 bill no  262  of  2015 the  neglected and suffering widows (protection and welfare) bill, 2015 by shri rajesh ranjan, mp a billwidows of the society by initiating welfare measures for such widows by the central and state governments and for the establishment of an authority for that purpose and for matters connected  therewith and incidental theretobe  it enacted by parliament in the sixty-sixth year of the republic of india as follows:—(3) it shall come into force on such date, as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appointdefinitions2 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;5(b) "authority" means the widows welfare authority established under section 4;10(c) "neglected or destitute" in relation to a widow means a widow who has been disowned and neglected by her relatives or who has no relative or kinsman to support her or a widow having no source of income with or without dependent minor children;(d) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act; (e) "suffering" in relation to a widow means a widow stricken with infirmity due to old age, physical deformity, sickness or disease, mental illness and who lives uncared for; and15(f) "widow" means a legally married woman and whose husband has diednational policy for the welfare of widows3 the central government shall, as soon as may be, after the commencement of this act and in consultation with the government of the states, formulate a national policy for the welfare and rehabilitation of neglected, abandoned, destitute and suffering widows of the country for being uniformally implemented throughout the country204 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, establish a widows welfare authority with its headquarters at madhepur in the state of biharestablishment of widows welfare authority(2) the authority shall be a body corporate by the name aforesaid having perpetual succession and a 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 and be sued25(3) the authority may establish its branches in the states and union territories in such manner as may be prescribed(4) the authority may appoint such number of officers and employees as may be necessary for the efficient functioning of the authority and carrying out the purposes of this act with such terms and conditions of service and in such manner as may be prescribed305 (1) the authority shall consist of,—composition of the authority(a) the union minister of social justice and empowerment, chairperson, ex-officio;(b) a vice-chairperson preferably a widow to be appointed by the central government35(c) three women members of parliament of whom two shall be from the lok sabha and one from the rajya sabha to be nominated by the respective presiding officers of each house;40(d) two members representing the department of women and child development of the union ministry of human resource development to be appointed by the central government;(e) not more than four members to be appointed by the central government in consultation with the governments of the states by rotation in alphabetical order to represent the governments of the states;45(f) two members to be appointed by the central government from amongst the non-governmental organizations working for the welfare of the widows (2) the term of office of the vice-chairperson and every other member shall be four years5(3) the authority shall meet at such times and places and shall observe such rules of procedure in regard to the transaction of business at its meetings including the quorum, as may be prescribedfunctions of the authority6 (1) the authority shall promote and provide, by such measures, as it may think fit, the appropriate rehabilitation and welfare of destitute, neglected and suffering widows with or without dependent children10(2) without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of sub-section (1), the authority shall,—(a) maintain district, block and village-wise register of widows in such categories as may be prescribed;(b) collect and get verified the antecedents of every widow for the purpose of giving subsistence allowance and other facilities under this act;15(c) give wide publicity through the print and electronic media about the welfare measures being taken by the authority;(d) take such other measures as it may deem necessary for carrying out the purposes of this act 7  a widow,—20(i) who is destitute and neglected; orsubsistence allowance for the widows(ii) who is suffering; or (iii) who has no son; or25(iv) who has a son but the son has not attained the age of twenty-one years or has attained the age of twenty-one years but is in capable of earning his livelihood due to his physical or mental disability or who has remained unemployed despite his best efforts shall be eligible for subsistence allowance of an amount not exceeding two thousand rupees per month from the authority and the authority shall pay the subsistence allowance to such widows registered under this act on an application prescribed for the purpose308 the authority shall provide to the neglected and suffering widows registered under this act the following facilities, namely:—other facilities to the widows(a) residential or hostel accommodation free of cost to every widow having nosuch accommodation;35(b) free education including vocational and technical education to dependent children of such widows;(c) gainful employment as per their calibre, qualifications and abilities; (d) free vocational education and training wherever necessary; (e) such financial assistance or facilities as may be necessary for the rehabilitation, welfare, development and maintaining a respectable life in the society:40provided that if a widow covered under this act gets gainful employment or re-marries the facilities provided to her under this act shall be withdrawn from the date she gets employment or