Parliamentary committees are indispensable to the legislative process. It provides for the opportunity for cross-pollination between the two chambers of the Parliament. Discuss.

Indispensability of Parliamentary Committees to the Legislative Process

Parliamentary committees are crucial for the effectiveness and depth of the legislative process in India, performing several indispensable functions:

• Detailed Scrutiny of Bills: Committees provide a forum for in-depth examination of bills, often too complex or lengthy for the entire House. They scrutinize every clause, suggest amendments, and improve the quality of legislation. For instance, the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, incorporated several recommendations from the Committee on Food and Consumer Affairs, significantly enhancing its provisions.
• Expert Consultation and Public Engagement: Unlike full parliamentary sessions, committees can invite experts, stakeholders, and the public for their views, ensuring that legislation is well-informed and considers diverse perspectives. This broadens the participatory base of law-making.
• Reducing Parliamentary Burden: Parliament's workload is immense. Committees help manage this by undertaking detailed groundwork, freeing up the House for broader policy debates and urgent matters. They allow for continuous work even when Parliament is not in session.
• Ensuring Executive Accountability: Through various reports and examinations, committees monitor the functioning of government ministries and departments, scrutinizing budgetary allocations, policy implementation, and expenditure. The Public Accounts Committee, for example, examines the audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, ensuring financial accountability.
• Non-Partisan Deliberation: Discussions within committees are often less adversarial and more constructive than debates on the floor of the House. Members tend to focus on the merits of issues, fostering consensus across party lines.
• Financial Oversight: Committees like the Estimates Committee, Public Accounts Committee, and Committee on Public Undertakings play a critical role in scrutinizing government spending, preventing waste, and ensuring effective use of public resources.

Cross-Pollination Between the Two Chambers of Parliament

Parliamentary committees facilitate a crucial 'cross-pollination' or exchange of ideas, expertise, and perspectives between the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, enriching the legislative discourse. This occurs primarily through:

1. Joint Parliamentary Committees (JPCs) and Departmentally Related Standing Committees (DRSCs):

• Shared Membership: A significant number of committees, particularly the 24 Departmentally Related Standing Committees (DRSCs) and many Ad hoc Committees (like Select Committees on Bills), are joint bodies comprising members from both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. For instance, DRSCs typically have 21 members from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha.
• Unified Scrutiny: When a bill is referred to a DRSC or a JPC, members from both Houses collectively scrutinize it. This means that a single, comprehensive report reflecting the combined legislative wisdom and diverse viewpoints of both chambers is presented to Parliament.
• Bridging Differences: Committees provide a smaller, less formal setting where members from both Houses can engage in detailed discussions, understand each other's perspectives, and iron out differences on legislative proposals before they are debated on the floor. This collaborative approach can lead to more robust and mutually acceptable legislation.

2. Exchange of Expertise and Perspectives:

• Diverse Representation: The Lok Sabha, representing the will of the people directly elected, brings a ground-level perspective, while the Rajya Sabha, representing states and often having members with diverse professional backgrounds, contributes a wider range of expertise and a more deliberative outlook.
• Harmonizing Views: In committee meetings, members from both Houses share their insights, drawing from their respective experiences and the concerns of their constituents or states. This interaction ensures that legislation is examined from various angles – political, administrative, social, and federal – leading to a more holistic and balanced outcome.
• Non-Party Line Discussions: The closed-door nature of committee meetings often allows members to transcend strict party lines and engage in more objective, issue-based discussions, fostering a spirit of cooperation that might be challenging in open House debates.

3. Specific Examples of Joint Functioning:

Committee Type	Composition and Role in Cross-Pollination
Departmentally Related Standing Committees (DRSCs)	Established in 1993, there are 24 DRSCs, each covering specific ministries/departments. They consist of members from both Houses, enabling joint scrutiny of demands for grants, bills, and annual reports related to their assigned ministries. 8 DRSCs are serviced by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat and 16 by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
Joint Parliamentary Committees (JPCs)	Constituted for specific bills or investigations (e.g., JPC on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019). These ad hoc committees bring together members from both Houses to collectively examine complex issues, often producing unified recommendations that address concerns from both chambers.
Financial Committees (e.g., Public Accounts Committee)	Comprise members from both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha (e.g., 15 from Lok Sabha, 7 from Rajya Sabha for PAC). They scrutinize government accounts and public undertakings jointly, ensuring a comprehensive financial oversight that leverages expertise from both Houses.

Despite the critical role of parliamentary committees, there has been a concerning trend of fewer bills being referred to them in recent years. For instance, PRS Legislative Research reported that only 16% of bills were referred to committees during the 17th Lok Sabha, a significant decline from 71% in the 15th Lok Sabha and 25% in the 16th Lok Sabha. This bypassing of committees can lead to less scrutinized legislation, impacting its quality and effectiveness.