IMPORTANT COMMITTEES

INDIAN SOCIETY AND SOCIAL ISSUES

TRIBES

1. U.N. Dhebar Committee, 1960: Related to Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes
• The schemes of rehabilitation of displaced tribals should form part of the cost
of the project itself,
• The State Government to form Tribal Cooperatives to market Minor Forest
Produce as is done by Andhra Pradesh.

2. Lokur Committee, 1965: Criteria for Defining New community as ST

• Indications of primitive traits. ➢ Distinctive culture. ➢ Geographical isolation. ➢
Shyness of contact with the community at large. ➢ Backwardness

3. Bhuria Commission, 2002-2004: On Socio-Economic, Health and Educational Status of

Tribal Communities of India
• Efforts should be made to create more employment opportunities and livelihood
options for STs, including the promotion of traditional occupations such as
hunting, gathering, and agriculture.
• Special Economic Zones (SEZs) should not be allowed in Scheduled Areas
• Residential Schools be established for ST students

4. Xaxa Committee, 2013: On Socio-Economic, Health and Educational Status of Tribal

Communities
• Mandatory consent of Gram Panchayat regarding land acquisition.
• Mining Rights to the Tribal Cooperatives.
• Build small decentralised dams instead of large dams.
• Appoint a Judicial Commission to look into the matters of Naxal Offences /
Cases under which many Tribals have been arrested.

INDIA AS A MULTILINGUAL SOCIETY

1. B. G. Kher Committee, 1955: First Official Language Commission

• Emphasized compulsory knowledge of Hindi for employees of All India and
Central services.

2. G. B. Pant Committee, 1957: Related to Official Language issue

• medium of English in the examinations for the recruitment to the All India
Services and Higher Central Services should be continued and later on Hindi may
be introduced as an optional medium.
 WOMEN
1. Jaya Jaitley Committee, 2020
• Increasing the age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years
• The committee also recommended Sex Education in Schools

2. Justice Verma Committee, 2012: On Sexual Harassment of Women in Workplace

• Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) be replaced by an Employment Tribunal be
set up because for in-house ICC, women would be discouraged to complain.
• Recommended inclusion of Domestic Workers in the Protection of Women from
Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act.
• There should be no time-limit to file a complaint.

3. Pam Rajput Committee, 2014: To end violence against Women

• Recommended 50 per cent reservation for women in all decision-making bodies
• National Commission for Women, as an apex body answerable to 50 per cent of the
population, must go beyond ‘Reactive Interventions’ to fulfil the proactive
mandate related to women issues.
• Develop Gender Sensitive Enforcement Machinery

POVERTY AND DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES

1. Alagh Committee, 1979: On Poverty Line

• It constructed a Poverty Line for Rural and Urban Areas on the basis of
Nutritional requirements

2. Lakdawala Committee,1993: On Poverty related Issues

• State Specific Poverty Lines should be constructed

3. Tendulkar Committee, 2009: On Poverty Line

• Shift Away from Calorie Consumption based Poverty Estimation;
• Uniform Poverty Line Basket (PLB) across Rural and Urban India;
• Change in the Price Adjustment Procedure to correct spatial and temporal issues
with price adjustment; and
• Incorporation of Private Expenditure on Health and Education while Estimating
Poverty.

4. The Rangarajan Committee, 2012: Redefine Poverty Line

• It considered average requirements of calories, protein and fats based on ICMR
norms differentiated by age and gender.

SECULARISM
The Sachar Committee, 2005: On Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim
community
• Setting up an Equal Opportunity Commission to look into grievances of deprived
groups like minorities.
• Policies should “Sharply focus on Inclusive Development and ‘Mainstreaming’ of
the Community while Respecting Diversity.”
 HEALTH

1. Bhore Committee,1943: On Health Care System and Medical Education

• Health System should be based on Preventive Healthcare.
• Integration of Preventive and Curative Services at all administrative levels

2. J. Satyanarayana Committee, 2019: On Implementation framework for the National

Health Stack
• This committee came up with the National Digital Health Blueprint (NDHB),
laying out the building blocks and an action plan to holistically implement digital
health in pursuance of the goals of the National Health Policy, 2017.

