Procedure of Passing an Ordinary Bill in the Indian Parliament:

An Ordinary or Non-Money Bill deals with general welfare of the community. An Ordinary Bill can originate in either House. An ordinary bill may 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. A Government Bill and Private Member’s Bill undergo an identical procedure. Every bill has to pass through the following stages:

1. Introduction of the bill and its first reading: This stage covers introduction of the bill and its publication in the gazette of India. A request for introduction along with the statement of objects and reasons is sent to the presiding officer. If a private member desires to introduce a bill, he must give notice of his intention to the presiding officer. Every bill introduced in the House has to be published in the gazette. On the appointed date, the ministers or member-in-charge of the bill moves the motion for permission to introduce the bill and read out the title. At this stage generally no debate takes place and the presiding officer puts bill to vote. The House grants leave by voice vote. Sometimes there is opposition to the introduction of the bill. In this case the presiding officer may ask the member-in charge to make brief explanatory statement in-favour of the bill. After the permission of the Speaker/Chairman, the bill is published in the Government Gazette as the first stage in the passage of the bill.

2. Second Reading: After the consideration of the bill, the date for its second reading is fixed by the House. On the fixed date, mover of the bill may propose any of the following alternatives:

(i) The bill may be referred to a Select Committee of the House.

(ii ) The bill may be taken up for consideration.

(iii) The bill may be circulated for the purpose of eliciting public opinion.

In this stage, only the main principles involved in that bill are discussed; detailed discussion on the bill is not held.

3. Committee Stage: After the second reading, the bills is sent to the committee for its consideration. The House appoints a Select Committee to consider the bill. It consists of the mover of the bill and a few other members. If the Deputy Speaker is a member of the committee, he automatically become its Chairman. Since the membership of the committee is small — it varies from 20 to 30 members and its members are experts in the field, the bill is thoroughly and minutely examined in the committee.

Amendments to the bill can also be proposed at this stage. The committee tries to gather full information regarding that bill and can ask any member to appear before it.

4. Report Stage: It is necessary for the committee to submit its report within three months or any other time fixed by the house for the purpose. The Chairman or any other member authorised by the committee submits the report on the appointment date. The reports is published and its copies are distributed among the members of the House. After that, on the basis of the report submitted by the committee, general discussion on the bill takes place in the House. The supporters of the bill give arguments in its favour while those, who are opposed to the bill, point out the defects of the bill before the House and recommend its rejection. There is a clause-by-clause discussion on the bill. After the discussion, voting takes place. If the majority votes in favour of the bill it is passed in the report stage otherwise it is rejected.

5. Third Reading: It is the last stage in the passage of the bill by a House. At this stage, no substantial changes in the bill are made and only amendments to remove some ambiguities of language are allowed. Then the bill is put to vote. If it is passed by majority of members present and voting, it is so declared by the Speaker or the Chairman, as the case may be. He then certifies that the bill has been passed in the House and then it is sent to the other House.

6. The bill in the other House: After a bill is passed in one House, it is sent to the other House. Here also the bill again goes through all the stages which it has undergone in the first House. If the bill is passed in the other House, it is sent to the President for his signature. After President’s assent, the Bill becomes an Act or Law.

The framers of the Constitution were fully conscious that the Constitution should not be very flexible, because, in that case, the Constitution will be a play thing in the hands of any government in the future. So they did not want to adopt the flexibility of the British Constitution. They followed the middle course. Indian Constitution is not very rigid in so far as the essential amendment of the Constitution are concerned. But at the same time it is not very flexible or simple in so far unnecessary amendments were concerned.

Procedure for the Amendment of the Indian Constitution:

1. Amendment by simple majority: The Indian Parliament has the power to amend some of the provisions of the Constitution by its own initiative or by the initiatives of some of the Legislative Assemblies of the States. Amendment in the following cases can be made by simple majority in the Parliament:

(a) Matter related to Article 3 of the Constitution whereby a new State is formed or change in the name of boundary of the State is proposed. These matters can be carried out by simple majority of both the Houses of Parliament. But such a legislation will be put before the Parliament only on the desire of the President who will consult the related states on the amendment before putting such a legislation before the Parliament. The State Reorganisation Act of 1956 was carried out by means of this Article. Afterwards many new States were formed or the name boundaries of old States were changed.

(b) Matter related to Article 169 on the formation or abolition of the second chamber or the Legislative Council of states can be decided by simple majority by the Parliament after fulfilling certain formalities.

(c) Amendment on matters related to Article 240 on the good administration of the centrally administered territories can be made by simple majority.

