OPENING OF PARLIAMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

Article 87(1) of the Constitution provides:- "At the commencement of the first session after each general election to the House of the People and at the commencement of the first session of each year the President shall address both Houses of Parliament assembled together and inform Parliament of the causes of its summons."

In the case of the first session after each general election to Lok Sabha, the President addresses both Houses of Parliament assembled together after the Members have made and subscribed the oath or affirmation and the Speaker has been elected. It takes generally two days to complete these preliminaries. No other business is transacted till the President has addressed both Houses of Parliament assembled together and informed Parliament of the causes of its summons. In the case of the first session of each year, the President addresses both Houses of Parliament at the time and date notified for the commencement of the session of both the Houses of Parliament. Half-an-hour after the conclusion of the Address, both the Houses meet separately in their respective Chambers when a copy of the President's Address is laid on the Table and brought on the record of each House.

No separate summons for the President's Address are issued to members. They are informed of the date, time and place fixed for the President's Address through a Parliamentary Bulletin. At the time fixed for the President's Address, Members of both Houses of Parliament assemble together in the Central Hall of the Parliament House where the President delivers his Address. New members who have not already made and subscribed the oath or affirmation are admitted to the Central Hall on the occasion of the President's Address on production of either the certificate of election granted to them by the Returning Officer or the summons for the session issued to them. In the Central Hall, Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, Deputy Speaker, Lok Sabha and Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha are allotted seats in the first row. Other Ministers are also allotted a block of seats. The Leaders of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and in Rajya Sabha are allotted seats in the first row. Leaders of other Parties/Groups in both the Houses are also allotted suitable seats. Members of Panel of Chairmen and Chairmen of Parliamentary Committees are allotted seats in the second row. The Members are free to occupy other seats which are not allotted/earmarked.

The President's Address to both the Houses of Parliament assembled together is a solemn and formal act under the Constitution. Utmost dignity and decorum befitting the occasion are maintained. Any action on the part of a Member which mars the occasion or creates disturbance is punishable by the House to which that Member belongs. Members are expected to take their seats five minutes before the President arrives in the Central Hall.

The visitors, who are issued passes for this occasion, are also requested to be in their seats half-an-hour before the time fixed for the President's Address. It is a convention that no Member leaves the Central Hall while the President is addressing. The President arrives at the Parliament House (North West portico) in the State Coach or in the car and is received at the Gate by the Chairman, Rajya Sabha, the Prime Minister, the Speaker, Lok Sabha, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Secretaries-General of the two Houses. The President is conducted to the Central Hall in a procession. On the passage from the Gate to the Central Hall from where the procession passes, red baize cloth is spread.

Just when the procession enters the gangway of the Central Hall, the Marshal who has taken his position at the dais, announces the arrival of the President by saying [Hon'ble Members, Hon'ble the President] Almost simultaneously two trumpeters positioned in the Gallery above the dais sound the fanfare till the President arrives at the dais. Thereupon, Members rise in their places and remain standing until the President has taken his seat on the dais.

On reaching the floor of Central Hall in front of the dais, the procession bifurcates; the President, the Chairman of Rajya Sabha and the Speaker of Lok Sabha move towards their seats on the dais - the Chairman to the right and the Speaker to the left of the President who occupies the middle seat. The Secretaries-General and other Officers in the procession move towards the chairs placed for them in the pit of the Central Hall on either side of the dais. When President reaches his seat on the dais, a band positioned in the Lobby of the Central Hall to the right of the President, plays the National Anthem during which time everyone remains standing. Thereafter, as the President takes his seat, Presiding Officers and Members resume their seats. The President then addresses the Members in Hindi or English. The other version of the Address is read out by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. After the conclusion of the Address, the President rises in his seat followed by the members when the National Anthem is played again. The President, thereafter, leaves the Central Hall in a procession which is formed in the same manner as at the time of his arrival. The members remain standing till the procession leaves the Central Hall. On reaching the gate, the President takes leave of the Chairman, Rajya Sabha, the Prime Minister, the Speaker, Lok Sabha and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs. The Secretaries-General of the two Houses are also present at the occasion. Thereafter, the President leaves for the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

QUESTION HOUR IN LOK SABHA

Generally, the first hour of a sitting of Lok Sabha is devoted to Questions and that hour is called the Question Hour. It has a special significance in the proceedings of Parliament.

Asking of questions is an inherent and unfettered parliamentary right of members. It is during the Question Hour that the members can ask questions on every aspect of administration and Governmental activity. Government policies in national as well as international spheres come into sharp focus as the members try to elicit pertinent information during the Question Hour.

