 bill no xxxiv of 2006 the  unorganised  labour  and  agricultural workers   (welfare)  bill,  2006 a billto provide for the welfare measures to be undertaken by the state for the unorganised labour and agricultural workers by setting up a welfare authority and a welfare fund for the payment of minimum wages, for pension and provident fund facilities, maternity and creche facilities along with medicare to the women workers and for matters connected therewith and incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the fifty-seventh year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the unorganised labour and agricultural workers(welfare) act, 2006short title, extent and commencement(2) it extends to the whole of india (3) it shall come into force on such date, as the central government may by notification in the official gazette, appointdefinition2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "appropriate government" means in the case of state the government of that state and in other cases the central government;(b) "authority" means the unorganised labour and agricultural workers welfare authority established under section 3;(c) "employer" means any person who employs, whether directly or through any other person, or contractor, whether on behalf of himself or on behalf of any other person, one or more labourer or workers for any work or work connected with the agricultural operations;(d) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act; (e) "unorganised labour" means those labourers who are not members of any labour or trade union and hired to do any work by another person;(f) "wages" means the remuneration capable of being expressed in terms of money which shall, if the terms of the contract of employment, whether express or implied, are fulfilled, be payable to a person in respect of the work done in such employment;(g) "welfare fund" means the welfare fund set up for the unorganized labour and agricultural workers under this act;(h) "workers" means an agricultural worker who earns wages on daily or any other basis working in the agricultural operations of other persons or employers3  (1) the central government shall, as soon as  may be, by notification in the official gazette, establish the unorganised labour and agricultural workers welfare authority for the purposes of this actestablishment of the unorganised labour and agricultural workers welfare authority(2) the authority shall be a body corporate by the name aforesaid, having perpetual succession and common seal, with power to acquire, hold and dispose of property, both movable and immovable, and to contract and shall by the said name sue and be sued(3) the head office of the authority shall be at new delhi and the authority may establish offices at other places in the country as it may deem necessary(4) the  authority shall consist of the following members, namely:—(a) a chairperson to be appointed by the central government having the background of labour related issues or of a farmer or of the judiciary;(b) a deputy chairperson to be appointed by the central government having such qualifications as may be prescribed;(c) three members of parliament of whom two shall be elected by lok sabha and one by the rajya sabha;(d) three members to be appointed by the central government to represent respectively:—(i) the ministry of central government dealing with agriculture; (ii) the ministry of central government dealing with labour and employment;(iii) the ministry of central government dealing with finance;(e) four members to be appointed by the central government from amongst the unorganised labour and agricultural workers;(f) four members to be nominated by the state governments to be rotated amongst the states in alphabetical order(5) the term of office of the chairperson, deputy chairperson and members of the authority and the procedure to be followed in the discharge of the functions of the authority shall be such, as may be prescribed(6) the authority shall have a secretariat with such officers and staff and with such terms and conditions of service as may be prescribedfunctions of the authority4 (1) it shall be the duty of the authority to promote and undertake by such measures as it thinks fit or deem necessary, welfare measures for the unorganized labour and agricultural workers(2) without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of sub-section (1) the measures referred to therein may provide for,—(a) maintaining a district wise register of unorganized labour and agricultural workers with such particulars and in such manner, as may be prescribed;(b) maintaining land records from village or panchayat level to district level; (c) maintaining a district wise register of employers employing unorganized labour and agricultural workers with such particulars and in such manner as may be prescribed;(d) availability of work round the year to the unorganized labour and agricultural workers;(e) payment of old age pension to the unorganised labour and agricultural workers; (f) provident fund facility to the unorganised labour and agricultural workers; (g) medical care, free of cost, both the indoor and outdoor patient facilities to the unorganised labour and agricultural workers;(h) maternity and creche facilities for the famale workers covered under this act;(i) such other provisions as the authority may deem necessary for the purposes of this actunorganised labour and agricultural workers welfare fund5 (1) the central government