Understanding Standing Committees As India's Hidden Legislature
India's Parliament is best known through its visible moments — heated Question Hours, budget speeches, the passage of landmark bills. Less visible but arguably more consequential is the work of the 24 Departmentally Related Standing Committees (DRSCs), which conduct detailed, in-camera scrutiny of ministry budgets, government bills, annual reports, and policy subjects across the entire span of Union government activity. These committees were first constituted in 1993, beginning with 17; the number was expanded to 24.
They sit year-round, regardless of whether Parliament is in session. They produce reports that are tabled in both Houses, creating a permanent legislative record of the government's positions and their scrutiny. They represent, in the assessment of PRS Legislative Research, "the backbone of our parliamentary system."
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| Representational Image: Standing Committees — India's Hidden Legislature |
Ministers are excluded from
membership. If a member who sits on a committee is subsequently appointed a
minister, they must vacate the committee. The committees are constituted
annually, with new members nominated at the start of each year. The chairpersons
are drawn from among the members — typically nominated by the presiding officer
— and by convention the chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee is drawn
from the opposition.
Before You Read On
- India
has 24 DRSCs, constituted first in 1993; 16 are serviced by the Lok Sabha
Secretariat and 8 by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat; each has 31 members (21
Lok Sabha, 10 Rajya Sabha), with the ratio of Lok Sabha to Rajya Sabha
representation approximately 2:1.
- DRSCs
have three primary functions: examining Demands for Grants (ministry
expenditure proposals), examining bills referred to them, and examining
ministry annual reports and specific policy subjects; ministers are
excluded from membership.
- The
percentage of bills referred to DRSCs for scrutiny fell from 71% in the
15th Lok Sabha to approximately 16% in the 17th Lok Sabha, according to
PRS Legislative Research — a trend that analysts identify as a significant
weakening of legislative oversight.
- Committee
meetings are held in camera — not broadcast and not open to the public;
this creates a less adversarial environment that tends to produce more
substantive expert deliberation than the full house proceedings.
- Separate
from DRSCs, the three financial committees — Public Accounts Committee
(PAC), Estimates Committee, and Committee on Public Undertakings —
exercise ongoing oversight over government finance; the PAC is by
convention chaired by a member of the opposition.
How It Works in Practice
1. Demands for Grants scrutiny: Each year, after the
Union Budget is presented, the Demands for Grants of each ministry — the
detailed allocation requests for each scheme and programme — are referred to
the relevant DRSC. The committee examines what the ministry spent in the
previous year, how it compares to allocations, and whether proposed increases
are justified. Officials are called to give evidence. A report is presented to
the House before the Demands are voted on. This is the primary vehicle through
which Parliament exercises scrutiny over the executive's fiscal priorities in
detail.
2. Bill examination: When a bill is referred by the
Speaker or Chairman, the DRSC examines it clause by clause, takes evidence from
ministry officials, and may invite industry bodies, civil society
organisations, legal experts, or academic specialists to testify. Recommendations
are adopted by the committee as a whole, with dissenting notes permitted and
included in the report. The government responds formally to the committee's
recommendations, accepting, modifying, or rejecting each.
3. Policy subject examination: DRSCs may select
specific policy subjects — not attached to any pending bill — for in-depth
examination. These produce reports that are tabled in Parliament but are not
binding on the government; they serve as a documented, expert-informed
legislative view on policy areas the committee considers important.
4. Inter-house composition: The presence of both Lok
Sabha and Rajya Sabha members on the same DRSC creates a cross-chamber
deliberative space. This matters most in situations where the two Houses are
controlled by different political configurations — the committee provides a
working forum for inter-house cooperation that the formal chamber relationship
does not.
5. Annual Reports: Each DRSC examines the annual
reports of its assigned ministries and presents observations on ministry
performance. These reports identify delays, shortfalls, and policy
inconsistencies across the ministry's functioning, creating a year-round
accountability record that supplements CAG audit findings.
What People Often Misunderstand
- Committee
reports do not bind the government: The reports carry "persuasive
value" — the official term used in the Rajya Sabha's own legislative
procedure documentation — but the government is not legally required to
accept any recommendation; acceptance is a political and administrative choice.
- The
committee system was an institutional innovation of 1993: Before 1993,
Parliament had committees but no systematic departmentally aligned
committee structure covering all ministries; the 1993 introduction
represented a significant institutional redesign of how legislative
oversight was organised.
- DRSC
chairpersons can be from any party: Unlike the PAC, DRSC chairpersons
are not reserved for opposition members by formal convention; in practice,
they are drawn from various parties depending on committee composition and
political negotiation.
- Committees
sit even between parliamentary sessions: DRSCs meet throughout the
year regardless of whether Parliament is formally in session; this is
significant because it means committee work is not constrained by the
limited sitting days of the full House.
- The
quality of committee work varies by committee and chairperson: Some
DRSCs have produced landmark reports with substantive policy influence;
others function more perfunctorily, with limited examination and reports
that simply record ministerial positions.
What Changes Over Time
The proportion of bills referred to committees has declined
significantly since the 15th Lok Sabha — from 71% to approximately 16% in the
17th — a trend documented as part of a broader "legislative decline"
in India by PRS, Vidhi Legal Policy, and other research organisations. The 18th
Lok Sabha has shown some renewal of committee referrals, with the Wakf
Amendment Bill and simultaneous elections bills referred to JPCs, signalling
some response to sustained institutional criticism. The National e-Vidhan Application
(NeVA) is progressively digitising committee work across Parliament and state
legislatures, improving record management and accessibility of committee
reports. Proposals to establish full-time specialist research staff for DRSCs —
along the lines of the House of Commons library model — have been discussed in
parliamentary reform literature but not implemented.
Sources and Further Reading
- PRS
Legislative Research — Parliamentary Committees: Increasing their
Effectiveness: https://prsindia.org/files/parliament/discussion_papers/Parliamentary%20Committees%20Increasing%20their%20effectiveness.pdf
- Rajya
Sabha Secretariat — Legislative Procedure (committee provisions): https://cms.rajyasabha.nic.in/UploadedFiles/Legislation/Introduction.pdf
- Wikipedia
— List of Committees of the Parliament of India: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_committees_of_the_Parliament_of_India
- Ministry
of Parliamentary Affairs — Parliamentary Procedure Manual: https://www.istm.gov.in/uploads/tenders/17037622321674040155Parliamentary_Procedure.pdf
- PRS
Legislative Research — Bills Track: https://prsindia.org/billtrack