 bill no 178 of  2015 the eradication of malnutrition bill, 2015 bydr manoj rajoria, mp a billto provide for establishment of an authority for supply of nutritious food to the neglected, homeless, street, physically or mentally challenged  or malnourished children and to the members of the families living below poverty line and for matters connected therewithbe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-sixth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the eradication of malnutrition act, 2015(2) it extends to the whole of indiashort title, 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;5(b) "authority" means the eradication of malnutrition authority establised under section 3;(c) "malnourished person" includes neglected, destitute, physically  and mentally challenged children and members of families living below poverty line who do not have proper means of nutrition or cannot afford it due to their poor economic condition or a pregnant woman; and10(d) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act3 (1) the central government shall, as soon as may be, by notification in the official gazette, establish an authority to be known  as the eradication of malnutrition authority for carrying out the purposes of this actestablishment of eradication of malnutrition authority15(2) the authority shall be a body corporate by the name aforesaid, having perpetual succession and a common seal, with power to acquire, hold and dispose of property, both moveable and immovable and to enter into contract and shall also be liable to sue and be sued by that name(3) the headquarter of the authority shall be at new delhi20(4) the authority  shall  have the power to establish  its branches in all states and union territories in such manner as may be  prescribed(5) the authority shall have a secretariat with such number of officers and employees, as may be necessary for its efficient functioning and with such terms and conditions of service, as may be prescribed4 the authority shall consist of—25composition of the authority(a) the union minister of women and child development who shall be the chairperson-ex-officio;(b) a deputy-chairperson, having such qualifications, as may be prescribed, to be appointed by the central government;30(c) five members of parliament, of whom three shall be from the lok sabha and two from the rajya sabha, to be nominated by the presiding officers of the house concerned;(d) not more than two members representing the union ministries of human resource development and social justice and empowerment to be appointed by the central government;35(e) not more than five members representing state governments to be appointed by the central government in consultation with the state governments, on rotation basis; and40| (                                                                                    ||--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| working in the field of welfare of physically and mentally challenged, destitute,    || neglected children and members of families living below poverty line to be appointed || by the central government                                                           |functions of the authority5 (1) it shall be the duty of the authority to ensure supply of nutritious food to malnourished persons in such manner as may be prescribed(2) without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions, the authority shall also perform the following function,—5(a) maintain district-wise register of destitute, neglected, physically andmentally challenged malnourished children and families living below poverty line with such details and in such manner as may be prescribed;(b) give wide publicity to the provisions of this act and also about the steps beingundertaken by the authority to supply nutritious meal to the malnourished persons through electronic and print media; and10(c) undertake such other functions not inconsistent with the provisions of thisact, as may be assigned to it by the appropriate government from time to time6 the appropriate government shall, on the recommendation of the authority, provide to the malnourished persons,—appropriate government to provide certain facilities15(a)  payment of two thousand five hundred rupees per month to such families orto a guardian who is assigned with the responsibility to look after a malnourished child;(b) payment of rupees one thousand per month as subsistence allowance to suchfamilies suffering from malnutrition and having no dependent child;(c) payment of financial assistance to non-governmental organisationsworking for the welfare of malnourished persons in such manner as may be prescribed;20(d) free periodical medical check-up of malnourished person with a view toprovide them required nutritious food to overcome the deficiency in nutrition level; and(e) such other facilities, as may be necessary, for well being and all-rounddevelopment of malnourished persons257 the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament by lawin this behalf, provide adequate funds to the authority, from time to time, for carrying out the purposes of this actcentral government to provide adequate funds act to have overriding effect308 the provisions of this act shall have effect, notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force, but save as aforesaid the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other law for the time being applicable to those covered under this actpower to make rules9 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act3540(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  reasonsapproximately forty per cent of the total population of our country lives below poverty line their income is so meagre that they have to struggle for survival throughout their lives on account of extreme poverty, it is not possible for them to take adequate nutrition they are inadequately nourished but have to do hard manual labour the women cannot bear healthy children for want of proper nutrition likewise they cannot give proper nutrition to their children most of the children of the parents living below poverty line are placed in a vulnerable condition there are also destitute, neglected children who suffer a lot of hardships in silence therefore, the families as well as the children suffer from the malnutrition which affect their proper development affirmative action by the state to provide nutritious food to such children and families is an ineluctable social necessity proper development of children is possible only when they are provided with proper and nutritious food by the state to meet their requirements to stay healthyhence this billnew delhi;manoj  rajoriajuly 6, 2015 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the establishment of the eradication of malnutrition authority clause 4 provides inter alia for appointment of deputy chairperson and other members representing non-governmental organisations working for the welfare of malnourished children, etc clause 5 provides for maintaining districtwise register of neglected, destitute children and giving publicity to the scheme undertaken by the authority for supply of nutritious food, etc clause 6 provides that the appropriate government shall pay certain amount per month and to provide certain other facilities to the destitute and neglected children and families living below poverty line clause 7 provides that the central government shall provide requisite funds to the authority, after due appropriation made by parliament the expenditure relating to states shall be borne out of the consolidated funds of the respective states however, the expenditure in respect of union territories shall be borne out of the consolidated fund of indiathe bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupees five hundred crore may be involved as a recurring expenditure per annuma non-recurring expenditure to the tune of rupees one hundred crore may also be involved memorandum regarding  delegated  legislationclause 9 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of this bill as the rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of normal character———— a billto provide for establishment of an authority for supply of nutritious food to the neglected, homeless, street, physically or mentally challenged  or malnourished children and to the members of the families living below poverty line and for matters connected therewith————(dr manoj rajoria, mp)gmgipmrnd—1446ls(s3)—16-07-2015