The Government is, as it were, put on its trial during the Question Hour and every Minister whose turn it is to answer questions has to stand up and answer for his or his administration's acts of omission and commission. Through the Question Hour the Government is able to quickly feel the pulse of the nation and adapt its policies and actions accordingly. It is through questions in Parliament that the Government remains in touch with the people in as much as members are enabled thereby to ventilate the grievances of the public in matters concerning the administration. Questions enable Ministries to gauge the popular reaction to their policy and administration. Questions bring to the notice of the Ministers many an abuse which otherwise would have gone unnoticed. Sometimes questions may lead to the appointment of a commission, a court of enquiry or even legislation when matters raised are grave enough to agitate the public mind and are of wide public importance.

The Question Hour is an interesting part of the Parliamentary proceedings. Although a question mainly seeks information and tries to elicit facts on a particular subject, there are many a time lively and quicksilver repartees between the Members asking the questions and the Ministers answering them. These repartees are sometimes coupled with flashes of wit and humour. That is why the public galleries and the press galleries are packed to capacity during the Question Hour.

Telecasting of Question Hour

With a view to familiarising the public at large about the manner in which the proceedings of the Houses of Parliament are conducted in the Question Hour and how their representatives raise various issues of national/international importance, proceedings of the Question Hour are being telecast since 2 December 1991. Earlier the pre-recorded proceedings of the Question Hour were telecast by Doordarshan on the following day in the morning. From 7 December 1994, the proceedings of the Question Hour of both the Houses are being telecast live on alternate weeks throughout the country on the national channel of Doordarshan from 1100 hrs. to 1200 hrs. All India Radio is also broadcasting the proceedings of the Question Hour of both the Houses from 2200 hrs. to 2300 hrs. in the same night on their national hook up. It has been arranged in such a manner that during the telecast of the Question Hour of one House by Doordarshan, the Question Hour of the Other House is broadcast by All India Radio. In addition, the proceedings of the Question Hour and the entire post-lunch proceedings of Lok Sabha are being telecast live on a separate terrestrial channel through a Low Power Transmitter (LPT) with a reach of 10-15 kms, installed in Parliament House. The entire proceedings of Rajya Sabha are also being telecast live daily since 7 December 1994 through a separate LPT.

Types of Questions

Questions are of four types:-

Starred, Unstarred, Short Notice Questions and Questions addressed to private Members :

A Starred Question is one to which a member desires an oral answer in the House and which is distinguished by an asterisk mark. When a question is answered orally, supplementary questions can be asked thereon. Only 20 questions can be listed for oral answer on a day.

An Unstarred Question is one which is not called for oral answer in the House and on which no supplementary questions can consequently be asked. To such a question, a written answer is deemed to have been laid on the Table after the Question Hour by the Minister to whom it is addressed. It is printed in the official report of the sitting of the House for which it is put down. Only 230 questions can be listed for written answer on a day. In addition to this, 25 more questions can also be included in the Unstarred List relating to the States under Presidential Rule and the total number of questions in the list of Unstarred Questions for a day may not exceed 255 in relaxation of normal limit of 230 questions.

A Short Notice Question is one which relates to a matter of urgent public importance and can be asked with shorter notice than the period of notice prescribed for an ordinary question. Like a starred question, it is answered orally followed by supplementary questions.

The Question to a Private Member is addressed to the Member himself/herself and it is asked when the subjectmatter of it pertains to any Bill, Resolution or any matter relating to the Business of the House for which that Member is responsible. For such Questions, the same procedure is followed as in the case of Questions addressed to a Minister with such variations as the Speaker may consider necessary or convenient.

Notices of Questions

A member gives notice in writing addressed to the Secretary-General, Lok Sabha, intimating his intention to ask a question. Besides the text of the question, the notice states clearly the official designation of the Minister to whom the question is addressed as also the date on which the question is desired to be placed on the list of questions for answer as also the order of preference, if any, for its being placed on the list of questions when a member tables more than one notice of questions for the same day.

The normal period of notice of a question is not more than twenty-one and not less than ten clear days. A short notice question can be asked with a notice shorter than ten days, but the member has to state briefly the reasons for asking the question at short notice.

Procedure in Lok Sabha Secretariat

On receipt of the notice of a question it is scrutinised to see that the designation of the Minister and date of answer have been correctly mentioned in the notice. A preliminary ballot of identical questions is held and the member who obtains priority is deemed to have tabled the question. A ballot is then held in respect of notices received in this Secretariat at the same time to determine their inter se priority. Separate ballots are held for starred and unstarred questions. Starred, unstarred and short notice questions are numbered separately and entered in separate diaries on computer software.

