Parliamentary standing committees (referred to as the standing committee) pertaining to ministers/departments are established by the houses. Currently, there are 24 departmental “related parliamentary standing committees. Each standing committee comprises a maximum of 45 members—30 from the Lok Sabha and 15 from the Rajya Sabha. Ministers are ineligible for nomination to these committees, and the term of office for each standing committee is one year.
The primary functions of these committees are to scrutinize the demand for grants of the respective Ministries or Departments before discussions and voting take place in the Lok Sabha. Simultaneously, there are five existing parliamentary forums, with the first one on water conservation formed in 2005.
Parliamentary forums operate independently and do not intrude upon the jurisdiction of the related departmental standing committees. Members for these forums are nominated by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Each forum comprises a maximum of 31 members (excluding the President and Ex-officio Vice-Presidents), with up to 21 from the Lok Sabha and up to 10 from the Rajya Sabha.
The primary purpose behind forming parliamentary forums is to establish a platform for members to engage in interaction and discussions with relevant ministers, experts, and key officials. This initiative aims for a result-oriented approach to expedite the implementation process of critical issues.
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