For the period 2026-27, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha have renewed their department-related Parliamentary Standing Committees and the majority of the previous chairpersons have been continued and only some committees have new chairpersons. Of the new appointments, Tiruchi Siva is the new chairperson of the Industry Committee and Sujeet Kumar is the new chairperson of the Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice Committee.

Here is the Full List of the New Parliamentary Panel Chairpersons

Changes in Parliamentary Committees

There have been some significant changes in the leadership of department related standing committees, apart from some exceptions.

Tiruchi Siva has been designated as the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Industry. Tiruchi Siva was already known to be part of the Industry Committee and also as chairperson from the parliamentary records.

There have also been some changes in the personnel of Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice Committee wherein Sujeet Kumar has been made the chairperson.

In the case of Commerce Committee, there has been change in the chairpersonship from the Trinamool Congress party member Dola Sen to the BJP member Sudhanshu Trivedi, who headed the Commerce Committee till March 2026 when it produced its 196th report.

Radha Mohan Singh has been made the chairperson of the Defence Committee, whereas others like Shashi Tharoor and Radha Mohan Das Agarwal continue to be at the same places respectively.

Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committees

Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committees (DRSCs) are standing committees in Parliament which review the working of certain ministries and departments.

Functions of DRSCs include reviewing the following,

• Demands for Grants of ministries and departments.
• Bills referred to the committee.
• Annual reports of ministries and departments.
• National policies and programmes.
• Issues concerning the working of the respective ministries.
• Actions taken by the government on committee recommendations.

This helps in the detailed review of government policies and expenditures by the Parliament beyond the business of the House.

For instance, the Department-related Standing Committee on Home Affairs reviewed the Demands for Grants for 2026-27 of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region.

Role of the Standing Committees in Parliament

The standing committees of parliament have played a very crucial role in legislative and executive accountability.

They give an opportunity to the MPs to study the government’s policies and expenditure in much greater detail and also interact with the representatives from ministries, departments, etc.

They can also suggest recommendations to the government. Although such suggestions are not always binding on the government, it is expected that the government will respond to such recommendations.

The 19th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD) Convention is scheduled to take place in Kolkata, West Bengal, during January 7 to 9, 2027. The three-day convention will be hosted by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) along with the West Bengal Government. The convention will see the participation of members of the Indian diaspora community as well as other stakeholders from all around the world. The convention will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi whereas President Droupadi Murmu will confer Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards and will preside over the valedictory session.

Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas 2027 Key Details

The convention will act as a platform to interact with members of the Indian diaspora and stakeholders both in India as well as abroad.

• Event: 19th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas Convention
• Date: January 7–9, 2027
• Venue: Kolkata, West Bengal
• Organizer: Ministry of External Affairs
• Partner: Government of West Bengal
• Inaugurated by: Prime Minister Narendra Modi
• Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards Conferred by: President Droupadi Murmu
• Valedictory session presided over by: President Droupadi Murmu
• Youth segment: Youth PBD

Youth PBD and Diaspora Participants

Besides this 19th convention, there is going to be a Youth PBD component as well. The youth members of diaspora are going to join along with the entrepreneurs, professionals, intellectuals, innovators and other members of the Indian diaspora.

Youth PBD is an opportunity to interact with the younger members of the overseas Indian community as well as engage in areas such as innovations, entrepreneurship, professional networking and knowledge exchange.

What is Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas?

Every year Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD) is celebrated on January 9 as it is the anniversary of the arrival of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to India on January 9, 1915.

It is also the day which marks the engagement of India with its overseas Indian community. PBD Convention is a forum to interact with the Government of India, state governments and members of the Indian diaspora.

First PBD Convention was celebrated in 2003.

Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards

The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (PBSA) acknowledges outstanding contributions made by overseas members of the Indian diaspora community.

Some of the areas in which the award acknowledges contributions include,

• Creating awareness about India in the foreign countries.
• Improving ties between India and other nations.
• Contributions for the welfare of the Indian community abroad.
• Charitable and social service work.
• Social work and philanthropy.
• Excellence in a particular field contributing to the prestige of India in the international arena.
• Achievements and contributions by the overseas Indians.

The President of India awards the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards at the PBD Convention

India has accomplished its first demonstration of free-space Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), over 5.56 km. This is the first milestone towards the development of the quantum-secured communication network in India. The demonstration was carried out on the night of September 27–28, 2026, to set up a quantum secured communication network between BISAG-N and IIT Gandhinagar. This achievement was a result of a collaboration between QNu Labs and BISAG-N, IIT Gandhinagar. The quantum communication network maintained the Quantum Bit Error Rate of less than 5%, which generated secure keys with a rate of 230-260 bits per second (bps).

Details of Quantum Communication Network Demonstration

The trial was conducted using QNu Labs’ Pointing, Acquisition and Tracking (PAT) system to establish and sustain the free-space optical link.

