Amid nationwide anger over alleged brutal rape and murder of Kolkata medico, a Parliamentary Committee has listed ‘Safety Aspects of Health Professional’ as one of the subjects for examination during 2024-25.

Although the 30-member committee is meeting on September 4, its formal agenda does not include deliberation on health professional issue. This is one of the 35 items to be examined by the Committee on Estimates, chaired by BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal.

Apart from health professional issue, there are two more subjects - Performance review of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and functioning of National Medical Commission and Central Assistance in opening of government medical colleges – are from the Health Ministry.

Among other subjects, the committee will discuss utilisation of funds raised through disinvestment of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE). Interestingly, the word ‘disinvestment’ no longer features in Union Budget and from current fiscal, there is no separate target per se also in the budget. Proceed for selling government’s stake will now be part of ‘Miscellaneous Capital Receipts.’

Discussion issues

The committee has been assigned to discuss on ‘Performance of BSNL with focus on 4G & 5G Services’. BSNL and MTNL are two government owned telecom service providers. Government claims the mobile and landline services provided by BSNL and MTNL are working satisfactorily and meeting most of the Quality of Service (QoS). These two companies were provided packages worth ₹69,000 crore in 2019, ₹1.64 lakh crore in 2022 along with allotment of 4G/5G spectrum to BSNL with the total outlay of around ₹89,000 crore in 2023. Both are earning operative profit since FY21.

There are two subjects from Commerce & Industry Ministry – toys and games sector. As the Prime Minister, himself, advocated for toy industry in a big way, many initiatives have been announced. These resulted in decline of toy import to $65 million in FY24 from $276 million in FY15 registering a decline of 76 per cent. For the same period, exports of toys have increased to $152 million from $ 41 million, registering a growth of 271 per cent.

The functions of the Estimates Committee include reporting what economies, improvements in organisation, efficiency or administrative reform, consistent with the policy underlying the estimates may be affected. It is also to suggest alternative policies in order to bring about efficiency and economy in administration. It is asked to examine whether the money is well laid out within the limits of the policy implied in the estimates and to suggest the form in which the estimates shall be presented to Parliament.

The observations/recommendations of the committee are embodied in its reports which are presented to Lok Sabha. After a report has been presented to Lok Sabha, the Ministry or Department concerned is required to take action on the observations/recommendations conclusions contained in the report within a period of six months or as directed by the committee. The replies of the government are examined by the committee and an action taken report is presented to Lok Sabha.