Maha Bharat: Episode 13

How does a bill become an Act?

← See all episodes

Governing a country means creating and implementing a lot of laws for citizens to follow. But how does this process start? Who makes these laws and how does it happen?

All laws or legislation in our country start as simple proposals called bills when become acts after they are approved by the parliament and the president. And it is quite an interesting process, which we decode in today’s episode.

Show Notes

All clips and voices used in this podcast are owned by the original creators

Inputs about parliamentary procedure from PRS Legislative Research have been used in this episode.

Links to clips used in this episode —

Full Transcript of Episode 13

[We hear a voice welcoming the Speaker]

That’s the Speaker’s guard in the Lok Sabha announcing the Speaker’s arrival. All the members in the Lok Sabha stand up to greet him. 

It’s time for the Parliament to begin the day’s work.

[We hear the voice of Amit Shah, asking permission to introduce an amendmen in the Parliament]

[We hear Shri Thawar Chand Gehlot speaking in the Parliament]

I won’t blame you if you’re wondering what is going on amidst all this noise. Sometimes, this is what a regular day sounds like in India’s Parliament. 

In the audio clips that you just heard, our Parliamentarians (saansad) are actually carrying out an important duty and that is creating new legislations (vidhaan) for the country.

We know that the legislature in India yaani the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha is in-charge of making the laws of this country.  But do you know how the legislature actually goes about making these laws? (Kya hum yeh jaante hain ki yeh kanoon actually mein banaaye kaise jaate hain?)  What’s the actual process — from start to finish? 

Bill and Act — you would have heard of these two terms being mentioned a lot in the news. They are both related to the process of making laws. A bill is nothing but the draft of a legislation — ek proposal ki tarah. When this proposal is approved by the Parliament and the President, it becomes an Act yaani vidhaan/kaanon. 

All laws in our country are made this way. But if I were to give you examples from the recent past, you might remember the Citizenship Amendment Act, The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill and the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights Bill).

The entire process — from bill to act — is quite a dilchasp process and that’s because there are many rounds of debate, discussion, and voting that happen. 

Before we talk about this process, let’s first understand on what topics the Parliament is allowed to make laws. 

There are so many different subjects that need laws in our country — agriculture, health, environment, social issues etc. Our Constitution has divided these different topics into three lists — Union, State and Concurrent list and assigned them to the Parliament and state legislatures. Matlab — the topics in the union list jaise ki defence, citizenship, atomic energy etc. are Parliament’s responsibility — yaani, the Parliament alone can make laws on these topics. 

The subjects in the state list jaise ki public health, agriculture, libraries, museums etc fall under the state legislature’s control. And it is the responsibility of state ministers and MLAs to make laws on these subjects.

Laws for the subjects in the concurrent list can be made by both the Parliament and the state legislatures — jaise ki criminal procedures, marriage and divorce, wild animals, birds etc. But if there is a conflict between the law created by the Parliament and the state, the Parliament’s version is considered final.

Who in the Parliament is allowed to draft a bill?  

A ministry or a minister or an MP can draft a bill. 

If it is an MP who has come up with a bill, then that bill has a different name: it’s called a private member bill. Other bills — i.e from the government are just called regular bills. 

There is one more kind of bill and that’s an amendment bill. This is a bill that adds changes to a previous, existing law or a provision of the Constitution. 

Examples of this include the Citizenship Amendment Act which introduced changes to the Citizenship Act, 1955 or The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Amendment) Bill, 2019 which made changes to the rules about reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Accha, generally, the government thinks of drafting a bill when it identifies a gap in legislation or when our existing laws have become inadequate.  Take, for example, the bill on data protection. The Srikrishna Committee, which was appointed by the government in 2017, had studied the issue and recommended that a bill should be introduced to oversee how people’s personal data is handled. 

Sometimes public discussion and pressure can also lead to the drafting of bills. Like in the case of the Lokpal bill or Right to Information. And sometimes judgments from the courts in our country can also spark the drafting of a bill. For example, the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at the workplace act or the Right to Education.

What happens after a draft is prepared?

Sometimes, the ministry uploads that draft onto the ministry’s website and asks for comments/suggestions from other ministries, respective stakeholders (hitadhaarakon) or the public. For example, in 2019, the health ministry had invited comments from the public on a bill to ban e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes are basically electronic devices that simulate (anukaran?) cigarette tobacco smoking. The Ministry had said that whoever wanted to go through that bill and post relevant suggestions can do that on the ministry’s website.

Now, the government does not always make the suggestions it receives public. The procedure generally is that once the comments or suggestions come in, the draft is revised and the bill is then sent to the Law Ministry which checks the draft.

Then the draft reaches the Cabinet ministers for approval — once the Cabinet approves the bill, it is introduced in the Parliament. 

