Parliamentary standing committees: Rahul Gandhi in Defence, Kangana makes debut, Shashi Tharoor heads External Affairs

The Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committees were constituted on Thursday. There are 24 Departmentally-Related Standing Committees that cover all the Ministries/ Departments of the Government of India.

According to news agency ANI, Congress members will lead four key committees, including the External Affairs. Each committee is a combination of members from both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha.

Here’s all you need to know about the newly-formed Parliamentary Standing Committees:

1. Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi is a member of the standing committee on Defence.

2. Congress leaders will head four key panels. These include:

> Shashi Tharoor will head the External Affairs

> Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh will lead the committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports

> Former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi will lead the committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing

> Odisha MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka will lead Rural and Panchayati Raj.

3. BJP’s Radha Mohan Singh will head the committee on Defence.

4. BJP leader Bhartruhari Mahtab will head the committee on Finance.

5. Former Union Minister and BJP leader Anurag Thakur has been given the chairmanships of committee on Coal, Mines and Steel.

6. BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy will lead the Water Resources committee.

7. BJP member Nishikant Dubey will lead the committee on Communications and Information Technology.

8. BJP MP from Mandi Kangana Ranaut made debut as a member of the committee on communications and IT. Other members of this committee include SP leader Jaya Bachchan, SS-UBT’s Priyanka Chaturvedi, BJD’s Sushmit Patra and Congress’s KTS Tulsi from the Upper House, as well as BJP MPs Anil Baluni and Poonam Madam, and TMC’s Mahua Moitra from the Lok Sabha.

9. Dr Radha Mohan Das Agrawal of the BJP will head the committee on Home Affairs.

10. The committee on Commerce will be headed by TMC’s Dola Sen.

11. Health and Family Welfare will be headed by Prof Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party.

12. Tiruchi Siva of the DMK will head the panel on Industry.

13. BJP’s CM Ramesh will head the panel on Railways, the Indian Express reported.

14. TMC’s Azad Kirti Jha will chair the Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers.

15. DMK’s Kanimozhi Karunanidhi will head Committee on Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

16. Key BJP allies, including the TDP and Janata Dal (United), Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP, will head one committee each. These include:

> Shiv Sena’s Shrirang Appa Chandu Barne will head the committee on Energy

> TDP’s Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy will lead Housing and Urban Affairs

> NCP’s Sunil Tatkare will lead Petroleum and Natural Gas

> JD(U)’s Sanjay Jha will be heading the committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture

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.