Cabinet Committees
- New ministers inducted into the Union Cabinet were named to Cabinet committees mandated to deal with matters such as Centre-state issues, investment, and growth.
- The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet includes Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah.
- Three of the new ministers, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Narayan Rane, and Ashwini Vaishnav, were included in the committee that oversees investment and growth.
- Bhupender Yadav, Sarbananda Sonowal, and Mansukh Mandaviya, apart from Cabinet ministers Smriti Irani and Giriraj Singh, were included in the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs.
Cabinet Committees:
- Cabinet Committees are extra-constitutional in emergence, which means, they are not mentioned in the Indian Constitution.
- Rules of Business provide for their formation.
- The executive in India works under the Government of India Transaction of Business Rules, 1961.
- They are established by the PM as per the exigencies of the time and needs of the situation.
- Their number, nomenclature, and composition vary from time to time.
They are of two types—
- standing (permanent)
- ad hoc (temporary).
- Ad hoc committees are formed at times to deal with special problems.
- They are disbanded after their job is done.
- Their membership varies from three to eight.
- They usually include only Cabinet Ministers. However, the non-cabinet Ministers are not debarred from their membership.
Eight Cabinet Committees
- Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
- Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
- Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs.
- Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth.
- Cabinet Committee on Security.
- Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs.
- Cabinet Committee on Employment & Skill Development.
- Cabinet Committee on Accommodation.
- All committees except Cabinet Committee on Accommodation and Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs are headed by Prime Minister.
Role of Cabinet Committees:
- They are established to lessen the enormous workload of the Cabinet.
- They facilitate an in-depth examination of policy issues and effective coordination
- They not only resolve issues and frame proposals for the Cabinet’s consideration, but they also take decisions.
- The Cabinet can review their decisions.