bill no  81 of  2017 the fishermen (protection and welfare) bill, 2017 byadv narendra keshav sawaikar, mpa billto provide for the socio-economic protection and welfare of the fishermen of the coastal states of the country by establishing a welfare fund for their benefit and for providing adequate life insurance cover against accidents, medical care, financial assistance for fishing nets, boats and other necessities, unemployment allowance during lean periods, free educationincluding  vocational education and training to theirchildren and  for matters connected therewith or incidentaltheretobe  it enacted by parliament in the sixty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the fishermen (protection and welfare) act, 2017short title, extent and commencement(2) it extends to the coastal states of india having substantial population of fishermendefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "accident" means an accident caused during the course of fishing including drowning;(b) "administrator" means an administrator appointed under section 5;5(c) "appropriate government" means in the case of state, the government of state having coastline and in the case of union territories having coastline, the central government;10(d) "fisherman" means a person who earns his livelihood by catching fish from the sea including traditional fishermen and whose only source of income is the money he earns from selling such fish and includes a person working as fisherman's helper;(e) "fund" means the fishermen welfare fund established under section 4; (f) "partial disablement" means disablement which has reduced the working capacity of a fisherman temporarily which he was capable of having before the accident;(g) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act; and15(h) "total disablement" includes any disablement which incapacitates a fisherman for all work which he was capable of performing prior to the accidentlong term national policy for the welfare of fishermen203  the central government shall, as soon as may be, but within one year from the commencement of this act, formulate, in consultation with the appropriate government, a long term national policy for the welfare of fishermen and their families and protection of their fishing rights and interests against the onslaught of big fishing companies including the multinationalsestablishment of fishermen welfare fund4 (1) the central government shall,  by notification in the official gazette, establish a fund to be known as the fishermen welfare fund for carrying out the purposes of this act25(2) the initial corpus of the fund shall be ten thousand crore rupees which shall be provided by the central government after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf30(3) after the establishment of the fund, moneys to the fund shall be provided by the central government and the appropriate governments in such proportion as may be agreed to from year to year and the money received by way of donations from individuals, body corporates, financial and other institutions shall also form the corpus money of the fundappointment of administrators5  the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, appointsuch number of administrators who shall administer the fund and entertain the claims for payment of compensation and other facilities under this act6  the fund shall be utilised for,—35utilisation of the fund(a) maintaining digital data of fishermen and their dependant family membersfor every district of the state and union territory having coastline;(b) life insurance cover to the fishermen and their families; (c) free medical care to the fishermen and their family members;40(d) financial assistance to the fishermen for the purchase and repair of fishingnets, boats and other equipments required for fishing;(e) unemployment allowance during illness or financial crisis during lean periods; (f) free education including technical and vocational education to the childrenof fishermen; and(g) such other purposes as may be prescribedfixation of compensation and payment thereof7 (1) subject to the provisions of this act, the amount of compensation payable to a fishermen sustaining injury resulting in his death or partial or total disablement or in case of his drowning or sweeping away by the water currents or in his disappearance in a storm or cyclone or tsunami, shall be such as may be specified by the central government from time to time by notification in the official gazette5(2) in case of death of a fisherman, the compensation fixed under sub-section (1) shall be paid to the spouse of the deceased or to his legal heir or to the children, as the case may be, and in case the deceased being unmarried, the compensation shall be paid to his parents(3) every claimant for payment of compensation under this act shall apply to the administrator in such form and giving such details, as may be prescribed10(4) every claim for compensation under this act shall be finalized by the administrator and payment thereof shall be made within sixty days from the date of filing of claim8 the appropriate government shall—miscellaneous provisions15(a) establish adequate number of schools and vocational training institutes and healthcare centres in and around the areas inhabitated by fishermen for their benefit including their families and children;(b) provide adequate and hygienic marketing facilities to the fishermen for their catch;(c) provide subsidy on kerosene and petrol;20(d) protect the fishing rights and interests of the fishermen by preventing national and multinational companies from fishing in such areas in the sea as are allocated to fishermen by the central government from time to time;(e) encourage the fishermen to use latest technology for fishing and impart training to fishermen for using safety measures during fishing;25(f) through the coast guard and navy, prevent the trespassing by fishermen ofother countries into the indian waters;(g) take up issue of release of indian fishermen who stray into waters and economic maritime zone of neighbouring countries and detained with their boats and nets by such countries;30(h) set up rehabilitation centres for fishermen during emergencies with all basic facilities; and(i) take such other measures as it may deem necessary for the protection and welfare of fishermen 9 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other law applicable to fishermen for the time being in force35act not in derogation of other laws10 the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf, provide adequate funds to the state governments and union territories administrations having coastline for carring out the purposes of this actcentral government to provide requisite fundspower to make rules11 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act40 45(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  reasonsthere are millions of fishermen and their families spread over southern, eastern and western parts of the country their main occupation and means of livelihood is catching fish and selling it in the market and they are doing this for generations however, the fishermen and their families live in abject poverty nearly hand to mouth whereas the middlemen, wholesalers and retail traders of fish flourish at their cost as the sea food is becoming popular not only in the country but worldwide sea products are very much in demand but the status of fishermen has remained the same many of the fishermen are carried away by water currents particularly during storms and cyclones and they lose their lives similarly they get drowned during fishing or receive injuries leading to partial or total disablement but there is nobody to look after them except their hapless poor families in fact the disablement or death of a fisherman ruins his family who remain at the mercy of fate alonesince the poor fishermen are part and parcel of our society and ours being a welfare state, it is necessary that the fishermen too are provided with adequate insurance against accidents, healthcare, financial assistance in case of need, educational facilities for their wards, etc they should also get subsidy on kerosene and petrol and cold storage and marketing facilities for their catch sometimes fishermen from neighbouring countries trespass into our water and carry the catch which need to be stopped in fact the nation has to give maximum security and facilities to the fishermen of the countryhence this billnew delhi;narendra keshav sawaikarapril 10, 2017 financial  memorandumclause 4 of the bill provides for the establishment of the fishermen welfare fundclause 5 provides for the appointment of administrators clause 8 provides for certain facilities for fishermen clause 10 provides that the central government shall provide adequate funds to the states for carrying out the purposes of this bill the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupees twenty thousand crore may involve as recurring expenditure per annuma non-recurring expenditure of rupees twenty thousand crore may also involve memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 11 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill as the rules relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character———— a billto provide for the socio-economic protection and welfare of the fishermen of the  coastal states of the country by establishing a welfare fund for their benefit and  for providing adequate life insurance cover against accidents, medical care,       financial assistance for fishing nets, boats and other necessities,         unemployment allowance during lean periods, free education            including  vocational education and training to their                      children and  for matters connected                             therewith or incidental                                    thereto————(adv narendra keshav sawaikar, mp)gmgipmrnd—554ls(s3)—16-06-2017