2. Amendment by a special majority in the Parliament: The process of amending the Constitution is given in Article 368. The article or subjects which are not given in this Article, can be amended by the Parliament alone with a special majority. The Bill for such an amendment may be introduced in any of the two Houses. If both the Houses pass it with absolute majority or 2/3 majority of the members present and voting, it will be sent to the President. The Constitution will stand amended on that point, when the Bill is signed by the President. All the subjects which are not mentioned in the first list of the amendment and as well as the third list of the amendment can be amended through this procedure.

3. Amendment by a special majority in Parliament alongwith the consent of the States: If an amendment is concerned with the article and the subjects given in Article 368, it must be approved by one-fourths of the State Assemblies after being passed by both the Houses with absolute majority or 2/3 majority of the members present and voting. The amendment will come into force after being signed by the President. The subjects given in Article 368 are as follows:

(a) Election of the President,

(b) Removal of the President,

(c) Extent of the executive power of the Union,

(d) Extent of executive power of the States,

(e) High Court for Union Territories,

(f) Union Judiciary,

(g) The High Courts in the states,

(h) Legislative relations between the Centre and States,

(i) Lists of the VII Schedule,

(j)The representation of States in Parliament, and

(k) Article 368 itself.

The Prime Minister is the head of the council of ministers. His powers include the following:

1. He leads the functions of the government of India.

2. He is the person who nominates  

3. The Prime Minister of India has the power to decide a core group of members called the Cabinet.

The main function of Prime Minister of India is the following:

1. He is the chairman National Development Council, the Planning Commission, National Integration Council and Inter-State Council.

2. He is the leading figure to decide the foreign policy of the country.

3. As a chief of the country, he engages with various sections of people in different states and gets memorandum from them about their problems, and so on.

During the times of emergency in the Indian Union the President is vested with special powers and he also becomes the real head of the country.
The President of India has the power to declare three types of emergency. They are National Emergency, State Emergency and Financial Emergency.

• According to Article 352 If the President believes that there is a threat to the security of India or to the security of a part of India, he has the power to declare National Emergency. But the President cannot declare National Emergency without the written advice of the Union Cabinet to avoid mis use of power.
• Under Article 356 the President can declare 'State Emergency' or President's Rule either on the basis of a report of the Governor or otherwise that the constitutional machinery of that state has failed. During state Emergency, the President of India assumes all executive power of the state to himself. The state administration is run directly by him or through a person designated for the purpose by him. It is the Governor of state who runs the state administration on behalf of the President.
• Under Article 360, the President of India can proclaim Financial Emergency if he is satisfied that the financial stability or the credit of India or of any part of its territory is threatened.
• The National Emergency and Financial Emergency have no time limit. They can continue to be extended without any limit. But the State Emergency has a time-limit. It cannot go beyond

Article 370 in the part XXI of the constitution of India provides a special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The special status provided the state with considerable autonomy and most of the decision was taken by center and in consent with the wishes of the state government, excluding external affairs, defence, communications and ancillary matters.

Main Features of the Accession
Though, envisaged to be of very temporary arrangement, it went on to define the special treatment to the state of Jammu and Kashmir as elaborated below:

1. Under the agreement, the state surrendered defence, communications and external affairs.

2. State was also provided with autonomy to draft its own constitution through its separate constituent assembly.

3. Article 370 was incorporated in Indian constitution temporarily to accommodate above features.

4. The state of J&K was specified in the category of Part B states in the original constitution (1950).

5. Laws on Union and concurrent list will be made by centre only with the consent of state of J&K

Articles 245 to 255 in Part XI of the Constitution deal with the legislative relations between the Centre and the State.

The different forms of Structural Violence:

(i)The traditional caste system treated certain groups of people as asprishya or untouchable. Till it was outlawed by the Constitution of independent India, the practice of untouchability subjected them to social exclusion and deprivation of the worst sort. The country is still struggling to erase the scars and relics of this ugly custom. While a social order based on class appears to be more flexible, it too generates a great deal of inequality and oppression.

(ii)Patriarchy entails a form of social organisation that results in the systematic subordination of, and discrimination against, women. Its manifestations include selective abortion of female foetuses, denial of adequate nourishment and education to the girl-child, child-marriage, wife battering, dowry-related crimes, sexual harassment at the workplace, rape, and honour killing.

(iii)Colonialism in the sense of prolonged and direct subjection of a people to alien rule is now a rare phenomenon. But the ongoing Palestinian struggle against Israeli domination shows that it has not disappeared completely. Besides, the former colonies of European imperialist countries are yet to recover completely from the forms of manifold exploitation they suffered during the colonial era.

(iv)Racism and communalism involve the stigmatisation and oppression of an entire racial group or community. Racial discrimination still continues covertly in the West and is now often directed against immigrants from countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Communalism may be seen as the South Asian counterpart of racism where the victims tend to be minority religious groups.