Jairam Ramesh resigns as Chairman of Standing Committee on environment, climate change

Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh has announced his decision to resign as chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology Environment and Climate Change in protest against the manner in which the government rushed through some key legislations without subjecting them to the panel’s scrutiny.

“3 very important bills bulldozed through Parliament these past few days were deliberately not referred to the Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Climate Change.

These are bills that radically amend the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, and the bill to set up the Anusandhan National Research Foundation. Not only that, the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2019, on which the committee submitted a comprehensive report with many substantive suggestions, has been withdrawn. The Modi government has instead bypassed it with the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022. Under these circumstances, I see little value in continuing as the chairman of this standing committee,” Ramesh posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday night.


When contacted, Ramesh said he will submit his resignation to the RS Chairman on Thursday. “The Modi government has turned yet another institutional mechanism worthless,” he said.