Steering Committee
Topic: Making of the Constitution: Constituent Assembly, Sources and Salient Features · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Steering Committee was a Constituent Assembly committee chaired by Rajendra Prasad, who was also President of the Assembly. It coordinated the Assembly's business. It decided what came up when and kept the work of the many committees moving in step. Prasad also chaired the Rules of Procedure Committee, which set the Assembly's rules of working.
Example
The Assembly met for 11 sessions and 165 sitting days over nearly three years. It handled reports from many committees and thousands of proposed changes to the draft. The Steering Committee's planning kept this large workload organised.
Don't confuse with
- Drafting Committee: chaired by B.R. Ambedkar, it wrote the text of the Constitution. The Steering Committee managed the Assembly's schedule and business, not the wording.
Related concepts
- Drafting Committee
- Union Powers Committee
- Union Constitution Committee
- States Committee
- Provincial Constitution Committee
- Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas
- Fundamental Rights Sub-committee