 bill no 237 of 2016 the constitution (amendment) bill, 2016 bydr ramesh pokhriyal 'nishank',  mpa billfurther to amend the constitution of indiabe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-seventh year of the republic of india as follows:—short title1 this act may be called the constitution (amendment) act, 201652 after article 30 of the constitution, the following heading and article thereunder shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new article 30a "right to water and sanitation30a (1) every citizen shall have access to adequate potable water and sanitationright to clean drinking water and sanitation(2) the state shall, within two years of the coming into force of the constitution(amendment) act, 2016, by law, ensure proper implementation and monitoring of the right to potable water and sanitation10(3) for the purposes of implementation and monitoring of the right to potable water and sanitation,—(i) the central government shall ensure that,—(a) sufficient funds are provided to the state governments;5(b) sanitation and water service authority be constituted at the national level to oversee the implementation and monitoring of the right to potable water and sanitation;(c) a permanent river authority is constituted at the national level to ensure proper cleaning and maintenance of inter-state rivers and to decide on the distribution of water of such rivers among the riparian states;10(ii) every state government shall ensure that,—(a) the funds provided by the central government are distributed to the panchayats in an equitable manner for providing water and sanitation facilities in each district;15(b) local bodies within the state constitute special sanitation and water service authorities at the district level with the following functions:—(i) to arrange adequate number of piped water connections;(ii) to remove refuse from premises; (iii) to sweep and water streets;20(iv) to provide and maintain at suitable places facilities for deposit, disposal or destruction of refuse;(v) to provide and maintain public drinking water facilities and public sanitary conveniences;25(vi) every person or authority responsible for providing or maintaining or monitoring water and sanitation facilities under the law is held liable in the event of failure to perform his functions under the lawexplanation in this article, the expression "state government", in the case of a union territory means the central government" statement of objects and reasonsaccess to clean drinking water and sanitation is essential for dignified living of human beings on the earth lack of water and sanitation facilities lead to various health hazards and make people vulnerable to diseases particularly water borne diseases in our country water resources are adequate however, due to ineffective implementation of water and sanitation management policies, the water resources have remained untapped for human use therefore, there is an acute shortage of drinking water in almost every part of the countrythe right to clean drinking water and sanitation does not find any explicit mention in our national law and is also not enshrined as a fundamental right in our constitution however, the courts in india including the supreme court have interpreted article 21 of the constitution as encompassing the right to safe water and sanitationwhile citizens have the right to access to safe and clean drinking water, the right to sanitation is equally important the people should also have facilities and services like collection, transport, treatment and disposal of human excreta, domestic waste water and solid waste and associated hygiene promotion water must also be available for good personal hygiene toilets must be within or in the immediate vicinity of each household or workplace above all, access to clean drinking water and sanitation facilities must be affordableit is true that several social and economic rights take years to be realized fully there is no dispute that the union government as well as the state governments are making continued efforts to provide clean drinking water and sanitation facilities to citizens however, these basic rights are still not available to the citizens in absolute terms it is, therefore, necessary that some time limit be imposed on the state within which the citizens must start enjoying these rights as fundamental rights such an amendment of the constitution would ensure better serivces by the authorities responsible for implementing and monitoring the water and sanitation schemes as there would be a fear of being dragged to the courts for violation of fundamental rights of citizenshence this billnew delhi;ramesh pokhriyal 'nishank'august 11, 2016 financial memorandumclause 2 of the bill provides that central government shall provide sufficient funds to the state governments it also provides for constitution of sanitation and water service authority and river authority at national level by the central government it further provides that sanitation and water service authorities are constituted within the state by the local bodies at the district level to arrange adequate number of piped water connection, provide and maintain public drinking water facilities, etc the expenditure relating to states shall be borne out of the consolidated funds of the states concerned however, the expenditure relating to union territories shall be borne out of the consolidated fund of india the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a recurring expenditure of about rupees three hundred crore would be involved from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of about rupees three hundred crore is also likely to be involved———— a billfurther to amend the constitution of india————(dr ramesh pokhriyal 'nishank', mp)gmgipmrnd—2575ls(s3)—06-10-2016