INDIAN POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

GOVERNANCE

1. Second Administrative Reforms Commission: On Administrative Reforms:

Types of Interaction In E-Governance:
➢ G2G (Government to Government): Eg: The Office of the Controller General of
Accounts created and introduced the Public Finance Management System (PFMS);
E–Samiksha.
➢ G2C (Government to Citizens): Eg: Aarogya Setu; Co-WIN Portal;
Computerisation of Land Records; Digi locker; etc.
➢ G2B (Government to Business): Eg: SWIFT (Single Window Interface for Trade).
➢ G2E (Government to Employees): Eg: Sandes Messaging Application.

2. Lodha Committee, 2015: Reforms in BCCI

• BCCI to come under RTI Act.
• Legalisation of Betting.

3. Uday Kotak Committee, 2017: On Corporate Governance

• A minimum of 6 Directors on the Board of the listed entities so that there are
directors from diverse backgrounds and skill sets.
• There should be at least one Independent Woman Director on the Board of
Directors of every listed company.
• The minimum number of Audit Committee meetings be increased to five every
year
 ELECTION AND POLITICS

1. Tarkunde Committee, 1974: On Electoral Reforms

• The members of the Election Commission should be appointed by the President on
the advice of a Committee, consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the
Opposition (or a Member of Parliament selected by the Opposition) in the Lok
Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.

2. Dinesh Goswami Committee, 1990: On Electoral Reforms

• The Election Commission should be a multi-member body with three members.
• The protection of salary and other allied matters relating to the Election
Commissioners should be provided for in the Constitution itself.
• Age qualification for contesting elections to Legislative Assemblies and Lok
Sabha should be reduced to 21 years and in the case of elections to Legislative
Councils and Council of States to 25 years
• Mobile polling stations to enable the weaker sections to exercise their votes freely
near their areas of residence.

3. Vohra Committee, 1993: On Criminalisation of Politics

• Recommended the establishment of a Nodal Cell in the Ministry of Home Affairs to
deal with the problem of nexus between crime syndicates, political leaders,
government functionaries and others.

4. Indrajit Gupta Committee, 1999: On State Funding of Elections

• Endorsed State Funding of Elections, in order to establish a fair playing field for
parties with less money.

5. 170th Law Commission Report, 1999: On Reform of the Electoral Laws

• Considered the List system of Proportional Representation, as prevalent in
Germany, as a possible alternative to the First Past the Post System (FPTP).

6. The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2005): On Administrative Reforms

• A person should not be allowed to contest from more than one constituency at a
time.
• The authority for deciding on disqualification on grounds of defection should vest
in the Election Commission.
• Election Commission be given explicit powers to de-register political parties.
• Inner-party democracy within the political parties should be made compulsory by
law.
• Accounts of political parties should be available for the information of the public

PRISON REFORMS

1. Justice AN. Mulla Committee, 1980: On Prison Reforms

• Setting up an All India Service called the Indian Prisons & Correctional Service.
• After-care, rehabilitation and probation to be an integral part of prison service.
• The press and public should be allowed inside prisons periodically,
2. Krishna Iyer Committee, 1987: On the situation of Women prisoners in India
• Induction of more women into the Police Force in view of their special role in
tackling women and child offenders

3. Justice Amitava Roy (retd.) Committee, 2018: To examine the problems plaguing
Indian 1. Prisons
• Every new prisoner should be allowed a free phone call a day to his family
Members.
• Trials through video-conferencing.
• There should be at least one lawyer for every 30 prisoners.
The Prison Department has a perennial average of 30%-40% vacancies.

