Parliament in Practice: the Speaker, Committees and How a Bill Becomes Law

Parliament is more than what happens on the floor of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Whether a Bill or the Budget actually becomes law depends on three quieter mechanisms: who presides over the House and certifies what counts as a Money Bill, the committees that examine Bills and spending line by line, and a fixed procedural sequence every Bill must survive. These are also exactly where UPSC keeps returning.

The Speaker: election, removal and real power

Article 93 says the House of the People "shall, as soon as may be, choose two members" to be Speaker and Deputy Speaker. There is no separate election machinery beyond this: a simple majority of the House elects the Speaker from its own members, usually in the first sitting after a general election.

Removal is deliberately harder than an ordinary vote. Article 94(c) requires a resolution passed by "a majority of all the then members of the House," an absolute majority of the full House, not merely of members present and voting (the usual rule under Article 100), with at least 14 days' notice. A useful proviso: when the Lok Sabha is dissolved, the Speaker does not vacate office immediately, but continues "until immediately before the first meeting" of the next House, so the chair is never vacant.

The Speaker's single most tested power comes from Article 110(3): if any question arises whether a Bill is a Money Bill, "the decision of the Speaker ... thereon shall be final." Under Article 100, the Speaker does not vote in the first instance but holds a casting vote on a tie. By contrast, the Rajya Sabha has no elected Speaker at all; its presiding officer is the Vice President, its ex officio Chairman under Article 89.

Sessions, prorogation and dissolution

Article 85 lets the President summon each House "from time to time," with one binding constraint: six months must not intervene between the last sitting of one session and the first of the next. Nothing fixes the number of sessions a year; three (Budget, Monsoon, Winter) is a working convention, not a constitutional rule.

The President may also prorogue a House or dissolve the Lok Sabha (Article 85(2)); the Rajya Sabha, a continuing body under Article 83(1), can never be dissolved. Prorogation and dissolution affect a pending Bill differently: prorogation alone never kills a Bill (Article 107(3)), but a Bill pending in the Lok Sabha, or passed by it and pending in the Rajya Sabha, lapses on dissolution of the Lok Sabha (Article 107(5)). A Bill pending only in the Rajya Sabha survives that dissolution (Article 107(4)).

How an ordinary Bill becomes law

Article 107 heads this "Legislative Procedure." A Bill (other than a Money Bill) may originate in either House and must be agreed to, without amendment or with amendments both Houses accept, before it is deemed passed. In practice this runs through three readings: introduction, a clause-by-clause consideration stage (often after referral to the concerned Departmentally Related Standing Committee), and a final vote, then the cycle repeats in the second House. Once passed by both Houses, it goes to the President under Article 111, who may assent, or, for a non-Money Bill, return it once for reconsideration; if Parliament passes it again, assent cannot be withheld.

If the Houses cannot agree, either House rejects the Bill, they finally disagree on amendments, or six months pass without the second House acting, the President may summon a joint sitting under Article 108, decided by a majority of both Houses' total members present and voting. This never applies to a Money Bill (Article 108(1) proviso), which is exactly why the Rajya Sabha's role there is so limited.

Parliamentary financial procedure

The annual financial statement (Article 112), the Budget, must show expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of India (salaries of the President, the Speaker, judges, and similar charges) apart from expenditure Parliament must actually vote on. Under Article 113, only the votable portion goes to the Lok Sabha as demands for grants, which it can assent to, refuse, or cut; charged expenditure can be discussed but never voted. Once the demands are approved, an Appropriation Bill (Article 114) authorises withdrawal from the Consolidated Fund; no amendment altering a grant's amount or destination is permitted.

A Money Bill, defined exhaustively in Article 110(1) (taxation, government borrowing, the Consolidated or Contingency Fund, and matters incidental to these), can only be introduced in the Lok Sabha (Article 109(1)). The Rajya Sabha has just 14 days to return it with recommendations, which the Lok Sabha may accept or reject; if it does nothing within that window, the Bill is deemed passed exactly as sent.

Parliamentary committees: where the real scrutiny happens

Three permanent Financial Committees predate the wider committee system: the Public Accounts Committee (22 members, 15 elected by the Lok Sabha plus up to 7 nominated from the Rajya Sabha, examines Comptroller and Auditor General reports), the Estimates Committee (30 members, all Lok Sabha, examines whether Budget estimates reflect economy), and the Committee on Public Undertakings (up to 22 members, 15 Lok Sabha plus up to 7 Rajya Sabha, scrutinises public-sector enterprise accounts). None allows a Minister as a member.

Since 1993, Departmentally Related Standing Committees (DRSCs), under Rule 331-C of the Lok Sabha's Rules of Procedure, examine Bills, Demands for Grants, and subject-specific issues ministry by ministry. Their number grew from 17 to 24 in a 2004 restructuring, and each DRSC now has 31 members: 21 from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha. Referring a Bill to a DRSC is discretionary, which is why the referral rate has fallen sharply, from around 71% of Bills in the 15th Lok Sabha to well under a third since.

The exam angle: majorities, deadlines and finality

UPSC statement-based questions on this cluster nearly always hinge on a specific number or a finality clause: the ordinary voting majority (Article 100) versus the higher bar for removing the Speaker (Article 94); the Rajya Sabha's 14-day Money Bill window versus the six-month gap rule for summoning Parliament (Article 85); and the Speaker's Money Bill certification being final, unlike most other parliamentary rulings. Read each statement for exactly which number or clause it is testing, not the general concept.

Quick revision points

• Article 93/94: Speaker elected by simple majority; removed only by a resolution of a majority of all members, with 14 days' notice.
• Article 85: no fixed number of sessions, only a maximum six-month gap between sessions.
• Article 107: prorogation never lapses a Bill; Lok Sabha dissolution lapses a Bill pending there, but not one still only in the Rajya Sabha.
• Article 108: joint sitting resolves a Houses deadlock, but never applies to a Money Bill.
• Article 109/110: a Money Bill can only originate in the Lok Sabha; the Rajya Sabha gets 14 days to recommend, not amend; the Speaker's certification of a Money Bill is final.
• DRSCs: 24 committees, 31 members each (21 Lok Sabha, 10 Rajya Sabha), referral of a Bill is discretionary, and referral rates have fallen since the 15th Lok Sabha.

These are precise, number-heavy rules; practise the statement-based questions once the article numbers and majorities are clear.