Select Committee

Subject: Polity

Context:

Government pushed through two crucial agriculture Bills in Rajya Sabha, rejecting Opposition demands that they be referred to a Select Committee of Rajya Sabha.

Concept:

• India’s Parliament has multiple types of committees. They can be differentiated on the basis of their work, their membership and the length of their tenure.
• First are committees that examine bills, budgets and policies of ministries. These are called departmentally related Standing Committees. There are 24 such committees and between them, they focus on the working of different ministries. Each committee has 31 MPs, 21 from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha.
• Then there are committees constituted for a specific purpose, with MPs from both Houses. The specific purpose could be detailed scrutiny of a subject matter or a Bill. These are Joint Parliamentary Committees (JPC). In 2011 the issue of telecom licences and spectrum was examined by a JPC headed by Congress MP P C Chacko. In 2016, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was sent to a JPC chaired by BJP MP Rajendra Agarwal.
• And finally, there is a Select Committee on a Bill. This is formed for examining a particular Bill and its membership is limited to MPs from one House. Last year Rajya Sabha referred the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019 to a Select Committee of 23 of its MPs from different parties. Since both the JPCs and Select Committees are constituted for a specific purpose, they are disbanded after their report. Both these types of committees are chaired by MPs from the ruling party.