The next stage is to examine the question as to whether or not it is admissible under the rules and past precedents. A question is primarily asked for the purpose of obtaining information on a matter of public importance. Questions that contain arguments, inferences or defamatory statements or otherwise refer to the character or conduct of any person except in his official or public capacity, are not admitted. Questions which are in substance repetitions of those that have been answered previously or in regard to which information is available in accessible documents or in ordinary works of reference are also not admitted. Besides, if the subject matter of a question is pending for judgement before any court of law or any other tribunal or body set up under law or is under consideration before a Parliamentary Committee, the same is not permitted to be asked. Questions making discourteous references to foreign countries with whom India has friendly relations are disallowed. Similarly, questions raising larger issues of policy are not allowed for it is not possible to enunciate policies within the limited compass of an answer to a question. Questions containing more than 150 words or relating to a matter which is not primarily the concern of the Government of India are not admitted. Questions going into minor details of administration and day-to-day working of the Government/Organisations are also not admitted.

Keeping the above rules and precedents in view, a question is admitted or disallowed. Typed copies of the admitted and edited questions are then made out on a standard form. An advance copy of the admitted question is informally collected by the Ministry/Department concerned so that they may on their side initiate the action for collection of information asked for in the question to prepare a reply.

A Short Notice Question which is of wide public importance is first referred to the Ministry concerned if necessary for furnishing factual information in the matter and also for indicating whether the Minister concerned accepts the short notice and, if so, what date will be convenient to him to answer the question. If the Minister accepts the short notice and the matter sought to be raised is considered by the Speaker, urgent, the Short Notice Question is admitted and printed in a separate list on the light pink paper in order to distinguish from lists of ordinary questions. The Short Notice Question is taken up after the Question Hour.

Allotment of Days for Questions

Immediately on the fixation of the dates of sittings of a session of Lok Sabha, allotment is made of the days available for the answering of questions relating to the various Ministries of Government of India. For this purpose the various Ministries are divided into five Groups and fixed days are allotted to groups of Ministries during the week. There is no Question Hour on Saturday, if a sitting is fixed for that day. Separate lists are prepared for starred and unstarred questions which have been admitted. Admitted questions are entered in the List of Questions for the day for oral or written answers as the case may be, in the order of priority obtained in ballot with the orders of the Speaker. Not more than five questions are admitted in the name of a member for each sitting of which not more than one is put down for oral answer. While compiling the list of unstarred questions, care is taken to see that one question of each member is included in the list of questions of that date. The remaining unstarred questions are thereafter put in the list according to inter se priority obtained in the ballot. A serial number is allotted to each question. Normally not more than twenty questions are placed on the list of questions for oral answers and not more than two hundred and thirty questions are placed on the list of questions for written answers on any one day. The Ministries are supplied with the lists of finally admitted questions at least 5 days before the date fixed for asking the questions.

Mode of Asking Questions

The member whose question has been admitted and which is included in the list of questions for oral answers for a particular day, rises in his/her seat when the turn of his/her question comes and asks his/her question by reading out its number on the list of questions. The Minister concerned answers the question. Thereafter the member who had asked the question can ask only two supplementary questions. After him/her the second member whose name is clubbed on the question is allowed to ask one supplementary question. Thereafter, the Speaker allows one supplementary each to members who are able to catch his eye. The number of such members depends on the importance of the question. Then the next question is taken up. The replies to questions not reached for oral answer during the Question Hour are deemed to have been laid on the Table of Lok Sabha.

At the end of the Question Hour, i.e. after the questions for oral answer have been answered, Short Notice Question, if any, for that day is taken up and disposed of in the same way as the questions for oral answers.

Half-an-Hour Discussion

Where answer to a question whether Starred or Unstarred needs elucidation on a matter of fact, any member can table a notice for raising Half-an-Hour Discussion thereon. If the notice is admitted and gets priority in ballot such a discussion may be allowed by the Speaker. Normally, such discussions are held on three days in a week, viz., Monday, Wednesday and Friday except in Budget Session when such discussion is normally not held till the financial business is completed. The discussion is usually held from 17.30 to 18.00 hrs. During the discussion, the member who has given notice makes a short statement and not more than four other members, who have given advance notice before 11.00 hours on the day on which discussion is to be held are permitted to ask a question each for further elucidating any matter of fact. Thereafter, the Minister concerned replies.

HOW A BILL BECOMES AN ACT

A Bill is the draft of a legislative proposal. It has to pass through various stages before it becomes an Act of Parliament.

First Reading

The legislative process starts with the introduction of a Bill in either House of Parliament-Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. A Bill can be introduced either by a Minister or by a private member. In the former case it is known as a Government Bill and in the latter case it is known as a Private Member's Bill.

