 bill no  57 of  2016 the compulsory basic facilities for widows and orphans bill, 2016 byshri nishikant dubey, mp a billto provide for compulsory basic facilities like housing, food, water, medicine and security to widows and orphans and for matters connected therewithbe  it enacted by parliament in the sixty-seventh year of the republic of india as follows:—extent and commencementdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "appropriate government" means in the case of a state, the government of that state and in all other cases, the central government;(b) "orphan" means a child who is below fourteen years of age and has no living parents or other relatives to take care of his minimum basic needs;5(c) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act; and(d) "widow" means a legally married woman and whose husband has died and does not have any means of livelihood103 the central government shall, as soon as may be, but not later than six months of the commencement of this act, by notification, frame a national policy for protection and welfare of the widows and orphansnational policy for widows and orphans4 (1) the appropriate government shall establish adequate number of residential centres all over the country for the use of widows and orphansestablishment of residential centres15(2) every residential centre shall have the capacity of minimum eighty and maximum two hundred persons to live there at a time(3) the appropriate government shall appoint such number of staff in the residential centres for carrying out the purposes of this act(4) the salary and allowances payable to and other terms and conditions of service of staff of residential centres shall be such as may be prescribed5 the appropriate government shall provide to the widows and orphans—20(a) housing, food, water, medicine, security and the minimum resources necessary to lead a balanced and healthy life in the residential centre; and residential centres to have proper facilities for the beneficiaries(b) employment opportunities by setting up domestic production in the residential centre256 (1) every residential centre shall be administered by a managing committee consisting of—administration of the residential centres(i) chairperson of the local body—chairperson;(ii) secretary, state social welfare department—member;30(iii) one person representing widows from amongst widows staying in the residential centre—member; and(iv) one person representing social worker to be nominated by the appropriate government—member(2) the appropriate government shall appoint such number of staff to the managing committee, as may be necessary, for effective implementation of the provisions of this act35(3)  the salary and allowances payable to and other terms and conditions of service of the chairperson, members and staff of the managing committee shall be such as may be prescribed7 (1) the appropriate government shall establish in each state, the state monitoring board to monitor, supervise and coordinate the residential centres operating in each districtstate monitoring board40|                        |     |    | (                                                 | 2   | ) the board shall consist of—   ||------------------------|-----|----|---------------------------------------------------|-----|---------------------------------|| (                      | i   | )  | chairperson of state women commission             | -   | chairperson;                    || (                      | ii  | )  | secretary, state social welfare department        | -   | member; and                     || (                      | iii | )  | an eminent social activist to be nominated by the | -   | member                         || appropriate government |     |    |                                                   |     |                                 |(3) the appropriate government shall appoint such officers and staff to the board for carrying out the purposes of this act(4) the salary and allowances payable to and other terms and conditions of the service of the chairperson, members and staff of the board shall be such as may be prescribed58 the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament by lawin this behalf, provide requisite fund for carrying out the purposes of this actcentral government to provide requisite funds power to make rules9 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purpose of this act10 15(2) every rule made under this act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made,before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both the houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement  of  objects  and  reasonsthere are large number of widows in the country who are not only discriminated in their family but also in the entire society in several cases, they are deprived of basic support and assistance the necessity today is to create a conducive environment climate whereby these widows can live their remaining lives in a productive and happy manner there is also a large section of the population of orphan kids who are without any support and who live a destitute life most of these kids are either subjected to child labour or they are addicted to drugs or are involved in illegal organ tradingthe bill provides integrated provisions to bring these two disadvantaged sections of the society under one roof where they can use their mutual cooperating role the need of the hour is to bring together these sections of the society in a socially conducive manner widow women should undertake the role of mother for orphan children this would make a family environment for all of them through these centres, along with basic facilities such as food, shelter and clothing, an opportunity to live a more dignified life can be given to all these sections of the society it is also important that this arrangement should make their lives happy by mutually independent and emotional bonding in these centres, the neglected, suffering and deprived classes of our society should be able to live a life where they should be free from deprivation and many other problemsthe most important reason to establish these centres is to create a unified shelter for both the needy sections instead of separate orphanage and widow ashram two distinctive benefits that should arise from such arrangement are that on one hand there should be a reduction in government spending on infrastructure, human resources, etc and on the other hand, these disadvantaged groups should have an opportunity to take care of each other and live a better life with emotion, protective and mental satisfactionhence this billfebruary 8, 2016 financial memorandumclause 4 of the bill provides for the establishment of the residential centres all over the country for the welfare of widows and orphans it also provides for appointment of staff in the residential centres clause 5 provides that appropriate government shall provide basic facilities to the widows and orphans in the residential centres clause 6 provides for administration of the residential centres by the management committee clause 7 provides for establishment of the state monitoring board in each state clause 8 provides that central government shall provide adequate funds for carrying out the purposes of the bill the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is not possible to quantify the expenditure at this juncture however, it is estimated that a sum of rupees one thousand crore may involve as recurring expenditure per annuma non-recurring expenditure of about rupees five hundred crores is also likely to be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 9 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill as the rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character———— a billto provide for compulsory basic facilities like housing, food, water, medicine and security to widows and orphans and for matters connected therewith————(shri nishikant dubey, mp)gmgipmrnd—4351ls(s3)—03-03-2016