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PARLIAMENTARY FORUMS

The first Parliamentary Forum on Water Conservation and Management was constituted in the year 2005. Subsequently, five more Parliamentary forums were constituted. At present, there are six Parliamentary forums.
1. Parliamentary Forum on Water Conservation and Management (2005)
2. Parliamentary Forum on Youth (2006)
3. Parliamentary Forum on Children (2006)
4. Parliamentary Forum on Population and Public Health (2006)
5. Parliamentary Forum on Global Warming and Climate Change(2008)
6. Parliamentary Forum on Disaster Management (2011)

Objectives of the Forums
The objectives behind the constitution of the Parliamentary forums are:
(i) To provide a platform to the members to have interactions with the ministers concerned, experts and key officials from the nodal ministries with a view to have a focused and meaningful discussion on critical issues with a result-oriented approach for speeding up the implementation process;
(ii) To sensitise members about the key areas of concern and also about the ground level situation and equip them with the latest information, knowledge, technical know-how and valuable inputs from experts both from the country and abroad for enabling them to raise these issues effectively on the Floor of the House and in the meetings of the Departmentally-Related Standing Committees (DRSCs); and To prepare a data-base through collection of data on critical issues from ministries concerned, reliable NGOs, newspapers, United Nations, Internet, etc. and circulation thereof to the members so that they can meaningfully participate in the discussions of the forums and seek clarifications from experts or officials from the Ministry present in the meetings.
• It has been mandated that the Parliamentary Fora will not interfere with or encroach upon the jurisdiction of the Departmentally-Related Standing Committees of the Ministry/Department concerned.

Composition of the Forums
• The Speaker of Lok Sabha is the President of all the Forums except the Parliamentary Forum on Population and Public Health wherein the Chairman of Rajya Sabha is the President and the Speaker is the Co-President.
• The Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, the Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha, the concerned Ministers and the Chairmen of Departmentally-Related Standing Committees are the ex- officio Vice-Presidents of the respective Forums.
• Each Forum consists of not more than 31 members (excluding the President and ex-officio Vice Presidents) out of whom not more than 21 are from the Lok Sabha and not more than 10 are from the Rajya Sabha.
• Members (other than the President and Vice-Presidents) of these forums are nominated by the Speaker/Chairman from amongst the leaders of various political parties/groups or  their nominees, who have special knowledge/keen interest in the subject.
• The duration of the office of members of the forum is co-terminus with their membership in the respective Houses. A member may also resign from the forum by writing to the Speaker/Chairman.
• The President of the forum appoints a member-convener for each forum to conduct regular, approved programmes/meetings of the forum in consultation with the President. The meetings of the forums are held from time to time, as may be necessary, during Parliament sessions.

Functions of the Forums
Parliamentary Forum on Water Conservation and  Management
The functions of the forum are:
≫ To identify problems relating to water and make suggestions/recommendations
≫ for consideration and appropriate action by Government/organisations concerned
≫ To identify the ways of involving members of Parliament in conservation and augmentation of water resources in their respective states/constituencies
≫ To organize seminars/workshops to create awareness for conservation and efficient management of water
≫ To undertake such other related task as it may deemfit

Parliamentary Forum on Youth
The functions of this forum are:
To have focused deliberations on strategies to leverage human capital in the youth for accelerating development initiatives
≫ To build greater awareness amongst public leaders and at the grass-roots level  of the potential of youth for effecting socio-economic change
≫ To interact on a regular basis with youth representatives and leaders, in order to better appreciate their hopes, aspirations, concerns and problems
≫ To consider ways for improving Parliament‘s out-reach to different sections of youth, in order to reinforce their faith and commitment in democratic institutions and encourage their active participation therein
≫ To hold consultations with experts, national and international academicians and government agencies concerned on redesigning of public policy in the matter of youth empowerment.

Parliamentary Forum on Children 
The functions of the forum are:
≫ To further enhance awareness and attention of Parliamentarians towards critical issues affecting children‘s wel lbeing so that they may provide due leadership to ensure their rightful place in the development process
≫ To provide a platform to Parliamentarians to exchange ideas, views, experiences, expert practices in relation to children, in a structured manner, through workshops, seminars, orientation programmes, etc.
≫ To provide Parliamentarians an interface with civil society for highlighting children‘s issues, including, inter-alia, the voluntary sector, media and corporate sector, and thereby to foster effective strategic partnerships in this regard
≫ To enable Parliamentarians to interact, in an institutionalised manner with specialised UN agencies like the UNICEF and other comparable multilateral agencies on expert reports, studies, news and trend-analyses, etc., world-wide, which are germane to developments in the sector
≫ To undertake any other tasks, projects, assignments, etc., as the Forum may deem fit.

Parliamentary Forum on Population and Public Health 
The functions of the forum are:
≫ To have focused deliberations on strategies relating to population stabilisation and matters connected therewith
≫ To discuss and prepare strategies on issues concerning public health
≫ To build greater awareness in all sections of the society, particularly at the grass-root level, regarding population control and public health
• To hold comprehensive dialogue and discussion in the matter of population and public health with experts at the national and international levels and to have interactions with multilateral organisations like WHO, United Nations Population Fund, and academicians and government agencies concerned.

Parliamentary Forum on Global Warming and Climate Change 
The functions of the forum are:
≫ To identify problems relating to global warming and climate change and make suggestions/recommendations for consideration and appropriate action by the government/organisations concerned to reduce the extent of global warming
≫ To identify the ways of involving members of Parliament to interact with specialists of national and international bodies working on global warming and climate change with increased effort to develop new technologies to mitigate global warming
≫ To organise seminars/workshops to create awareness about the causes and effects of global warming and climate change among the members of Parliament
≫ To identify the ways of involving members of Parliament to spread awareness to prevent global warming and climate change
≫ To undertake such other related task as it may deemfit

Parliamentary Forum on Disaster Management 
The functions of the forum are:
≫ To identify and discuss the problems relating to disaster management
≫ To equip the members of Parliament with the information and knowledge on disaster management, for making them aware of the seriousness of the issues involved and enabling them to adopt a result oriented approach towards this critical issue.