12th BRICS Parliamentary Forum to be Held in the Central Hall of Samvidhan Sadan on 26–27 October 2026: Lok Sabha Speaker

1. At a Glance

• The 12th BRICS Parliamentary Forum (BRICS PF) will be hosted by the Parliament of India on 26–27 October 2026 in the Central Hall of Samvidhan Sadan, New Delhi [1].
• It is the parliamentary track of India's 2026 BRICS Chairship. It brings Presiding Officers and parliamentary leaders of BRICS member and partner countries into a consensus-based dialogue [1].
• Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla described it as "a new chapter in the history of India's parliamentary diplomacy" [1].
• UPSC relevance: parliamentary diplomacy, the role of legislatures in global governance reform, ethical AI, and BRICS expansion (member vs. partner countries).

2. Why in the News

• 22 October 2026: Speaker Om Birla announced the Forum at a press conference at Parliament House [1].
• The Forum follows the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi (12–13 September 2026), which adopted the BRICS New Delhi Declaration [6][7].
• India received the Forum chairmanship at the 11th BRICS PF in Brasília (June 2025) [2][5].

3. Background & Evolution

• June 2025: Om Birla led the Indian parliamentary delegation to the 11th BRICS PF, Brasília, Brazil (visit dated 3–5 June 2025) [3].
• Parliaments of 10 BRICS nations participated and condemned the Pahalgam terror attack [4].

• They reaffirmed zero tolerance against terrorism, and India's stance was incorporated into the joint declaration [2].

• Handover: At Brasília, the Presidents of Brazil's Senate and Chamber of Deputies handed the Lok Sabha Speaker the chairmanship of the 12th BRICS PF, to be held in India in 2026 [5].

• 1 January 2026: India assumed its fourth BRICS Chairship. Its earlier chairships were in 2012, 2016 and 2021 [6].
• Chairship theme: "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability" [7].
• September 2026:
• The BRICS Bharat Innovates Exposition was held at Bharat Mandapam on 11–12 September 2026, as part of the 18th Summit [8].

• The Summit itself took place on 12–13 September 2026 [6].

• 25–27 October 2026: A Secretaries' meeting on 25 October will finalise the Joint Statement. The Forum follows on 26–27 October [1].

4. Core Static Facts

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Geopolitical / Strategic

• The Forum adds a legislative layer to India's executive-led BRICS Chairship. It reinforces the Summit's agenda on representative global governance (the Cooperation session) [1][7].
• At the 11th PF, India used the platform to secure consensus language against terrorism, after Pahalgam [2][4]. The 18th Summit carried this further with a BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan [6].
• Hosting 11 member and 10 partner countries shows BRICS's expanded format. India has to manage consensus across a more diverse group [1].

Governance / Ethical

• The theme "people-centric development" frames parliaments as instruments of accountability and public responsiveness [1].
• The Resilience session focuses on how parliaments strengthen institutions [1].

Scientific / Technological

• The Innovation session covers human-centred AI and digital technologies through parliaments, i.e. legislative oversight of AI [1].
• This matches the Speaker's Brasília agenda of inter-parliamentary cooperation on responsible AI [2].

Environmental

• The Sustainability session covers the role of parliaments in a sustainable and inclusive future [1].

Administrative / Federal

• Presiding Officers of State Legislatures take part, which brings sub-national legislatures into India's parliamentary diplomacy [1].
• Parliamentary Friendship Groups and bilateral meetings run alongside the plenaries [1].

6. Recent Developments (last 12–18 months)

• 3–5 Jun 2025: Indian delegation at the 11th BRICS PF, Brasília [3]. The joint declaration condemned Pahalgam [2][4], and India received the 12th PF chairmanship [5].
• 1 Jan 2026: India began its 4th BRICS Chairship [6].
• 2026: More than 350 meetings across 25 cities were held under India's Chairship [6].
• 11–12 Sep 2026: BRICS Bharat Innovates Exposition, Bharat Mandapam [8].
• 12–13 Sep 2026: 18th BRICS Summit, New Delhi. It adopted the New Delhi Declaration and welcomed a BRICS Task Force on Growth and Development [6][7].
• 22 Oct 2026: Speaker's press conference announcing the 12th PF [1].
• 25 Oct 2026: Secretaries' meeting on the Joint Statement. 26–27 Oct 2026: the Forum [1].

