 bill no 96 of  2015 the drought affected and drought prone areas (special provisions) bill, 2015 byshri nishikant  dubey, mpa billto provide for the special provisions such as compulsory maintenance of food and potable water 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;creation of water bodies like lakes, ponds, wells, rainwater harvesting, diversification of water intensive crops to low water intensive requirement crops; community afforestation programmes and other action plan for the drought prone areas of the country and for matters connected therewith and incidental theretobe  it enacted by parliament in the sixty-sixth year of the republic of india as follows:—(2) it extends to the whole 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) "drought affected area" means any area receiving below normal rainfall in any season of a calendar year and declared by central government, 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 consistently receiving below normal rainfall and includes 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 concerned;(d) "fodder" includes dry and green fodder generally fed to the livestock; (e) "food" includes cereals such as wheat, barely, maize, jowar, bajra, rice, pulses, edible oils and fuel for cooking;15(f) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act3  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 droughtprone areas20maintenance 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 prescribedmaintenance of fodder supplies5  the appropriate govenment shall maintain adequate supply 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 prescribed25ex-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 prescribed30diversification of cropping pattern7  the central government shall, with the help of krishi vikas kendras and othersuch organisations and research centres working for the diversification of cropping system, take steps for diversification of crops from water intensive crops to low water requirement crops in areas covered under this act to save the ground water and reduce the dependence on rainscreation of water bodies358  the appropriate government shall promote the creation of traditional and otherwater bodies like lakes, ponds, wells, ditches, etc for the collection of rainwater in order to recharge the ground water in the areas covered under this actpromotion of rainwater harvesting9  the appropriate government shall promote rainwater harvesting in the areas coveredunder this act, by providing the necessary technique and equipments free of cost through the village panchayat in such manner as may be prescribed40afforestation 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 prescribed4511  the central government shall after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf, provide requisite funds, from time to time, for carrying out the purposes of this actcentral government to provide fundspower to give directions12  the central government may give such directions to the government of any state having areas covered under this act within its territorial jurisdiction, as may appear it to be necessary for carrying out in the state any of the provisions of this act or of any rule made there under513  the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of anyother law for the time being in force dealing with the subject matter of this actact to supplement other lawspower to make rules14  (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act1015(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 reasonsof  late santhal pargana and other regions of the state of jharkhand 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 santhal pargana region of jharkhand has become synonymous with suicides of farmersit has been observed that in jharkhand 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 or 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 billnew delhi;nishikant dubeymarch 24, 2015 financial memorandumclause 6 of the bill provides for the ex-gratia and financial assistance to farmersclause 11 provides that the central government shall provide requisite funds for the purposes of this act the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india at this stage, it is not possible to estimate the amount likely to be incurred however, it is estimated that an annual recurring expenditure of rupees thirty thousand crore will be involved out of the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure to the tune of rupees fifty thousand crore is also likely to be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 14 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes 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 the special provisions such as compulsory maintenance of food and potable water 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;creation of water bodies like lakes, ponds, wells, rainwater harvesting, diversification of water intensive crops to low water intensive requirement crops; community afforestation programmes and other action plan for the drought prone areas of the country and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto————(shri nishikant dubey, mp)