Government committees, bodies & institutions in news

For Prelims, this topic is not a list of names. It is a method for reading every official body that appears in the news.

• Core idea: a government committee, body or institution is an organised public authority or advisory mechanism created to perform a defined public function. It may be constitutional, statutory, executive, regulatory, adjudicatory, financial, electoral, audit-related, rights-related, or temporary.
• Constitutional bodies: these are created directly by the Constitution. The safest examples for Current Events are ECI under Article 324, CAG under Articles 148-151, Finance Commission under Article 280, UPSC and State Public Service Commissions under Articles 315-323, GST Council under Article 279A, NCSC under Article 338, NCST under Article 338A, NCBC under Article 338B, Attorney General under Article 76 and Advocate General under Article 165.
• Statutory bodies: these exist because Parliament or a state legislature enacted a law. Examples include NHRC under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993; CIC under the RTI Act, 2005; CVC under the CVC Act, 2003; Lokpal under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013; NGT under the NGT Act, 2010; CCI under the Competition Act, 2002; TRAI under the TRAI Act, 1997; SEBI under the SEBI Act, 1992; UIDAI under the Aadhaar Act, 2016.
• Executive bodies: these are created by resolution, notification, executive order or cabinet decision. Policy commissions, expert panels, mission-mode boards and ad hoc committees usually fall here. NITI Aayog began through an executive resolution in 2015; many boards in news have similar non-constitutional origins.
• Parliamentary committees: these are rooted in the rules of procedure of the Houses and parliamentary convention. PAC, Estimates Committee, Committee on Public Undertakings, Department-related Standing Committees and Joint Parliamentary Committees do not need a separate article each, but their reports often drive legislation.
• Temporary committees and commissions: some are inquiry or expert bodies with a limited mandate. A Commission of Inquiry under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 is statutory; a high-level expert group without an Act may be executive.
• UPSC trap: never assume that a famous national institution is constitutional. CVC, CIC, NHRC, NGT, Lokpal, CBI, NIA, SEBI and CCI are not constitutional bodies; some are statutory, and CBI is based on the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946 plus executive arrangements.
• Current-affairs method: identify the creating source, composition, appointing authority, tenure, removal protection, jurisdiction, binding force of decisions, appeal route, finances, and whether its recommendations are advisory or mandatory.
• Why it matters: questions increasingly test institutional design rather than the headline. A body may be independent in purpose but dependent in appointment, budget or staffing; that gap is where Prelims statements are framed.