Rules of Procedure

Indian Committees
Unlike the international committees, the rules of procedure for indian committees are much
more lenient and are often subject to discretion by speaker. Although according to actual rules
of procedure of parliament, a parliamentarian has the right to speak in any of the 22 scheduled
languages as per the 8th schedule of the constitution, although in practice these committees are
generally bilingual where people can speak in either English or Hindi. In Lok Sabha the
government members seat on the right side of the speaker while the opposition seats on the
left.

Present/Absent
At the very onset the speaker will take roll calls to count the number of people present. Unlike
International committees there is no concept of present and voting. A parliamentarian can only
say present/उपि\थत है.

Quorum
It is the minimum vote a motion must get in order to pass. For any motion to pass at least
50%+1 members present in the house must vote in favour of it.

Setting Up The Agenda

If th in the committee must decide which agenda to discuss first. A member can set up the
agenda by saying the following thing after the chair asks for motions- With prior permission of
Chair, I “name of the member” would like to set “ name of the agenda” as the agenda of the
house.
Once a motion get simple majority, it passes.
AA 1
Opening Statement
In most of the Indian committees it is compulsory for members to make an opening statement.
The default time limit for opening statement is 90s but members can change it to either 60s or
120s. Inl conventional/official Indian committees the Prime Minister makes the first opening
statement while the leader of opposition gets to speak at the very end. POIs(questions) may or
may not be entertained depending upon the speaker. The speaker is expected to incorporate
his general views about the agenda at hand and also convey his expectations from the
committee and the specific issues he wants the committee to discuss. It is very similar to GSL
(General Speaker’s List) which is used in international committees, only difference being that it
is exhaustive and it is mandatory for members to speak in it. To set up a speaker’s list following
the following thing can be said-
With prior permission of chair, I “name of the member” would like to set up the speaker’s list with
total time of (eg.)1 hr with each speaker getting (eg.)90s.
Moderated/Unmoderated Session

In Moderated Caucus a member is expected to break down the massive agenda and discuss
the specific aspects or subtopics of it. Moderated Caucus is also called short term discussion.
For example, if the the agenda is “Climate change in India” its subtopics can be- causes of
climate change, consequences of climate change, past actions of the government to tackle
climate change, solutions to tackle climate change. In order to set up formal session the
following thing can be said-
With prior permission of Chair, I “name of the member” would like to have a short term
discussion on the topic “name of the topic” for the total time of (eg.) 1 hr with each speaker
getting (eg.) 60s

Unmoderated Caucus is used when the members need to have a an informal chat with other
members. Most of the negotiations about agendas to be discussed and other contentious topic
happen in informal session. There is no agenda in Unmoderated Caucus. A member can roam
around the entire room discussing topics. In order to set up informal session the following thing
can be said-
With prior permission of Chair, I “name of the member” would like to raise an Unmoderated
caucus for the total time of (eg) 15mins

In case multiple motions are raised by members than the motion that takes maximum amount of
time or the one which is most disruptive is voted upon first. Motion of disruption is discussed
later.

Sessions
Public Session:In a public session, the press members are present in the room. All the
delegates have to frame their speeches and control their actions in an appropriate manner.
Special emphasis should given on informing ideas and facts which is in consistence to the party
the delegate represents and its specific ideology.
Private Session:In a private session, the press members are asked to leave the room. A session
might be private if more than 50% of the delegates vote on it. In a private session, a delegate
may not be as particular about the quorum as in a public session. However this does not mean
that a delegate displays any inappropriate or insulting behavior. Here only total time is decided.
There is no time limit for individual speaker. One speaker speaks after another continuously.
Due to its informal nature coupled with its inherently gladiatorial format, the debates in this
session are usually supercharged and full of rhetorics.

Points
There are 4 types of points-
 ● Point of Order: When any member make any factual inaccuracies than point of order is
raised. However personal beliefs or opinions are not counted as factual error and so
point of order cannot be raised on them.
Eg. Mumbai is the capital of India ( point of order)
I think Mumbai is the capital of India (not Point of Order)
Point of orders can also be raised if the speaker makes a mistake while calling your name
according to the speaker list. Suppose in the speaker’s list your name is next, but speaker calls
another person to speak then you can raise a point of order.

● Point of Parliamentary Enquiry: If a member has any doubt regarding any rules of
procedure than the member can raise this point to clear his doubts. It is very helpful for
first timers.

● Point of Personal Privilege: If a member has any physical discomfort than this point
can be used. For instance if you are feeling cold than you can raise a point of personal
privilege to request someone to switch off the AC. It can also be used if you are unable
to hear another member’s speech. Therefore it is also the only point that can be raised
while a fellow member is making a speech.

● Point of Information: PoI is basically questions. You can only raise PoI when the
speaker allows.

Yields
Suppose if a member completes making his opening statement and still time is left. Then the
member can give/yield the time in 4 different ways:

1. Yield to Chair: You simply give back the time to the chair.
2. Yield to Other Member: You can give your extra time to another member, possibly a
member from your own political party.
3. Yield to Comments: Here other members can pass remarks about your speech but you
will not be able to reply to them.
4. Yield to Point of Information: It means other members can question you on the basis
of your speech.

