 bill no xvii of 2017 the women (empowerment and welfare) bill, 2017 a billto establish a women empowerment and welfare authority to provide for monthlyincentive schemes for girl children to delay marriage until age of twenty oneyears, special saving schemes for women with higher rate of interestsinclusive of annual bonus if husband is non-alcoholic, special fund for micro credit schemes, guidelines for mobile healthcare facilitiesfor agricultural labour, regulation of private placement agencies,schemes for widows and for all matters connectedtherewith and incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-eighth year of the republic of  india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the women (empowerment and welfare) act, 2017(2) it extends to the whole of indiashort title, extent and commencement(3) it shall come into force on such date, as the central government may, by notificationin the official gazette, appointdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "annual report" means a report giving the details of developmental activities taken up over the year by the authority and detailing about targets set and achieved;(b) "appropriate government" means in the case of a state or a union territory having legislature, the concerned state government or the union territory government, as the case may be, and in all other cases, the central government5(c) "authority" means the women empowerment and welfare authority established under section 3;(d) "domestic worker" means a woman employed to do work in or for a private household(s) which includes cooking, cleaning, gardening, childcare, and old-age care10(e) "health certificate" means a document signed by a competent health authority provding proof that a person in non-alcoholic(f) "placement agency" means any agency or contractor, whether registered or otherwise, engaged in the placement of domestic workers with prospective empolyers(g) "prescribed" means prescribed by the rules made under this act(h) "small family" means family having not more than two children15constitution of women empowerment and welfare authority3 (1) with effect from such date as the central government may, by notification, appoint, there shall be constituted, for the purposes of this act, an authority, to be known as the women empowerment and welfare authority consisting of the following members, namely:—(a) union minister, ministry of women and child development —ex officio chairperson;20(b) chairperson, national commission for women—ex officio member;(c) secretaries of the union ministries of (i) women and child development,(ii) health and family welfare and (iii) statistics and programme implementation—ex officio members;25(d) director general of health services, ministry of health and family welfare—ex officio member;(e) director, national institute of health and family welfare—ex officio member30(2) the central government shall appoint such number of officers and staff as it considers necessary for the efficient functioning of the authority under this act(3) the qualifications and experience, salary, allowances and terms of conditions of services of officers and staff of the authority shall be such, as may be prescribedmeetings of the authority4 (1) the authority shall meet at such intervals and places and shall observe such rules of procedure in regard to transaction of business at its meetings as may be prescribed by the central government35(2) the expenditure incurred to attend meetings by the members referred to in subclauses (a) to (e) of section 3, shall be borne by their concerned controlling authoritiesfunctions of the authority405 (1) subject to any guidelines issued by the central government under the provisionsof this act, the authority shall perform and undertake such functions as may be necessary to ensure empowerment of women in the country and shall formulate a comprehensive policy within one year of its constitution to achieve the objective(2) without prejudice to the provisions contained in sub-section (1), the functions of the authority shall include to:—(a) undertake a baseline study to collect comprehensive data about girl children and their families above the age of eighteen which shall be completed within one year of setting up of the authority;(b) formulate a monthly incentive scheme to provide for regular income to familieshaving unmarried girl children upto the age of twenty one years;5(c) recommend to the central government to prepare a special savings schemesfor woman with higher rates of interest;(d) formulate a special bonus scheme for families where the husband produceshealth certificate;(e) provide for funds to encourage micro credit for young women enterpreneurs;10(f) frame guidelines for agricultural land owners to provide for mobile health carefacilities and social security cover for the women agricultural labour;(g) recommend to the appropriate government for formulating stringentregulations for private placement agencies and regulations for domestic workers;15(h) recommend to the appropriate government for penalties for harassment ofdomestic workers;(i) establish a separate widow welfare board to look into collecting data onwidowed woman and formulating rehabilitation schemes for widowed women; (j) provide guidelines to the appropriate government for establishing all womanpolice stations, banks and courts as district levles within specific timelines;20(k) undertake, promote and publish studies relating to the importance of womanempowerment;(l) frame syllabus for including awareness about woman empowerment in school curriculum; and(m) undertake such other activities as