shall as soon as may be, by notification in the official gazette, establish a welfare fund known as the unorganised labour and agricultural workers welfare fund for the purposes of this act with initial corpus of rupees one thousand crores to be provided by the central government by due appropriation made by law by parliament in this behalf and thereafter the central government, state governments and employers shall contribute to the welfare fund to such extent and in such manner as may be prescribed (2) corporate houses, financial institutions both domestic and international, individuals and bodies may also contribute through donations or otherwise to the welfare fund (3) all moneys received in the welfare fund shall be utilised for the welfare of the unorganised labour and agricultural workers by the authority in such manner as the central government may prescribe from time to time6 notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force,—miscellaneous provisions (a) no employer shall engage any unorganised labourer or agricultural worker, as the case may be, unless he has registered himself with the authority; (b) every employer shall pay a minimum of rupees one thousand five hundred per month or rupees fifty per day to a labourer or worker covered under this act engaged by him for work and this rate of wages shall be subject to change in accordance with the rise in price index; (c)  every day of the work done by the worker or labourer covered under this act, shall be counted for the purpose of calculating the total period of service rendered by such worker or labourer in a month or a yearpenalty7 whoever contravenes any of the provisions of this act shall be guilty of  an offenceand punishable with simple imprisonment which shall not be less than six months but may extend to two years and also with fine, which may extend to one lakh rupeessavings8 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any otherlaw for the time being in forcepower to remove difficulty9 if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the centralgovernment may make such order to give such direction, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, as appears to it to be necessary or expedient for the removal of the difficulty and any such order shall be finalpower to make rules10 the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rulesfor carrying out the purposes of this act statement  of  objects  and  reasonsunorganised labour constitute the major chunk of the working classes in the countryour country is predominantly rural with nearly 80 per cent of its population living in the rural areas therefore, agricultural workers constitute majority of the rural labour in the country the agricultural workers too are unorganised it has been observed that the organised labour through its bargaining power and means of strike and agitations, etc through their unions manages to get its demands, whether reasonable or unreasonable, fulfilled but the unorganised labour including the agriculture workers feel helpless even in getting its reasonable demands like the minimum wages, availability of work round the year, pension, provident fund, maternity benefit, creche, etc fulfilled they remain hand to mouth and exploited throughout their lives their condition is becoming worse day by day and there is no legal protection for the unorganised labour including agricultural workersours is a welfare state and considering the vast number of unorganised labour and agricultural workers in the country and  their immense contribution to the national wealth and resources, it is high time that these vital sections of the society are extended welfare measures and given all possible  legal protectionthis bill seeks to achieve the above objectivessushma   swaraj ———— president's recommendation under article 117(3) of the constitution of india(copy of do no h-11015/03/05-rw dated 6th june, 2005 from shri k chandra sekhar rao, minister of labour and employment to the secretary-general, rajya sabha)the president having been informed on the subject matter of the above mentioned bill, has accorded his recommendation under article 117(3) of the constitution for consideration of the bill, in rajya sabha financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the establishment of the unorganised labour and agricultural workers welfare authority clause 5 of the bill  provides for the unorganised labour and agricultural workers welfare fund the bill if enacted will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india apart from one thousand crore rupees of initial corpus of the welfare fund, it is estimated that a sum of rupees two thousand crores may involve as recurring expenditure per annuma sum of rupees fifty crores may also involve as non-recurring expenditure memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 10 of the bill gives power to the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill the rules will relate to matters of details onlythe delegation of legislative power is of normal character——— a billto provide for the welfare measures to be undertaken by the state for the unorganisedlabour and agricultural workers by setting up a welfare authority and a welfarefund for the payment of minimum wages, for pension, and providentfund facilities, maternity and creche facilities along with medicareto the women workers and for matters connectedtherewith and incidental thereto———(shrimati sushma swaraj, mp)mgipmrnd—502rs(s-5)—12-05-2006