Parliamentary panel reshuffle: Shashi Tharoor re-appointed external affair committee chief; Channi retains agriculture panel

PTC News Desk: The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have reconstituted their department-related parliamentary standing committees for the year. Most existing chairpersons have retained their positions, while a few committees have new heads.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has been reappointed as chairman of the Standing Committee on External Affairs. Former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi will continue to head the Agriculture Committee.

These committees examine ministry budgets, bills and policies throughout the year. They can also call government officials and experts to seek information and conduct detailed scrutiny.

Most committees are reconstituted every year, and the overall party representation remains largely similar to the previous term. However, the Commerce and Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice committees have new chairpersons.

TMC rebel leader Kakoli Ghosh has been appointed chairperson of the Chemicals and Fertilisers Committee, replacing TMC's Kirti Azad.

The DMK will head two committees, with Tiruchi Siva and K Kanimozhi serving as chairpersons.

Several NDA allies have also retained important committee positions. Shiv Sena's Shrirang Barne will continue to head the Energy Committee, while JDU's Sanjay Jha will chair the Transport and Tourism Committee.

The Rajya Sabha has eight department-related standing committees. BJP leaders will continue to head several of them, including:

Defence: Radha Mohan Singh

Home Affairs: Radha Mohan Das Agarwal

IT and Communications: Nishikant Dubey

Coal and Mines: Anurag Thakur

Water Resources: Rajeev Pratap Rudy

Bhartruhari Mahtab will continue as chairman of the Finance Committee, while BJP's Sujeet Kumar will head the Personnel Committee, replacing retired MP Brij Lal.

Among the committee members, AAP's Raghav Chadha has been included in the External Affairs Committee, while Swati Maliwal has been named a member of the Education Committee.

Full list of panel chairs

External affairs: Shashi Tharoor (Congress), reappointed

Agriculture: Charanjit Singh Channi (Congress), retained

Transport: Sanjay Kumar Jha, reappointed

Coal, mines and steel: Anurag Thakur (BJP), retained

Health and family welfare: Ram Gopal Yadav (Samajwadi Party), retained

Industry: Tiruchi Siva (DMK), named chairperson

Personnel, public grievances, law and justice: Sujeet Kumar (BJP), named chairperson

Education, women, children and youth: Mukul Wasnik (Congress), retained

Commerce: Sudhanshu Trivedi (BJP), appointed in place of TMC's Dola Sen

Energy: Shrirang Barne (Shiv Sena), reappointed

Science and technology, environment, forests and climate change: Medha Vishram Kulkarni (BJP), retained

Communications and information technology: Nishikant Dubey (BJP), reappointed

Home affairs: Radha Mohan Das Agarwal (BJP), reappointed

Rural development, Panchayati Raj: Saptagiri Ulaka (Congress), reappointed

Defence: Radha Mohan Singh, named chairperson

Consumer affairs, food, public distribution: K Kanimozhi (DMK), reappointed