remarries, as the case may bewidows welfare fund9 (1) the central government shall by notification constitute a fund to be known as the widows welfare fund for carrying out the purposes of this act(2) the fund shall consists of contributions from the central government, state governments,  institutions, organisations, body corporate both public and private in such ratio as may be prescribedannual report510 the authority shall prepare once in every calendar year, in such form and at suchtime as may be prescribed an annual report giving a true and full account of its activities during the previous year and copies thereof shall be forwarded to the central government and that government shall cause the same to be laid before both houses of parliamentrights of widows11 (1) notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being inforce, a widow shall have the following rights, namely:—10(a) right to reside with her in-laws; (b) right to reside in the property acquired or leased or rented by her son orsons;(c) right to adequate health care and maintenance allowance for a decent lifefrom her son or sons15(2) in case a widow is forced to reside separately by her major son or sons she shall beentitled to such amount of maintenance allowance from her son or sons every month as may be precribed20(3) the amount of maintenance allowance payable under sub-section (2) shall be determined after taking into account the son's income, standard of living, any immovable property and the standard of living which the widow enjoyed before the husband's death12 it shall be the duty of the appropriate government to enforce the provisions contained in section 11 of this actappropriate government to enforce the rights of the widowspenalty2513 whoever contravenes the provisions of section 11 shall be punishable withimprisonment for a term which shall not be less than two years but may extend to five years and also with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees14 the central government shall, from time to time, after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf, provide adequate funds to the authority for carrying out the purposes of this actcentral government to provide funds30act to have overriding effect15 the provisions of this act and the rules made thereunder shall have effectnotwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force, but save as aforesaid the provision of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other law for the time being in forcepower to make rules16  (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rulesfor carrying out the purposes of this act35 40(2) every rule made under this section 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 rule statement of objects and reasonsin our country there are more than three crore widows and more than fifty per cent of them are old widows majority of the widows belong to lower and middle-income groups who become destitute after the death of their husbands quite a large number of old widows can be seen languishing in the bhajan ashrams of mathura, vrindavan, patna, bodh gaya and varanasi chanting bhajans and leading miserable life after the death of their husbands most of the widows, particularly those whose husbands were not government servants or affluent ones, do not have enough means to support them the situation becomes more precarious if they have dependent children to support in order to survive, they work in the households and do all sorts of other works but many of them are unable to even work because of infirmity due to old age, illness and mental disorder or physical deformity such widows have no alternative but to beg for survival many young widows, when disowned by their inlaws are forced into prostitution by unscrupulous elements the position is more disgraceful in rural and semi-urban areas where they are seen as bad women and are ignored on wedding and other auspicious occasions because of illiteracy and helplessness they remain an exploited lotthe widows are also a part and parcel of our society and in a welfare state like ours it is the duty of the state to rehabilitate the needy,  neglected and suffering widows and implement welfare measures for hapless widows by preparing a national policy for their welfare and rehabilitation this can be done by establishing and independent authority which will exclusively look after the needy, neglected and suffering widows so that they are not forced into begging or prostitution instead, they should live a happy and respectable life in the society with their dependent childrenhence this billnew delhi;rajesh ranjannovember 13, 2015 financial memorandumclause 4 of the bill provides for the establishment of the widows welfare authorityclause 7 provides for payment of subsistence allowance  clause 8 provide for other facilities to the widows clause 9 provides for the constitution of widows welfare fund for the purposes of the act clause 14 provides for the central government to provide adequate funds to the authority the bill, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupees ten thousand crore may involve as recurring expenditure per annuma  non-recurring expenditure of rupees five thousand crore may also involves memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 16 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of this bill as the rules will relate to matters of details only the delegation of legislative power is of normal character lok  sabha———— a billto provide for the protection of the needy, suffering, abandoned, destitute, old or infirmwidows of the society by initiating welfare measures for such widows by the centraland state governments and for the establishment of an authority for thatpurpose and for matters connected  therewith and incidental thereto————(shri rajesh ranjan,  mp)gmgipmrnd—2939ls(s3)—01-12-2015