How a bill becomes an act

A bill is a draft of a proposed law. An act is what it becomes once it has been passed. The Constitution sets out a detailed, careful process in between. (An act is a law; it does not become part of the Constitution.)

The chapter follows one real law all the way, told in the law's own voice: the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009.

Its roots lie in the Directive Principles of State Policy. The Constitution makers wanted it carried out within ten years of Independence; it did not happen, "leaving countless children without access to education".

In the early 1990s someone argued in court that education was already part of the Fundamental Rights, of the Right to Life, since education is needed to lead a meaningful life.

Parliament acted with the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002, adding Article 21A: the state shall provide free and compulsory education to all children aged 6 to 14. Six years later it was tabled as a bill in the Rajya Sabha and studied by a committee, which suggested changes. The big debate was about money: schools, buildings and teachers for millions of children would be costly. It passed the Lok Sabha and got the President's assent in August 2009.

The general path:

• introduction in either House;
• reading of the bill;
• referral to a Standing Committee (not every bill goes);
• consideration;
• clause-by-clause discussion, with amendments voted on;
• a vote on the bill;
• the whole process repeated in the other House;
• the President's assent;
• notification in the gazette.

Some words:

• 'Reading' comes from the British Parliament, where many MPs could not read, so a clerk read the bill aloud.
• A 'clause' is a part of a bill giving a specific detail, like the RTE's clause setting the ages 6 to 14.
• A 'gazette' is the official publication that announces legal documents.
• A Standing Committee is permanent as a body, though its MPs change.

One exception: a Money Bill, about taxes and government borrowing, can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha, and only with the President's prior recommendation.