Q. With reference to the Parliament of India, consider the following statements:

1. A private member’s bill is a bill presented by a Member of Parliament who is not elected but only nominated by the President of India.
2. Recently, a private member’s bill has been passed in the Parliament of India for the first time in its history.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

• 1 only
• 2 only
• Both 1 and 2
• Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Private Member’s Bill:

• Private Member: 
  • A member of parliament (MP) who is not a minister is a private member. 
• Private Member Bill: 
  • The Bills introduced by private members are referred to as Private Member’s Bills. 
  • The purpose of private member’s bill is to draw the government’s attention to what individual MPs see as issues and gaps in the existing legal framework, which require legislative intervention.
    • Thus it reflects the stand of the opposition party on public matters.
• Government Bill: 
  • The Bills introduced by ministers are called government Bills. 
  • The government bills have the backing of the government and reflect its legislative agenda. 
  • Whether the Private Bill has to be admitted or not is decided by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha or Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.
• Procedure: 
  • The MP who wants to move a Private Member’s Bill has to give at least a month’s notice, for the House Secretariat to examine it for compliance with constitutional provisions and rules on legislation. 
  • In case of multiple Bills, a ballot system is used to decide the sequence of bills for introduction.
  • The Parliamentary Committee on Private Member’s Bills and Resolutions goes through all such Bills and classifies them based on their urgency and importance.
  • The government bills can be introduced and discussed on any day, private member’s bills can be introduced and discussed only on Fridays.
• Private member Bill becoming Law:
  • No Private Member’s Bill has been passed by the Parliament since 1970, according to PRS Legislative Research. 
  • So far, the Parliament has passed 14 such Bills, six of them in 1956. Some other private member bills that have become laws include-
    • Proceedings of Legislature (Protection of Publication) Bill, 1956, in the Lok Sabha;
    • The Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Bill, 1964, introduced by in the Lok Sabha and
    • The Indian Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 1967 introduced in the Rajya Sabha.
  • The 16th Lok Sabha (2014-19) witnessed the highest number of Private Member Bills introduced (999) since 2000. 
  • As many as 142 members have introduced Bills in the 16th Lok Sabha, of which 34 members have introduced 10 or more Bills.

Differences Between Government Bill & Private Member’s Bill