 bill no 103 of  2017 the distressed widows and single women (protection, rehabilitation and welfare) bill, 2017 by shri nishikant dubey, mp a billto provide for the protective measures with need based rehabilitation and welfare to beundertaken by the government for the distressed, infirm, neglected, abandoned anddisowned widows and single women by providing financial assistance, pension,medical care, housing and other facilities through a welfare board to suchwidows and single women and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-eighth year of the republic of  india as follows:—short title and commencement1  (1) this act may be called the distressed widows and single women (protection, rehabilitation and welfare) act, 20175(2) it extends to the whole of india (3) it shall come into force with immediate effectdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—10(a) "abandoned and disowned widow" means a widow who has been desertedor thrown out of household by her relatives to fend for herself and who has no means to support her and her dependent children, if any;(b) "appropriate government" means in the case of a state the government of that state and in all other cases, the central government;(c) "board" means the distressed widows and single women welfare board established under section 3;5(d) "distressed" in relation to a widow and single woman means any widow or single woman who lives uncared for and has become inform due to old age or chronic or incurable disease, physical deformity or mental imbalance and who has no independent and adequate means of livelihood for her and her dependent children, if any;10(e) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act; (f) "single woman" means a female adult who is either unmarried or divorcee or judicially separated from her spouse; and(g) "widow" means a legally married women whose husband has died153 (1) the central government, shall, as soon as may be, but not later than six months from the commencement of this act, by notification in the official gazette, establish a board to be known as the distressed widows and single women welfare board for carrying out the purposes of this actestablishment of the distressed widows and single women welfare board20(2) the board 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 board shall be at aurangabad in the state of maharashtra and the board shall establish its branches in all other states and union territories at conspicuous places as the board may deem fit and necessary(4) the board shall consist of—25(a) the union minister of women and child development who shall be the chairperson ex-officio;(b) a deputy chairperson, preferably a woman with such qualifications and experience, as may be prescribed, to be appointed by the central government;30(c) one member representing single women with such qualification, as may be prescribed, to be appointed by the central government;(d) five women members of parliament of whom three shall be from the house of the people and two from the council of states, to be nominated by the respective presiding officers of each house;35(e) five members representing union ministries of home affairs, human resource development, health and family welfare, finance and social justice and empowerment;(f) not more than four members to be appointed by the central government in consultation with the governments of the states, by rotation in alphabetical order, to represent the governments of the states;40(g) three members to be appointed by the central government from amongst the registered non-governmental organisations (ngos) working for the welfare of distrressed widows or single women, as the case may be (5) the salary and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions of the deputy chairperson and members of the board shall be such as may be prescribed45(6) the board shall follow such procedure for holding its meetings and the quorum for such meetings shall be such, as may be prescribed(7) the board shall have a secretariat consisting of a member secretary and such number of officers, and employees may be prescribed(8) the salary and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions of service of member secretary, officers and employees shall be such as may be prescribed5functions of the board4 (1) notwithstanding anything contrary contained in any other law for the time being in force, the board shall promote and implement such protective and welfare measures as it thinks appropriate, expedient, and necessary including rehabilitation for the distressed widows and single women who are in dire need of such measures10(2) without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of sub-section (1), the board shall,—(a) maintain district-wise register of the abandoned, disowned and distressed widows and single women covered under this act who are to be rehabilitated and are in need of assistance from the board with such particulars and details and in such manner as may be prescribed;15(b) collect and get verified the antecedents of every widow and single womancovered under this act to assess her need for assistance in such manner as may be prescribed;20(c) work out plans and formulate schemes for the overall welfare and rehabilitation of abandoned, disowned or distressed widows and single women covered under this act and implement them in right earnest;25(d) conduct a special survey of the abandoned and disowned widows subsisting on alms as beggar or chanting bhajans in the temples of mathura, vrindavan and other parts of  the state uttar pradesh and other parts of the country or who are languishing in temples as devdasis in various parts of the country and formulate appropriate rehabilitation and reuniting with their families programmes for such widows and single women in such manner as may be prescribed;(e) give wide publicity through electronic and print media about the welfare and rehabilitation measures being undertaken by the board to enable the widows and single women covered under this act to avail them; and30(f) perform such other functions not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, as may be assigned to it by the appropriate government from time to time355 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a fund to be known as the national distressed widows and single women rehabilitation and welfare fund with an initial corpus of rupees fifty thousand crore for carrying out the purposes of this act(2) the fund shall be administered by the board in such manner as may be prescribedconstitution of national distressed widows and single women rehabilitation and welfare fund(3) the fund established under sub-section (1) shall consist of all receipts from—(a) the central government and governments of the states and union territories and their institutions and organisations;40(b) body corporates, both public and private sector and banks and financialinstitutions both domestic and foreign; and(c) individuals, associations and others in the form of contributions or donations456 (1) ) on the recommendation of the board or otherwise, the appropriate government shall provide the wodows and single women covered under this act, the following facilities, namely:—facilities to be provided by the appropriate government(a) monthly subsistence allowance of not less than five thousand rupees if the widow or the single women, as the case may be, is having any dependent children and not less than three thousand rupees in case she has no dependent children to support;(b) residential accommodation free of cost wherever necessary;(c) free medical care with medicines and with indoor and outdoor facilities as may be required;5(d) free education to the dependent children including higher, medical, engineering and education in such manner as may be prescribed;(e) gainful employment as per the physical condition after imparting vocational training wherever possible;(f) financial assistance for rehabilitation like self employment wherever required;10(g) free legal aid in case the widow or single women, as the case may be, has been thrown out or abandoned  by  her kith and kin; and(h) such other facilities, as may be necessary for the rehabilitation, welfare, proper development, regaining her lost status in the family and for maintaining a respectable life in the society:15provided that if, a widow or single woman, as the