 bill no 115 of  2015 the national commission for farmers' income bill, 2015 byshri r dhruvanarayana, mpa billto provide for the constitution of a national commission for farmers' income and for matters connected therewith and incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-sixth year of the republic of india as follows:— chapter i preliminary1 (1)  this act may be called the national commission for farmers' income act, 2015 (2) it extends to the whole of india except the state of jammu and kashmirshort title, extent and commencement(3) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires:—definitions(b) 'farmer' means a person who owns land and cultivates or causes it to be cultivated for agricultural or horticulture purposes and has no income from any source other than agriculture or horticulture;5(c) 'member' means a member of the commission and includes the member-secretary; and(d) 'prescribed' means prescribed by rules made under this act chapter ii the national commission for farmers' income103 (1) the central government shall constitute a commission to be known as the national commission for farmers' income to exercise the powers conferred on, and to perform the functions assigned to it, under this act(2) the commission shall consist of—constitution of the national commission for farmers' income(a) a chairperson, committed to the cause of farmers livelihood, to be nominated by the central government;15(b) five members to be nominated by the central government from amongst persons of ability, integrity and standing who had had experience in agriculture, social justice, law or legislation committed to ensuring the livelihood through growth in income of farmers:20provided that at least one member each shall be from amongst persons belonging to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, respectively;(c) a member-secretary to be nominated by the central government, who shall be—(i) an expert in the field of management, organizational structure on agricultural issues, or25(ii) an officer who is a member of a civil service of the union or of an all-india service or holds a civil post under the union with appropriate experience4 (1) the chairperson and every member shall hold office for such period, not exceeding three years, as may be specified by the central government in this behalf30term of office and conditions of service of chairperson and members(2) the chairperson or a member (other than the member-secretary who is a member of a civil service of the union or of an all-india service or holds a civil post under the union) may, by writing and addressed to the central government, resign from the office of chairperson or, as the case may be, of the member at any time(3) the central government shall remove a person from the office of chairperson or a member referred to in sub-section (2) if that person—(a) becomes an undercharged insolvent;35(b) gets convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for an offence which in the opinion of the central government involves moral turpitude;(c) becomes of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent court;(d) refuses to act or becomes incapable of acting;40(e) is without taking leave from the commission, absent from three consecutive meetings of the commission; and(f) in the opinion of the central government has so abused the position of chairperson or member so as to render his continuance detrimental to public interest:provided that no person shall be removed under this clause until that person has been given an opportunity of being heard in the matter45(4) a vacancy caused under sub-section (3), shall be filled within one month from the date on which the vacancy has been created(5) the salaries and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions of service of the chairperson and members shall be such as may be prescribed55 (1) the central government shall provide suitable officers and employees to thecommission for its efficient performance under this actofficers and employees of the commission(2) the salaries and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions of service of officers and employees shall be such as may be prescribed10salaries and allowances to be paid out of grants6 the salaries and allowances payable to the chairperson and the members and the administrative expenses, including salaries, allowances and pensions payable to the officers and other employees referred to in section 5, shall be paid out of the grants referred to in sub-section (1) of section 117 no act or proceeding of the commission shall not be questioned or shall be invalid on the grounds merely of existence of any vacancy or defect in the constitution of the commission15vacancies not to invalidate proceedings of the commission8 (1) the commission may appoint committees as may be necessary for dealing with or studying issues that may be taken up by the commission from time to time;committees of the commission(2) the commission may appoint members, as it may deem fit, on such committees under this sub-section, provided that, the members of the committee who are not members of the commission shall not have the right to vote on matters of the commission;20(3) the allowances payable to members appointed to the committees shall be such as may be prescribed9 (1) the commission or a committee thereof shall meet as and when necessary and shall meet at such time and place as the chairperson may think fitprocedure to be regulated by the government25(2) the commission shall regulate its own procedure and the procedure of the committees thereof(3) all orders and decision of the commission shall be authenticated by the member-secretary chapter iii functions of the commission3010 (1) the commission shall perform all or any of the following functions, namely—functions of the commission(a) undertake annual income surveys of farmers across various categories, including different crops and landholding sizes;(b) make policy suggestions to ensure that minimum income accrues to farmers across various categories;35(c) design periodically an income security framework for various categories of farmers, inter-alia including market interventions, compensation, subsidies, reduction in cost of production, mechanization, capacity building, credit enhancement, strengthening supply chains or any other tool that the commission deems fit;40(d) review, from time to time, various schemes of the central government pertaining to agriculture and income of farmers;(e) make recommendations to central government for effective implementation of policies and schemes ensuring that the minimum income accrues to farmers(f) call for special studies and investigations into problems arising out of agrarian distress, and make timely recommendations to the central government for appropriate action5(g) undertake promotional and educational research to ensure minimum incomes for farming households, enhancement of income of farmers and productivity in agriculture(h) take suo-moto notice of matters relating to—(i) farmer distress and particularly, farmer suicides across the country;10(ii) non-implementation or poor implementation of policies or schemes of farmers; and(iii) non-compliance of policy decisions, guidelines and instructions taken for farmers (i) evaluate the status of livelihood of farmers across