 bill no 308 of  2015 the  drought control and protection of farmers of drought prone areas bill, 2015 by shri kunwar pushpendra singh chandel, mp a billto provide funds to the states affected with drought for construction and maintenanceof water resources for irrigation; interest-free agricultural loans for protectionof farmers of the drought prone area; encouragement to bio-farmingand action plan for the creation of market for agriculturalproduce  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 drought control and protection of farmers of drought prone areas bill, 2015short title, extent and commencement5(2) it extends to the whole of indiadefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—5(a) "drought prone areas" means the areas consistently receiving below normal rainfall and includes such areas which in the opinion of central government are drought prone areas and declared as such, by notification in the official gazette, in consultation with the state governments concerned; and(b) "irrigation infrastructure" means infrastructure such as canal, dam, tube well, pump canal (lift canal), pipeline, river linking including construction and preservation of lakes and ponds103 the central government shall provide adequate funds to the state affected with drought particularly for making availability of water for irrigation purposes and to carry out development and maintenance of irrigation infrastructure in the drought prone areas of that statefunds to the state for development and maintenance of irrigation infrastructure in drought prone areas interest-free agricultural loans to farmers154 the central government shall provide interest-free agricultural loans from nationalised banks to the farmers of the drought prone areas in such manner as may be prescribedinsurance scheme5 (1) the central government shall formulate a crop insurance scheme for the welfare of farmers of the drought prone areas(2) the payment of premium in respect of insurance shall be borne by the central government20payment of agricultural bonus6 it shall be the duty of the central government to pay the bonus for the sale ofcrops produced by the farmers of the drought prone areas directly into the accounts of the farmers through electronic payment7 (1) the central government shall encourage and formulate action plan for bio-farming in the drought prone areasencouragement to biofarming25(2) the action plan for the bio-farming in the drought prone areas shall inter-alia include—| (            | a   | ) provision for payment of encouragement amount to farmers engaged in   ||--------------|-----|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|| bio-farming; |     |                                                                         || (            | b   | ) insurance for bio-farming; and                                        || (            | c   | ) marketing of the bio-farming products                                || 30           |     |                                                                         || central      |     |                                                                         || government   |     |                                                                         || to provide   |     |                                                                         || funds       |     |                                                                         |8 the central government shall after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf, provide requisite funds, from time to time, for carrying out the purposes of this actpower to give directions359 the central government may give such directions to the government of any state having drought prone areas within its territorial jurisdiction, as may appear it to be necessary for carrying out in the state any provisions of this act or of any rule made thereunderpower to make rules10 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act40 45(2) every rule made under this act by the central government 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 the rule statement of objects and reasonsthe problem of non-availability of water for irrigation and drinking purposes in bundelkhand region has turned out to be a grave issue this region traditionally has been an agricultural based region and for this purpose the popular local chandel kings had initiated many schemes during their regime whose archaeological evidences are still present here and is hopeful of a new research in this regard many development blocks of hamirpur parliamentary constituency have been declared as "dark zone" by the government people are left with no choice other than hoping for a divine intervention which is the last resort of the disappointed indian society such areas are spread over various geographical conditions in the whole country and there is a need to provide potable water without any further delay to the said areas initiation of irrigation schemes and farmer protection schemes remains the only way out for the distressed people of the region and such a step will encourage the people to work for the development of the country with full energythe bill, therefore, seeks to provide for the construction and maintenance of water resources and irrigation infrastructure like canal, dams, tube well, pipeline, pump canal (lift canal) river linking, preservation of lakes and pond for drought control in the country; interest-free agricultural loans for protection of farmers of the drought prone area; and encouragement to bio-farming and action plan for the creation of market for agricultural produce and for matters connected therewithhence this billnew delhi;kunwar pushpendra singh chandelnovember 18, 2015 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides that central government shall provide adequate funds to the drought affected states for making available water for irrigation and carrying out development and maintenance of irrigation infrastructure in drought prone areas clause 4 provides for proceeding interest-free agricultural loans from nationalised banks to the farmers of drought prone areasclause 5 provides for the formulation of a crop insurance scheme for the farmers of drought prone areas it also provides that the premium in respect of crop insurance shall be borne by the central government clause 6 provides for payment of agricultural bonus to the farmers of drought prone areas clause 7 provides for payment of encouragement amount and insurance for bio-farming by the government clause 8 provides that central government shall provide requisite funds for carrying out the purposes of this actthe bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india at this stage, it is not possible to estimate the amount likely to be incurred from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of about rupees one thousand crore would be involved as recurring expenditure per annum from the consolidated fund of indiano non-recurring expenditure is likely to be involved in this behalf memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 10 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill as the rules will matters of detail only the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character lok  sabha———— a billto provide funds to the states affected with drought for construction and maintenanceof water resources for irrigation; interest-free agricultural loans for protectionof farmers of the drought prone area; encouragement to bio-farmingand action plan for the creation of market for agriculturalproduce  and for matters connected therewith————(shri kunwar pushpendra singh chandel, mp)gmgipmrnd—3020ls(s3)—08-12-2015