7. Prelims Hooks

• The 12th BRICS PF is held on 26–27 October 2026 in the Central Hall of Samvidhan Sadan [1].
• Overarching theme: "Strengthening Parliaments for People-Centric Development" [1].
• Four sessions: Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation, Sustainability, which mirror India's Chairship theme [1][7].
• Participation: 11 member + 10 partner countries [1].
• The release was issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, not the MEA [1].
• The Vice-President of India hosts the banquet for delegates [1].
• The Joint Statement is finalised by a meeting of Secretaries of delegations on 25 Oct 2026 [1].
• A special meeting is held for Chairpersons of International Affairs Committees of BRICS parliaments [1].
• The 11th BRICS PF was held in Brasília, Brazil (June 2025) [3].
• India's BRICS Chairships: 2012, 2016, 2021, 2026. The 2026 term is its fourth [6].
• The 18th BRICS Summit was held in New Delhi, 12–13 Sep 2026 [6].
• China holds the BRICS chair in 2027 [7].

8. What the Joint Statement Can and Cannot Do

• The Forum's outcome is advice, not law
• Speakers do not sign treaties. The Joint Statement binds no government.
• At India's P20 Summit (2023), the agreed path was simple. Each parliament shared the statement with its own head of government, and the P20 chair sent it to the G20 chair [9].

• So a forum statement has effect only if governments choose to act on it.

• In India, the executive signs treaties, but Parliament has to pass the law that puts them into force

• India follows dualism: a treaty does not become Indian law until Parliament passes a law to implement it [11].

• This gives Parliament a real lever. Few BRICS commitments ever reach that stage, though, so Parliament seldom gets to use it.

• Much of the agenda has been agreed before

• In 2023 the P20 statement already called for AI that is "responsible, inclusive and human-centric" [9].
• The 2026 Innovation session covers human-centred AI again [1].
• The real test is whether the 2026 Joint Statement adds something new and checkable, such as a shared review process. More of the same wording would not pass that test.

9. Why Agreement Gets Harder With 21 Countries at the Table

• More countries means more political systems to satisfy
• BRICS formally works by consensus (every member must agree) [14].
• The Rio Declaration (2025) welcomed 10 partner countries. They include Belarus, Cuba, Vietnam, Kazakhstan and Nigeria [13].

• Their legislatures differ widely in how much power they hold over their governments. Words like "accountability" in a joint text therefore mean different things to different signatories.

• Consensus has broken down before in a similar forum

• According to the Speaker, the P20 in Indonesia (2022) could not agree on a joint declaration. India's 2023 P20 managed to adopt one unanimously [9][10].

• Agreement among parliaments is therefore not automatic. The host has to negotiate it.

• India has used this tool well before, and it now faces a harder version of the same test

• At Brasília, India got the Pahalgam condemnation into the joint declaration [2][4].
• With 21 participants [1], the usual price of consensus is softer wording. The more countries have to agree, the less specific the text tends to be.

10. The Counter-Case: Strengthening Parliaments Abroad, Fewer Sittings at Home

• The strongest objection
• India is hosting a Forum on "Strengthening Parliaments" [1]. Yet its own Parliament meets less often and sends fewer Bills for detailed study.
• The 17th Lok Sabha (2019–24) held 274 sittings. Only four earlier Lok Sabhas met fewer times, and all four were dissolved early [15].
• Only 16% of its Bills went to parliamentary committees (small groups of MPs who study a Bill closely before the House votes). The 15th Lok Sabha sent 71% [15][16].
• In 2020–21 the Lok Sabha sat for just 34 days, the lowest ever [15].

• In the 18th Lok Sabha, 11 of the 42 Bills introduced up to the Winter Session 2025 had gone to committees [17].

• What the objection gets right

• Committee scrutiny is the main way a parliament holds a government to account. These figures show it weakening.

• Other countries can read the same data. India's message on institutions carries less weight if its own record is weak.

• What it misses

• The Forum is about cooperation between parliaments, not about grading India's own Parliament.

• Hosting creates pressure to match words with practice. India's own P20 statement already committed it to responsible AI and to parliamentary dialogue [9].

• Balanced verdict: parliamentary diplomacy is credible only when the parliament doing it works well at home. The objection does not cancel the Forum, but it does set a higher bar for India.

11. Where Parliament Is Still Missing From India's Foreign Policy

• The committee that should follow up struggles to get answers
• The Committee on External Affairs (the Lok Sabha committee that examines the MEA) complained in 2018 about long delays in the government's replies to its reports [12].
• It said these delays hinder oversight by the Committee and by Parliament as a whole. The government is generally expected to report action within six months [12].

