Members Should Be Nominated To Panels Based On Their Participation In Meetings: RS Chairman

New Delhi, Sep 23: With the reconstitution of 24 Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committees (DRSCs) under consideration, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has desired that members of the Upper House of Parliament be nominated to these panels based on their interest and participation in the meetings held over the last one year, sources have said. Accordingly, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat has compiled the details of participation of 243 members from 32 political parties, independents and nominated members in 361 meetings of these committees held from September 2020 to August 2021 and their attendance was sent to the leaders of the respective parties to gauge the interest of the members in various committees and factor in the same while nominating them on different committees.

While the parties are generally advised to nominate the members based on their interest in the subjects to be handled, experience and academic background, this if for the first time that details of attendance were furnished to them for consideration. Eight committees of the Rajya Sabha and 16 of the Lok Sabha are reconstituted in September every year by both the presiding officers of Parliament in consultation with the respective parties and the government. Each committee has 11 members from the Rajya Sabha and 20 from the Lok Sabha.

Over the last three years, Naidu has been regularly reviewing the functioning of the eight DRSCs of the Rajya Sabha in respect of attendance, duration of meetings etc. and sharing the outcomes with the chairmen of the respective committees. He has urged them to ensure a 50-per cent attendance in each meeting of the committees, besides a duration of two-and-a-half hours per meeting. The data for the last 361 meetings revealed that the overall attendance of the members of the Rajya Sabha has been about 46 per cent, which in effect means that on an average, 14 of the 31 members of each committee attended the meetings.

Sixteen members of the Rajya Sabha — 10 from the ruling BJP, three from the Congress and one each from the SP, DMK and TRS — attended all the scheduled meetings, according to data compiled by the Rajya Sabha secretariat. While 115 other members have clocked an attendance of 50 per cent or more, a total of 131 members, accounting for 54 per cent of the House, have reported an attendance of 50 per cent or more in the meetings of such committees. The attendance of about one-third members of the House has been below 30 per cent. The average attendance of the 92 BJP members of the Rajya Sabha in these meetings has been 56.56 per cent, while that of the 38 Congress members has been 41.86 per cent, the sources in the Rajya Sabha secretariat said.

Of the parties with five to 13 members, the average attendance of YSRCP (six members) has been 66.66 per cent, while the JD-U (five members) reported the lowest attendance of 16.17 per cent, according to official data. The average attendance in respect of other parties in these committees was BJD (nine members) – 61.65 per cent, TRS (seven) – 43.56 per cent, DMK (seven) -41.34 per cent, SP (eight) – 37.98 per cent, RJD (five) – 36.36 per cent; CPI-M (seven) – 33.96 per cent, AIADMK (nine) – 31.09 per cent, BSP (five) – 26.66 per cent and TMC (13) – 24.44 per cent, according to data compiled by the Rajya Sabha secretariat.

Of the parties with two to four members, the attendance of AAP (three) has been 77.19 per cent, Shiv Sena (three) 75.55 per cent, SAD (three) 69.23 per cent, NCP (four) 39.21 per cent and PDP (two) 16.66 per cent, the data revealed. Regarding the interest taken by the members in the meetings of different committees, the attendance of the BJP members was the highest in the meetings of the Committee on Defence at 87.50 per cent followed by Chemicals and Fertilisers at 83.33 per cent, Personnel, Pensions and Public Grievances at 79.16 per cent, Home Affairs at 77.63 per cent, Coal and Steel at 75 per cent, Industry at 72.72 per cent and Education at 66.66 per cent, according to the data.

The attendance of the BJP members in the meetings of 21 of the 24 committees has been more than 50 per cent while in respect of the committees on rural development, information technology and energy, it has been close to 50 per cent. Regarding the Congress members, the highest attendance of 100 per cent has been reported in respect of Science and Technology with the lone member Jairam Ramesh having attended all the meetings as chairman. It is followed by Agriculture (93.33 per cent), Chemicals and Fertilizers (88.88 per cent), Water Resources (83.33 per cent), Education (83.33 per cent), Home Affairs (78.94 per cent) and Rural Development (70.83 per cent), the data said.

The Congress members reported an attendance of below 50 per cent in 11 of the 23 committees of which they were members, the sources said.

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