| Department Related Standing Committee | |
|---|---|
| 18th Lok Sabha | |
| Country |  India |
| Leadership | |
| Chairperson | Shashi Tharoor |
| Chairperson party | Indian National Congress |
| Appointer | Lok sabha Speaker |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 31 Lok Sabha : 21 Rajya Sabha : 10 |
TheParliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs is adepartment related standing committee (DRSC) of selectedmembers of parliament, constituted by theParliament of India, for the purpose of legislative oversight of theforeign policy, and decision making of theMinistry of External Affairs. It is one of the 24 DRSCs that have been mandated with the task of ministry specific oversight.
The committee is currently chaired by MPShashi Tharoor since 26 September 2024.[1]
Each of the committees have 31 members – 21 fromLok Sabha and 10 fromRajya Sabha.[2] These members are to be nominated by theSpeaker of Lok Sabha or theChairman of Rajya Sabha respectively. The term of office of these committees does not exceed one year. These committees are serviced either byLok Sabha secretariat or theRajya Sabha secretariat, depending on who has appointed the chairman of that committee.
Following are the members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs.[3]
Keys: BJP (14) INC (4) SP (2) AITC (2) CPIM (2) DMK (1) SS(UBT) (1) YSRCP (1) RJD (1) IUML (1) AIMIM (1) = 31 members
| Sr. No. | Name | State Legislature | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kiran Choudhry | Haryana | BJP | |
| 2 | K. Laxman | Uttar Pradesh | ||
| 3 | Sudhanshu Trivedi | Uttar Pradesh | ||
| 4 | Kavita Patidar | Madhya Pradesh | ||
| 5 | Ratanjit Pratap Narain Singh | Uttar Pradesh | ||
| 6 | John Brittas | Kerala | CPIM | |
| 7 | A. A. Rahim | |||
| 8 | Sagarika Ghose | West Bengal | AITC | |
| 9 | R. Girirajan | Tamil Nadu | DMK | |
| 10 | Amarendra Dhari Singh | Bihar | RJD | |
| Sr. No. | Name | Term of office | Terms | Political party (Alliance) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buta Singh | 1993-95 | 2 | INC | |
| 2 | No Public records found | 1995-98 | 3 | ||
| 3 | Kamal Chaudhary | 1998-99 | 1 | INC | |
| 4 | Laxminarayan Pandey | 1999-2002 | 3 | BJP | |
| 5 | Madan Lal Khurana | 2002-04 | 2 | ||
| 6 | Balasaheb Vikhe Patil | 2004-08 | 4 | INC | |
| 7 | Satpal Maharaj | 2008-11 | 4 | ||
| 8 | Raj Babbar | 2012-14 | 2 | ||
| 9 | Maj Gen. BC Khanduri (Retd.) | 2014-17 | 3 | BJP | |
| 10 | Kalraj Mishra | 2017-19 | 2 --> | ||
| 11 | P. P. Chaudhary[2] | 2021–2024 | 1 | ||
| 12 | Shashi Tharoor | 2024 – present | INC | ||
As part of its oversight process, the committee has published quite a number of reports over the course of its existence. The committee has published a total of 87 reports from 1993 to 2010. Out of these, 18 are reports on Demands for Grants (DFGs), 25 reports on subjects taken up by the committee, 5 reports on bills referred to the committee and 36 are reports on action taken by the government on corresponding reports of the committee.
In March 2023, the committee in itsDemand for Grants (2023–24) report, criticized the ministry for being "most short-staffed" and under-budgeted. The committee highlighted that The total strength of 4,888 is distributed across different cadres of the Ministry such as theIndian Foreign Service (IFS), IFS General Cadre, IFS Group B, Stenographers Cadre, Interpreters Cadre, Legal and Treaties Cadre, among others. The cadre strength of Indian Foreign Service Officers is only 1,011, just 22.5 percent of the total strength. Out of IFS 'A' cadre, 667 are posted at the Missions abroad and 334 are manning the headquarters in Delhi, which currently has 57 divisions.[4] The committee also highlighted that the ministry “remains one amongst the least funded central ministries” as its actual annual spending has been around 0.4% of the total budgetary allocation of the government since 2020-21.[5]
| Lok Sabha | Tenure | Demands for Grants(DFGs) | Subjects | Bills | ATRs | Total Reports Presented |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10th Lok Sabha | 1991–96 | 3 | 2 | – | 3 | 8 |
| 11th Lok Sabha | 1996–97 | 2 | - | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 12th Lok Sabha | 1998–99 | 2 | 4 | - | 2 | 8 |
| 13th Lok Sabha | 1999–04 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 21 |
| 14th Lok Sabha | 2004–09 | 5 | 14 | 2 | 15 | 36 |
| 15th Lok Sabha | 2009–14 | 2 | 1 | - | 2 | 5 |
| 16th Lok Sabha | 2014–2019 | |||||
| 17th Lok Sabha | 2019-2024 |
