Parliamentary standing committees constituted, Congress to head four panels

The Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committees for 2024-2025 were constituted on Thursday with the Congress members chairing four committees, including the External Affairs.

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi is a member of the standing committee on Defence.

Each committee is a combination of members from both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha.

The Congress has been given the chairmanship of four key panels. The committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports will be headed by Digvijaya Singh, the committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing will be led by former Chief Minister of Punjab Charanjit Singh Channi, Rural and Panchayati Raj will be led by Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka and Shashi Tharoor will head the External Affairs.

BJP's Radha Mohan Singh will head the committee on Defence. Bhartruhari Mahtab will head the committee on Finance.

Former Union Minister Anurag Thakur and Rajiv Pratap Rudy have been given the chairmanships of committees on Coal, Mines and Steel; and Water Resources respectively.

BJP member Nishikant Dubey has been made the chairman of the committee on Communications and Information Technology.

Dr Radha Mohan Das Agrawal of the BJP will head the committee on Home Affairs. The committee on Commerce will be headed by TMC's Dola Sen.

Health and Family Welfare will be headed by Prof Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party. Tiruchi Siva of DMK will head the panel on Industry.

This committee is tasked with overseeing and providing legislative oversight on issues related to commerce, trade policies, and economic development in relation to India's commerce sector. The committee plays a vital role in reviewing policy matters and ensuring that the commerce sector contributes effectively to the nation's economy.

The Committee on communications and IT has as members SP's Jaya Bachchan, SS-UBT's Priyanka Chaturvedi, BJD's Sushmit Patra and INC's KTS Tulsi from the Upper House, as well as BJP MPs Anil Baluni, Kangana Ranaut and Poonam Madam, and TMC's Mahua Moitra from the Lok Sabha.

Major BJP allies such as the TDP and Janata Dal (United) besides its partners in the poll-bound Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena and the NCP, will be heading one committee each -- the committee on Energy (Shiv Sena's Shrirang Appa Chandu Barne), Housing and Urban Affairs (TDP's Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy), and Petroleum and Natural Gas (NCP's Sunil Tatkare).

JD(U)'s Sanjay Jha will be heading the committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture while TDP's Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy will chair the committee on Housing and Urban Affairs.

A tribute event will be held on October 1, 2024, in Central Hall, Samvidhan Sadan, to honour the birth anniversary of former Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balayogi.