 bill no xvii of 2009 the desert, drought prone and backward areas (integrated development) bill, 2009 abillto provide for the integrated development of the desert, drought prone and backward areaswhich are poverty stricken, underdeveloped and lag behind in the economic, social, educational, infrastructural and industrial fields particularly in the states of rajasthan, gujarat, orissa, bihar, jharkhand, andhra pradesh, chhattisgarh, maharashtra, etc by establishing an autonomous central authority with the mandate of assuring speedy development of such areas and for matters connected therewith and incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixtieth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the desert, drought prone and backward areas (integrateddevelopment) act, 2009short title, extent and commencement(2) it extends to the whole of india5(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;(b) ''authority'' means the desert, drought prone and backward areas development authority established under section 4;(c) ''backward areas'' include the desert and drought prone areas with very low or scanty rainfall and the areas which are economically, industrially, educationally and socially lagging behind from the rest of the country and so declared by central government by notification in the official gazette;(d) ''prescribed'' means prescribed by rules made under this actlong term national policy for backward areas3 (1) the central government shall, as soon as may be, by notification in the official gazette, formulate a long term national policy for the integrated development of the backward areas and in particular those areas which are desert and drought prone which shall be implemented by the authority(2) the appropriate government shall, by notification in the official gazette, declare such areas within its territorial jurisdiction, which in its opinion are backward and require priority attention for integrated development and furnish the information to the central government as well as to the authority4 (1) the central government shall, as soon as may be, by notification in the official gazette, establish an authority to be known as the desert, drought prone and backward areas development authority for carrying out the purposes of this actestablishment of the desert, drought prone and backward areas development authority(2) the authority shall be a body corporate, by the name aforesaid, having perpetual succession and a common seal, with power to acquire, hold and dispose of property both movable and immovable and to contract and shall by the said name sue and be sued(3) the headquarter of the authority shall be at jaipur in the state of rajasthan and the authority may, with the consent of the appropriate government establish subordinate offices at other places in the country5 (1) the authority shall consist of the following members, namely:—composition of the authority(a) the prime minister who shall be the ex officio chairperson of the authority;(b) two vice-chairpersons,—(i) the deputy chairman of the planning commission; and (ii) to be appointed by the central government from amongst the members of the authority in such manner as may be prescribed; (c) five members of parliament of whom three shall be from lok sabha and two from rajya sabha to be nominated by the presiding officers of the respective houses;(d) twelve members to be appointed by the central government representing the planning commission and ministries or departments of agriculture, agro and rural industries, rural development, industry, finance, telecommunications, railways, road transport and highways, human resources development, power and water resources of the central government; and(e) not more than five members to be appointed by the central government by rotation in the alphabetical order to represent the governments of the states having most of the backward areas (2) the authority shall follow such procedure for holding its meetings and the quorum for such meetings shall be such as may be prescribed(3) the authority shall have a secretariat consisting of such officers, employees and establishment with such conditions of service, emoluments and perks as may be prescribed and determined from time to time for the efficient functioning of the secretariat of the authorityfunds of the authority6 the central government shall provide, from time to time, after due appropriation made by parliament, by law, in this behalf, adequate funds for carrying out the purposes of this act and for the administrative expenses of the authority7 (1) it shall be the duty of the authority to implement the long term national policy formulated under this act for backward areas and ensure integrated development of the backward areas by undertaking such special steps as it may deem necessary and expedient to do so for the overall development of such areasauthority to implement long term national policy for backward areas and ensure integrated development of such areas(2) without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions, the authority shall initiate measures for the integrated development particularly to ensure industrial growth with immunity of investments and various concessions by providing good and viable infrastructure pertaining to roads and highways network, railways, communication network, agriculture and agro industries, irrigation facilities through watershed projects, constructing wells, bore wells, canals, ponds and other traditional water bodies, power projects based on thermal, solar, hydal and wind energies, forests, promoting livestock rearing, poultry, piggery, orchards, cooperatives, cottage and village industries, health services, family welfare, educational facilities, network of pds, tourism, vocational avenues and such other activities as the authority may deem necessary for the integrated development of backward areas(3) the authority in particular shall initiate measures to provide safe drinking water in abundance to the people of backward areas of the country8 it shall be the duty of the appropriate government to provide requisite co-operation to the authority in undertaking its development work in the backward areas within the territorial jurisdiction of such governmentappropriate government to cooperate with authority power to remove difficulty9 if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the central government may, by order published in the official gazette, make such provisions not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, as appear to it to be necessary or expedient for removing the difficultyannual report of the authority10 the authority shall submit an annual report, in such form and in such manner, as may be prescribed, of its activities of development undertaken for the purposes of this act to the president of india who shall cause the report to be laid before both the houses of parliament along with action taken thereon by the central government as soon as it is received11 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other law for the time being in force regulating any of the matters dealt with in this actact to supplement other laws power to make rules12 the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act statement of objects and reasonsours is a vast country there are desert areas, which are prone to famines and droughtsthe rainfall in such areas is generally very scanty resulting in severe shortage of drinking water such areas are mostly in rajasthan and gujarat where even drinking water is a luxury most of these areas are in rural and tribal belts where people are poverty stricken, debt ridden and do not have any means of employment as there are no industries and agriculture is not dependable as it is affected by the vagaries of monsoon such areas are chronically backward in our country in the eastern region, vast areas of orissa, bihar, jharkhand, west bengal, eastern up; entire north-eastern region; in the central india chhattisgarh, madhya pradesh; in the western parts vidarbha, marathwada, saurashtra, kutchh desert and large parts of rajasthan; in southern parts telangana, mehboob nagar, rayalseema in andhra pradesh and areas in other southern states are still most backward it is really a matter of concern that even after more than five decades of independence and implementation of nearly ten five year plans, these areas are still underdeveloped, backward and afflicited with extreme poverty, hunger and sufferings due to consistent neglect and apathy of the central and state governments these areas are backward no industries have come up in these areas in the absence of requisite infrastructure the agriculture is in shambles; rainwater is not harvested and traditional water bodies have vanished which has turned these areas into drought prone and famine prone the backwardness and non-development of such areas has given rise to demand for creation of new states like vidarbha, gorkhaland, telangana, harit pradesh, bodoland, bundelkhand, etc as it is thought that by creating new states, the backwardness of the areas can be removedhence, it has become necessary to develop such desert, drought prone and backward areas of the country for which special efforts have to be made through long term action plan it is felt that an autonomous authority should be created to implement the action plan and integrated development of such areas this will be in the larger interest of our nationhence this billsantosh bagrodia financial memorandumclause 4 of the bill provides for the establishment of the desert, drought prone and backward areas development authority clause 6 makes it mandatory for the central government to provide adequate funds for the purposes of the bill the bill, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india the actual requirement cannot be assessed at this juncture but it is estimated that a sum of rupees ten thousand crore may involve as recurring expenditure per annumnon-recurring expenditure to the tune of five thousand crore may also involve memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 12 of the bill gives power to 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 integrated development of the desert, drought prone and backward areaswhich are poverty stricken, underdeveloped and lag behind in the economic, social,educational, infrastructural and industrial fields particularly in the states ofrajasthan, gujarat, orissa, bihar, jharkhand, andhra pradesh, chhattisgarh,maharashtra, etc by establishing an autonomous central authority withthe mandate of assuring speedy development of such areas andfor matters connected therewith and incidental thereto—————(shri santosh bagrodia, mp)gmgipmrnd—3556rs(s5)—31-07-2009