This is the story of Suwarna, who is a student.
Suwarna has an idea. She thinks that if we introduce a rule that the playground will not be used during peak summer, that will reduce the number of children who have to go to the medical attention room during summers. The rule will be that when the temperature is more than 32 degrees C, no student will be allowed to play under the sun in the playground.
Suwarna is a part of the Student Body. This student body recommends rules for the improvement of the school to the Principal and other teachers once a month.
Suwarna writes a neat case about why it is important to have this rule and how it will benefit everyone.
On the appointed day, she presents this idea to the Managing Committee: The Principal, all teachers, and other members of the student body.
A discussion is held on the idea and then everyone votes. Out of the 36 people present at the meeting, about 27 support Suwarna’s idea. Since the number of people who voted FOR the idea is more than 50%, the idea is approved, and a new rule is made.
This new rule is pasted on the school notice board the next morning.
Just like Suwarna proposed an idea to her School’s managing committee, our Members of Parliament also propose ideas for laws to the Indian Parliament. All such proposed ideas are called Bills.
After it is approved by the Parliament, it is called an ACT and is a law that everyone needs to follow, just like the rule at school.
A proposed law is a Bill. A passed and approved law is an Act.
Each Act is about a certain specific thing. The name of the Act has to indicate what the Act is about. For example, the Banking Amendment Bill is likely to be related to the Banking Sector. The word Amendment means that it will change something in the Banking Sector. Likewise, the Indian Maritime Fisheries Bill is likely to be about Fisheries.
What is an ordinance?
The Parliament is not always in session. There are three sessions that happen every year – the Budget Session (February), Monsoon Session (July – September), and the Winter Session (November – December). What if a law needs to be passed urgently?
In that case, the ruling government creates the law and requests the President to sign it. Such a law is called an ordinance.
An ordinance must be ratified (passed) by the members of the Parliament within six weeks of the Parliament being in session for it to become an Act. So, all ordinances are presented in the Parliament as soon as the next Parliament session starts.
What is a Parliamentary Session?
A parliamentary session is a period when the Lok and Rajya Sabha houses meet to conduct business and discuss bills for the benefit of the country. In case a bill gets two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha, it is passed and sent to the Rajya Sabha. The Rajya Sabha can resend the Bill to the Lok Sabha with changes but cannot reject the bill.
Once the changes are done, based on further discussions in the Lok Sabha, the Bill is sent to the President. The President is then required to sign the bill within 15 days after which it is made an official law.
