Parliamentary Forums | Indian Polity for UPSC CSE PDF Download

Parliamentary Forums

• The Parliamentary Forums have been constituted with the objective of equipping members with information and knowledge on specific issues of national concern and in assisting them to adopt a result-oriented approach towards related issues.
• These Forums provide a platform to members to have interaction with the Ministers concerned, experts and key officials from the nodal Ministries.

The Objectives behind the Constitution of Parliamentary Forums are

1. To provide a platform to the members for interaction and discussion with the ministers concerned, experts and key officials from the nodal ministries on critical issues with a result-oriented approach for speeding up the implementation process.
2. To sensitize the 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 a meeting of various parliamentary committees.
3. To prepare a database on critical issues coming under the ambit of each parliamentary forum after culling out relevant information from different sources such as the ministries concerned, United Nations, NGOs, internet, newspapers etc and circulation thereof to the members so that they can meaningfully participate in the discussions held in the meeting of the forums.

Composition of Parliamentary Forums

• The Speaker is the ex-officio President of all the parliamentary forums except the Parliamentary Forum on Population and Public Health where the chairman of Rajya Sabha is the ex-officio President and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha is ex-officio Co-President.
• Each Forum consists of not more than 31 members (excluding the President and vice presidents of the forum) including 21 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 members from the Rajya Sabha.

15th Lok Sabha had 8 forums

➤ Parliamentary Forum on Water Conservation and Management

The functions of the Parliamentary Forum on Water Conservation and Management are: 
1. To identify problems relating to water and make recommendations for consideration and take appropriate action by the government/organizations concerned
2. To identify ways of involving members of parliament in the conservation and augmentation of water resources in their respective states/constituencies
3. To organize seminars/workshops to create awareness of conservation and efficient management of water.

➤ Parliamentary Forum on Children
The functions of the Parliamentary Forum on Children are:
1. To enhance awareness and attention of parliamentarians towards critical issues affecting children’s well being
2. To provide a platform to parliamentarians to exchange ideas, views, experiences, expertise, practices in relation to children through workshops, seminars, orientation programmes etc.
3. To provide parliamentarians an interface with the civil society for highlighting children’s issues including, inter alia, the voluntary sector, media and corporate sector
4. To enable parliamentarians to interact with specialized UN agencies and other comparable multilateral agencies on expert reports, studies, news and trend analysis etc.  Worldwide.

➤ Parliamentary Forum on Youth
The functions of the Parliamentary Forum on Youth are:
1. To have focused deliberations on strategies to leverage human capital among the youth for accelerating development initiatives.
2. To build greater awareness amongst public leaders and at the grass-roots level on the potential of youth power for effecting socio-economic change.
3. To interact on regular basis with youth representatives and leaders in order to better appreciate their hopes, aspirations, concerns and problems.
4. To consider ways for improving parliament’s outreach to different sections of youth, in order to reinforce their faith and commitment in democratic institutions and encourage their active participation.
5. To hold consultations with experts, national and international academicians and government agencies concerned with redesigning of public policy in the matter of youth employment.

Global goals of sustainable development by World Parliamentary Forum

➤ Parliamentary Forum on Population and Public Health

The functions of the forum are:
1. To have focused deliberations on strategies relating to population stabilization.
2. To discuss and prepare strategies on issues concerning public health.
3. To build greater awareness in all sections of the society, particularly at the grass-roots level, regarding population control and public health.
4. 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 interaction with the multilateral organizations like WHO, United Nations Population Fund, academicians and government agencies.

➤ Parliamentary Forum on Global Warming and Climate Change
The functions of the forum are:
1. To identify problems relating to global warming and climate change and make recommendations for consideration and appropriate action by the government/organizations concerned to reduce global warming.
2. To identify ways of involving members of parliament to interact with specialist of national and international bodies working on mitigating global warming and climate change by developing new technologies.
3. To organize seminars/workshops to create awareness about the causes and effects of global warming and climate change.
4. To identify ways of involving members of parliament to spread awareness to prevent global warming and climate change.

➤ Parliamentary Forum on Disaster Management
The functions of the forum are:
1. To identify problems relating to disaster management and make recommendations for consideration and appropriate action by the government/organizations concerned to reduce the effects of disasters.
2. To identify ways of involving members of parliament to interact with specialist of national and international bodies working on disaster management with an increased effort to develop new technologies to mitigate the effects of disasters.
3. To organize seminars/workshops to create awareness about the causes and effects of disasters.

➤ Parliamentary Forum on Artisans and Craftspeople

The functions of the forum are:
1. To further enhance awareness and attention of parliamentarians towards critical issues affecting artisans and craftspeople.
2. To provide a platform to parliamentarians to exchange ideas, views, experiences, expertise, practices in relation to artisans and craftspeople through workshops, seminars, orientation programmes etc.
3. To enable parliamentarians to interact with representatives of various union ministries, government organizations like Khadi Village Industries Commission (KVIC), Coir Board, and the Council for Advancement of People’s Actions and Rural Technology (CAPART) and other related organizations/bodies.
4. To hold comprehensive dialogue and discussion on the matters relating to the preservation of art and traditional craft and the promotion of artisans and craftspeople with organizations at the national and international levels.

➤ Parliamentary Forum on Millennium Development Goals
The functions of the forum are:
1. To review and enhance awareness and attention of parliamentarians towards critical issues which have bearing on the achievement of targets set under Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
2. To provide a platform to parliamentarians to exchange ideas, views, experiences, expertise, practices in relation to the implementation of Millennium Development Goals.
3. To provide parliamentarians with an interface with the civil society for highlighting issues related to Millennium Development Goals.
4. To enable parliamentarians to interact with specialized UN agencies and other comparable multilateral agencies, expert report, studies, news and trend analysis etc.