The parliamentary panels will outline various issues, including sugar content in packaged baby foods, consumer rights in the banking sector, rising medicine prices and others.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, led by DMK leader Kanimozhi, plans to examine matters such as the availability of essential commodities with a specific reference to petroleum and petroleum products and measures to reduce food grain wastage in FCI warehouses.
Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers, chaired by Trinamool Congress leader Kirti Azad, will look into the rising costs of medicines, self-sufficiency in production and availability of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), as well as the effectiveness of regulatory authorities in combating spurious and counterfeit medications.
Additionally, this committee will assess the establishment of plastic waste management centers, efforts to reduce plastic use in the country, and the disinvestment of fertilizer public sector units (PSUs).
The Committee on Consumer Affairs will focus on regulating packed goods, specifically regarding sugar content in baby products and other food items. They will also examine food grain storage, existing infrastructure and future strategies, transportation optimization via railways, and the modernization of the Public Distribution System.
It will also examine ethanol and biofuel production from sugar, sugarcane and grains, consumer rights in the banking sector, the role of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in maintaining quality, and expanding the National Test House’s (NTH) involvement in product testing and calibration.
