 bill  no 31 of  2018 the constitution (amendment) bill,  2018 by shri asaduddin owaisi, mp a billfurther to amend the constitution of indiabe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-ninth year of the republic of india as follows:—short title1 this act may be called constitution (amendment) act, 201852 after article 371-j of the constitution, the following article shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new article 371-k special provisions with respect to state of bihar"371-k (1) the president may, by order made with respect to the state of bihar, provide for special responsibility of the governor to establish a separate development council for the seemanchal region to be known as the seemanchal regional developmental council (herein after referred to as the council) to exercise the powers conferred on and to perform the functions assigned to it under this article5(2) the council shall be a body corporate having perpetual succession and a common seal, with the powers to acquire, hold and dispose of both movable and immovable property, to enter into and execute contracts, to sue or be sued, as well as any other power in connection with or ancillary to the above and further to the objectives of the council, including those specifically mentioned in this article(3) the office of the council shall be at such place within the seemanchal region as the council may think fit:provided that the council may establish such number of offices at such places, as it deems necessary to discharge its functions and fulfil its objectives10(4) the council shall consist of —(a) a chairperson; and (b) not less than four members and maximum six members excluding the chairperson, to be appointed by the governor of bihar and shall consist of —15(i) not more than two members to be nominated by the president of india;20(ii) at least two independent members having special knowledge of or professional experience in either one or more subjects of rural development, urban planning, irrigation and public works, public health, health management, engineering, conservation and environmental sciences, agricultural sciences, public administration and service delivery, finance, law, education, infrastructure development, and any other subject as may be deemed useful for the council to perform its functions and fulfil its objectives under this article; and(iii) at least two members domiciled in the seemanchal region25(5) every member of the council shall be a whole-time member,  and shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters office, or up to the age of sixty-five years, whichever is earlier30(6) the governor shall before appointing any person as a chairperson or member of the council, reasonably verify that such person has no financial or other interest in the council as is likely to affect prejudicially his functions as a chairperson or member, as the case may be(7) the council shall,—(a) provide equitable opportunity for any person residing in the seemanchal region to access education, health services and employment;35(b) provide for the infrastructure necessary for accessing education, health services and employment in the seemanchal region;(c) establish standards of education and healthcare services being provided in the seemanchal region;(d) ensure that adequate training is provided for employment of any person residing in the seemanchal region;40(e) provide for the basic care, including nutrition, shelter, clean environment, and proper sanitation, to any person residing in the seemanchal region;(f) ensure children below the age of fourteen are not employed in any kind of labour in the seemanchal region;45(g) ensure protection to, and make special provision for,  women, children, economically backward classes, persons with physical and psycho-social disabilities, persons who were displaced due to environmental causes or developmental efforts or from trafficking or any other form of exploitation;(h) encourage opportunities for investment, entrepreneurship, research andinnovation in the seemanchal region;5(i) provide for equitable access to governance, access to justice and legal aid,and delivery of all public services to the people residing the seemanchal region;(j) provide for civic development, potable water and electricity in the seemanchalregion; and10(k) provide for banking and financial services to any person residing in theseemanchal region(8) the council shall prepare and cause to be published—(a) a strategic development plan once in every three years which shall set outthe development priorities of the council for the next three years; and15explanation—the strategic development plan shall include such research,analysis and proposed measures as are necessary for the execution of the objectives of the council's(b) a seemanchal annual development report annually,  consisting of the measures undertaken or to be undertaken by the council including the manner of allocation of financial and human resources20(9) the council shall have the power to, call for information, inspect, recommend andmonitor in relation to executing its objectives as specified in clause 8, including(a) conducting research, collecting data and analysing information; (b) monitoring the implementation of the strategic development plan and theseemanchal annual development report;25(c) formulating, approving, financing and implementing any plans, programmes,projects and schemes for the seemanchal region or any part thereof, including providing financial support through grants;(d) coordinating with any other public authority for inter-regional and intraregional development;30(e) raising awareness and undertaking advocacy measures for the promotion ofpractices that are beneficial for the overall wellbeing of the people residing in the seemanchal region;(f) consulting experts for executing the objectives of the council; (g) making requisite rules, regulations, orders and bylaws as may be deemednecessary by the council; and35(h) all other acts as may be deemed necessary