing and coordinating all activities in the economic field, including foreign investment.
The committee on UIDAI will no longer be there, as according to the official statement, "major decisions in this area have already been taken and the remaining issues will be brought to the CCEA".
This comes amid speculation that the UIDAI project might be amalgamated with the National Population Register (NPR), as the ruling party is said to be sceptical of certain elements concerning Aadhaar such as that it includes all residents and not just citizens of India. However, any form of official communication is yet to come.
The committee on UIDAI had earlier mediated between the authority and the Registrar General of India (RGI). Issues of duplication had broken out between Aadhaar and RGI's National Population Register and the committee tried to resolve the matter by geographically splitting the country for the two agencies.
It also delved into security concerns pertaining to Aadhaar raised by the home ministry. The last decision taken by the committee expanded UIDAI's mandate into four NPR states to fast-track the enrolment of residents into projects.
The move to merge the Cabinet Committee on prices came as the government is grappling with the issue of high food inflation. Sub-normal monsoon could further add to the price pressures.
