 bill no  276  of  2016 the handloom weavers (protection and welfare) bill, 2016 by shri rajesh ranjan, mp a billto provide for protection of distressed handloom weavers who are debt ridden, exploitedand are committing suicide for welfare measures like life insurance coverage, interestfree working capital and consumption loan, healthcare, educational facilities to thechildren, availability of affordable raw material, modernisation of looms,housing and compulsory purchase of handloom cloth by governmentand for matters connected therewith and incidental theretobe  it enacted by parliament in the sixty-seventh year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the handloom weavers (welfare) act, 2016definitions2 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;(b) "authority" means the national handloom weavers welfare authority constituted under section 3;5(c) "fund" means the handloom weavers welfare fund constituted under section 5; (d) "handloom" means any loom used for production of cloth other than the powerloom as defined in clause (g) of section 2 of the factories act, 1948;(e) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act;10(f) "weaver" means a person engaged in the production of cloth on a handloom and includes a person who owns, works or operates on a handloom for the production of cloth; and(g) "worker" means a handloom worker engaged by a weaver and who earns wages on daily or any other basis by working on handloom153 (1) the central government shall, as soon as may be, by notification in official gazette, constitute an authority to be known as the national handloom weavers welfare authority for carrying out the purposes of this act(2) the authority shall consist of—constitution of the national handloom weavers welfare authority20(a) a chairperson having adequate knowledge and professional experience in handloom sector;(b) a deputy chairperson with such qualification, as may be prescribed;(c) three members to represent handloom cooperatives; (d) three members to represent the handloom weavers;25(e) four members to represent the union ministries of finance, planning, labour and employment and textiles, to be appointed by the central government in such manner, as may be prescribed;(f) five members of parliament, of whom three shall be from lok sabha and two shall be from rajya sabha, to be nominated by the presiding officers of the respective houses; and(g) four members to be nominated by the government of the states on rotation basis in alphabetical order30(3) the authority shall be a body corporate by the name aforesaid, having perpetual succession and 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 or be sued35(4) the term of office of the chairperson, deputy chairperson and members of the authority and the procedure to be followed in the discharge of the functions of the authority shall be such as may be prescribed(5) the salary and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions of the service of the chairperson and members of the authority shall be such as may be prescribed40(6) the headquarter of the authority shall be at hyderabad in the state of andhra pradesh(7) the authority may establish its offices at such other places, as it may deem necessary for carrying out the purposes of this act(8) the authority shall have a secretariat with such officers and members of staff and with such terms and conditions of services as may be prescribedfunctions of the authority54 (1) the authority shall, subject to guidelines issued by the central government in this regard, in coordination with the state governments take,  steps for the overall welfare of weavers including, removal of poverty and indebtedness, raising the standard of living, modernizing the looms and making easy availability of raw materials at affordable prices and marketing of handloom cloth(2) without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions, the authority shall,—10(a) formulate and implement welfare policy for the handloom weavers andworkers;(b) maintain records of handlooms existing in all villages, districts and otherplaces throughout the country;(c) maintain a district-wise register of handlooms, handloom weavers andworkers with such particulars and in such manner as may be prescribed;15(d) regulate the service conditions of workers in such manner as may beprescribed;(e) fix minimum wages for handloom workers from time to time;(f) ensure modernization of old handlooms;20(g) encourage and provide all necessary assistance to handloom weaverscooperatives;(h) organize exhibitions, melas and such other activities to promote handloomsector in different parts of the country;25(i) make suitable arrangements for purchase of handloom cloth by governmentagencies on cash and carry basis;(j) encourage export of handloom cloth and handloom garments; and(k) perform such other functions as may be assigned to it by the centralgovernment from time to time305 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a fund to be known as the handloom weavers welfare fund with a corpus of rupees five thousand croreconstitution of the handloom weavers welfare fund(2) the central government and the state governments shall contribute to the fund in such ratio as may be prescribed35(3) there shall also be credited to the fund such other sums as may be received by way of donations, contributions, assistance or otherwise from individuals weavers, workers, body corporates, financial institutions, firms and partnerships(4) the fund shall be administered by a board of trustees, which shall be constituted by the central government in such manner as may be prescribed(5) the fund shall be utilized for the following purposes:—40(a) providing interest free consumption loans to handloom weavers and workers;(b) making ex-gratia payments at prescribed rates to each of the bereavedfamilies of handloom weavers who die in harness; (c) providing loans at nominal rate of interest for purchasing cotton yarn and othernecessary raw materials to the handloom weavers;45(d) providing insurance cover to handlooms, handloom weavers and workers;(e) providing healthcare facilities to the handloom weavers and workers and their dependent family members;(f) providing educational facilities and vocational training to the wards of weavers and workers; and(g) such other welfare measures as may be prescribed56 (1) it shall be the duty of the central government to ensure regular supply of yarnto the handloom weavers at affordable and subsidized ratescentral government to ensure regular supply of yarn(2) it shall be compulsory