By the way, the process is only beginning now.

[We hear the voices of MPs introducing bills in the Parliament.]

This was Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Rajya Sabha MP Rajkumar Dhoot introducing bills.

A bill can first be introduced in any house (House can be said in English) — Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. But irrespective of which house it is introduced in, there will be three readings (reading can be said in English) of it in the first Sabha and then three readings of it in the second Sabha.

The rule is that a bill should ideally be circulated at least two days before its introduction in the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. However, if the Speaker decides, this requirement — of two days, can be shortened. 

For example, in 2019, the Bill to provide for reservation to the economically weaker sections was circulated, discussed, and passed on the same day. It is not clear why this bill was passed in such a hurry. Experts have argued that this was done to avoid scrutiny (jaanch) from the opposition.

There is another rule that a minister or an MP has to give the Speaker 7 days notice before introducing the bill. But this notice period can also be shortened (badla ja sakta hai) if the Speaker wants.

The overall rule is that a bill has to be circulated before it is introduced. Recently, you may remember that there was a controversy that was related to this rule in the Parliament.

[We hear the voice of Amit Shah speaking in the Parliament]

This was August 2019 when Home Minister Amit Shah suddenly introduced the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill which reorganised the state of Jammu and Kashmir and made Jammu and Kashmir a union territory and Ladakh a union territory.

The problem was that this bill came out of nowhere — it was not circulated nor was any notice given to other members that this bill was going to be introduced. 

[We hear the voice of Derek O Brein speaking in the Parliament]

This was MP Derek O Brien explaining that the bill was introduced without any notice or circulation.

Circulation of a bill is generally done to give all members of the Parliament a fair chance to look at it and prepare their views. 

That day, the opposition MPs pointed out this violation but the Speaker allowed the bill to be introduced. Kapil Sibal said that it is not democratic if the minister introduces a bill at 11 am and expects the Sabha to have a good debate on it.

Anyway, since the government had an overwhelming majority in the Parliament, the bill was eventually even passed on the same day as well. 

Let’s return to the procedure. 

What is interesting is that other members of the Parliament can  reject a bill at the introduction stage itself. How? An MP can oppose a bill on the grounds that the Parliament does not have the authority or jurisdiction on making a law on this subject. Another ground is that it violates the Constitution.

Even to reject the introduction of a bill, an MP has to follow a process. They have to first give notice of their objections to the bill by 10 am on the day that the bill is scheduled to be introduced. And when the Parliament session begins, the Speaker will then allow them to tell the Sabha why they think the bill should not be introduced. This happened in the case of the Dam Safety Bill, 2019. The bill aimed to fix some standards for the safety of dams in this country. 

Opposition yeh tha ki Parliament does not have the right to make a law on this.

[We hear the voice of Suagata Roy speaking in the Parliament]

This was Member of Parliament Saugata Roy opposing the bill and saying exactly this — that government didn’t have the right to make a law on this subject.

The Minister who is introducing the bill then also gets to make a statement. Sometimes, a discussion also takes place involving the entire Sabha. 

[We hear the voice of Shashi Tharoor raising objections in the Parliament]

After the discussion, the Sabha votes on whether or not the bill should be introduced. And if the bill passes this, it is finally introduced. The Dam Safety Bill also was similarly put to vote and it was finally introduced.

So, after the introduction of the bill, then what happens?

The bill is discussed. Sometimes, it is also sent to a Parliamentary committee if the members of the House feel that the bill needs to be further checked. Sometimes, the Parliamentary committee can also ask for comments from the public or from stakeholders (hithadhaarakon).

Then?

The Sabha waits till the committee completes its jaanch and submits its report. Then if there are changes to be made, then that is done and then the bill is taken up for discussion again. 

The time allotted for discussion on each Bill and the speaking time for each Member is decided by the Business Advisory Committee. In the Lok Sabha, the BAC is formed at the start of every new Lok Sabha after the general elections and they are reconstituted every year. This business advisory committee has 15 members and is headed by the Speaker of the house. The members of this committee are nominated by the Speaker.

Party leaders decide which MP gets to speak on which issue. First there is a general discussion, then there is a clause-by-clause discussion.

Then the sabha is asked if the ‘bill can be taken into consideration’ yaani vichaar ke liye liya jaaye. At this stage, if there are any amendments / changes, then they are also suggested or as they say in Parliamentary language (Parliament ki bhasha) amendments are moved (Can be said in English). Whoever suggests an amendment has to also explain the reasons for it and if the majority of MPs accept it, then that amendment becomes a part of the bill.

Generally, one day’s notice is given before the bill is taken for consideration.

Then comes the voting stage. The minister can propose that the bill be passed. At this stage, the debate in the house is generally about whether MPs support the bill or not. If the bill gets a simple majority by the members present in the Sabha on voting day, then it is passed.

