Topic: Parliament and State legislatures—structure, functioning, the conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.
3. The Parliamentary Standing Committees are essential institutions in the Indian parliamentary system, tasked with examining and scrutinizing bills, policies, and matters related to governance. However, over time, their role as a deliberative and consensus-building body has faced certain challenges, leading to a diminishing impact. Critically analyse. (250 words).
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: The Hindu
Why the question:
The government has constituted a new internal oversight mechanism for official data, revamping a Standing Committee on Economic Statistics (SCES) set up in late 2019, soon after the findings from the last round of household surveys on consumption expenditure and employment were junked, citing ‘data quality issues’.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the issues and give solutions to improve the role of Parliamentary Standing Committees.
Directive word:
Critically analyze – When asked to analyse, you must examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them in a summary. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a balanced judgment on the topic.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Start by briefly mentioning about standing committees.
Body:
First, write about the mandate and their functioning – discuss laws and policies by analysing them in-depth, non-partisanship, track government expenditure, scrutinise policies and bills and seek expert advice, consensus-building among parties etc.
Next, write why the number of bills sent to the standing committees has reduced in recent years. Cite facts/data/examples to support your answer e.g. – reduced sitting, pandemic, less attendance, partisanship etc – cite stats to substantiate your points.
Next, suggest ways to overcome them.
Conclusion:
Conclude by writing a way forward.