Right of Reply
If a member has made any inflammatory comments against you which is also factually wrong
then you demand a Right of Reply. If the speaker thinks you have solid grounds then he
requests the other member to apologise.

Plea to Follow Up
If you have asked a question to another member but he is unable to give you a satisfactory
reply, then you demand a plea to follow up. If your plea has a valid ground than you will be
allowed to put a subsequent question to that member. Plea to follow up can only be granted
once per question.

Chits
Since you are not allowed to move from one place to another in a committee, that is why chits
are used to convey messages to other members or the speaker.
Chits can be of two types-
● Substantive Chit: If you are unable put all your points across due to constraints in time
in your speech then you can still send your remaining points to the speaker via
substantive chit. The weightage given to chits varies from chair to chair but it is always
less than a speech.
Eg.

Substantive Chit
To-Chair
From- Narendra Modi

(content...)

● Point of Information: In case you are not recognized to put up a question on a fellow
member’s speech, you can still ask that question to that member via chit. When you put
via EB/Chiar in your chit then it will be seen and marked by the chair before it goes to the
member concerned.
Eg.

Point of Information
To- Narendra Modi
From- Rahul Gandhi
(via Chair)

What has the government done for women safety?

Starred Chits: If you think that your question is genuinely very adroit then you can put a star on
top of your question. Doing that would mean that the speaker will address the question directly
to the concerned member in the question hour in front of the entire house. A member is allowed
to star a maximum of 20 questions throughout the course of the debate.

Question Hour
This is a special session where all the starred questions are addressed by the speaker.

Zero Hour
This is a special session where issues of national importance are discussed. A member must be
very adept in current affairs to perform well in this session.

Order of Disruption
If there is a conflict where more than one point or motion is raised than that motion is given
precedence which is most disruptive
1. Point of Personal Privilege
2. Point of Order
3. Point of Parliamentary Inquiry
4. Adjournment of the Meeting
5. Suspension of the Meeting
6. Unmoderated Caucus
7. Moderated Caucus
8. Motion to Change Speaking Time
9. Introduction of a Bill
10. Introduction of an Amendment
11. Postponement of Debate
12. Resumption of Debate
13. Closure of Debate

Rules For Voting

PROCEDURAL VOTING: All voting is considered procedural with the exception of voting on
bills. Members must vote on all procedural motions, and no abstentions are allowed. A motion
that requires a simple majority needs more af rmative than negative votes to pass. A motion
that requires two-thirds to pass requires exactly or more than two-thirds of the votes to be
af rmative.

SUBSTANTIVE VOTING: The only substantive voting will be voting on bills. All other votes will
be procedural votes. After debate has been closed on the general topic area, the committee will
move into nal voting procedures and the chambers are then sealed. If there are no such
motions, the committee will vote on all draft resolutions. For substantive voting, each member
will have one vote. Each vote may be a “Yes,” “No,” or “Abstain.” Members who abstain from
voting are considered as not voting. All matters will be voted upon using voice call by default,
although a show of placard or a roll call vote is also accepted. A simple majority requires “Yes”
votes from more than half the members voting, as in more af rmative votes than negative
votes.

Suspension or Adjournment of Meeting

Whenever the oor is open, a member may move for the suspension of the meeting or for the
adjournment of the meeting. The Moderator may rule such motions out of order; these decisions
will not be subject to appeal. When in order, are immediately put to a vote barring any motions
taking precedence and they require a majority to pass. Eg. I Narendra Modi would like to
suspend debate for lunch for a period of 30 mins.

Documentation
In indian committees there are mainly 4 types of documents.
1. Press Release
2. Communique
3. Joint Statement
4. Bill

Press Release: It is an official statement that is given by a member or a group of members to

the media on a particular issue. It doesn’t have a fixed format. It is written in bullet points.

Press Release
From- (name of members)

● (General introduction about how fruitful the committee was and the Issues that were
discussed and the major problems that were identified)
● (Mention of the past actions that were taken to address the issue)
● (Possible solutions about the issue that were discussed and found viable by the
committee)

Communique: It is the same as press release only difference being that it is passed in
consensus of the whole committee. Basically if an entire committee comes up with only one
press release with consensus of all the members, then it is called communique.

starts off with an introduction of the nature of the bill and the topic it covers which followed by
the main body where the proposed scope and amendments are written in details. It finally ends
with a ‘statement of object and reason’ where justification is given about why this bill was
written.

Joint Statement: When two or more members decide to release a statement together
about any issue then a joint statement is used.
Joint Statement
From-(members involved)
(statement…..)

