 bill no v of  2015 the  drought  affected  and  drought  prone areas  (special  provisions)  bill, 2015 a billto provide for the special provisions such as compulsory maintenance of food and potablewater supplies for human consumption and fodder for livestock of the farmers, financial assistance for lost crops to farmers in drought affected areas of the country by the union government and for creation of water bodies like lakes, ponds, wells, rainwater harvesting, diversification of water intensive crops to low water intensive requirement crops, community afforestation programmes etc, as long term action plan for the drought prone areas of the country by the union government and for matters connected therewith and incidental theretobe  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 affected and drought prone areas (special provisions) act, 2015short title, extent and commencement(2) it extends to the whole of india (3) it shall come into force with immediate effectdefinitions2 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 other cases, the central government;5(b) ''drought affected area'' means any area situated in any part of the country which has got below normal rainfall in any season of a calendar year and which in the opinon of the central government has been affected by drought and declared, by notification in the official gazette, to be a drought affected area for such period as may be specified in the notification;10(c) ''drought prone areas'' means the areas where average rainfall is consistently below normal and also include such areas which in the opinion of the central government are drought prone and declared as such, by notification in the official gazette, in consultation with the governments of the states where such areas exist for the time being;15(d) ''fodder'' includes dry and green fodder generally fed to the livestock by the farmers and others;(e) ''food'' includes cereals such as wheat, barley maize, jowar, bajra etc, rice, pulses, edible oils and fuel for cooking;(f) ''prescribed'' means prescribed by rules made under this act203 the appropriate government shall maintain uninterrupted food supplies in drought affected and drought prone areas for the inhabitants of such areas in such manner as may be prescribedcompulsory maintenance of food supplies in drought affected and drought prone areasmaintenance of potable water4 the appropriate government shall maintain adequate supply of potable waterthrough tankers and other means as it may deem necessary and appropriate, in the areas covered under this act for such period as may be prescribed25maintenance of fodder supplies5 the appropriate government shall maintain adequate supplies of fodder in the areacovered under this act by procuring fodder from other areas or states, as the case may be, in such manner and for such period as may be prescribed30ex-gratia and financial assistance to farmers6 the appropriate government shall provide ex-gratia and adequate financialassistance to farmers of the areas covered under this act according to the estimated losses caused by withered crops and for revival of agricultural activities in such manner as may be prescribeddiversification of cropping pattern357 the central government shall with the help of krishi vikas kendras and othersuch organisations and research centres working for the diversification of cropping system in the areas covered under this act from water intensive crops to low water requirement crops to save the ground water and reduce the dependence on rainscreation of water bodies8 the appropriate government shall promote the creation of traditional and otherwater bodies like lakes, ponds, wells, ditches, etc for the collection of rain water in order to recharge the ground water in the areas covered under this act40promotion of rainwater harvesting9 the central government shall promote rainwater harvesting in the areas coveredunder this act by providing the necessary technique and equipments free of cost through the village panchayats in such manner as may be prescribedafforestation programme10 the appropriate government shall promote community afforestation programmes,from time to time, in the areas covered under this act as long term action plan of such areas in such manner as may be prescribed11 the central government shall provide requisite funds, from time to time, after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf, for carrying out the purposes of this actcentral government to provide funds5power to give directions12 the central government may give such directions to the government of any statehaving areas covered under this act within its territorial jurisdiction, as may appear it to be necessary for carrying out in the state of any of the provisions of this act or of any rule made thereunder13 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 laws10power to make rules14 the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules forcarrying out the purposes of this act statement of objects and reasonsof late marathwada and vidharbha regions of maharashtra and their adjoining areas are slowly turning into drought prone areas where truant monsoons are playing havoc very frequently normal rainfall has become rare in these regions of the state similarly, large number of areas in various parts of our vast country have either turned drought prone or have been affected by drought some time or the other playing havoc and bringing miseries to the people and their livestock in such areas when drought conditions engulf any area, the worst sufferers are the farmers and other inhabitants, having no food to eat and water to drink for their survival, resulting in their exodus in such areas, starvation deaths are very common the worst sufferers are the mute livestock their owners leave them stray and without fodder and water ultimately resulting in their death the farmers lose their crops and hopes the indebted farmers do not have money to restart agricultural operations even if they want frustrated with dashing hopes, many of them take extreme step of committing suicides vidharbha region of maharashtra has become synonymous with suicides of farmersit has been observed that in maharashtra, punjab and other parts of the country, the farmers have started growing water intensive cash crops to earn more money, resulting in decline of ground water levels to dangerous levels which makes such areas drought prone hence, diversification of crops from water intensive ones to crops needing very less water has become necessity of the day promotion of water bodies like lakes, ponds, wells ditches etc, rainwater harvesting and community afforestation programmes have become necessary for the drought affected and drought prone areasat the same time, it is necessary that the supply of food, potable water and fodder is maintained uninterrupted on priority so that people do not have to leave their places and their livestock is not left to die the farmers need to be given ex-gratia and financial assistance so that they do not take extreme steps of committing suicidehence this billrajkumar  dhoot financial memorandumclause 6 of the bill provides for the ex-gratia and financial assistance to farmersclause 11 makes it mandatory for the central government to provide requisite funds the bill if enacted will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india though, it is not possible to quantify the amount at this juncture it is estimated that a sum of rupees thirty thousand crore may involve as recurring expenditure per annumnon-recurring expenditure to the tune of rupees fifty-thousand crores may also involve memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 14 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill the rules will relate to matters of details onlythe delegation of legislative power is of normal character———— a billto provide for the special provisions such as compulsory maintenance of food and potablewater supplies for human consumption and fodder for livestock of the farmers, financial assistance for lost crops to farmers in drought affected areas of the country by the union government and for creation of water bodies like lakes, ponds, wells, rainwater harvesting, diversification of water intensive crops to low water requirement crops, community afforestation programmes etc, as long term action plan for the drought prone areas of the country by the union government and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto————(shri rajkumar dhoot, mp)