Most policy begins life as a draft: a ministry publishes draft rules or a regulator floats a consultation paper, and the public gets a window — often 30 days — to object, suggest, and push back. This is the single best moment for citizens and researchers to influence policy, and the least watched.

Before a bill reaches Parliament or a scheme gets funded, the Cabinet clears it. Cabinet approvals are announced through PIB releases — they are the earliest reliable signal that a proposal has become government policy.

Legislation is introduced as a bill, debated, and voted on in both Houses. A bill can be passed in days or languish for years — and what changes between introduction and passage is where the real politics lives.

Bills and departmental performance are examined line-by-line in committees — the least visible, most substantive part of Parliament's work. Committee reports often force amendments that floor debate never would.

Once both Houses pass a bill and the President assents, it becomes an Act — the law of the land. But an Act on paper often does nothing yet: most need rules and notifications to actually operate.

Subordinate legislation is where an Act becomes real: rules fix the how, notifications bring sections into force, circulars instruct the machinery. Most of the policy that touches daily life is made here — without a vote.

Policy meets people as schemes — missions, yojanas, transfers. Implementation runs through states and districts, which is why the same scheme can look completely different across the country.

The loop closes with scrutiny: starred and unstarred questions force ministers to put implementation numbers on the record, and audit reports test claims against reality. Question-hour replies are some of the best public data on how policy is actually going.