UPSC Mains 2018 GS Paper 2 Q4: model answer
Why do you think committees are considered to be useful for parliamentary work? Discuss, in this context, the role of the Estimates Committee.
What the question wants
Explain why committees help Parliament and discuss the Estimates Committee's role.
How to structure it
Why ... Discuss in this context: four reasons, then the Estimates Committee's makeup, function and limits.
- Why committees
- Estimates Committee
- Limits
How to think it through
The floor of the House is a stage; the committee room is a workshop. Use that contrast in your first line. In committee rooms, MPs actually read the Bill; on the floor, they sometimes read the newspaper.
Model answer
The floor of the House is a stage; a committee room is a workshop. In committees MPs sit across party lines, without cameras, and read the fine print.
Why committees are useful
- Time: Parliament sits about 60 days a year; committees work through the year.
- Expertise: they call experts, officials and stakeholders.
- Bipartisanship: no whip applies, so members can agree on facts.
- Continuity: they follow up through action-taken reports.
The Estimates Committee
- The largest committee: 30 members, all from the Lok Sabha; the chair is from the ruling party.
- Called a 'continuous economy committee'.
- It examines the budget estimates of chosen ministries, suggests economy and efficiency, and alternative policies to achieve the same goals.
- It can check whether money is well laid out within the policy implied in the estimates.
Limits
- Works after the budget is voted, so it cannot change the year's numbers.
- Covers only a few ministries a year.
- Advisory; ministries often reply late.
A pre-budget scrutiny role, as in many democracies, would give it more bite.
Draw: Stage vs workshop: floor (speeches, whip) vs committee (evidence, consensus).
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
committees, mini-Parliament, Estimates Committee 30 LS members, continuous economy committee, action-taken reports, pre-budget scrutiny.
Where most answers lose marks
- Saying Rajya Sabha members sit on the Estimates Committee. They do not.
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Question text as printed in the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) question paper. The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.
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