 bill no  131  of  2012 the free educational and hostel facilities to students belonging to the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes and economically weaker class bill, 2012by dr mahendrasinh p chauhan, mp a billto provide for free educational and hostel facilities upto post graduation level for the students belonging to the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes and economically weaker class and for matters connected therewithbe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-third year of the republic of india as follows:—belonging to the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes and economically weaker class act, 2012short 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   | ) "economically weaker class student" means a student whose family income    || from all sources is not more than rupees twenty thousand per annum;                         |     |                                                                              || (                                                                                           | c   | ) "educational institution" means any college or institution or university   || imparting higher education including medical and technical education, recognized by         |     |                                                                              || the government or established under an act of the central government or a                   |     |                                                                              || state government; and                                                                       |     |                                                                              || (                                                                                           | d   | ) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act                || 10                                                                                          |     |                                                                              || 3 every educational institution shall provide free education to students belonging to      |     |                                                                              || the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes and economically weaker class for a period of    |     |                                                                              || six years from the date of his enrollment in such institution or till the completion of the |     |                                                                              || course of study, whichever is earlier, in which that student is enrolled in such manner as  |     |                                                                              || may be prescribed                                                                          | 15  |                                                                              || free                                                                                        |     |                                                                              || educational                                                                                 |     |                                                                              || facilities for                                                                              |     |                                                                              || students                                                                                    |     |                                                                              || belonging to                                                                                |     |                                                                              || certain                                                                                     |     |                                                                              || categories                                                                                 |     |                                                                              |explanation—for the purpose of this section, free education includes,—(a) all expenses incurred on admission and tuition fees; (b) provision of books and stationery items free of cost; and (c) scholarships, in such cases as may be prescribed20free hostel facilities4 the appropriate government shall provide free hostel facilities to studentsbelonging to the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes and economically weaker class, in such manner and for such period, as may be prescribed5 the appropriate government shall establish and maintain or cause to be establishedor maintained adequate number of hostels, at such places and in such manner as may be prescribed, within its territorial jurisdiction25establishment of adequate number of hostels6 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other law for the time being in force regulating any of the matters dealt with in this actact not in derogation of other lawspower to make rules7 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rulesfor carrying out the purposes of this act30 35(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 previoulsy done under that rule statement  of  objects  and  reasonsin our country even after more than sixty years of independence, most of the students belonging to the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes and economically weaker class are not able to afford even their school education leave alone university level education the poorest among them are not able to go even to primary schools and remain illiterate and thus continue to get exploited in the society the government provides free school education to them but that is not enough after completion of school education when they go to the college or university, it is beyond their reach to pay either the tuition fee or the hostel charges medical and engineering students have to stay in hostels which are very expensive and students belonging to these categories cannot afford cost of staying in the hostels this compels even the brightest students among them to opt out from higher education in some cases their tuition fee is exempted but that is not enough therefore, it is necessary that students belonging to the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes and economically weaker class are provided free education and hostel facilities to enable them to pursue their higher education that is why late shri rajiv gandhi in the election manifesto of the indian national congress for the 1991 general elections had promised—"guarantee of tuition fee and maintenance allowance to every sc/st student admitted to any university for a maximum period of six years" after coming back to power, the government had included economically weaker class people in its welfare ambit thus, it will be appropriate to enlarge the scope of that promise to the electorate this can be achieved by providing free educational and hostel facilities to students belonging to the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes and economically weaker classhence this billnew delhi;mahendrasinh  p  chauhannovember 7, 2012 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for free educational facilities to the students belonging to the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes and economically weaker class clause 4 provides for free hostel facilities for students belonging to the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes and economically weaker class clause 5 provides for establishment of adequate number of hostels the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india a recurring expenditure of rupees one hundred crore is likely to be involved per annuma non-recurring expenditure of rupees twenty crore is also likely to be involved memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 7 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the billas the rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character———— a billto provide for free educational and hostel facilities upto post graduation level for the students belonging to the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes and economically weaker class and for matters connected therewith————(dr mahendrasinh p chauhan, mp)