Parliamentary Standing Committees: Rahul Gandhi at Defence, Kangana makes debut, Shashi Tharoor heads external affairs | Mint

The department-related parliamentary standing committees were established on Thursday. There are 24 departmental related standing committees covering all ministries/departments of the Government of India.

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

Here's everything you need to know about the newly formed parliamentary standing committees:

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

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

> Shashi Tharoor will head External Affairs

> Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh will head the Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports Committee

> Former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi will head the Agriculture, Livestock and Food Processing Committee

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

3. BJP's Radha Mohan Singh will head the Defense Committee.

4. BJP leader Bhartruhari Mahtab will head the Finance Committee.

5. Former Union Minister and BJP leader Anurag Thakur has been given the chairmanship of the Coal, Mines and Steel Committee.

6. BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy will head the Water Resources Committee.

7. BJP member Nishikant Dubey will head the Communications and Information Technology Committee.

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

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

10. The trade committee will be headed by TMC's Dola Sen.

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

12. Tiruchi Siva of the DMK will chair the panel on Industries.

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 Fertilizers.

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

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

> Shrirang Appa Chandu Barne of Shiv Sena will head the Energy Committee

> TDP's Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy will head Housing and Urban Affairs

> NCP's Sunil Tatkare will head Petroleum and Natural Gas

> JD(U)'s Sanjay Jha will head the Transport, Tourism and Culture committee

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