 bill no  198  of  2017 uniform insurance for affected pilgrims bill, 2017 by shri maheish girri, mp a billto provide for constitution of a central pilgrims insurance committee to provide uniform insurance to all the affected pilgrims in incidents/accidents including but not limited to terrorist attacks and to their dependent family members and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto be it enacted by the parliament in the sixty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the uniform insurance for affected pilgrims act, 2017(2) it extend to the whole of indiashort title, extent and commencementdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "affected pilgrims" means a  pilgrim who either dies or is severely injured due to incidents/accidents occurred during pilgrimage;(b) "committee" means the central pilgrims insurance committee constitutedunder section 3;(c) "dependent" means the parents, spouse, children or siblings of affected pilgrims who dies during pilgrimage;5(d) "incidents/accidents" means loss of life or property due to theft, hospitalization, illness, stampede, injury, death due to terrorist acts and any other accidental death, excluding incidents of road accidents and natural deaths like heart attack, wherein pilgrims either die or are severely injured during the pilgrim visit;(e) "pilgrim" means a person who journeys, especially a long distance, to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion;(f) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act; and10(g) "shrine board" means all the existing pilgrim shrine boards, including but not limited to shri amarnath ji shrine board, constituted under respective parent acts for respective shrines across india and other shrines for which there is no shrine board constituted as on the date of commencement of this act;153 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a  committee to be known as the central pilgrims insurance committee for carrying out the purposes of this actconstitution of the central pilgrims insurance committee(2) the committee shall consist of such number of members from the shrine boards to be nominated by the central government in such manner as may be prescribed(3) the central government shall provide such number of staff to the committee as may be necessary to discharge its functions efficiently20(4) the salary and allowances payable to and the terms and conditions of service of the chairperson, members and staff of the committee shall be such as may be prescribed4 the committee shall—(a) formulate uniform insurance scheme for affected pilgrims, from time to time;25functions of the central pilgrims insurance committee(b) ensure photometric registration of all the affected pilgrims through their respective shrine boards in such manner as may be prescribed;(c) ensure compensation of rupees ten lakhs for major and rupees six lakhs for minor affected pilgrims;30(d) ensure that amount of rupees ten lakhs be disbursed to the dependent family members of the deceased affected pilgrims;(e) ensure that amount of rupees three lakhs be disbursed to the dependent family members of the seriously injured affected pilgrims;(f) review existing policies of the shrine boards relating to the coverage of incidents/accidents under the insurance policies;35(g) coordinate with the insurance companies providing insurance covers and formulate uniform insurance policies to the affected pilgrims, from time to time;(h) formulate adequate funding mechanisms for non-governmental organisations who assist in rescuing of the affected pilgrims and providing necessary medical assistance to the affected pilgrims;40(i) formulate policies for ex-gratia payment to the dependent family members of the affected pilgrims, from time to time; and(j) undertake all other functions assigned to it, from time to time, for carrying out the purposes of this actpayment of premium455 every pilgrim shall pay such amount as premium as may be prescribed to avail thebenefits under this actpayment of compensation6 (1) every affected pilgrim or dependant, as the case may be, shall apply to the committee for payment of compensation in such form and manner as may be prescribed(2) the committee shall examine every application filed under sub-section (1) and release the amount of compensation within a stipulated time in such manner as may be prescribed57 the central government shall, from time to time, after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf, provide the requisite funds to the state governments, union territories and respective shrine boards for carrying out the purposes of this actcentral government to provide requisite funds108 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 actact to supplement other laws9 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this actpower to make rules15(2) every rule made under his act shall be laid as soon as may be after it is made before each house of the state legislature 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 successive sessions aforesaid both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both houses agree that they 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 such rule20 statement  of  objects  and  reasonsindia is a land of pilgrimages of various faiths wherein devotees travel from different parts of country to visit these places some of the places are overcrowded with devotees especially during the festivals and many of them are located in difficult geographical terrain such as amarnath, which makes journey of pilgrims extremely difficultthere have been incidents where pilgrims have lost their lives due to road accidents or other incidents while undertaking the journey to and from the pilgrimages as of now, the respective states, shrine boards and the central government provide insurance to the affected pilgrims and their dependent family members however, there is no uniformity in the amount of insurance that is being awardedfor instance, shri amarnath ji shrine board under the chairmanship of the governor of jammu and kashmir provides insurance cover of rupees one lakh to a pilgrim in case of death due to accident while undertaking the amarnath yatra but rupees one lakh is considered insufficient to meet the eventualities that arise out of loss of life in such accidents on the other hand, the haj committee of india, a statutory body of ministry of minority affairs, government of india has recently increased the insurance cover to rupees ten lakhs to account for such a losscompensation for human life should be awarded regardless of the religion or faith to which a person belongs to, as the loss of human life is precious in all circumstances also not providing equal insurance cover to all pilgrims belonging to different religions and faiths is antithetical to the basic spirit imbibed in article 15 of the constitution of india which emphasizes no discrimination to be made on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex or birth placethe bill, therefore, seeks to constitute a central pilgrim insurance committee as an overarching body for all the existing shrine boards in india and other pilgrimage centres to formulate uniform insurance policies for a wide range of incidents/accidents that may take place during the pilgrimage it also seeks to provide a uniform insurance policy with disbursement of maximum rupees ten lakhs in case of death during the pilgrimage and rupees three lakhs for pilgrims suffering major injuries further, it also proposes to encourage humantarian endeavours by the non-profit organisations who provide medical assistance to the affected pilgrims by adequately awarding them for such gestureshence this billnew delhi;maheish  girriaugust 4, 2017 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for constitution of the central pilgrims insurance committeeclause 5 provides for the supply of funds to the state governments, union territories and respective shrine boards for carrying out the purposes of this bill by the central government the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that an annual recurring expenditure of about rupees one hundred crore  would be involved from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of about rupees five 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 this bill as the rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character lok   sabha———— a billto provide for the constitution of a central pilgrims insurance committee to provide uniforminsurance to all the affected pilgrims in incidents/accidents including but not limited to terrorist attacks and to their dependent family members and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(shri maheish girri, mp)gmgipmrnd—2239ls(s3)—06-11-2017