case may be, covered under this act either gets married, remarried, gainfully employed or taken back by her kith and kin in the family, the facilities being provided to her shall be withdrawn by the appropriate government20(2) the costs incurred by the appropriate government on providing  the facilities under this act to the widows and single women covered under this act shall be defrayed from the rehabilitation and welfare fund established under section 5protective provisions7 notwithstanding anything contained in any other law, for the time being in force or in any custom prevelant any widow or single woman covered under this act shall,—25(a) not be evicted or thrown out of the house of the in-laws or parents, as thecase may be or where such widow or single woman was last residing;(b) be entitled to inherit the property or her share of jointly owned property fromher in-laws or parents, as the case may be; or(c) be entitled for maintenance from her in-laws or kith or kin who neglect orabandon the widow or single woman, as the case may be30establishment of hostels8 (1) the appropriate government shall establish such number of hostels atconspicuous places in various parts of its territorial jurisdiction as it may deem necessaryfor boarding and lodging of abandoned and disowned and distressed widows and single women covered under this act with necessary facilities of daily life as may be prescribed35(2) the appropriate government shall also provide necessary free medical aid and medicines and means of entertainment for the residents of the hostels established under sub-section (1)9 the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament by lawin this behalf, provide the requisite funds to the state government, union territories and the board from time to time for carrying out the purposes of this act40central government to provide requisite fundsannual report to the board10 the board shall prepare an annual report in such form and in such manner, as maybe prescribed, of its activities in implementing the provisions of this act and submit it to the president of india who shall cause the report to be laid before both the the houses of parliament along with action taken thereon by the central government as soon as it is received45power to remove difficulty11 if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the centralgovernment may, by order published in the official gazette, make such provisions not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, as appears to it to be necessary or expedient for removing the difficulty:provided that no such order shall be made after expiry of a period of three years fromthe date of commencement of this act50act to have overriding effect12 the provisions of this act and rules made thereunder shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force513 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any otherlaw for the time being applicable to the widows and single women covered under this actact to supplement other lawspower to make rules14 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rulesfor 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 beforeeach house of the state legislature 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 successive sessions aforesaid both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both houses agree that they 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 such rule statement of objects and reasonsin our country, world's second most populous nation, there are millions of unfortunate and hapless women who lose their husbands during their lifetime and become widows their number is nearly three per cent of the total population of our nation and more than fifty per cent of these widows are old, infirm suffering from various diseases, physical deformity or mental imbalance particularly belonging to poor and middle class families who live uncared for and neglected by their near and dear ones and most of them are without independent and adequate means of livelihood and roof over their heads it is very common that when a widow does not have any permanent source of income or livelihood she is driven out of her in-laws home or even from her perental home her position becomes more miserable if she has dependent children to support and bring up sometimes the condition of such widows become miserable and their problems increase manifold due to poverty and other compelling reasons where they have no other option but to go for begging for survival and many such widown can be seen begging in the streets and public places several women who become widows in their youth, in particular in rural and far off areas, are not only sexually exploited by their known ones and many a times forced into prostitution at some places they are branded as witches and tortured even by their own kith and kin or others from the community in our society even today they are treated as bad women and are not allowed to attend or appear during auspicious occasions many of such widows work as housemaids and take up other jobs for survival large number of abandoned and disowned widows seek refuge in the temples of mathura, vrindavan in uttar pradesh and other parts of the country where they chant bhajans or beg for their survival even devadasi system is still prevalent in some parts of the country where hapless old and inform devadasis languish in the temples many widows take shelter in old age homes but their number is lawfully very short then there are quite a large number of single women in our country some of them opt for not to marry because they have to support their families for various reasons such as to educate their siblings or for supporting families as there are no male bread earners or for the treatment of ailing parents etc etc it is very common that such women are deserted by their siblings once they get their education and settle in their lives since they spend their earnings on others, they become penniless in their old age, particularly if they where employed in private sector then there are those single women who are either deserted by their husbands or who are legally separated or divorced from their spouses many of them become distressed and their miseries increase when they have dependent children to support and bring up they too need protective umbrellaours is a welfare state it is the sacred duty of the state to initiate protective and welfare measures for the abandoned, disowned and distressed widows and single women to that they can live gracefully in the society it is therefore imperative to establish an authority to exclusively take care of such widows and single woman throughout the countryhence, this bill financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the establishment of the distressed widows and single women welfare board clause 5 provides for the establishment of national distressed widows and single women rehabilitation and welfare fund with initial corpus of rupee fifty thousand crore to be provided by the central government clause 6 provides for financial assistance and other facilities for widows and single women clause 8 provides for establishment of hostels clause 9 makes it mandatory for the central government to provide requisite and adequate funds for carrying out the purposes of this bill the bill, therefore, if enacted would involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india apart from the initial corpus of rupee fifty thousand crore, it is estimated that a sum of rupee forty thousand crore may involve as recurring expenditure per annuma non-recurring expenditure of rupee twenty five thousand crore is also likely to be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 14 of the bill gives power to the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill as the rules will relate to matters of details only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character———— a billto provide for the protective measures with need based rehabilitation and welfare to beundertaken by the government for the distressed, infirm, neglected, abandoned anddisowned widows and single women by providing financial assistance, pension,medical care, housing and other facilities through a welfare board to suchwidows and single women and for matters connected therewith or  incidental thereto————(shri nishikant dubey, mp)gmgipmrnd—4572ls(s3)—10-07-2017