for all ministries, departments, subordinate offices underthe appropriate government and public sector enterprises to purchase their entire cloth requirements exclusively from the primary handloom weavers10(3) the appropriate government shall ban the export of cotton and cotton yarn7 the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf, provide to the authority such sums as may consider necessary for the efficient functioning of the authoritycentral government to provide funds annual report158 (1)  the authority shall prepare, in such form and manner, as may be prescribed, anannual report giving a true and full account of its activities during the previous year and submit it to the central government(2) the central government shall cause the report submitted to it under sub-section(1) to be laid before each house of parliament20power to remove difficulties9 (1) 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, notinconsistent with the provisions of this act, as appear to it to be necessary or expedient for removing the difficulty:25provided that no such order shall be made after the expiry of the period of two yearsfrom the date of the commencement of this act(2) every order made under this section shall, as soon as may be, after it is made, be laid before each house of parliament10 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 not in derogation of any other law for time being in force30power to make rules11 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rulesfor carrying out the purposes of this act35(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 or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that tule statement of objects and reasonsin a vast nation like ours there are lakhs of handloom units in which millions of weavers and workers weave cloth on the looms to earn their livelihood these handloom units are mainly located in andhra pradesh, tamil nadu, uttar pradesh, bihar, madhya pradesh, maharashtra and,  in fact, handloom units are there in every part of our country for most of the weavers, it is their family profession which passes on from one generation to other and their entire families are involved in this profession such as dyeing, bleaching, mercerizing, embroidery, printing, etc for them, handloom is the only source of their livelihood and prosperity handloom cloth is very popular amongst the people not only in the country but also abroad, where it is in great demand in fashion world too, it is very popularbut, unfortunately, handloom sector is not doing very well and it is at the verge of collapse and extinction the foremost reason for this is non-availability of cotton yarn at affordable prices the cotton yarn, which is the principal raw material for handloom cloth has become very costly and it is difficult for the weavers to purchase it from the market if it is purchased at market price, then the cloth become prohibitively costly for the buyers this situation is leading to closure of the handloom units one of the primary reasons of costly cotton yarn is the export of cotton and cotton yarn from the country resulting in scarce availability of yarn in the country other reasons are costly handloom cloth which has gone beyond the reach of common man, non-purchase of handloom products by the government and its organisations, exploitation by private traders, non-availability of easy consumption and working loans from banks and other financial institutions resulting in exploitation of weavers by money-lenders, absence of welfare funds for the weavers and any statutory authority to watch their interestanother shocking factor is that this vital sector has been consistently ignored by the successive governments at the centre as well as in the states as a result, the powerloom sector and cloth mills have invaded this sector their lobby is so strong that it has ensured non-implementation of the handlooms (reservation of articles for production) act, 1985 by obtaining an injunction from the court and no government has tried to get it vacated from the court this way, the very purpose of enacting the law has been defeated this way, it is very likely that the handloom sector may vanish in near future, if no concrete, remedial measures are taken to save this sectorthe most disturbing and sad part is that the frustrated handloom weavers, who are neck deep in debt trap are committing suicide in various parts of the country thousands of such hapless weavers have already ended their lives and much more are at the verge of doing so the circle region of andhra pradesh is very much ahead in this regard reports of many starvation deaths of handloom weavers have also come to light, which is no doubt is a blot on our democratic polity as such remedial measures have to be taken urgently so that handloom weavers and handloom factories are saved from extinction it has, therefore, been proposed to establish the national handloom weavers authority and also the handloom weavers welfare fund for the purpose some other miscellaneous provisions have also been proposed this will certainly improve the lot of handloom weavers and save them from starvation and committing suicide in various parts of our nationhence this bill financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill seeks to constitute the national handloom weavers welfare authority clause 4 provides for certain steps to be taken by the authority for welfare of handloom weavers and workers clause 5 provides for the constitution of the handloom weavers welfare fund clause 6 provides that the central government shall ensure supply of yarn to handloom weavers at subsidized rates clause 7 provides that the central government shall provide funds to the authority the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupees five thousand crore may involve as recurring expenditure per annuma non-recurring expenditure of rupees two hundred crore is also likely to be incurred 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 will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character———— a billto provide for protection of distressed handloom weavers who are debt ridden, exploitedand are committing suicide for welfare measures like life insurance coverage, interestfree working capital and consumption loan, healthcare, educational facilities to thechildren, availability of affordable raw material, modernisation of  looms,housing and compulsory purchase of handloom cloth by governmentand for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto————(shri rajesh ranjan, mp)gmgipmrnd—2931ls(s3)—18-11-2016