What is a MOTION in Indian
Parliament?
A motion is a proposal by a member of
the house for its opinion/decision. The person making the motion(except
privileged motion), known as the mover, must first be recognized by the
chairman as being entitled to speak; this is known as obtaining the floor.
Soon the mover has obtained the floor,
the mover states the motion, normally prefixed with the phrase "I
move." Generally, if the motion has been proposed, consideration by the
assembly occurs only if another member of the body immediately seconds the
motion.
Types of Motions :
1.)Privilege Motion
*The motion will be introduced by the
opposition if a minister has mislead the house by providing wrong information.
*The member of Indian legislatures,
either the federal Parliament of India or the Vidhan Sabha and Vidhan Parishad
in the states and territories, may raise a question involving a breach of privilege either of a
member or of the Council or of a Committee with the consent of the Chairman.
example -- Recently BJP threathened Civil Aviation minister to bring a PRVILEGE motion against him against the remarks he made about AIR INDIA outside the Parliament .... !!!!
2.) Censure Motion
*This motion can be moved only in Lok Sabha and by the
opposition of the house.
*It can be moved against the ruling
government or against any minister for the failure to act or seeking
disapproval of their policy.
*No leave of the House is required for
moving a censure motion but it must specify the charges against the government
for which it is moved.
*If the censure motion is passed, the
Council of ministers is bound to seek the confidence of the Lok Sabha as early
as possible.
example - A Censure Motion was moved against Team Anna recently by Sharad Yadav for their derogatory remarks on the Parliamentarians
3.) No Confidence Motion
*This
can be moved only in Lok Sabha and by the opposition of the house.
*Can be brought only against the
Council of ministers and not against any individual minister.
*Unlike censure motion, a no-confidence
motion does not require any specific ground.
*Once admitted in the House, it takes
precedence over all the pending business of the House.
*Generally the PM answers the allegations after the members have
spoken.
*If the motion is adopted by
the House, the Council of Ministers is bound to resign.
example - A no confidence motion was moved against the UPA in 2008 by the oppostion with respect to Nuclear deal which failed
4.) Call - Attention
Motion
*A member (after permission from
Speaker) calls the attention of the minister to any matter of ‘urgent public importance’.
*There
is no Call - Attention motion in the Rajya Sabha. Instead there
exists a motion called ‘Motion for Papers’.
5.) Adjournment Motion
Motion for an adjournment of the
business of the House for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent
public importance may be made with the consent of the Speaker.
6.) Cut Motions
*The members of the Lok Sabha has a
veto power to oppose a demand in the financial
bill discussed by the government.
*This is an effective tool to test the
strength of the government.
*If a cut motion is adopted by the
House and the government does not have the numbers, it is obliged to resign.
They are moved in the Lok Sabha only.
They are part of the budgetary process which seeks to reduce the amounts for
grants.
Cut Motions can be divided
into three categories:
- Disapproval of Policy Cut: That the amount of the demand be reduced to Re.1/-' representing disapproval of the policy underlying the demand. A member giving notice of such a motion shall indicate in precise terms the particulars of the policy which he proposes to discuss. The discussion should be confined to the specific point or points mentioned in the notice and it shall be open to members to advocate an alternative policy.
- Economy Cut: The objective of the motion is to reduce the amount of die expenditure and the form of the motion is “The amount of the demand be reduced by Rupee… (a specified amount)”. Such specified amount may be either a lump sum reduction in the demand or omission or reduction of an item in the demand.
- Token Cut: The objective of the motion is to ventilate a specific grievance within the sphere of responsibility of the Government of India and its form is “The amount of the demand be reduced by Rupee 100″.
