New Delhi, August 4, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Congress general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday criticised the Union government over the manner in which Bills are being referred to parliamentary committees, demanding that the Indian Statistical Institute Bill, 2026, be sent to the concerned Parliamentary Standing Committee for detailed scrutiny.
Ramesh said Opposition parties in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have demanded that the Bill be examined by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, which is the relevant committee for the legislation.
“Opposition parties in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha have demanded that the Indian Statistical Institute Bill, 2026, be referred for detailed examination and wider consultations by the Parliamentary Standing Committee concerned (which is Finance in this case). Hopefully, this demand will be accepted,” Ramesh posted on social media platform X.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance is chaired by BJP MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, who represents the Cuttack Lok Sabha constituency in Odisha. Mahtab has been winning the seat since 1999, earlier as a Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate.
Ramesh alleged that the Narendra Modi-led government has often preferred referring Bills to Joint Committees headed by BJP members instead of Parliamentary Standing Committees chaired by Opposition leaders.
“Between 2019 and 2024, only 16 per cent of Bills were ever referred to Parliamentary Standing Committees. Between 2009 and 2014, under former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, 71 per cent of Bills were referred to Parliamentary Standing Committees,” he said.
Calling it a pattern, the Congress leader alleged that several key Bills during the current government’s tenure, including those related to biodiversity protection and forest conservation, were referred to committees other than the relevant standing panels.
He also cited the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, alleging that it was not sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, which was then headed by senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh, but instead referred to a Joint Committee led by a BJP MP.
Ramesh added that during the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government, major legislations, including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, were referred to committees chaired by BJP leaders such as Kalyan Singh and Sumitra Mahajan.
The Indian Statistical Institute Bill, 2026, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The proposed legislation seeks to replace the Indian Statistical Institute Act, 1959, and provide a new legal framework for the Kolkata-based institute, including a provision to convert it from its present not-for-profit legal status into a corporate body.
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