NGO

1. S. Vijay Kumar Committee, 2017: On Regulation of NGOs

• “Light Regulation” of NGOs so as to reduce their harassment
• Designate NITI Aayog as a nodal body to oversee the various interfaces between
NGOs and the Government.
• Details of NGOs should be available as searchable database information

EDUCATION

1. Ramamurti Committee,1990: Evaluated the National Policy on Education, 1986

• Provide at least 6% of the GNP for education.
• All technical and professional education should be made self-financing.

2. TSR Subramanian Committee, 2016: Committee for Evolution of the New Education
Policy
• Extending the RTE provision of common curriculum to Minority Institutions,
which are currently exempted.
• All India Education Service (IES) be established as an All India service;

3. Dr. K Kasturirangan Committee, 2017: Developing a new National Curriculum

Framework
• Right To Education Act, which currently applies to classes I to VIII, be applicable
to the entire school system from pre-school to class XII.
• Establishment of a Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog (National Education Commission)
as a constitutional body

4. R P Tiwari Committee, 2020: On suggesting multiple ways of turning HEIs into

multidisciplinary centres
• Large multi-disciplinary HEIs to be established in or near every District by 2030
 INDIAN ECONOMY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. Tarapore Committee, 1997: Committee on Capital Account Convertibility

• Phased transition to full capital account convertibility.
• fiscal consolidation, a mandated inflation target and strengthening of the
financial system should be regarded as crucial preconditions\signposts for Capital
Account Convertibility (CAC)

EMPLOYMENT, UNEMPLOYMENT AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT

1. Arjun Sengupta Committee, 2005:On Central Public Sector Enterprises

2. Sharda Prasad Committee, 2016: Report on Skill Councils

• Establish a separate stream for vocational education in secondary Education,
create Vocational Schools and Colleges to promote upward mobility, and have a
Central University for awarding degrees and diplomas.

TAXATION

1. Raja Chelliah Committee, 1991: Tax Reform Committee

• Reduce the Tax Rate and narrowing the gap between the lowest and highest Tax
Rates,
• Eliminate Double Taxation,

2. Kelkar Committee, 2002: On Direct and Indirect Taxes

• Increase the Personal Income Tax exemption limit,
• Doing away with the Wealth Tax.

3. Parthasarathi Shome Committee, 2014: On Tax Administration Reforms

• Pre-filled tax returns should be provided to all individuals. The taxpayer will have the
option of accepting the tax return or modifying it.
• Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Excise and
Customs (CBEC) should be fully integrated.
• Retrospective legislation should be avoided.

BANKING SECTOR

1. P K Mohanty Committee, 2020: On Private Sector Banks

• Large corporates and industrial houses can be permitted as promoters of banks by
amending Banking Regulation Act, 1949
2. Narasimham Committee, 1991 and 1998: On Banking Sector Reforms
Narasimham Committee- I (1991)
• The Indian Banking System should have a four-tier hierarchy, with a few major
public sector banks at the top and rural development banks for agricultural activities
at the bottom.
Narasimham Committee- II (1998)
• Merge major public sector banks to enhance international trade, with the caveat that
stronger banks should not merge with weaker ones.
• For banks with high Non-Performing Assets, the Committee recommended the
• concept of Narrow Banking, allowing banks to invest in short-term and low-risk
assets.

3. Rangarajan Committee, 1993: On Disinvestment In Public Sector Undertakings

• Government should retain majority control only in strategic PSUs and exit from
others.

4. Subhash Chandra Committee, 2019: On Fintech Related Issues

• Government should take up modernisation and standardisation of land records in
the country.
• It recommended that Fintech be utilised for:
✓ Creating a credit registry for farmers with artificial intelligence and machine
learning based credit scoring mechanism to reduce risks of lending,
✓ Claims management and premium payments in agriculture crop insurance
schemes.

5. P J Nayak Committee, 2014: On Review Governance of Boards of Banks

• Reduce the government's stake in PSBs to below 50% to improve their efficiency
and governance.