But the process still isn’t done yet. The same bill is sent to the other house — yaani if the bill was first introduced in Lok Sabha then it is sent to the Rajya Sabha and the same process of three readings and discussions is followed. When the second house of the Parliament passes the bill, it finally reaches the President.

If the President gives his assent (razamandi?), the bill becomes an Act. If the President returns the bill, then the Parliament looks at it again. Once the Parliament passes it for the second time and sends it to the President, then he has to give his assent.

Now, what if the Lok Sabha passes the bill but the Rajya Sabha makes some amendments? Then, believe it or not, then the Lok Sabha has to pass it again before it is sent to the President.

Let me give you another situation. What if the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha feel differently about the same bill(ek hi bill pe alag alag vichaar hai/vipreet ray hai). Then a joint sitting of both Houses will be called. The idea is that there will be a fresh discussion and there will be voting again in this joint session. 

This has actually happened very rarely in the Parliament’s history. 

The first time this ever happened was in 1959 when the Dowry Prohibition Bill was introduced. 

While both sabhas agreed that dowry is a widespread social evil, they argued about specific clauses. For example, how to define dowry. Rajya Sabha suggested that the definition of dowry should mention both direct and indirect gifts given during marriage. Lok Sabha disagreed. The other point that they argued about was whether even asking for dowry should be made punishable.

These issues were finally resolved and the act was passed. According to the final version passed by the joint session, if any person demands dowry either directly or indirectly, that person can be punished.

There is a separate time allotted for the introduction and discussion of bills brought by MPs who are not Ministers. Remember that I said that the bills they bring are called Private Member bills?

These bills are generally introduced in the Parliament every alternate friday. It is slightly more complicated for an MP to introduce a bill in the Parliament when compared to the bills introduced by the government. Generally, an MP has to give one month’s notice to the Speaker to introduce the bill. But these bills can be important too — they could highlight issues that the government has missed.

[We hear the voice of MP Ninong Ering speaking in the Parliament]

For example, IN 2017, Arunachal Pradesh’s Congress MP Ninong Ering brought the Menstruation Benefit Bill which proposed that women employees in private or public sectors be entitled to two days of paid menstrual leave each month. 

This bill is still pending in the Parliament.

The problem is that most Private member bills get lost in the Parliament and get lapsed without a discussion. According to a study by PRS Legislative Research, Parliament has passed only 14 private members’ Bills till date. And Business Standard ke article ke mutabik, no private members’ Bill has been passed by Parliament since 1970.

Speaking of private member bills, did you also know that an MP from Patiala, Dr Dharamvir Gandhi had proposed for the legalisation of marijuana? 

Moving on. What happens after a bill becomes an act?

This part of the process is called ‘Subordinate legislation’. What happens is that after the bill is passed, specific rules are formed under that law: this includes orders, bye-laws. You can think of this as the list of actual dos and don’ts under the law. Even these rules are tabled in the Parliament and have to be approved.

Accha, before I end today’s episode, I want to quickly talk about one more concept that you might have heard about. Ordinance. 

An ordinance is something that very few countries have and is quite interesting. 

An ordinance is generally used in cases of urgency. If for example, the Parliament is not in session, and an urgent issue comes up which requires a law to be passed, then the Constitution allows the President to announce an ordinance. They have the same effect as laws. The condition is that the Parliament is supposed to approve an ordinance within six weeks after it reconvenes, so that it can remain a law.

Right now, during the Coronavirus outbreak, a number of ordinances have been passed: Essential Commodities Amendment Ordinance, The Epidemic Diseases Amendment Ordinance. 

Like I said, India is among the few countries where the government is allowed to make laws in cases of emergencies even if the Parliament is not in session. But experts have argued that many times, the government — both at the centre and at the state level — take advantage of this and introduce a wide range of ordinances. 

For example, in the last few months, the government has passed a number of ordinances — whether it is on labour laws, tax deadline extensions or agricultural reforms. Experts feel that laws being passed without a debate in the Parliament is a problem in a democracy. 

This is something we citizens should think about too.

In general, the way our Parliament functions should be something we citizens think about too. What the rules surrounding the bill-act process ensure is that there are enough checks on what laws are being passed and how they are being passed too. These rules also ensure there’s enough room for a healthy debate as well. The question is if these rules are being followed and if we as citizens are doing our bit by keeping ourselves informed.

Anyway, that’s it from me in this episode. Hope this episode has given you a good insight into how laws are actually made in our country.

.

Credits

Narrated by – Dhruv Rathee
Producer – Gaurav Vaz
Research & Written by – Archana Nathan

Title Track Design – Abhijith Nath
Audio Production – Madhav Ayachit