for executing the objectives of thecouncil40(10) for the purpose of this article there shall be constituted a fund to be called as the seemanchal regional developmental council fund to which shall be credited all monies realised, realisable or received respectively by or on behalf of the council whilst carrying out its objectives and powers as conferred upon it by this article and be utilised by the council for the payment of all sums, charges and costs necessary for carrying out the objectives and functions of the council under this article5(12) the council shall make bye-laws for the management of the seemanchal regional developmental council fund and for the procedure to be followed in respect of maintenance of accounts of fund, auditing of fund, payment of money into the said fund, withdrawal of moneys therefrom, the custody of moneys therein and any other matter incidental thereto or connected therewith(13) the president shall, in consultation with the council, by order, made in relation to the state of bihar, provide for—10(a) reservation of a proportion of seats in school, colleges, technical education and vocational training institutions in the state of bihar for students belonging to seemanchal region by birth or by domicile;15(b) identification of posts or classes of posts under the state government and in any body or organisation under the control of the state government of bihar and reservation of a proportion of such posts for persons belonging to seemanchal region by birth or by domicile and for appointment thereto by direct recruitment or by promotion or in any other manner as may, be specified in the order (14) the parliament, shall, by law make such provision as are necessary to give effect to the purposes of this article" financial memorandumclause 2 of the bill provides for the constitution of seemanchal regional development council it also provides for the constitution of the seemanchal regional development fund the bill, therefore, if enacted, would involved expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupees twenty crore will be involed as recurring expenditure per annum from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of about rupees one thousand crore is also likely to be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 2 of the bill empowers the seemanchal regional development council to make regulations for carrying out the purposes of the bill it also empowers the council to make bye-laws for the management of the fund, etc since the regulations and bye-laws will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character statement of objects and reasonsit has been recognised that the region of seemanchal in bihar ranks lower on all development indices than other parts of the state of bihar as per the ministry of statistics and programme implementation, not only is the per capita income of people of  the state of bihar the lowest in the nation at rupees three thousand one hundred and ninety nine, the per capita incomes in the major districts in seemanchal region is far lower than that average as well (purnea-rupees ten thousand and ninety nine, kishanganj-rupees nine thousand nine hundred and twenty eight, araria-rupees eight thousand seven hundred and seventy six, katihar - rupees eleven thousand two hundred and seventy eight) in terms of the state literacy rate, as determined by the 2011 census, the districts making up the seemanchal area (purnia - 5108%, katihar 5224%, araria - 5353% and kishanganj - 5546%) lag significantly behind the literacy rate of the state of bihar (6180%), itself behind the national literacy rate (7404%) this situation of underdevelopment is seen across a number of indicators, as is seen from a baseline survey conducted by the indian council for social science research in 2008 that found that all four districts lag behind the national average in eight indicators of socio-economic development and amenities based on 2001 census data, as identified by the ministry of minority affairs, namely, electricity connection, pucca housing, water closet latrines, literacy rate especially female liteeracy rate, and also additionally measured level of vaccination, and other health facilities therefore, special provisions are required to accommodate the needs of the seemanchal regionthe special provisions are required to establish an institutional framework for the identification of development needs of the said region, and ensuring capacity building and efficient allocation of resources in order to meet such development needs as well as enhance the socio-economic welfare of the persons belonging to the region the need is also to promote livelihood opportunities for people from the region by providing for local cadres in service and reservation in educational and vocational training institutions by an amendment to the constitution of indiait is accordingly proposed to insert a new aarticle 371k in the constitution to provide for special provisions for the region of seemanchal in bihar, which shall consist of the districts of araria, purnea, kishanganj, supaul and katihar the article in the form of special provision seeks to provide for:—(a) establishment of a separate development council for the seemanchal region; (b) identification of specific objectives to be undertaken by the developmentcouncil in furtherance of the development of the seemanchal region, including infrastructure and access to public services;(c) sufficient allocation of funds for development over the seemanchal region, inaccordance with the recommendations and suggested measure identified by the development council;(d) reservation in public employment through the constitution of local cadres fordomiciles of the region; and(e) reservation in education and vocational training institutions for domiciles of the regionthe bill seeks to achieve the above objectivesasaduddin owaisidecember 4, 2017 lok sabha———— a billfurther to amend the constitution of india————(shri asaduddin owaisi, mp)mgipmrnd—3654ls(s3)—05-02-2018