• Forum declarations usually have no follow-up step at all, so nobody tracks what happened after them.

• Who should do what

• Lok Sabha Secretariat: follow the P20 model. Formally send the Joint Statement to the BRICS executive chair, which is China in 2027 [7][9].
• Committee on External Affairs: ask the MEA for a status note within the six-month norm on which Joint Statement points it has taken up [12].
• Chairpersons of International Affairs Committees: their special meeting [1] could set up a shared yearly review of earlier statements, starting with the Brasília counter-terrorism language [2].

12. Anchors for Answers

• Data: The 17th Lok Sabha referred only 16% of its Bills to committees, and in 2020–21 the Lok Sabha sat for just 34 days, the lowest ever [15]
• Data: The 16th Lok Sabha referred 25% of its Bills to committees. The 15th referred 71% [16]
• Report/Committee: Committee on External Affairs (17th Lok Sabha) report on India and international law: India follows dualism, so treaties need a law passed by Parliament [11]. Its 2018 Demands for Grants report flagged delayed government replies [12]
• Comparison: At the P20 (New Delhi, 2023) the joint statement was adopted unanimously and formally passed to the G20 Presidency. The Speaker said the 2022 Indonesia P20 failed to agree on a declaration [9][10]
• Law/Case: Kazan Declaration (2024): consensus is a BRICS principle, and the leaders endorsed the modalities of the partner-country category [14]

13. Mains Relevance

• GS-II: "Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India"; "Parliament — structure, functioning, conduct of business"; "Important international institutions."
• GS-III (secondary): AI governance; sustainable development.
• Possible questions: 1. "Parliamentary diplomacy complements, but cannot substitute, executive-led foreign policy." Examine with reference to India hosting the 12th BRICS Parliamentary Forum. 2. How can legislatures contribute to a more representative global governance architecture? Discuss in the context of an expanded BRICS. 3. Discuss the role of parliaments in making AI governance human-centred. What can India learn from inter-parliamentary cooperation?

14. Related Topics to Study Next

• BRICS expansion and the "partner country" category: this explains the 11 + 10 participation format.
• 18th BRICS Summit and the New Delhi Declaration: the executive track that the Forum follows [7].
• New Development Bank (NDB): the main BRICS institution and part of the global-governance reform agenda.
• Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the P20 (G20 Parliamentary Speakers' Summit): comparable multilateral parliamentary forums.
• Parliamentary Friendship Groups and Committee on External Affairs: the domestic tools of parliamentary diplomacy.
• Samvidhan Sadan vs. the new Parliament building: venue questions.
• UNSC reform and the G4: the "representative global governance" theme.
• India's AI governance (IndiaAI Mission, AI Impact Summit): links to the Innovation session.

15. NCERT Concepts to Revise

• Parliament of India (Polity): The Forum is about the role of legislatures; revise Parliament's functions, including control over the executive and treaty-implementing laws.
• Accountability (Polity): The theme 'people-centric development' frames parliaments as tools of accountability, and committee scrutiny of the government is the note's central test.
• Multilateralism (Economy): BRICS and its parliamentary track are multilateral cooperation, and the note ties them to representative global governance reform.
• Speaker of the Lok Sabha (Polity): Speaker Om Birla leads India's parliamentary diplomacy and received the Forum chairmanship at Brasília.
• Executive (Polity): The note contrasts the executive-led BRICS Summit and treaty-making with the Parliament's limited, advisory role in foreign policy.
• Governance (Polity): Global governance reform, representative decision-making and institution strengthening are the Forum's main themes.

16. Common Errors / Trap Areas

• Theme wording: the English release says "Strengthening Parliaments…" and the Speaker's Hindi post says "Fostering Parliaments…" [1]. Do not confuse either with the Chairship theme "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability" [7].
• Forum edition vs. Summit edition: the Parliamentary Forum is the 12th; the Summit is the 18th [1][6]. Do not mix the numbering.
• Previous venue: the 11th PF was in Brasília [3]. Kazan hosted the 2024 Summit, not the PF. (This point comes from the search summary; no retrieved page states it directly.)
• Venue: the Forum is in Samvidhan Sadan's Central Hall, not Bharat Mandapam, which hosted Summit-week events [1][8]. Samvidhan Sadan is the renamed old Parliament building. That is standard knowledge, but none of the retrieved sources state it.
• Organiser: the Lok Sabha Secretariat / Parliament organises the Forum, not the MEA [1]. The Vice-President, not the President, hosts the banquet [1].