 bill no 157 of 2014 the vegetable products (remunerative support price and insurance) bill, 2014 by shri devji m patel, mp abillto provide for fixation of minimum remunerative support prices and insurance of vegetable products and for matters connected therewithbe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-fifth year of the republic of india as follows:—extent1 (1) this act may be called the vegetable products (remunerative support price andinsurance) act, 2014(2) it extends to the whole of indiadefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(i)  "appropriate government" means in the case of a state, the government of that state and in all other cases, the central government;5(ii) "insurance" means insurance against loss or damage or destruction of vegetable products due to—(a) any natural calamity like flood, drought, storm, frost, whirlwind, earthquake, flash flood, hailstorm or such other calamity as may be specified by the appropriate government from time to time; and(b) inferior quality of fertilizers, pesticides or seeds;10(iii) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act by the central government or the state government, as the case may be; and(iv) "vegetable products" mean vegetables that are used for human consumption and include beet, bitter gourd, brinjal, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, okra, onion, peas, potato, radish, tomato, turnip and banana leaf153  the appropriate government shall announce minimum remunerative support price of vegetable products in such manner and at such intervals, as may be prescribed:provided that different prices may be fixed for different states and different seasonsfixation of minimum remunerative support price of vegetable products204 the appropriate government shall, while announcing the minimum remunerative support price of vegetable products, take into account all relevant factors, which shall include,—(i) expenditure on inputs such as seeds, fertilizers and pesticides;factors for determination of minimum remunerative support price of vegetable products(ii) average labour charges; (iii) expenditure on rent paid for land and tractor;(iv) interest payable to banks on loans taken for growing vegetables;25(v) electricity and water charges; (vi) expenditure on storage of vegetable products; and(vii) expenditure incurred on transportation of vegetable products to market 5 (1) the central government shall formulate a comprehensive insurance scheme for vegetable products30(2) the expenditure incurred on payment of premium for insurance of vegetable products under sub-section (1) shall be borne wholly by the central governmentformulation of a comprehensive insurance scheme for vegetable products356 (1) the appropriate government shall determine the quantum of loss suffered by vegetable growers on account of natural calamity or inferior quality of fertilizers, pesticides or seeds and send a report to this effect to the central government in such manner as may be prescribedpayment of insurance amount in case of natural calamities(2) on receipt of a report from the appropriate government under sub-section (1), the central government shall direct the insurance company concerned to pay the insured amount to vegetable growers within such time and in such manner, as may be prescribed407 the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament, by law in this behalf, provide adequate funds to the states for carrying out the purposes of this actcentral government to provide fundspower to make rules8 (1) the appropriate government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act510(2) every rule made under this act by the central government shall be laid, as soon asmay 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(3) every rule made under this act by the state government shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before the state legislature statement of objects and reasonsthe minimum remunerative support price is announced for many agricultural products from time to time but there is no provision for fixation of minimum remunerative support price for vegetable products in the absence of minimum remunerative support prices, vegetable growers are harassed and cheated by middlemen, brokers and multi-national retail companies they are forced to sell their products at a throwaway price resulting in heavy loss to them further, the crop insurance scheme does not cover vegetable products moreover, the crop insurance scheme provides for insurance only in case of serious natural calamities however, crops are damaged even due to inferior quality of fertilizers, pesticides and seeds which are presently not covered under any crop insurance for example, banana leaves, plants, raw bananas are damaged and destroyed due to whirlwinds but since there is no coverage for loss of crops due to this calamity, banana growers are sufferingaround forty per cent of vegetable products perish during transportation from fields to markets in the absence of proper facilities of transportation and cold storage, farmers are forced to throw away their products there is no insurance coverage for such lossestherefore, the scope of insurance should be increased to cover inferior quality of fertilizers, pesticides and seeds and the definition of natural calamities needs to be widenedhence this billnew delhi;devji m patelnovember 3, 2014 financial  memorandumclause 5 of the bill provides for formulation of a comprehensive insurance scheme for vegetable products clause 6 provides for payment of insurance amount in case of loss suffered by vegetable growers on account of natural calamity or inferior quality of fertilizers, pesticides or seeds clause 7 provides for payment of adequate funds to the states for carrying out the purposes of this act the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is likely to involve a recurring expenditure of about rupees one thousand crore per annuma non-recurring expenditure of about rupees one thousand crore is also likely to be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 8 of the bill empowers the appropriate 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————abillto provide for fixation of minimum remunerative support prices and insurance of vegetable products and for matters connected therewith————(shri devji m patel, mp)gmgipmrnd—2865ls(s3)—03-12-2014