Lok Sabha reconstitutes committees, forms two select panels

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday reconstituted multiple parliamentary standing committees and constituted two select committees, the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill and another on the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is a member of the Committee on Defence; Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is a member of the Committee on Home Affairs; P. Chidambaram is a member of the Committee on Finance; Jairam Ramesh is a member of the Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change. The Lok Sabha has reappointed chairmen of multiple committees, with Congress leader Shashi Tharoor retaining chairmanship of the External Affairs Committee. DMK’s Kanimozhi Karunanidhi has also been reappointed as chairperson of the Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution committee.

Apart from Tharoor and Kanimozhi, other chairpersons for various committees include, PC Mohan for the for Social Justice and Empowerment, Anurag Thakur for Coal, Mines and Steel; Saptagiri Sankar for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj; Kirti Azad Jha for Chemicals and Fertilizers; Rajiv Pratap Rudy for Water Resources; Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy for Housing and Urban Affairs; CM Ramesh for Railways; Sunil Tatkare for Petroleum and Natural Gas; Basavaraj Bommai for Labour, Textiles and Skill Development; Bhartruhari Mahtab for Finance; Shrirang Appa Chandu Barne for energy; Radha Mohan Singh for Defence; Nishikant Dubey for Communications and Information Technology; Charanjit Singh Channi for Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing. The government has also constituted a Select Committee for the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025, and another for the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2025. The select committee on Jan Vishwas will be headed by Tejasvi Surya, while Baijayant Panda will head the other committee. Parliamentary committees are constituted every year and work in a continuous manner. The committees regularly submit reports to the House, discuss bills, and suggest various policy initiatives regarding their subject. The Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, introduced the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025, in the Lok Sabha on August 18, after which it was referred to the select committee constituted by the Speaker. The bill is the first consolidated legislation to systematically decriminalise minor offences across multiple Acts. The 2023 Act, notified on 11th August 2023, decriminalised 183 provisions in 42 Central Acts administered by 19 Ministries/Departments. The 2025 Bill expands this reform agenda to cover 16 Central Acts administered by 10 Ministries/Departments. A total of 355 provisions are proposed to be amended, 288 provisions decriminalised to foster Ease of Doing Business, and 67 provisions proposed to be amended to facilitate Ease of Living. The IBC (Amendment) Bill proposes several structural and procedural changes to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016, and has been referred to a Select Committee for further examination. The proposed amendments in the bill seek to incorporate new concepts, including a Creditor-Initiated Insolvency Resolution Process (CIIRP), enabling provisions and measures to enhance efficiency at both resolution and liquidation stages.