Bill: Bill is a proposal for a new law. They are presented before the Lok Sabha and
Rajya Sabha for discussion. The format of a bill depends from chair to chair however
few basic structure remains the same. A bill typically

FORMAT

Name of the bill

BILL
Purpose of the bill

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-eighth Year of the Republic of India as follows:—

CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY
(contains short title and introduction of the bill along with definition of specific terms)

CHAPTER II
(Each subsequent chapters of the bill contains specific provisions about the bill)

STATEMENT OF OBJECT AND REASON

(contains reason for formulating the bill)

Place Name of the sponsor

Date

Eg.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017

Bill

to protect the rights of married Muslim women and to prohibit divorce by pronouncing talaq by
their husbands and to provide for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-eighth Year of the Republic of India as follows:—

CHAPTER I
 PRELIMINARY
1. (1) This Act may be called the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act,
2017.
(2) It shall extend to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by
notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.
2. In this act “talaq" means talaq-e-biddat or any other similar form of talaq having the
effect of instantaneous and irrevocable divorce pronounced by a Muslim husband

CHAPTER II
DECLARATION OF TALAQ TO BE VOID
3. Any pronouncement of talaq by a person upon his wife, by words, either spoken or
written or in electronic form or in any other manner whatsoever, shall be void and illegal
4.Whoever pronounces talaq referred to in section 3 upon his wife shall be punished
with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and fine.

CHAPTER III
PROTECTION OF RIGHTS OF MARRIED MUSLIM WOMEN
5.Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions contained in any other law for the
time being in force, a married Muslim woman upon whom talaq is pronounced, shall be
entitled to receive from her husband such amount of subsistence allowance for her and
dependent children as may be determined by the Magistrate.

STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS

1. The Supreme Court in the matter of Shayara Bano Vs. Union of India and others and
other connected matters, on 22nd August, 2017, in a majority judgement of 3:2, set
aside the practice of talaq-e-biddat (three pronouncements of talaq, at one and the
same time) practiced by certain Muslim husbands to divorce their wives. This
judgement gave a boost to liberate Indian Muslim women from the age-old practice of
capricious and whimsical method of divorce, by some Muslim men, leaving no room
for reconciliation.
2. The legislation would help in ensuring the larger Constitutional goals of gender justice
and gender equality of married Muslim women and help subserve their fundamental
rights of non-discrimination and empowerment.

New Delhi Ravi Shankar Prasad

15th December 2017

DIRECTIVES

Directives are how you take committee action, instead of long-form resolutions.These are only
exclusive to crisis committees. Just like in any Model UN Committee, the goal is to sponsor
(write) as many strong directives as possible.
Main Components of a Directive

● Memorable Title (can be funny or serious, but needs a name)

● Specific orders or actions that you would like to see undertaken
● What you expect/hope will be the result (So the Crisis Staff can figure out what the
result will be if they don’t understand your goal)
● Signatures, with portfolios of all signatories (Note: In different committees, the Chair
may require different numbers of signatories, anywhere from three to half the
committee)

Goals

● Demonstrate innovative ideas that the rest of the committee isn’t thinking of
● Position yourself as the leader of the idea, and defend it against opposition
● Pass it as a committee to positively impact the crisis with your ideas

Example :

Directive: Seoul Food

In light of the alarming humanitarian situation mounting in the Northern end of the country,
the cabinet will:
1. Release emergency food stores to the Korean public, to be distributed by police
forces over the next two weeks, to reduce rates of malnutrition and starvation
from this conflict;
2. Request assistance from the International Committee of the Red Cross is
providing clean water to residents of Seoul, Incheon, Uijeongbu, and Ansan as
needed;
3. Establish emergency lodging centers in non-essential government buildings for
individuals that have been displaced due to recent violence;
4. Temporarily cease exports of agricultural products and order mandatory sale of
all foods to the Ministry of Agriculture for 50% below market value to help
mitigate the current food crisis.

Through these steps, we hope to stem the humanitarian crisis in our country and regain the
trust of the public.
Signed: Minister of Commerce, Minister of Culture, Minister of Foreign Affair

MEMORANDUMS

❏ A memorandum (memo) is written communication between a member and the

concerned branch of his or her political party ordering certain action to be taken.
These shall be strictly confidential in nature.
❏ It is exclusive for crisis committees.s
❏ the same might be read out aloud in the committee if the Chairs find it strategically
or politically important at the given time and circumstances.
❏ Memos must be clear cut and decisively framed. They would be rejected if not
found in the stipulated format or if the matter exceeds five lines. They should be
used to create favourable circumstances and hence advance one’s political
interests.
❏ It is important to use memos sensibly as they may backfire if not appropriately
used. They should not be detrimental to the political party the author belongs to or
political parties that are allies of the author’s political party.
❏ . It is important that members understand the internal organization/structure of their
political parties to effectively use the same. Please note that for the purpose of this
committee, it is recommended that memorandums be routed through the Executive
Board.

Example:

MEMO

From: The Bharatiya Janata Party

To: The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (Delhi University Branch)

Objectives

● Initiate a large-scale protest in Delhi against the Government’s failure to

protect women and against the degrading law and order condition in the
National Capital.
● Burn effigies of prominent Ministers from the Government in front of Jantar
Mantar
● Threaten to torch the Public Transportation buses and lay seize to the
Metro Stations.

Signed: Dated: