Do Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committees keep the administration on its toes and inspire reverence for parliamentary control? Evaluate the working of such committees with suitable examples.
Approach · directive: “evaluate”
What it asks · Assess how effective the DRSCs are as instruments of oversight, weighing strengths and weaknesses with examples, and give a reasoned verdict.
It asks 3 things — answer each
- Evaluate whether DRSCs keep the administration on its toes: structure, functions and strengths, with examples
- Evaluate their weaknesses and whether they inspire reverence for parliamentary control
- Give a reasoned verdict and improvements
Open with · Set up in 1993 and expanded in 2004, the DRSCs extend Parliament's scrutiny to the detailed working of each ministry through closed, largely non-partisan deliberation.
Cover
- Structure: 24 committees cover all ministries; members come from both Houses, serve for a year at a time, and Ministers cannot be members.
- Functions: they examine Demands for Grants, Bills referred to them, annual reports and long-term policy papers, and follow up through action-taken reports.
- Strengths: detailed, technical scrutiny; evidence from experts and officials; cross-party consensus in reports; and insulation from floor-level partisanship.
- Examples: Finance Committee on the Direct Taxes Code Bill; Home Affairs Committee on the 2023 criminal law Bills, which the Government later redrafted.
- Weaknesses: recommendations are not binding, reports are often ignored, attendance is uneven, research support is limited, and fewer Bills are now referred to committees.
- Declining referral: only 16 per cent of Bills in the 17th Lok Sabha were referred to committees, lower than in the previous three Lok Sabhas (PRS).
- Verdict: they add depth and non-partisan scrutiny but work by persuasion; reverence for parliamentary control grows with more referrals, public access and time-bound action-taken reports.
Close with · DRSCs are Parliament's most effective working tools of oversight, yet they keep administration on its toes only if Bills are routinely referred and recommendations are acted on.
Add value (verified)
- There are 24 Department-related Standing Committees covering all ministries, each with 31 members (21 from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha) and a term not exceeding one year.Parliamentary Committees: membership and tenure - Lok Sabha Secretariat (sansad.in) ↗“There are 24 Departmentally Related Standing Committees covering under their jurisdiction all the Ministries/ Departments of the Government of India. Each of these Committees consists of 31 Members - 21 from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha”
- PRS Legislative Research: only 16 per cent of Bills in the 17th Lok Sabha (2019-24) were referred to committees for detailed scrutiny, lower than in the previous three Lok Sabhas.Functioning of the 17th Lok Sabha - PRS Legislative Research (10 February 2024) ↗“16% of Bills were referred to Committees for detailed scrutiny. This is lower than corresponding figures for the previous three Lok Sabhas.”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2021, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 292 words (UPSC limit 250) · Minimalist IAS
Set up in 1993 and expanded to 24 in 2004, the Department-related Standing Committees (DRSCs) extend Parliament's scrutiny to the detailed working of every ministry through closed, largely non-partisan deliberation.
Structure and functions
- 24 committees cover all ministries; each has 31 members (21 from the Lok Sabha, 10 from the Rajya Sabha) for a term of up to a year, and Ministers cannot be members.
- They examine Demands for Grants, Bills referred to them, annual reports and long-term policy papers, and follow up through action-taken reports.
Keeping administration on its toes
- Depth: technical scrutiny with evidence from officials and experts that the floor of the House cannot provide.
- Consensus: reports are usually cross-party, which gives them weight with ministries.
- Examples: the Standing Committee on Finance's examination of the Direct Taxes Code Bill reshaped its provisions; the Standing Committee on Home Affairs examined the three criminal law Bills of 2023, after which the Government withdrew and redrafted them.
- Financial oversight: scrutiny of Demands for Grants questions under-spending and scheme design before Parliament votes.
Where reverence is weak
- Recommendations are not binding and are often ignored; action-taken reports come late.
- Referral is shrinking: only 16 per cent of Bills in the 17th Lok Sabha went to committees, lower than in the previous three Lok Sabhas.
- Uneven attendance, one-year terms that break continuity, thin research support and closed proceedings that limit public pressure.
Verdict and way forward
- DRSCs keep the administration on its toes where Bills and budgets reach them, but reverence for parliamentary control grows only with routine referral, published evidence, time-bound action-taken reports and expert staff.
DRSCs are Parliament's most effective working tools of oversight; they inspire respect for parliamentary control only when Parliament itself uses them and acts on what they say.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.