| Passing Of Bill Through Ordinance | |
| This is a discussion between a student & his professor about how bills are passed in our parliament. | |
| Student | Prof, can you help me understand as to how bills are passed in parliament? |
| Prof | Each bill has to be passed through a simple majority by both houses of parliament. First the bill after reading and discussion will be passed by the lower house, then it will be passed by upper house(Rajya Sabha). Once done, it becomes a law of the land. By the way, since when did you become intrested in passing of bill? |
| Student | Prof, I read in the paper that an ordinance was issued by the govt to auction coal blocks & to raise foreign investment to 49% of insurance equity. Why would they do that? |
| Prof | Simply because the Rajya Sabha refused to pass the bill. The unruly opposition stalled the proceedings & govt got fed up so result is the ordinance. |
| Student | How does ordinance work? |
| Prof | As Indian constitution provides that if a bill is passed by one house, but rejected by the other, a joint session could be called to settle the issue. In this case the unruly Rajya Sabha encouraged the govt to take this route. |
| Student | Now what? Is the ordinance permanent? |
| Prof | Not really. Ordinances are supposed to be emergency measures when parliament is not in session. They of course have to be validated in the next session. |
| Student | Is it then possible that every bill can be pushed through ordinance? |
| Prof | If the govt did, it is a sham & mockery of democracy. Normally ordinances are passed when there is an urgency or emergency. In this case, it is not clear as to why the govt rushed to do it. |
| Student | Are you then saying that whenever the govt faces a difficulty in passing a bill, they will engage in passing an ordinance? |
| Prof | Not really. Finance minister Jaitley said that this will convince the foreign investors that the government will not compromise on economic reforms. |
| Student | Will foreigners buy this argument? |
| Prof | I don’t know really. It remains to be seen. Actually ordinances are becoming substitutes of parliamentary approval. In reality even if law is passed through a regular process, it can be stayed or reversed by a public interest suit |
| Student | Where do we go from here? |
| Prof | Purely simple. The entire world will know that we are a contentious society, namely for the sake of passing of a bill, we will do so. Any foreign investor will think many times before committing his funds to India. You see, in India, politics is business. It doesn’t work on the basis of what is good for India. In their conflicts, the looser is the country. Our political system, regardless of who is in power, is designed in such a way that it is possible to block anything. Realizing this only, we have this ordinance route. |
| Student | Prof, sad to hear this. |
| Prof | Time you guys take interest in politics, if you care for the country. Take interest in how legislature works & how bills are passed. & finally, take the view that if you don’t care, no one else will. My best wishes in this regard. |
| Student | Thanks prof! |
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