Current Affairs 8th Class

Category : 8th Class

 

Understanding Laws

 

 

When we say that the Constitution is the foundation of all laws, we do not mean that nothing in it can be changed or that no new law can be made. What we mean is that any new law that is made must abide by the spirit of the Constitution. We will discuss the role played by the judiciary in ensuring this in the next chapter. In this chapter, we will discuss how laws are made and what role the people play in this process.

 

THE CONSTITUTION, PARLIAMENT AND LAWS

 

The Constitution is the foundation of all laws in our country. When we adopted our Constitution, we retained many of the laws that were in use under the British. But it would be incorrect to say that we adopted the entire legal system that was in use. We adopted what suited us and rejected what did not. Even the idea of equality before the law evolved through the freedom struggle. We were definitely not equal under the British and many of their laws were heavily biased against us.

 

Know a Little More

The Sedition Act of 1870 was one of the most unfair laws used by the British. Under this law anyone could be imprisoned without a proper trial. The law was used to arrest great leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant. This law is still used in India. Anyone who "brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government..." may be arrested on the charge of sedition.

 

Q. There has been considerable debate on the use of the sedition law in recent years. Find out what people have to say about it.

 

HOW LAWS ARE MADE

 

Parliament is the supreme law-making body in our country. The state legislatures can also make some laws, but these laws are applicable only in the state concerned. Besides, the state legislatures can make laws only on some limited matters that are mentioned in the State List (law and order, healthcare, transport, etc.) and the Concurrent List (education, electricity, drugs and poisons, etc.). Only the Union legislature can make laws on the subjects mentioned in the Union List (defence, foreign relations, railways, etc.). It can also make laws on matters covered in the Concurrent List, and under special conditions, it can make laws on matters in the State List. Under its residuary powers, it can make laws on any matter that is not covered in any of the lists.

 

Process of law-making

A bill, as we have learnt in the preceding chapter, is a proposal for a new law (or to change an old one). Bills are of three types-ordinary bills, money bills and constitutional amendment bills. Money bills relate to money matters, such as tax laws. All other bills that are not related to changing the Constitution are ordinary bills.

 

Some amendments to the Constitution

 

?      Reorganisation of states on linguistic lines and introduction of Union territories (1956)

?      Incorporation of Dadra and Nagar Haveli after acquiring these from Portugal (1961)

?      Incorporation of Goa. Daman and Diu after acquisition from Portugal (1961)

?      Incorporation of Pondicherry (1962)

?      Abolition of the privy purses paid to the former rulers of princely states (1971)

?      Increasing the strength of Parliament from 525 to 545 (1973)

?      Formation of the state of Sikkim (1975)

?      Curtailing the Fundamental Rights, adding Fundamental Duties and making India a "socialist secular" republic (1976)

?      Providing safeguards for human rights and mechanisms to prevent the abuse of legislative and executive authority (1978)

?      Reducing the voting age from 21 to 18 (1989)

?      Providing the Right to Education until the age of 14 (2002)

?      Exchanging enclave territories (pockets of one country inside another country) with Bangladesh and granting citizenship to the residents of the enclaves (2015)

 

Q. what was the situation in the country when the Constitution was amended in 1976? What happened after that? Surf the Internet to find out.

 

A bill can be introduced in either house by any member. The only exception is a money bill, which can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha by a member of the government. The member who introduces the bill makes a speech explaining the purpose of the bill and a copy of the bill is distributed among all the members so that they can become acquainted with it. This is called the first reading of a bill.

 

During the second reading, members discuss the bill thoroughly and make suggestions for change. The final form of the bill, after incorporating the necessary changes, is presented before the house during the third reading and the bill is put to vote. If the majority of the members present in the house vote in favour of the bill, the bill is passed. It is then sent to the other house, where it goes through the same stages.

 

The second house may pass the bill, in which case the bill is sent to the President for his/her approval. The second house may also send the bill back to the house where it originated with suggestions for change. If these suggestions are not acceptable to that house, the President summons a joint session of the two houses

 

LIFE OF A BILL

 

 

And the bill is put to vote. If the majority of the members present vote in favour of the bill, the bill is passed and sent to the President.

 

In the case of a money bill, the suggestions made by the Rajya Sabha are not binding on the Lok Sabha and no joint session is summoned. So, the Lok Sabha is more powerful in this case.

 

Once a bill is passed by both the houses, it is sent to the President. The President may suggest some changes and send the bill back. However, if Parliament does not accept these changes and returns it to the President, the President has no option but to sign it. After the President signs a bill, it becomes an Act, or a law.