may be prescribed by the central government25(3) the authority shall disseminate necessary knowledge and information collected, to the respective departments of the central and the state governments30annual report and its laying before the parliament6 (1) the authority shall prepare once in every year, in such form and at such time as may be prescribed, an annual report giving the summary of its activities, including schemes it has undertaken and recommended to the government during the year and it shall contain statements of annual accounts of the authority(2) a copy of the report shall be forwarded to the central government, and the central government shall lay the report before each house of parliamentgovernment to provide funds35 7 the central government, shall from time to time provide, after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf, requisite funds for carrying out the purposes of this actpower to remove difficulty408 if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the central government in consultation with the state governments may make such order or give such direction not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, as appears to it to be necessary or expedient for the removal of any difficultypower to make rules9 the central government, in consultation with the state governments, may bynotification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act statement of objects and reasons'there is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of woman is improved it is not possible for a bird to fly on only one wing' this was said by swami vivekananda when he was asked about welfare of woman out of the 125 crore citizens of this country, 652 crores are women the sex ratio is 945females per 1000 males though targeted welfare schemes, taken up by the government over the past five decades for woman have resulted in better livelihood for them, still there is a lot more to be achieved literacy rates among woman in india is still lagging and the numbers relating to woman in the workforce is abysmal though our constitution envisages to provide for equal means of livelihood and equal pay for men and woman, it is still a distant dreamwe pride ourselves as a country, with regard to our economic growth but this growth remains a façade, masking our low social indicators woman should be key players for this change to happen policy which aims at bringing higher proportion of woman into the workforce, as teachers, health care workers and skilled labour force in factories should be the first stepping stone towards this providing them with the weapon of education will give them this much required freedomthis bill, proposes to create a women empowerment and welfare authority to carry out major policy changes and provide for the necessary guidelines this authority will inter alia bring in monthly incentive schemes for families of girl children who have not been married until the age of twenty one also, special saving schemes shall be introduced for woman in every household with higher rates of interest and annual bonuses if husband produces a non-alcoholic certificate from government hospital special fund would be created to provide for micro credit to woman entrepreneurs who plan on start-ups just after their college education mobile health care facilities and social security cover would also be provided for agricultural labour working in their lands it will regulate placement of agency and also organizing domestic workers under a newly formed body to safeguard their rights a separate widows welfare arm proposed to be created to provide for maintaining data on widowed woman in the country and to provide for a subsistence allowance to the needythis bill, shall endeavour to create a positive and just social and economic environment for the woman of this country woman must be put in a position to solve their own problems in their own ways the state must endeavour to take that extra effort to provide for the equal platform this is what this bill envisions, to offer the required momentum to kick start this process our country's journey to regain the status of 'vishwa guru' will become a realty only if the woman folk of this great nation lead the wayhence this billvivek  gupta financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for constitution of the women empowerment and welfare authority and appointment of officers and staffs for its functioning clause 7 makes it obligatory for the central government to provide requisite funds for carrying out the purposes of this bill the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve recurring expenditure of five thousand crore rupees per annum from the consolidated fund of india a non-recurring expenditure to the tune of rupees two hundred crore is also likely to be involved memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 9 of the bill gives power to the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill the rules will relate to matters of details only the delegation of legislative power is of normal character ———— a billto establish a women empowerment and welfare authority to provide for monthlyincentive schemes for girl children to delay marriage until age of twenty oneyears, special saving schemes for women with higher rate of interestsinclusive of annual bonus if husband is non-alcoholic, special fundfor micro credit schemes, guidelines for mobile healthcare facilitiesfor agricultural labour, regulation of private placement agencies,schemes for widows and for all matters connectedtherewith and incidental thereto————(shri  vivek gupta,  mp)gmgipmrnd—3408rs(s3)—02012018