Highlights:

• The Cabinet meeting chaired by the Chief Minister gave its consent to constitute the 6^th State Finance Commission.
• Its objective is to review the financial position of Panchayats and Urban Local Bodies
• The commission will suggest measures needed to:
  •  improve the financial position of Panchayats and Urban Local Bodies.
  • imposition of taxes, duties, toll and fee.
  • grants in aid to panchayats and urban local bodies from the Consolidated Fund.

Other major decisions of the cabinet:

• It gave approval to the procurement, supply and distribution of schoolbags under the Atal School Vardi Yojana for over 2.56 lakh students on e-tender basis.
• It was also decided to create a State Disaster Mitigation Fund,
• Under the fund, 20% of the State Disaster Risk Management Fund will be used for mitigation.

Related info:

Atal Free Vardi Yojana

• It is a free uniform scheme for school students in in the state.
• All the state-run school children to get benefits of the scheme.
• The distribution of the uniform to happen with the help of Himachal Pradesh State Civil Supplies Corporation.
• Free school uniforms will be provided to the students of class 1st to class 12th studying in government colleges.
• Students will be provided two uniforms each.
• Class 3rd, 6th & 9th students will also be provided school bags along with the uniform.
• The primary objective of the scheme is to make sure that the students from the poor families has school uniform.
• The scheme will also encourage students to go to schools.

e-tender:

• It is an internet-based process wherein the complete tendering process- from advertising to receiving and submitting tender-related information are done online.
• This enables firms to be more efficient as paper-based transactions are reduced or eliminated, facilitating for a more speedy exchange of information.

State Disaster Risk Management Fund

• These funds were allocated to the States on the recommendation of the 15^th Finance Commission.
• Union Minister of Home Affairs (MHA) on has approved the release of ?11,092 crore under the State Disaster Risk Management Fund (SDRMF) to all the States to take measures for containment of COVID-19 pandemic.

State Disaster Response Fund

• The State Disaster Response Fund is constituted under Section 48 (1) (a) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
• It is the primary fund available with State Governments for responses to notified disasters.
• The Central Government contributes 75% of SDRF allocation for general category States/UTs and 90% for special category States/UTs (NE States, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir).
• The annual Central contribution is released in two equal installments as per the recommendation of the Finance Commission.
• SDRF is to be used only for meeting the expenditure for providing immediate relief to the victims.
• Disasters covered under SDRF: Cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, landslide, avalanche, cloudburst, pest attack, frost and cold waves.