It is necessary for a member-in-charge of the Bill to ask for leave to introduce the Bill. If leave is granted by the House, the Bill is introduced. This stage is known as the First Reading of the Bill. If the motion for leave to introduce a Bill is opposed, the Speaker may, in his discretion, allow brief explanatory statement to be made by the member who opposes the motion and the member-in-charge who moved the motion. Where a motion for leave to introduce a Bill is opposed on the ground that the Bill initiates legislation outside the legislative competence of the House, the Speaker may permit a full discussion thereon. Thereafter, the question is put to the vote of the House. However, the motion for leave to introduce a Finance Bill or an Appropriation Bill is forthwith put to the vote of the House.

Publication in Gazette

After a Bill has been introduced, it is published in the Official Gazette. Even before introduction, a Bill might, with the permission of the Speaker, be published in the Gazette.

In such cases, leave to introduce the Bill in the House is not asked for and the Bill is straightaway introduced.

Reference of Bill to Standing Committee

After a Bill has been introduced, Presiding Officer of the concerned House can refer the Bill to the concerned Standing Committee for examination and make report thereon.

If a Bill is referred to Standing Committee, the Committee shall consider the general principles and clauses of the Bill referred to them and make report thereon. The Committee can also take expert opinion or the public opinion who are interested in the measure. After the Bill has thus been considered, the Committee submits its report to the House. The report of the Committee, being of persuasive value shall be treated as considered advice given by the Committees.

Second Reading

The Second Reading consists of consideration of the Bill which is in two stages.

First Stage: The first stage consists of general discussion on the Bill as a whole when the principle underlying the Bill is discussed. At this stage it is open to the House to refer the Bill to a Select Committee of the House or a Joint Committee of the two Houses or to circulate it for the purpose of eliciting opinion thereon or to straightaway take it into consideration.

If a Bill is referred to a Select/Joint Committee, the Committee considers the Bill clause-by-clause just as the House does. Amendments can be moved to the various clauses by members of the Committee. The Committee can also take evidence of associations, public bodies or experts who are interested in the measure. After the Bill has thus been considered, the Committee submits its report to the House which considers the Bill again as reported by the Committee. If a Bill is circulated for the purpose of eliciting public opinion thereon, such opinions are obtained through the Governments of the States and Union Territories. Opinions so received are laid on the Table of the House and the next motion in regard to the Bill must be for its reference to a Select/Joint Committee. It is not ordinarily permissible at this stage to move the motion for consideration of the Bill.

Second Stage: The second stage of the Second Reading consists of clause-by-clause consideration of the Bill as introduced or as reported by Select/Joint Committee.

Discussion takes place on each clause of the Bill and amendments to clauses can be moved at this stage. Amendments to a clause have been moved but not withdrawn are put to the vote of the House before the relevant clause is disposed of by the House. The amendments become part of the Bill if they are accepted by a majority of members present and voting. After the clauses, the Schedules if any, clause 1, the Enacting Formula and the Long Title of the Bill have been adopted by the House, the Second Reading is deemed to be over.

Third Reading

Thereafter, the member-in-charge can move that the Bill be passed. This stage is known as the Third Reading of the Bill. At this stage the debate is confined to arguments either in support or rejection of the Bill without referring to the details thereof further than that are absolutely necessary. Only formal, verbal or consequential amendments are allowed to be moved at this stage. In passing an ordinary Bill, a simple majority of members present and voting is necessary. But in the case of a Bill to amend the Constitution, a majority of the total membership of the House and a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting is required in each House of Parliament.

Bill in the other House

After the Bill is passed by one House, it is sent to the other House for concurrence with a message to that effect, and there also it goes through the stages described above except the introduction stage.

Money Bills

Bills which exclusively contain provisions for imposition and abolition of taxes, for appropriation of moneys out of the Consolidated Fund, etc., are certified as Money Bills. Money Bills can be introduced only in Lok Sabha. Rajya Sabha cannot make amendments in a Money Bill passed by Lok Sabha and transmitted to it. It can, however, recommend amendments in a Money Bill, but must return all Money Bills to Lok Sabha within fourteen days from the date of their receipt. It is open to Lok Sabha to accept or reject any or all of the recommendations of Rajya Sabha with regard to a Money Bill. If Lok Sabha accepts any of the recommendations of Rajya Sabha, the Money Bill is deemed to have been passed by both Houses with amendments recommended by Rajya Sabha and accepted by Lok Sabha and if Lok Sabha does not accept any of the recommendations of Rajya Sabha, Money Bill is deemed to have been passed by both Houses in the form in which it was passed by Lok Sabha without any of the amendments recommended by Rajya Sabha. If a Money Bill passed by Lok Sabha and transmitted to Rajya Sabha for its recommendations is not returned to Lok Sabha within the said period of fourteen days, it is deemed to have been passed by both Houses at the expiration of the said period in the form in which it was passed by Lok Sabha.