The Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committees for 2024-2025 were formed with the Congress members heading four committees, one of those being the External Affairs.
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi is a member of the standing committee on Defence.
Each committee is a combination of members from both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha.
The Congress has been given the chairmanship of four key panels.
The National Democratic Alliance government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to have 15 committees to carry out the new recommendations made in the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments. There will be committees on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports headed by Digvijaya Singh. Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing will be led by former Chief Minister of Punjab Charanjit Singh Channi. Rural and Panchayati Raj will be led by Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, while the External Affairs will be headed by Shashi Tharoor.
BJP's Radha Mohan Singh to head Defence committee. Bhartruhari Mahtab to head Finance committee.
Former Union Minister Anurag Thakur and Rajiv Pratap Rudy have been given the chairmanships of committees on Coal, Mines and Steel; and Water Resources respectively.
Nishikant Dubey of BJP member made chairman of the committee on Communications and Information Technology.
Radha Mohan Das Agrawal of the Bharatiya Janata Party will be at the helm of affairs in the committee on Home Affairs. Commerce will be headed by TMC's Dola Sen. Health and Family Welfare will be headed by Samajwadi Party member Ram Gopal Yadav. Industry will be headed by DMK's Tiruchi Siva.
This committee shall oversee and exercise legislative oversight of matters on commerce, trade policies, as well as the economic development in relation to India's commerce sector.
This committee is essential in scrutinizing policy matters, hence the commerce sector will effectively be added to the nation's economy.
Committee on communications and IT comprises members including SP's Jaya Bachchan, SS (UBT) Priyanka Chaturvedi, BJD's Sushmit Patra, and Congress's KTS Tulsi, all from Rajya Sabha and BJP MPs Anil Baluni and Kangana Ranaut, Poonam Madam, and TMC's Mahua Moitra of Lok Sabha.
However, Sonia Gandhi, chairperson of UPA, has been excluded from the lists of committees, which include some of the Bharatiya Janata Party's biggest allies like TDP and Janata Dal (United) besides its partners in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena and the NCP, will head one committee each.
Former Union Minister Radha Mohan Singh will be the head of the Committee on Defence. Rahul Gandhi is also a member of the panel on Defence. The other members of the panel on Defence are Haris Beeran, Samik Bhattacharya, Ajay Makan, Derek O'Brien, Nabam Rebia, Neeraj Shekhar, Kapil Sibal, GK Vasan and Sanjay Yadav.
The Committee on Home Affairs will be headed by BJP member Radha Mohan Das Agrawal.
The sole NCP Lok Sabha member Sunil Tatkare will head the panel on Petroleum and Natural Gas and Shiv Sena's Shrirang Appa Barne the committee on Energy. JD(U)'s Sanjay Jha will head the committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture. TDP MP Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy will head the committee on Housing and Urban Affairs.
DMK Tiruchi Siva and K Kanimozhi will be in the head positions of committees on Industry and Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution respectively.
