"Parliamentary Committee Recommends Overhaul of India's Bus Transport Policy"
Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee (DRSC)
permanent bicameral committee shadowing Union ministries; reports are recommendatory, not binding
Action Taken Report (ATR)
ministry's formal response to a DRSC report, indicating acceptance, partial acceptance, or rejection of each recommendation
India's parliamentary system vests the legislature with the power not merely to make laws but to scrutinise the executive's implementation of policy. Article 118 of the Constitution empowers each House to make rules for regulating its own procedure, and it is under this authority that the system of Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committees (DRSCs) was institutionalised. Since 1993, when the current DRSC system was formally established, Parliament has maintained over twenty such committees, each shadowing a cluster of Union ministries. These committees are permanent — they survive the dissolution of the Lok Sabha — and their membership is drawn from both Houses, giving them a bicameral character that reinforces their legitimacy as oversight bodies.
The Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture is one such DRSC, attached to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) among other ministries. Its mandate includes examining demands for grants, scrutinising bills referred to it, and — critically — undertaking suo motu or referred studies on policy questions within its domain. Reports produced by DRSCs are presented to both Houses and are publicly available, making them a significant instrument of transparency even when the government is not formally bound to accept their recommendations. As the NCERT framework notes, standing committees perform functions that Parliament itself cannot discharge within the time constraints of its sessions — in-depth study, cross-examination of officials, and comparative policy analysis.
Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committees operate through a defined procedural cycle. A committee adopts a report after deliberation — typically involving written submissions from ministries, expert testimony, and field visits — and the adopted report is then presented to Parliament. The 392nd Report of the Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, adopted on 6 August 2026, exemplifies this process: it covers the full policy architecture of bus transport, from permit regimes and terminal governance to digital infrastructure, safety standards, fleet electrification, and gender-inclusive service design.
The report's ten recommendation clusters reveal how DRSCs function as de facto policy commissions. The committee recommends replacing the All India Tourist Permit with an All India Passenger Permit — a structural change to the inter-state permit regime — and enforcing it through electronic correlation of VAHAN (the national vehicle registry), FASTag, and GPS location data, thereby eliminating border check posts. It proposes a National Bus Terminals Authority modelled on the Airports Authority of India, separating terminal ownership from bus operation — a structural reform analogous to the unbundling seen in electricity distribution. …
With reference to the Parliament of India, which of the following Parliamentary Committees scrutinizes and reports to the House whether the powers to make regulations, rules, sub-rules, by-laws, etc. conferred by the Constitution or delegated by the Parliament are being properly exercised by the Executive within the scope of such delegation ?
Consider the following statements about the Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of the Parliament of India:
1.Although members of this Committee are elected from both Houses of Parliament, the Chairperson of this Committee is appointed by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
2.Twenty members are elected by the Rajya Sabha and ten members by the Lok Sabha.
3.No Minister, except for the Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, is eligible to be a member of this Committee.
4.Members are elected for a fixed term of two years from the date they enter their office.
Which one of the following conclusions based on the above statements is correct?
Which of the following statements about the Ethics Committee in the Lok Sabha are correct?
1.Initially it was an ad-hoc Committee.
2.Only a Member of the Lok Sabha can make a complaint relating to unethical conduct of a member of the Lok Sabha.
3.This Committee cannot take up any matter which is sub-judice.
Select the answer using the code given below:
With reference to the funds under Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), which of the following statements are correct?
1.MPLADS funds must be used to create durable assets like physical infrastructure for health, education, etc.
2.A specified portion of each MP's fund must benefit SC/ST populations.
3.MPLADS funds are sanctioned on yearly basis and the unused funds cannot be carried forward to the next year.
4.The district authority must inspect at least 10% of all works under implementation every year.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
The 392nd Report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture recommends constituting a National Bus Terminals Authority. The institutional model explicitly cited for this authority is:
Assertion (A): The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture recommended that approximately 25 per cent of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways' road allocation be directed to public transport infrastructure.
Reason (R): Bus transport carries the largest share of India's public transport passengers but has historically received a disproportionately small share of transport infrastructure investment.
Which one of the following is correct?
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