various regions in the country;15(j) make periodic reports to the government on any matters pertaining to farmers;and(k) take up any other matter that may be referred to it by central government chapter iv finance, accounts and audit20grants by central government11 (1) the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament bylaw in this behalf provide to the commission by way of grants such sums of money as the central government may think fit for being utilized for the purpose of this act25(2) the commission may spend such sums as it thinks fit for performing the fucntions under this act, and such sums shall be treated as expenditure payable out of grants under sub-section (1)accounts and audit12 (1) the commission shall maintain proper accounts and other relevant records andprepare an annual statement of accounts in such form as may be prescribed by central government in consultation with comptroller and auditor-general of india30(2) the accounts of the commission shall be audited by comptroller and auditor-general of india at such intervals as may be specified by him and any expenditure incurred in connection with such audit shall be payable to comptroller and auditor-general of india(3) the accounts of the commission, as certified by the comptroller and auditor-general along with the audit report shall be forwarded annually to the central government by the commission35annual report13 the commission shall prepare, in such form and at such time, for each financialyear, as may be prescribed, its annual report, giving a full account of its activities during the financial year and forward a copy thereof to the central government4014 the central government shall cause the annual report along with a memorandum of actions taken on recommendations and reasons for non-acceptance of recommendations, if any, of any such recommendations to be laid, as soon as may be, after the reports are received, and the audit report before each house of parliamentannual report and audit report to be laid before parliament chapter v miscellaneous4515 the chairperson, the members, officers and the other employees of the commission shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of section 21 of the indian penal codechairperson, members and staff of the commission to be public servants16 the central government shall consult the commission on all major policy matters affecting farmerscentral government to consult commissionpower to make rules17 (1) the central government may by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the provisions of this act5(2) in particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely—(a) salaries, allowances and terms and conditions of service of chairperson and members under sub-section (5) of section 4 and other employees and officers under sub-section (2) of section 510(b) allowances paid to members appointed to committees under sub-section (3)of section 8(c) other matters under sub-section 3 of section 4 on the basis of which the central government can remove a chairperson or member from the commission(d) the form, and timeline as per which the annual statements of accounts shall be maintained under section 121520(3) 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 session 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 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 reasonseven today, the issue of suicides by farmers continues to plague our country as per the national crime records bureau (ncrb), from 1995 to 2012, in a period of 18 years, 285 lakh farmers have committed suicide in india in 2012 and 2013 alone, 13,754 and 11,772 farmers have committed suicide high indebtedness and low agricultural  earnings have been a prime cause of farmer suicides as per the nsso, 70th round survey (january 2013-december 2013), an average farm household earns less than rupees sixth thousand and five hundred per month those with small and marginal land holdings are earning even lower income from agriculture to generate sufficient income, these farmers have to depend on alternative employment for their livelihood in addition to this, about 52% of agricultural households across the country are estimated to be indebted, this percentage being as high as 929% in state of andhra pradeshon account of such extreme farmer distress, the national farmers commission under the chairmanship of prof ms swaminathan in its report had pointed out that "success in agricultural progress should be measured by the growth of farmers' incomes and not just by production figures" as echoed by the commission, for sustainability of agriculture, farmers' income and livelihood must be the focal point of policy framing in agriculturein pursuance of this objective, the bill seeks to establish a national commission for farmers' income among other things, the commission shall undertake annual surveys and studies to bridge the data gap that exists on farmers, income, survey and study farmers income across crops, landholding sizes and regions and guide policies of the government towards ensuring minimum and fair income to the farmershence this billnew delhi;r dhruvanarayanamarch 3, 2015 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for constitution of the national commission for farmers'income clause 6 provides for salaries and allowances to be paid to the chairperson and members of the commission clause 8 provides for appointment of committees to deal with or study issues that may be taken by the commission clause 9 provides for meetings of the commission and committees clause 11 provides that the central government shall provide funds to the commission clause 12 provides for payment of expenditure incurred on audit of the commissionthe bill, therefore, if enacted would involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india at this stage, it is not possible to give the exact amount to be incurred however, it is estimated that a recurring expenditure of about rupees five hundred crore will be involved per annuma non-recurring expenditure of rupees one hundred crore is also likely to be involved memora ndum regarding delegated legislationclause 17 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules to carry out the provisions of the bill such rules may provide for matters, such as—(a) salaries and allowances payable to, and the other terms and conditions of service of, the chairperson and members under sub-section (5) of section 4 of officers and other employees under sub-section (2) of section 5;(b) allowances for attending the meetings of the committee by the co-opted persons under sub-section (3) of section 8;(c) the form in which the annual statement of accounts shall be maintained under sub-section (1) of section 12;(d) the form in, and the time at, which the annual report shall be prepared undersection 13;(e) any other matter which is required to be, or may be, prescribed2 the matter in respect of which rules will be made are matters of procedural and administrative detail and it is not practicable to provide them under the bill itself the delegation of the legislative power is, therefore, of a normal character———————— a billto provide for the constitution of a national commission for farmers' income and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto————(shri r dhruvanarayana, mp)gmgipmrnd—22ls(s3)—20-04-2015