New Delhi : The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Coal, Mines and Steel, chaired by former Union Minister and Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur, has been honoured with the Sansad Ratna Award 2026.
The committee received special recognition in the category of “Highest in the Original Reports presented” during the 16th edition of the awards ceremony at the Dr Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi. It was one of four parliamentary committees from both Houses of Parliament to receive this distinction in 2026.
Expressing gratitude to the jury and the Prime Point Foundation, Thakur dedicated the award to the committee members and the secretariat staff. “This recognition reflects our collective synergy, rigorous research, and a firm commitment to strengthening bipartisan legislative oversight,” he said upon accepting the honour.
Under Thakur’s leadership, the committee held 64 meetings and presented 29 comprehensive reports between June 2024 and the present. The reports addressed strategic sectors critical to India’s economic and infrastructural resilience, including securing critical mineral supply chains through Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL), accelerating domestic mineral exploration, increasing washed coal output, and promoting self-reliance in the steel sector. The committee also examined the implementation of the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) Fund and the Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY).
Inspired by the vision of former President APJ Abdul Kalam, the Sansad Ratna Award is a non-governmental initiative that evaluates parliamentary performance from a civil society perspective.
Anurag Thakur previously received the individual Sansad Ratna Award in 2019 and the Champions of Change Award in 2019. He currently serves on the Public Accounts Committee, the Consultative Committee on Power, and Joint Parliamentary Committees (JPCs) including those on ‘One Nation One Election’, the 130th Constitutional Amendment Bill, and the Vikasit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan. He also chairs the India-European Union Parliamentary Friendship Group.
