 bill no 235 of  2018 the agricultural workers welfare fund bill, 2018 byshri rajeev satav, mp a billto establish a agricultural workers welfare fund for the welfare and development of agricultural workers and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-ninth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the agricultural workers welfare fund act, 2018short titleextent andcommencement(2) it extends to the whole of india except the state of jammu and kashmir(3) it shall come into force on such a date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appointdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context specifically mentions otherwise,—(a) "agriculture" with all its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, includes floriculture, horticulture, sericulture, the raising of crops, grass or garden produce, dairy farming, poultry farming, stock breeding, cutting of wood or grass, gathering of fruit, raising of man-made forest or rearing of seedlings or plants;(b) "fund" means the agricultural workers welfare fund constituted under section 3;(c) "prescribed" means as dictated by the rules of this act; and5(d) "workers" means workers engaged in any activity connected with agriculture3 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette constitute a fund to be known as the agricultural workers welfare fund for carrying out the purposes of this actconstitution of agricultural workers welfare fund10(2) the central government and state government shall contribute to the fund in such ratios as may be prescribed(3) the fund shall be administered by a committee consisting of:—(a) a chairperson to be appointed by the central government having experience of at least ten years in the field of farmers welfare, agriculture or rural development;15(b) a deputy chairperson to be appointed by the central government having such qualification as may be prescribed;(c) seven members of parliament of whom four shall be from the house of the people and three from the council of states to be nominated by the respective presiding officers of the houses and having a background in agriculture related activities;20(d) four members to be appointed by the central government to represent the union ministries of agriculture and farmers welfare, labour and employment, finance and rural development, respectively;(e) four members to be appointed by the central government from amongst the agricultural workers covered under this act; and25(f) four members to be nominated by the governments of the states to be rotated amongst the states in alphabetical order (4) the fund shall be utilized for the following purposes, namely:—(i) payment of unemployment or sustenance allowance to agricultural workers during off season period;30(ii) free health facilities for the agricultural workers and their families in the hospitals to be set up for the purpose;(iii) free educational facilities to the children of agricultural workers; (iv) payment of compensation of workers who sustain injuries during work; (v) payment of compensation to families of workers who die in harness;35(vi) payment of premium group life insurance cover of workers; (vii) payment of disability allowance in case of accident on the workplace and are not able to work further;(viii) payment of old age pension to those workers who have attained sixty years of age and are not gainfully employed;40(ix) provision of suitable facilities like canteen, health, recreation, water etc at work places;(x) payment of bonus to workers; and (xi) payment of maternity benefit and establishment of creche facilities for the female agricultural workers covered under this act and,(4) the salary and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions of service of chairperson, deputy chairperson and other member of the committee shall be such as may be prescribed5 4 the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf, provide adequate funds to the committee on cultural education for carrying out the purposes of this actcentral government to provide adequate funds5 the provisions of this act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in forceact not in derogation of other law power to make rules106 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the provisions of this act15(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 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 reasonsthe agricultural sector of the economy in india is the largest sector in terms of employment of the workforce it consists of crop cultivation and other agricultural activities such as forestry, livestock and fishing the workers in this sector may be broadly divided into wage workers, and farmers almost the entire agricultural sector (except the plantation sector) is unorganized ie it has neither any formal system of social security nor regulation of conditions of workaccording to estimates of the 2011 census, there are close to 230 million people who are employed as agricultural workers in india more and more firm workers are moving away from agriculture and this has been negatively affecting the country's productivity especially in crops which are labour intensive like paddy, wheat, cotton, sugarcane and groundnut currently, the profession of agricultural labour is of 'all pain and no gain' across the country, monthly earnings have been found to be as low as inr 1000 this poor economic state is further worsened when coupled with the pitiable other hazardous conditions of these workers excessive working hours lead to poor health and low life expectancy across the profession accessibility towards basic healthcare and education as well as essential social security schemes is virtually inexistent the seasonal nature of this profession further adds to the woes of these citizens, who constitute the poorest 30% of the country who are left to fend for their lives during off-season without any moneythe agricultural workers in the unorganised sector face problems that arise out of deficiency or capability deprivation in terms of inadequate employment, low earnings, low health, etc, as well as of adversity in the absence of fall back mechanisms (safety net) these workers have limited or no formal social security cover which increases their vulnerability during times of illness, old age, unemployment and untimely death the absence of social security mechanisms is a critical factor in downturns in the conditions of these households, many of whom are already very poor it destroys the workers ability to contribute meaningfully, and to increasing production and productivity it leads to disaffection increasing social costs, widespread crimes, and persistent ill healththe changing nature of agricultural production - including the increased use of chemicals and machinery - is aggravating risks this is particularly true in a number of developing countries where education, training and occupational safety and health services are largely inadequate while there is a very long way to go in terms of establishing a satisfactory life for these workers, it is sad to say that even the bare minimum has not been done towards realising this very important goalthe present bill strives to constitute a agricultural workers welfare fund to establish through basic policy measures the rights that these workers deserve it intend to cover agricultural workers, who are all agricultural wage workers not protected under the plantations labour act, 1951 and marginal and small farmers it also intends to provide a measure of social security to agricultural wage workers and marginal and small farmers in the unorganised sectorhence this billnew delhi;rajeev satavnovember 27, 2018 financial  memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the setting up of a agricultural workers welfare fund and for the benefit of agricultural workers it also provides for a committee consisting of a chairperson, deputy chairperson and other member for administration of the fund clause 4 provides for the central government to provide adequate funds for carrying out the purposes of this act the bill, therefore, if enacted, would involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a recurring expenditure of about rupees five hundred crore will be involved per annum from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of about rupees five hundred crore is also likely to be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 5 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 powers is of normal character———— a billto establish a agricultural workers welfare fund for the welfare and development of agricultural workers and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(shri rajeev satav, mp)mgipmrnd—2262ls(s3)—20-12-2018