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A consultative committee is commissioned by the ministry of parliamentary affairs with members from both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha
Recently, the government formed a total of 41 consultative committees. (PTI File)
The central government recently announced the reconstitution of the consultative committees for the current term.
Among the major changes, Congress Lok Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) and opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has moved out of the external affairs committee, which he was part of in the earlier LS term. Another Congress MP, Shashi Tharoor, who was earlier a member of the same panel, is also out of it this time.
The Congress has replaced Gandhi and Tharoor with two other members – Manish Tiwari and Gurjeet Singh Aujla.
Tharoor has now been appointed to the committee on information and broadcasting. Sharad Pawar, Rajya Sabha MP from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), is now a member of the consultative committee for home. His daughter and Lok Sabha MP, Supriya Sule, is with the committee for defence.
Former union minister P Chidambaram, who held the finance portfolio during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rule, is now a member of the committee for finance. Former union minister Praful Patel is now a member of the consultative committee for civil aviation. He held the same portfolio during the UPA.
Mahesh Sharma, a minister in the Modi government who held the portfolio for tourism and culture, is part of the consultative committee on it. Musical maestro Ilaiyaraaja is also part of the same committee.
Jairam Ramesh, Rajya Sabha MP who was a minister in the UPA government, is a member of the consultative committee for forest environment and climate change. Ranjan Gogoi, former Chief Justice of India, and Abhijit Ganguly, former chief justice of the Calcutta High Court, are both part of the consultative committee for law and justice.
Actor-politician Kangana Ranaut is a member of the committee for petroleum, while actor-politician Jaya Bachchan is with the committee for external affairs. Cricketer-politicians Harbhajan Singh and Yusuf Pathan have been appointed to the committee for sports and youth affairs.
41 CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEES
A consultative committee is commissioned by the ministry of parliamentary affairs with members from both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. These are ministry-specific committees that look into the functioning of those ministries. Unlike the standing committees, the consultative committees are chaired by a cabinet minister, with ministers of states in it. They are generally constituted after the Lok Sabha elections and are for the entire period of five years till the term of the Lok Sabha.
The consultative committees have a strength of 10-30 members and give insights into the working of the government with a specific ministry in question. During the meetings, informal discussions and debates are held.
Recently, the government formed a total of 41 consultative committees. All the key ministries in the government, including home, defence, finance, external affairs, agriculture, rural development, etc., have a consultative committee.
Amit Shah will chair the crucial meeting on home affairs and cooperatives, Nirmala Sitharaman on defence and corporate affairs, Dr S Jaishankar on external affairs, Rajnath Singh on defence, among others.