Why in News?

• Four Members of Parliament are ready with Private Member’s Bill in the Lok Sabha to deal with the surging Unemployment Crisis.

What is a Private Member’s Bill?

• Any MP who is not a Ministeris referred to as a private member. The bill introduced by such an MP is designated as the Private Member’s Bill.
• While government Billscan be introduced and discussed on any day, private member’s Bills can be introduced and discussed only on Fridays.

What are the Bills to be Placed?

• Unemployment Allowance Bill 2019proposes doling out some form of unemployment allowance to jobless citizens.
• Financial Assistance to Unemployed Post-Graduates Bill 2019restricts the unemployment allowances to unemployed postgraduates only.
• Unemployed Youth (Allowance and Employment Opportunities) Bill 2019eyes the twin-purpose of generating gainful employment opportunities and payment of unemployment allowance.
• Another Unemployment Allowance Billproposes unemployment allowances for jobless youth until they get gainful employment.

How such bills are admitted in Parliament?

• The admissibility is decidedby the Chairman for Rajya Sabha and Speaker in the case of Lok Sabha. The procedure is roughly the same for both Houses:
• The Member must give at least a month’s notice before the Bill can be listed for Introduction.
• The House secretariat examines it for compliance with constitutional provisions and rules on legislation before listing.

Has a private member’s bill ever become a law?

• As per PRS Legislative, no private member’s Bill has been passedby Parliament since 1970.
• The last time a private member’s bill was passed by both Houses was in 1970. It was the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Bill, 1968.
• To date, Parliament has passed 14 such Bills, six of them in 1956.
• In the 14th Lok Sabha, of the over 300 private member’s Bills introduced, roughly four per cent were discussed; the remaining 96 per cent lapsed without a single dialogue.

Why such Provisions are Needed?

• Any Government’s bill introduced is mostly done by the Ministers from the ruling parties. Sometimes the public importance in few cases may be ignored by them.
• Such importance can be brought to the Parliament by the Private Members.