6. K.V. Kamath Committee, 2020: On Restructuring Of Corporate Loans

• Banks should categorise stressed accounts as mild, moderate, and severe

7. Surjit S Bhalla Committee, 2019: On Global Merchandise and Services Trade; Elephant
Bonds
• Utilize “Elephant Bonds” as a specialised security product providing funds towards
Long Term Infrastructure. (Utilization of Black Money stashed abroad)

8. Urjit Patel Committee, 2014: On Monetary Policy Framework

• The main objective of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should be to anchor
Monetary Policy to the Headline Consumer Price Index (CPI), with a target
Inflation Rate of 4% for a two-year horizon and a band of plus or minus 2%.
• The Central Government should reduce the Fiscal Deficit to 3.0% of GDP

9. Janak Raj Committee, 2017: Implementation of the Marginal Cost of Lending Rate
(MCLR)
• Link bank lending rates to a market benchmark for speedy monetary policy
transmission.
• Lending rates should be reviewed every quarter instead of once a year.
10. Bimal Jalan Committee, 2019: For Reviewing the current Economic Capital Framework

11. Injeti Srinivas Committee, 2019: On Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

• The unspent CSR balance should be allowed to carry forward for a period of three or
five years.
• A dedicated fund should be created for transfer of unspent CSR money beyond
three to five years
• Non-compliance with CSR regulations should be treated as a civil offence and
subjected to penalties

12. U K Sinha Panel, 2019: On MSME

• Need for a comprehensive and holistic MSME legislation.
• Government should make it mandatory for PSUs/ Government Department to
procure from MSEs up to the mandated target of 25% through the GeM portal
only

13. Baba Kalyani Committee, 2018: On Special Economic Zones (SEZs)

• Framework shift from export growth to broad-based Employment and Economic
Growth (Employment and Economic Enclaves-3Es).
• Formulation of separate rules for manufacturing and service SEZs.

14. T K Viswanathan Committee, 2018: On Fair Market Conduct

• The use of Benami Trading to manipulate Stocks should be considered
fraudulent
• SEBI should have the authority to provide immunity to whistle-blowers who
uncover illegal activities

15. Y M Deosthalee Committee, 2018: On Need and scope of setting up a Public Credit
Registry

16. Mahesh Kumar Jain Review Committee, 2019: On improving Agriculture Credit
• There is need for reducing the subsidies on electricity and fertiliser, as they are
not sustainable in the long run and do not provide the desired benefits to farmers

17. Ashok Dalwai Committee, 2019: Blueprint for doubling farmers income by 2022
• Increase in cropping intensity.
• Diversification towards high value crops
• Structural and Governance Reforms in Agriculture, including building a database
of farmers, facilitating farmer & produce mobilisation, etc.

18. Nandan Nilekani Panel, 2019: Deepening of Digital Payments

• MDR (Merchant Discount Rate) should be subsidised by the government
• Use of high-volume, low-cost usage cards such as the National Common Mobility
Card, be permitted at POS devices

19. Ratan Watal Panel, 2016: Committee on Digital Payments

20. Akhilesh Ranjan Task Force, 2019: On Direct Tax Code

• Widening of the Tax slabs and removal of surcharge/cesses, etc.
• Common Corporate Tax Rate for Foreign & Domestic Companies
 INSURANCE

1. R. N. Malhotra Committee, 1993: On Reforms in Insurance Sector

• Foreign companies be allowed to enter the insurance sector, preferably through
joint ventures with Indian partners.

GOVT. BUDGETING AND PUBLIC FINANCE

1. NK Singh Committee, 2017: FRBM Act 2003, Review Committee

• A Debt to GDP ratio of 60% should be targeted with a 40% limit for the centre
and 20% limit for the States.
• The Committee proposed to create an Autonomous Fiscal Council with a
Chairperson and two members appointed by the Centre.

