 bill no 20 of  2014 the national commission for agricultural costs and prices bill, 2014 byshrimati jayshreeben k patel, mp a billto provide for the establishment of a commission for ensuring minimum support prices to farmers for their agricultural produce and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-fifth year of the republic of india as follows:—1  (1) this act may be called the national commission for agricultural costs andprices act, 2014short title, extent and commencement(2) it extends to the whole of indiadefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—5(i) "agricultural produce" includes paddy, wheat, sugarcane, millet, barley, ragi, madwa, cotton, maize, soyabean, rapeseed, mustard, peanut, coconut, sunflower, groundnut, safflower,  sesamum, niger seed, gram, tur, urad, moong, masoor (lentil), peas, jute, cashew nut, pepper, turmeric, tobacco, potato, tomato, onion, mango, apple, orange, kinnoo, mousambi and other such foodgrain or commodity as may be prescribed;(ii) "commission" means the national commission for agricultural costs and prices constituted under section 3;10(iii) "cost of cultivation " includes operating cost plus imputed value of labour including family, market based rental value of land, interest on both working and fixed capital, transportation cost, marketing cost and insurance premium; and(iv) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act153 (1) the central government shall, as soon as may be, but not later than six months of the commencement of this act, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a commission to be known as the national commission for agricultural costs and pricesconstitution of the national commission for agricultural costs and prices(2) the commission 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  sued204 (1) the commission shall consist of—(i) (a) a chairperson; and composition of the commission(b) a vice-chairperson, to be appointed, from amongst persons of eminence having special knowledge in the field of agricultural economics, by the central government;25(ii) three members of parliament, of whom two shall be from lok sabha and one from rajya sabha, to be nominated by the presiding officers of the respective houses;(iii) one member from each state having practical experience in the field of agriculture with  compulsory agricultural and rural background to be nominated with designation "state advisor" by the central government in consultation with the respective state governments;30(iv) one member each representing the union ministries of agriculture, consumer affairs, food and public distribution and food processing industries;(v) one member representing the indian council of agricultural research; and (vi) two members representing farmers to be appointed by the centralgovernment  in such manner as may be prescribed35(2) the salary and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions of the service of the chairperson, vice-chairperson and members of the commission, shall be such as may be prescribed(3) the head office of the commission shall be at new delhi40(4) the central government shall provide such number of officers and staff to the commission as may be required for its efficient functioning(5) the salary and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions of the service of the officers and staff of the commission, shall be such as may be prescribed5 (1) the commission shall perform the following functions:—functions of the commission(a) fix and declare the minimum support price of agricultural produce on the basis of cost of cultivation and announce the same well in advance of the sowing season:5provided that minimum support price of an agricultural produce may vary fordifferent states depending upon the cost of production in each state;(b) ensure that the farmers get the minimum support prices fixed by thecommission for their agricultural produce;(c) recommend to the central government measures for raising the standard offarming in the country, especially raising farm productivity and farm profitability;10(d) ensure that the prices of the agricultural produce do not fall below the minimumsupport price fixed by the commission due to undesirable activities of traders and middlemen after the post-harvest period; and15(e) give wide publicity to the minimum support prices of the agricultural producefixed by it(2) the commission shall, while discharging its functions, consult state governments and such other agencies as it thinks fit, which are responsible for procurement, supply, distribution, trade and other activities in relation to agricultural produce so as to ensure payment of minimum support prices to the farmers206 (1) the commission shall set up its zonal office in the capital of each state to beheaded by the state advisor who shall be assisted by such number of persons, as may be prescribedcommission to have offices in state capitals(2) the zonal offices shall study the farming environment prevailing in the respective states, and present a report to the commission before the beginning of each sowing season giving such details, including agricultural productivity, as may be prescribed257 the central government shall ensure implementation of the minimum  support prices fixed by the commissioncentral government to implementthe minimumsupport prices308 where a farmer fails to sell his agricultural produce in the open market at theminimum support price fixed by the commission, the central government and the state government shall purchase the agricultural produce from the farmer at the price fixed by the commissioncompulsory purchasing of agricultural produce by the central and the state governments9 the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf, provide adequate funds to the commission for carrying out the purposes of this actcentral government to provide funds3510 if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the centralgovernment may make such order or give such direction, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, as may appear to be necessary or expedient for removing the difficulty:power of the central government to remove difficultiesprovided that no such order shall be made after the expiry of the period of twoyears from the date of the commencement of this act4011 the provisions of this act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistenttherewith contained in any other law for the time being in forceact to have overriding effectpower to make rules12 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act5(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 rule10 statement of objects and reasonsthe share of agriculture in gross domestic product (gdp) of the country is constantly falling every year since independence as per the advanced estimates of national income for the year 2012-13, agriculture and its allied sectors contributed 137 per cent to the gross domestic product in 1950, the share of agriculture in gdp was 51 per cent and by the year 2011-12, it came down to a mere 141 per cent and that too without any substantial decrease in the number of the people dependent on it still more than sixty per cent of our population is directly dependent on agriculture it is shocking that the policy makers, the leaders, the bureaucracy, etc are apathetic to the fact that more than three lakh farmers have committed suicide across the country during the last thirteen yearsthere are several reasons behind the sorry state of agriculture in the country, but one of the major reasons is non-availability of remunerative prices of agricultural produce in the circumstances, middlemen, hoarders, money lenders, etc are exploiting the farmers the commission for agricultural costs and prices (cacp) under the ministry of agriculture fixes the minimum support price (msp) of a few agricultural commodities however, this commission has no statutory backing and it often happens that the msp determined by the cacp is not remunerative for farmers perhaps it would not be incorrect to say that the cacp has failed in its duty to provide remunerative prices to farmers there is no proper mechanism to calculate the cost of production of agricultural produce and, therefore, the msp announced by the cacp is far below the cost incurred by the farmers to raise their crops therefore, it is felt that if a fully autonomous statutory commission is established to fix the minimum support prices of the agricultural produce with certain guidelines, it will go a long way in mitigating the miseries of the farmers of the countryjune 9, 2014 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the constitution of a national commission for agricultural costs and prices clause 4 provides for composition and salary and allowances of the chairperson, vice-chairperson and other members of the commission clause 5 provides, inter alia, for giving wide publicity to minimum support price of the agricultural produce by the commission clause 6 provides for establishment of zonal offices in the capital of each state clause 8 provides for compulsory purchasing of agricultural produce by the central and the state governments clause 9 provides for payment of adequate funds to the commission for carrying out the purposes of the bill the bill, therefore, if enacted, would involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a recurring expenditure of rupees two hundred crore would be involved per annuma non-recurring expenditure of about rupees one hundred crore is also likely to be involved memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 12 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill the rules will relate to matters of detail only the delegation of legislative power is, therefore, of a normal character———— a billto provide for the establishment of a commission for ensuring minimum support prices to farmers for their agricultural produce and for matters connected therewith or  incidental thereto————(shrimati jayshreeben k patel, mp)gmgipmrnd—679ls(s3)—27-06-2014