 bill no 156 of 2016 the farmers of arid and desert areas (welfare and other special provisions)  bill,  2016 by shri gopal chinayya shetty, mp a billto provide for the protective measures and special facilities for the farmers of  arid, desert and drought prone areas, who are often affected by natural    calamities and vulnerable to indebtedness, diseases and physical     infirmities, exploitation by moneylenders and others, by extending       welfare measures such as removal of indebtedness among farmers,            giving remunerative prices for their produce, providing             hassle free bank loans, improving farming practices                 through scientific means to grow less water                  consuming crops and for compulsory  crop                        and livestock  insurance and                            for matters connected                            therewith or incidental                                    theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-seventh year of the republic of  india as follows:— other special provisions) act,  2016short 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 other cases, the central government;5(b) "arid areas" means areas which remain affected by aridity due to scanty or no rainfall;(c) "drought prone areas" means any area which gets below normal rainfall in any season of a calendar year and which in the opinion of the central government is drought prone and declared to be so by notification in the official gazette, for such period as may be specified in the notification;10(d) "desert area" means an area full of sand, mostly remains waterless with few plantation and vegetations;15(e) "farmer" means a person who owns agricultural land and cultivates or causes it to be cultivated for agricultural purposes or for horticulture purposes and includes all farmers big, middle, small and marginal farmers as identified by the appropriate government;(f) "natural calamity" includes drought, flood, excessive rains, storm, hailstorm, winds, frost, winterkill, lightening, fire, earthquake, damage by wild animals, insect infection, plant disease and such other natural causes as may be prescribed;(g) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act;20(h) "fund" means the arid and desert areas farmers welfare fund constituted under section 4national plan for welfare of farmers of arid and desert areas3  (1) notwithstanding anything contrary contained in any other law for the time being in force, the central government shall, as soon as may be, by notification in the official gazette, formulate a national plan for the welfare of the farmers of arid, desert and drought prone areas and take appropriate measures for proper implementation of such plan25(2) in particular and without prejudice to the generality of the provision contained in sub-section (1) the national plan may include provision of—(a) immediate interim relief or ex-gratia payment to farmers affected by natural calamity;30(b) diversification of crops requiring very less water developed by various agricultural research institutes suitable for arid, desert and drought prone areas;(c) comprehensive crop and livestock insurance scheme for the arid, desert and drought prone areas in which insurance premium of small and marginal farmers shall be borne by the central government;35(d) ensuring remunerative prices for the agricultural produce of the farmers through minimum support price mechanism and other appropriate measures;(e) making easy availability of fertilizers, manure, pesticides and quality seeds at affordable prices;(f) irrigation projects to provide requisite irrigation facilities and ensuring timely completion of such irrigation projects;40(g) comprehensive measures for removing indebtedness, easy loans with nominal interest from banks and other financial institutions, saving farmers from private moneylenders, unscrupulous traders and middlemen(h) establishing agricultural farms to ensure timely and adequate supply of quality seeds and saplings at affordable prices;45(i) establishing krishi vigyan kendras and krishi information centres at conspicuous places for promotion of less water consuming crops and horticulture;(j) establishing modern veterinary hospitals and clinics in every block to assist farmers in animal husbandry;5(k) promoting dairy sector, rearing of animals, poultry, piggery and bee keepingto enhance farm income;(l) promoting cultivation of vegetables, floriculture, horticulture, spices,sericulture, herbals and plants of medicinal values alongwith handloom and handicrafts and other village arts to supplement the income of farmers;10(m) promoting traditional water bodies like wells, ponds and lakes and rain waterharvesting and providing sprinklers and regular power supply to farmers; and(n) providing such other facilities as may be necessary, incidental and expedientas may be prescribed154 (1) the central government shall, as soon as may be, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a fund to be known as the arid and desert areas farmers welfare fund for carrying out the purposes of this actconstitution of arid and desert areas farmers welfare fund(2) the initial corpus of the fund shall be rupee ten thousand crore to be provided by the central government after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf(3) the central government and the concerned state governments shall contribute to  the fund in such proportion and in such manner as may be prescribed20(4) there shall also be credited to the fund money received from the general public, body corporate and domestic and foreign financial institutions