AGRICULTURE AND OTHER RELATED ACTIVITIES

1. RV Gupta Committee, 1998: On Agricultural Credit

• Procedural simplification of Credit delivery by Banks to improve the flow of credit
to Agriculture

2. Shanta Kumar Committee, 2014: High Level Committee on Restructuring of the Food
Corporation of India (FCI)
• FCI to hand over all procurement operations of wheat, paddy and rice to States
that have gained sufficient experience in this regard.
• Relook at the current coverage of 67 percent of population
• Relook central issue prices for the cereals.
• FCI should outsource its stocking operations to various agencies such as Central
Warehousing Corporation, State Warehousing Corporation, Private Sector.
• Total end to end computerization of the entire food management system,

3. Shankarlal Guru Committee, 2001: On strengthening and developing of Agricultural

marketing
• Development of 50 Mega Markets as National Exchange Centres for all important
Agricultural Products
• Involvement of Private Sector in marketing extension and information service.
• Involvement of State Agricultural Universities and ICAR Centres in Applied
Research in the field of agricultural marketing.

4. Beekeeping Development Committee, 2019: Under the chairmanship of Prof. Bibek

Debroy.
• Recognize Honeybees as inputs to Agriculture and considering landless
Beekeepers as farmers
 MINIMUM SUPPORT PRICE

1. Ramesh Chandra Committee, 2018: On Integration of Commodities Spot and

Derivatives Market
• Multiple modes of selling farm produce should be allowed, and restrictions on
selling only through recognized APMCs should be removed.
• Farmers’ Producers Organizations (FPOs)/cooperatives should be formed to
enhance farmers' bargaining power.

2. T Haque Committee, 2017: Expert Committee on Land Leasing

• The Committee observed that legal bans or restrictions on land leasing have led to
informal tenancy across the country.
• Legalisation of land leasing will result in availability of more land which the landless
and marginal farmers can lease.

INDUSTRY AND INFRASTRUCTURE

1. Baba Kalyani Committee, 2018: On Special Economic Zones

• Framework to shift from Export growth to broad-based Employment and
Economic Growth (Employment and Economic Enclaves-3Es).
• Formulation of separate rules and procedures for manufacturing and service SEZs.

2. Kelkar Committee, 2015: Committee on Revisiting & Revitalising the PPP model of
Infrastructure Development
• Public Private Partnership or PPPs in infrastructure represent a valuable instrument
to speed up infrastructure development in India.
• Need to further strengthen the three key pillars of PPP frameworks namely
Governance, Institutions and Capacity.

3. Atanu Chakraborty Panel, 2019: On National Infrastructure Pipeline

• Deepen the corporate bond markets (including those of municipal bonds), set up
development financial institutions for the infrastructure sector.

4. Kris Gopalakrishnan Committee, 2020: On Various issues related to Non-personal

Data
• Establishing ‘data business’ as a new category of business in the country.

5. AJ Paulraj Committee, 2017: Implementation of 5G in India

• The economic impact of 5G is expected to be over $1 trillion.

ROADWAYS
1. S. Sunder Committee, 2007: Road Safety and Traffic Management
• Earmarking of 1% of total proceeds of cess on diesel and petrol for Road Safety
Fund
 RAILWAYS

1. Sam Pitroda Committee, 2015: On Modernisation of Indian Railways

• Introducing GSM-based mobile train control communication.
• Attract private investment to augment locomotive and coach manufacturing units,
captive power units, private freight terminals, etc
• Set up Real Time Information Systems (RTIS) to provide real time information at
stations on running trains.

2. Anil Kakodkar Committee, 2012: Review the Safety of Indian Railways

• Create a statutory Railway Safety Authority as an independent mechanism for
safety regulation.
• Adopt an Advanced Signalling System (akin to the European Train Control
System) for the entire trunk route length of 19,000 km within 5 years.
• All Level Crossings (both manned and unmanned) should be eliminated.

