NEW DELHI: Jaya Bachchan, a Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha member, has opted out of the parliamentary standing committee on communications and Information Technology (IT) chaired by BJP member Nishikant Dubey. She will now be a member of the committee on labour, textiles and skill development chaired by former Karnataka CM Basavraj Bommai, said a bulletin by the Rajya Sabha secretariat.
Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale, who was a member of the standing committee on labour, has taken the place of Bachchan in the committee on communications and IT. Additionally, AA Rahim from CPI-M and R Girirajan, previously part of the parliamentary committee on external affairs chaired by Shashi Tharoor, have become members of the committee on housing and urban affairs.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar has also appointed JD(U) member Sanjay Kumar Jha and BJP member Dhairyashil Patil to the parliamentary standing committee on water resources. Jha also serves as the chairman of the committee on transport, tourism, and culture.
Reports said TMC has urged the LS Speaker to include Mahua Moitra, who is on Dubey’s committee, in another panel.
Dubey on Thursday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for entrusting him with a “big responsibility” by making him the chairperson of the committee on communications and IT. “This parliamentary committee will review fake news, the status of journalists, the new online media laws of the British and European Union, the losses being caused to IT due to the World Trade Organisation agreement, the status of newspapers and the laws of broadcasting,” Dubey posted on X.
He said the committee will also have a responsibility to deliberate on the Copyright Act, the censor board, the status of film artists and other issues. “Our committee will also look into the Press Council Act of 1976. We will give a collective advice to the government, which will be free from bickering,” he said.
