 bill no 103 of  2015 the girls (free and compulsory) education bill, 2015 byshri rakesh singh, mp a billto provide for free and compulsory education to every girl whose parents are living below poverty linebe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-sixth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the girls (free and compulsory) education act, 2015(2) it extends to the whole of indiashort title, extent and commencement(3) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notificationin the official gazette, appointdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "appropriate government" means in the case of a state, the government ofthat state and in all other cases, the central government;(b) "education" means education from primary level to the post graduation level and includes technical and medical education;(c) "girl" means a female who has not attained the age of twenty-five years; (d) "parent" includes the adoptive or step parent and guardian of a girl;5(e) "parents living below poverty line" in relation to a girl means parents whose income from all sources does not exceed rupees three thousand per month; and(f) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act10 3 the appropriate government shall provide free and compulsory education to every girl whose parents are living below poverty line and are ordinarily residing in its territorial jurisdictionfree and compulsory education to every girlexplanation—for the purpose of this section, ''free education'' includes:—(i) supply of books, writing materials and school uniform free of cost; (ii) provision of mid-day meal and hostel facilities free of cost;15(iii) payment of monthly stipend at the rate of not less than rupees one hundred at the primary level, rupees two hundred up to the middle level and rupees five hundred up to the higher secondary level; and(iv) provision of financial assistance for pursuing higher education including technical and medical education204 the appropriate government shall establish and maintain or cause to be established or maintained adequate number of schools, universities and institutions within its territorial jurisdiction in order to ensure education of girlsestablishment of schools and universities5 (1) it shall be the duty of every parent to admit or cause to be admitted his girl child in schoolduty of parents to admit their girl child to school25(2) no parent shall withdraw his girl child from a school or an institution of higher education, as the case may be, till she completes her course6 no person shall employ a girl in any job which prevents her from receiving education upto such level, as may be determined by the central governmentprohibition on employment of girlpunishments7 any person including parents, who for any reason prevents, restrains or obstructs a girl from attending school or receiving education, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year and shall also be liable to fine30 8 the central government shall provide adequate funds to the state governments for effective implementation of the provisions of this actcentral government to provide adequate funds to the state governments power to make rules9 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the provisions of this act3540(2) every rule made under this act 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 that rule statement of objects and reasonsthe ability to read and write is an essential element of human faculty literacy is the first step towards acquiring the tools of learning and opening the doors of knowledge and information education, apart from opening opportunities for girls, also empowers them to resist oppression and claim their rightsin our country, girls belong to weaker and vulnerable section of the society although many steps have been taken to improve their condition, yet nothing concrete has been done even today, girls are not treated equally and are subjected to discrimination by their parents they are kept away from school and are forced to assist their mothers in household affairs and are deprived of the joys of childhood in various states, the menace of child marriage is still rampant and parents force their daughters into child marriage as they feel that their daughters are not safe after attaining the age of ten yearsit is an opportune time to take stock of the situation and to ensure that girls belonging to poor families are given free and compulsory education free education should also include stationery items, uniform, writing materials, books, hostel facilities, transport facilities, etc free of cost to encourage the girls to get enrolled for education this will not only help in eradicating illiteracy from the country but will also enable the girls to grow and compete with their male counterparts and raise their voice against any kind of injustice or exploitationhence this billnew delhi;rakesh singhmarch 16, 2015 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides that the appropriate government shall provide free and compulsory education to every girl whose parents are living below poverty line clause 4 provides that appropriate government shall establish and maintain schools and other instituions of higher learning clause 8 provides for providing adequate funds to the state governments for effective implementation of the provisions of the act the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupees fifteen hundred crore would be involved as recurring expenditure per annuma non-recurring expenditure of about rupees eighteen hundred crore is also likely to be involved memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 5 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the provisions of the bill as the rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character———— a billto provide for free and compulsory education to every girl whose parents are living below poverty line————(shri rakesh singh, mp)mgipmrnd—5591ls(s3)—16-04-2015