 bill no 19 of  2018 the right to free and compulsory education for children of farmers living in drought prone areas bill, 2018 by shri chandrakant khaire, mp a billto provide for right to free and compulsory education from primary to university levelto the children of farmers living in drought prone areas and for matters connected therewithbe it enacted by parliament in the sixty- ninth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the right to free and compulsory education for children of  farmers living in drought prone areas act, 2018short title, extent and commencement(2) it extends to the whole of indiadefinitions2 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) "college" means an educational institution owned or controlled by the central government or the state government which imparts higher education;(c) 'child' means a male or female who has attained the age of five years but not attained the age of twenty-five years;10(d) "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;(e) "farmer" means a person who performs agricultural related works and has no income from any source other than agriculture;(f) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act;15(g) "school" means any school recognised by the state government or the central government; and(h) "university" means any university or deemed university recognised by university grants commission (ugc) or all india council for technical education (aicte) or medical council of india203 (1) every child of a farmer living in drought prone area shall have the right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school or college or university till completion of his graduationright of every child to free and compulsory education in any school or college or university(2) no child shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charge or expenses for pursuing and completing the education till graduation or any other equivalent degree25(3) any child above the age of five years and not been admitted in any school shall be admitted in a class appropriate to his age:provided that a child who is directly admitted in a class appropriate to his age, shall, in order to be at par with others, have the right to receive special training, in such manner and within such time as may be prescribed:30provided further that a child so admitted to school shall be entitled to get free education till he completes his graduation or equivalent degree(4) every child shall be provided books, uniform, shoes, school bags, water bottle and other stationery items required for his study in any school or college or university free of cost35(5) every child shall be provided such amount of scholarship as may be prescribed by the appropriate government which shall be payable to the parents of the child for encouraging them not to withdraw their children from school to help them in earning livelihood404 the central government shall, with the assistance of the state government concerned in whose jurisdiction the drought affected area falls, ensure free education till graduation to the children of farmers living in drought prone areas in such manner as may be prescribedcentral government to ensure free education to children in drought affected areas5 the appropriate government shall maintain adequate supply of free mid-day-meal and potable water to the children studying in educational institutions through tankers or through other means as it may consider appropriate in the drought prone areasprovision of free mid-day-meal and potablewater to the children in drought prone areas56 the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament, by law,in this behalf, provide adequate funds to the state governments for carrying out the purposes of this actcentral government to provide funds7 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of the provisions in any other law, for the time being in forceact not in derogation of only other lawpower to makerules108 (1) the appropriate government may, by notification in the official gazette, makerules for carrying out the purposes of this act15(2) every rule made under this act by the central government shall be laid, as soon asmay 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 that rule20(3) every rule made by the state government under this act shall be laid, as soon asmay be after it is made, before the state legislature statement of objects and reasonsover sixty per cent of  india's  total  land is under agriculture and nearly twenty-three per cent covered by forests though, india is no longer an "agricultural economy", around seventy per cent of its rural households still depend primarily on agriculture for their livelihoodin india, the failure of the monsoons result in water shortages, resulting in below-average crop yields this is particularly true of major drought-prone regions large numbers of areas in various parts of the country particularly in the states of jharkhand, bihar, madhya pradesh, odisha, andhra pradesh, etc are frequently affected by unprecedented drought and play havoc in such areas the onset of drought is slow and the impact is multi-dimensional one of the most obvious ways of breaking out of the cycle of poverty is education unfortunately, education is the most severely affected aspect of children's life in the event of drought and indebtedness children are often withdrawn from school and compelled to work on the field or look for jobs, or simply migrate with their parents their education needs to be compromised, so they don't go to bed hungryin the event of food insecurity and drought, younger children often migrate with their parents, in search of better livelihoods according to the report, these young children are vulnerable to hazards at work sites which their parents are exposed to these children are perhaps the most vulnerable to the worst kinds of child labour in a desperate situation, children are forced to contribute to the family income meanwhile, the children who are left behind to take care of the elder members of the family are expected to juggle between their education and responsibilities at homeit is, therefore, necessary that the appropriate government shall provide free and compulsory education to every child of farmers living in drought prone areas along with a scholarship or consolation amount to ensure their education and to remove their debts and povertyhence this billnew delhi;chandrakant  khairedecember 8, 2017 financial  memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides that every child of a farmer living in drought prone areas shall have a right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school or college or university till completion of his graduation clause 5 provides for provision of free mid day meal and potable water to the children studying in educational institutions in drought prone areas clause 6 provides that the central government shall provide funds to the state government for carrying out the provisions of this act the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a recurring expenditure of rupees five hundred crore will be involved from the consolidated fund of india per annumno non-recurring expenditure is likely to be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 8 of the bill empowers the appropriate government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill as the rules relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character———— a billto provide for right to free and compulsory education from primary to university levelto the children of farmers living in drought prone areas and for matters connected therewith————(shri chandrakant khaire, mp)gmgipmrnd—3652ls(s3)—23-01-2018