as donations and gifts(5) the fund shall be utilised for—25(i) providing immediate financial assistance, ex-gratia payments andcompensation to the distressed farmers covered under this act affected by any natural calamity or disaster resulting in loss of crops, in such manner, as may be prescribed; and30(ii) providing special assistance to the children, women, physically challengedor infirm farmers, old farmers and such other farmers affected by natural calamities, in such manner as may be prescribed5 it shall be the duty of the appropriate government to provide every farmer covered under this act,—welfare measures to be undertaken by appropriate government(a) medical facilities including medicines and hospitalization, wherever requiredfree of cost;35(b) educational facilities including higher education free of cost to the childrenof such farmers;(c) maternity facilities to the spouses of such farmers; (d) adequate old age allowance which is sufficient to lead a dignified life;(e) disability pension to the physically challenged farmers; and40(f) such other welfare and protective measures as may be deemed necessary andappropriate, or as may be prescribedcentral government to provide funds6 the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf, provide requisite funds to the concerned state governments, from time to time, for carrying out the purposes of this actpower to remove difficulty7  (1) if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the centralgovernment may, by order, published in the official gazette, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, remove the difficulty:provided that no such order shall be made after the expiry of two years from thecommencement of this act5(2) every order made under sub-section (1) shall be laid, as soon as may be, after it ismade, before each house of parliamentact to have overriding effect8 (1) the provisions of this act and the rules made thereunder shall have effect,notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force10(2) the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other law for the time being in force dealing with the subject matter of this actpower to make rules9 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rulesfor carrying out the purposes of this act15 20(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 without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement of objects and reasonsthe saurashtra and kutch regions in the state of maharashtra and gujarat and major parts of state of rajasthan are having arid and desert areas these areas face extreme heat in summer and extreme cold in winter sometimes they face heavy rains but mostly the rainfall is scanty and deficient similarly, large number of areas in various parts of our vast nation particularly in the states of andhra pradesh, telangana, jharkhand, bihar, madhya pradesh, maharashtra, odisha, etc are frequently affected by unprecedented drought conditions and desert is spreading in many of such areas despite the harsh natural conditions and vagaries of nature, agriculture continues to be the main occupation in these regions and areas of the country and farmers are the backbone of the economy in these regions and areas too as is the case of the rest of the countryalthough the farmers of the entire nation depend on rains for their crops same is true for the farmers of arid and desert areas and those face frequent drought conditions but farmers of arid and desert face extreme weather conditions and bear the brunt of such weather conditions and generally lose their crops with the damage of the crops, the hopes and aspirations of the farmers too are lost the farmers of such areas remain indebted and distressedours is a welfare state and it is the duty of the state to protect the farmers of arid, desert and drought prone areas by giving sufficient protection the state should implement comprehensive crop and livestock insurance, extending soft loans by banks and financial institutions, providing timely adequate compensation when their crops are affected by natural calamity they must get remunerative prices for their produce and state should implement welfare measures for them a welfare fund should be set up for the farmers of arid and desert areashence this billnew delhi;gopal chinayya shettymay 5, 2016 financial memorandumclause 4 of the bill provides for the constitution of  welfare fund for the farmers of arid and desert areas with initial corpus of rupee ten thousand crore to be provided by the central government clause 5 provides for certain welfare measures to be undertaken by the appropriate governments clause 6 makes it mandatory for the central government to provide requisite funds to concerned statesthe bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupee twenty thousand crore may be involved as recurring expenditure per annuma non-recurring expenditure of rupee five thousand crore 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 the protective measures and special facilities for the farmers of arid, desert and drought prone areas, who are often affected by natural calamities and vulnerable to indebtedness, diseases and physical infirmities, exploitation by moneylenders and others, by extending welfare measures such as removal of indebtedness among farmers, giving remunerative prices for their produce, providing hassle free bank loans, improving farming practices through scientific means to grow less water consuming crops and for compulsory  crop and livestock  insurance and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(shri gopal chinayya shetty, mp)gmgipmrnd—1260ls(s3)—04-07-2016