This trial delivered the following results,

• Total Distance: 5.56 km
• Communication Mode: Free-space optical
• Quantum Bit Error Rate (QBER): Below 5%
• Total secured key generation rate: 230–260 bps
• Trial dates: Night of September 27–28, 2026
• Connected locations: BISAG-N and IIT Gandhinagar
• Encryption: End-to-end encryption and decryption of test messages

The quantum keys generated have been integrated with BISAG-N’s Vedic Kavach, which has post-quantum cryptography capabilities.

Operation of the Quantum Security Architecture Using Two Layers

The system utilized the integration of QKD hardware security and post-quantum cryptography (PQC).

Armos QKD from QNu Labs was deployed over free space optical links for the creation and distribution of cryptographic keys based on quantum technologies. In software terms, BISAG-N’s Vedic Kavach offered post-quantum cryptography and quantum random number generator (QRNG).

It ensures a two-layer approach to security. According to the involved organizations, such an architecture design is intended to ensure resiliency even in case the physical layer of quantum communication becomes unavailable.

What is Quantum Key Distribution?

Quantum Key Distribution is a technique used for secure exchange of cryptographic keys based on quantum mechanics.

While conventional key distribution schemes are based mostly on computational assumptions about mathematical problems, QKD utilizes quantum properties to identify the attempts to spy on the communication link. Attempting to measure quantum information can perturb its state, which indicates the presence of possible intrusion.

Thus, QKD is seen as one of the promising technologies to protect sensitive communication in the future, when quantum computers become too powerful to break current cryptosystems.

Quantum Bit Error Rate and Key Generation

Two specific technical parameters from the trial have a special importance.

The Quantum Bit Error Rate (QBER) is an indicator showing the percentage of quantum bits with errors after their transmission and measurement. In general, the lower the QBER, the better quality of the quantum channel. The QBER remained stable at less than 5% in the course of the trial.

The system produced secure keys at 230-260 bps, i.e., 230 to 260 bits of the key were generated every second.

Relation with India’s National Quantum Mission

The recent demonstration is part of India’s larger efforts towards indigenously developed quantum technologies via the National Quantum Mission (NQM).

The National Quantum Mission was sanctioned by the Union Cabinet with a budget of ₹6,003.65 crore for eight years. The goals include the development of quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum sensing and metrology, and quantum materials and devices.

Goals of communication under the NQM include the development of inter-city QKD networks spanning up to 2,000 km and satellite quantum-secured communication between ground stations over 2,000 km within India.

India has demonstrated QKD over greater distances using optical-fibre networks. A 500-km QKD network was demonstrated in 2025 by QNu Labs, and a 2026 update highlighted 1,000-km quantum communication networks under the National Quantum Mission. This is different from the current 5.56-km free-space optical demonstration.

Centres of Excellence (CoEs) have been sanctioned by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, for conducting research into Classical Assamese, Classical Bengali, Classical Marathi, Classical Pali and Classical Prakrit languages. The notification has been issued on 3rd October 2026. These Centres shall facilitate higher research, documentation, conservation and digitization of the literature, in addition to spreading awareness regarding classical languages of India. The CoEs are situated in Assam, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Odisha and Gujarat.

Five Centres of Excellence and Host Institutions

The five Centres have been assigned to higher education institutions that have regional and academic significance for the respective languages.

Thus, the five Centres have been established in five different states of India, thereby establishing institutional support for research on classical languages in the country.

Areas of focus

These five Centres of Excellence will operate on four main areas of activity,

• Academic research and scholarship: Establishment of platforms for advanced research and scholarship in the respective languages.
• Preservation and Digitization: Documentation, preservation and digitization of linguistic and literary resources and textual traditions.
• Dissemination: Promotion of greater accessibility of linguistic and literary traditions of the five languages.
• Higher Education Ecosystems: Enhancing the capacity of higher education institutions and research networks focused on classical language study in the five states.

Classical Languages of India

The current development is an addition to the list of Classical Language in India, which was extended in 2024. On 3rd October, 2024, the Union Cabinet granted Classical Language status to Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali, making the total of Classical Languages in India reach 11.

There were six languages which had been granted the status before this development, namely Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia. Tamil became the first Classical Language of India in 2004.

The five languages added in 2024 were based on the recommendations of Linguistics Experts Committee which modified the standards for Classical Languages.

Classical Language Criteria

The modified set of criteria includes several historical and literary factors. A language must possess,

• Antiquity of early texts and recorded history of about 1,500 to 2,000 years.
• A corpus of ancient literature or text which is considered a legacy of generations of speakers of the language.
• Texts related to knowledge especially prose as well as poetry and epigraphy/inscription.
• A classical language as well as literature which might be different from the current state of the language or not continuous with later states of its offshoots.

The committee of linguists of the Sahitya Akademi amended the criteria in July 2024 and recommended Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali as Classical Languages.

Importance of the Five Centres

The newly established Centres are dedicated institutional facilities for the five languages that were designated as Classical Languages in 2024. Their emphasis on research, documentation, digitization and dissemination can help in preserving ancient texts and traditions of knowledge in addition to creating robust academic environments for the study of Classical Languages.

This scheme also involves the linking of the designation of Classical Languages with higher education institutions, thereby giving the newly designated languages a platform for scholarly study and preservation.