12.1.5. Departmentally Related Standing Committees

A full-fledged system of 17 Department Related Standing Committees came into being in April 1993. In 2004, the number of DRSC’s was raised to 24. These Committees cover under their jurisdiction all the Ministries/Departments of the Government of India. These Committees are as under:

1. Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers

2. Committee on Coal and Steel

3. Committee on Health and Family Welfare

4. Committee on Information Technology

5. Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice

6. Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment

7. Committee on Commerce

8. Committee on Home Affairs

9. Committee on Human Resource Development

10. Committee on Industry

11. Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests

12. Committee on Transport, Culture and Tourism

13. Committee on Agriculture

14. Committee on Defence

15. Committee on Energy

16. Committee on External Affairs

17. Committee on Finance

18. Committee on Food, Civil Supplies and Public Distribution

19. Committee on Labor

20. Committee on Petroleum & Natural Gas

21. Committee on Railways

22. Committee on Rural Development

23. Committee on Urban Development

24. Committee on Water Resources

Constitution: Till 13th Lok Sabha, each of these Standing Committees used to consist of 45 members-30 nominated by the Speaker from amongst the members of Lok Sabha and 15 members nominated by the Chairman from amongst the members of Rajya Sabha. But with restructuring of DRSCs in July, 2004 each DRSC now consists of 31 members-21 from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha. A Minister is not eligible to be nominated to these Committees.

Term of Office: The term of members of these Committees is one year.

Functions: With reference to the Ministries/Departments under their purview, the functions of these committees are:

i) Consideration of Demands for Grants.

ii) Examination of Bills referred to by the Chairman, Rajya Sabha or the Speaker, Lok Sabha as the case may be.

iii) Consideration of Annual Reports.

iv) Consideration of national basic long-term policy documents presented to the House and referred to the Committee by the Chairman, Rajya Sabha or the Speaker, Lok Sabha, as the case may be.

These Committees do not consider matters of day-to-day administration of the concerned Ministries/Departments. With the emphasis of their functioning to concentrate on long-term plans, policies and the philosophies guiding the working of the Executive, these Committees are in a very privileged position to provide necessary direction, guidance and inputs for broad policy formulations and in achievement of the long-term national perspective by the Executive.