Parliamentary Standing Committees

The Parliament throughout the year has three sessions: Winter Session, Budget Session and Monsoon Session. The 16th Lok Sabha (2014-19) sat for 331 days (i.e average 66 days/year). Due to time constraints, it is not possible for each MP to discuss and scrutinise all Bills in the House.It cannot, therefore, give close consideration to all the legislative and other matters that come up before it. A good deal of its business is, therefore, transacted in Committees of the House, known as Parliamentary Committees. 

Broadly, the Parliamentary Committees may be classified into the following categories: 
(a) Financial Committees 
(b) Departmentally Related Standing Committees; 
(c) Other Parliamentary Standing Committees; and 
(d) Ad hoc Committees.

Standing Committees are permanent and regular committees which are constituted from time to time in pursuance of the provisions of an Act of Parliament or Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha. The work of these Committees is of continuous nature. Ad hoc Committees are appointed for a specific purpose and they cease to exist when they finish the task assigned to them and submit a report. The principal Ad hoc Committees are the Select and Joint Committees on Bills.

The need to constitute some kind of subject Committees or the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committees was being felt for the last several years. In 1989, in fact, three Standing Committees were constituted which dealt with Agriculture, Science and Technology and Environment and Forests. In 1993, it was finally decided to set up seventeen Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committees each consisting of 15 members of Rajya Sabha and 30 from Lok Sabha to cover various Ministries/Departments of the Union Government in order to further strengthen the accountability of the Government to Parliament. With the addition of seven more Committees in July 2004 albeit with reduced membership of 10 from Rajya Sabha and 21 from Lok Sabha, the number of Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committees was raised to 24 out of which 8 were placed within the jurisdiction of the Chairman, Rajya Sabha and 16 within the jurisdiction of the Speaker, Lok Sabha.  Rules 268 to 277 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Conduct of States and Rules 331 C to 331 N of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha govern the Constitution and functioning of these Committees.

Constitution: As per the rule 269 of 'Procedure and Conduct of Business in Council of States', 
1. Each of the Standing Committees shall consist of not more than 31 members, 10 members nominated by the Chairman from amongst the members of the Council, and 21 members nominated by the Speaker from amongst the members of the House.
2. A member of a Committee shall hold office for a term not exceeding one year.

Function: As per the rule 270 of 'Procedure and Conduct of Business in Council of States', 

each of the Standing Committees shall have the following functions, namely :-

1. to consider the Demands for Grants of the related Ministries/Departments and report thereon. The report shall not suggest anything of the nature of cut motions;
2. to examine Bills, pertaining to the related Ministries/Departments, referred to the Committee by the Chairman or the Speaker, as the case may be, and report thereon;
3. to consider the annual reports of the Ministries/Departments and report thereon; and
4. to consider national basic long term policy documents presented to the Houses , if referred to the Committee by the Chairman or the Speaker, as the case may be, and report thereon :

In the 16th Lok Sabha, 25% of the Bills introduced were referred to Committees, much lower than 71% and 60% in the 15th (2009-14) and 14th (2004-09) Lok Sabha respectively.

Department wise Parliamentary Standing Committees:- Out of 24 Committees, first 8 Committees are serviced by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat and their chairmen are appointed by the Chairman, Rajya Sabha. Next 16 Committees are serviced by the Lok Sabha Secretariat and their chairmen are appointed by the Speaker, Lok Sabha. 

Name of Committee	Ministries/Department
Committee on Commerce	Commerce and Industry
Committee on Home Affairs	Home Affairs
	Development of North-Eastern Region
Committee on Human Resource Development	Human Resource Development
	Youth Affairs and Sports
	Women and Child Development
Committee on Industry	Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
	Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests	Science & Technology
	Space
	Earth Sciences
	Atomic Energy
	Environment , Forests & Climate Change
Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture	Civil Aviation
	Road Transport and Highways
	Shipping
	Culture
	Tourism
Committee on Health and Family Welfare	Health and Family Welfare
	Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Sidha and Homeopathy (AYUSH)
Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice	Law and Justice
	Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions

Name of Committee	Ministries/Department
Committee on Agriculture	Agriculture
	Food Processing Industries
Committee on Information Technology	Communications and Information Technology
	Information & Broadcasting
Committee on Defence	Defence
Committee on Energy	New and Renewable Energy
	Power
Committee on External Affairs	External Affairs
	Overseas Indian Affairs
Committee on Finance	Finance
	Corporate Affairs
	Planning
	Statistics and Programme Implementation
Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution	Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
Committee on Labour	Labour and Employment
	Textiles
	Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
Committee on Petroleum & Natural Gas	Petroleum & Natural Gas
Committee on Railways	Railways
Committee on Urban Development	Urban Development
	Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
Committee on Water Resources	Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers	Chemicals and Fertilizers
Committee on Rural Development	Rural Development
	Drinking Water and Sanitation
	Panchayati Raj
Committee on Coal and Steel	Coal
	Mines
	Steel
Committee on Social Justice & Empowerment	Social Justice and Empowerment
	Tribal Affairs
	Minority Affairs

Stay tuned for more updates. Feel free to  comment.

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