3. Bibek Debroy Committee, 2012: Committee for Restructuring of Railway Ministry and
Railway Board
• The three roles of policy making, regulation and operations must be separated
from each other.
• Set up an independent regulator, the Railways Regulatory Authority as a statutory
body,

ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT

WESTERN GHATS AND OTHER BIODIVERSITY ZONES

1. Kasturirangan Committee, 2015: on Western Ghats

• It proposed 37 per cent of the total area of Western Ghats (roughly 60,000 square
kilometres) to be declared as eco-sensitive area (ESA).
• The report recommended a blanket ban on mining, quarrying, setting up of red
category industries and thermal power projects.
• The UNESCO Heritage tag is an opportunity to build global and domestic
recognition of the enormous natural wealth that exists in the Western Ghats.

2. Madhav Gadgil Committee, 2010: Steps to preserve the ecologically frail Western
Ghats
• This report classified the extensive region of 64% of the Western Ghats into
Ecologically Sensitive Zones, called Eco Sensitive Zone (ESZ)
• Recognised by UNESCO as one of the world’s eight most important Biodiversity
Hotspots, Western Ghats contains more than 30 percent of all species of plant, fish,
reptile, amphibian, bird and mammal found in the whole country.
• There us need to desist from creating new hill stations and changing the land use
from farmland to non-farm land.

3. Shailesh Nayak Committee, 2014: To examining the issues of the coastal states and
union territories with respect to the Coastal Regulation Zone
 WATER

1. Mihir Shah Committee, 2016: Augmentation, conservation and efficient management of

water resources.

SECURITY

CYBER SECURITY AND LAW AND ORDER

1. Gulshan Rai Committee, 2018: Effectively Tackling Cyber Crimes in the country
• The Centre should have linkages with Crime and Criminal Tracking Network &
Systems (CCTNS) and the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID).
• The government should reduce dependence on foreign servers and ensure a
dedicated secure gateway for all government communication.

2. Justice B N Srikrishna Committee, 2017: Committee of Experts on a Data Protection

Framework
• Consent-based processing: Consent must be treated as a pre-condition for processing
personal data.

BORDER MANAGEMENT

1. The Standing Committee on Home Affairs, 2016: Border Security: Capacity Building
and Institutions
• Fencing: There’s slow pace of fencing on India-Bangladesh border was extremely
slow and the fencing in the Thar Desert region had proved to be ineffective because of
the shifting sand dunes.
• Counter-terrorism: The Committee observed that there is no single unified authority
to coordinate the operations of NIA, Intelligence Bureau, Multi-Agency Centre and
National Security Guard.
• It recommended that the notification be re-issued to revive the National Centre for
Counter Terrorism (NCTC) as the nodal counter-terrorism agency.

2. Shekatkar Committee, 2016: On Border Infrastructure

• Speeding up road construction through adoption of the EPC (Engineering,
Procurement, and Construction) model.
• Socio economic development in the border areas.

3. Madhukar Gupta Committee, 2017: Strengthen Border Protection

• Address vulnerabilities in fencing along the Indo-Pakistan border.

POLICE REFORMS AND MODERNIZATION

1. The Ribeiro Committee, 1998: Committee on Police Reforms

• A District Police Complaints Authority should be set up in each Police District to
examine complaints from the public of police excesses
2. Padmanabhaiah Committee, 2000: Committee on Police Reforms
• There should be a greater recruitment of Sub-Inspectors instead of Constables.
• The Indian Police should adopt the philosophy of Community Policing.
• Investigation should be separated from law and order work.

3. Malimath Committee, 2002-03: On Criminal Justice System

• The Committee suggested isolating the Investigation Wing from Law and Order.
• The committee recommended reducing the period of vacation in Courts by 21
days, keeping in mind the long pendency of cases.

4. Second ARC, 2005: Related to Administrative Reforms

• Reducing Burden of Police – Outsourcing Non-Core functions.
• Improvement of Forensic Science Infrastructure leading to professionalisation of
Investigation.
• The Intelligence gathering machinery in the field needs to be strengthened
• The representation of women in police at all levels should be increased to about 33% of the
police.

5. Rajiv Gauba Committee, 2018: On the issue of Mob lynching and fake news
• Appoint the Superintendent of Police (SP) in each District as the nodal officer to deal with
cases of lynching.

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