 

ROLE OF THE PEOPLE IN LAW-MAKING

 

Every society feels the need to make new laws and change old laws to keep pace with the changing times. We too have made many new laws and amendments to the Constitution since 1950.

Q. Hunger strikes are a form of protest. Can you name one instance when Mahatma Gandhi went on a hunger strike?

 

We have discussed how laws are made in Parliament. But the members of Parliament are representatives of the people, so it is the people who ultimately make laws. This is not mere theory. The people have made their voices heard time and again when they have felt the need for new laws or have found some law unfair. How can the people bring pressure upon the legislature? They can hold public meetings and organise protest marches. They can also voice their opinions through the media, NGOs and other organisations, such as labour unions and lawyers' forums.

 

Laws made with the peopit efforts

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (2005)

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (2005) is an example of how the people can put pressure on Parliament to enact a law. The need for such a law had been felt by women all over the country for a long time. After a decade-long struggle, with women's organisations and the Lawyers Collective (comprising lawyers and law students) at the forefront, the bill was introduced in Parliament in 2002. The law defines domestic violence as any kind of ill-treatment, including physical violence, mental cruelty and being deprived of property. It recognises a woman's right not only to be protected from violence, but also to not being thrown out of a shared home by her husband, son, brother or other relatives or people she is living with. This law, in fact, is an example of how special laws are needed to protect the rights of the weaker sections of society.

 

 

The Right to Information Act (2005)

The Right to Information Act (2005) is another piece of legislation that came about due to pressure from the people. Under this law, any citizen can ask a public official (or department) for information regarding the functioning of the government. Armed with this law, people can find out why a government dispensary does not have medicines, or why a ration shop does not have supplies, or why roads and bridges are out of repair, etc. In short, they can question public officials and check corruption.

 

The Street Vendors Act (2014)

For thousands of poor people who live in cities, street vending is the only means of livelihood. However, though they provide useful services at a lower rate, street vendors are often harassed by the police and civic authorities and thrown out because they set up their stalls in parks. Street corners, etc. and inconvenience people.

 

Through the years, street vendors organized themselves into trade unions and associations and got the backing of several NGOs. In many cases filed before courts, they got judgments in their favour because the courts felt that the Right to Livelihood is a part of the Right to Life. In 2010, the Supreme Court recognized street vending as a source of livelihood and directed the government to work out a law to protect street vendors from harassment and to demarcate vending zones. The law was passed in 2014. Under the law, civic authorities are supposed to provide licences to street vendors and demarcate vending zones where vendors can offer their services to the public.

 

 

Protests against unpopular laws

People can also protest against laws that they find unfair. One of the ways of protesting against a law is to disobey it.

 

There have been protests against several laws, for example, laws related to the conservation of forests. Villagers living around forests and activists fighting for them felt that conservation laws deprived them of their right to gather forest products for survival. The protests against forest laws led to the passing of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers i Recognition of Forest Rights) Act (2006) .We will discuss this in the chapter on marginalisation.

 

Salt law

In your history lessons, you must have read about the Dandi March led by Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi started the Civil Disobedience Movement with a call to disobey the salt law under which nobody could manufacture salt without permission from the government. He and his followers walked from Sabarmati to the Coastal village of Dandi, where he scooped up a handful of salt as a symbolic protest.

 

OBC reservation law

On November 16 1992, the Supreme Court responded to a case filed by lawyer Indira Sawhney and other against 27% reservation for the Other Backward Classes in government services and in institutions. While justifying the reservation for the OBCs on account of atrocities faced by them under the Varna system, it cautioned against extending the tenure of such reservation beyond ten years. It also held that reservation should be done away with once a particular section is represented adequately in society.

 

People protesting against the reservation of seats and posts for the OBCs feel that it creates more inequalities and the benefits do not reach the truly deserving. They feel that it would be better to make reservation dependent on economic status rather than caste or community.

 

Laws related to the prevention of terrorism

Several laws made to contain terrorism have been criticised because people feel that these give unlimited powers to the security forces and violate the Fundamental Rights. One such law, called the Prevention of Terrorism Act (2002), was repealed (revoked) in 2004 because of widespread protests. Another, called the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, has been in force in different states at different times there have been protests against this Act, which gives the armed forces special powers of search and arrest in areas affected by terrorism. In recent years, there have been strong protests against its use in Jammu and Kashmir and the north- eastern states. However, the security forces and the government feel that this law is needed to fight terrorism.