Context:
Recently, the Union Government reconstituted eight Cabinet Committees.
More on the News
- The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) got three new ministers. It will now have 11 members, three more than the existing figure.
- The two most powerful panels — the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) and the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) — remained unchanged.
About Cabinet Committees
- Once the Union Cabinet is sworn in and ministerial portfolios are allocated, the next step would be the formation of high-profile Cabinet committees.
- The Prime Minister sets up these committees with selected members of the Cabinet and assigns specific functions to these committees.
There are eight Cabinet committees at present, namely —
- Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC)
- Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)
- Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs
- Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS)
- Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs
- Cabinet Committee on Accommodation
- Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth
- Cabinet Committee on Skill, Employment and Livelihood
Features of the Cabinet Committees
- They are extra-constitutional in emergence i.e. they are not mentioned in the Constitution.
- The membership of each committee varies from three to eight. They usually include only Cabinet Ministers. However, the non-cabinet Ministers are not debarred from their membership.
- They are set up by the Prime Minister according to the exigencies of the time and requirements of the situation. Hence, their number, nomenclature, and composition vary from time to time.
- They are mostly headed by the Prime Minister. Sometimes other Cabinet Ministers, particularly the Home, Defence or Finance Ministers can also act as their chairman. However, in case the Prime Minister is a member of a committee, he invariably presides over it.
Presently, the Prime Minister heads six committees but is not part of two committees — Cabinet Committee on Accommodation (headed by the Minister of Home Affairs) and Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (headed by the Minister of Defence). - These committees not only sort out issues and formulate proposals for the consideration of the cabinet but also make decisions.
Important functions of the Cabinet Committees
- The Cabinet Committee on Security deals with all issues related to the law and order and national security of India.
- The Political Affairs Committee deals with all policy matters pertaining to domestic and foreign affairs.
- The Economic Affairs Committee directs and coordinates government activities in the economic sphere.
- The Appointments Committee decides all higher levels appointments in the Central Secretariat, Public Enterprises, Banks and Financial Institutions.
- The Parliamentary Affairs Committee looks after the progress of government business in the Parliament.
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