 bill no  104 of  2015 the prevention of begging and rehabilitation of beggars bill, 2015 by dr kirit premjibhai solanki, mp a billto provide for prevention of begging and rehabilitation of beggars in the country and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-sixth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the prevention of begging and rehabilitation of beggarsact, 2015(2) it extends to the whole of india2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—definitions(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) ''beggar" means any person who indulges in begging at public places or go from door to door to solicit alms;(c) ''child" means a boy or girl who is below the age of eighteen years; (d) ''fund" means the rehabilitation fund constituted under section 4; and (e) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act103 (1) notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, the central government shall, as soon as may be, by notification in official gazette, formulate a national action plan for the prevention of begging and rehabilitation of beggars(2) the national action plan referred to in sub-section (1) shall include the following provisions—national action plan for prevention of begging and rehabilitation of beggars(a) collection of exact and authentic data of the number of beggars in the country;15(b) setting up of task forces in every district of the country, in consultation with the appropriate government, to identify the persons indulged in begging at various places and take steps for their rehabilitation;20(c) constitution of an advisory team in association with the stakeholders and the persons having knowledge and expertise in the field of social welfare and prepare a rehabilitation action plan on the basis of recommendations made by the advisory team;(d) formulation of various welfare schemes for the rehabilitation of beggars including construction of rehabilitation homes; and(e) concrete proposals for the prevention of begging254 (1) the central government shall constitute a rehabilitation fund for the rehabilitation of beggars with an initial corpus of rupees one thousand crore(2) a rehabilitation home shall function in every district with the aid of the rehabilitation fundconstitution of the rehabilitation fund for rehabilitation of beggars(3) the fund shall be used for providing following facilities in the rehabilitation homes—30(i) free educational facilities to the dependent children of beggars; (ii) free facilities for vocational training and adult literacy to the beggars; (iii) employment facilitation center for inmates who have received vocational training; and| (                                                                                             | iv                                                                                 |   ) free medical facilities ||-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------|| 35                                                                                            |                                                                                    |                              || penalty                                                                                      | 45 of 1860                                                                        |                              || 5                                                                                            | notwithstanding anything contained in the indian penal code, 1860 or any other     |                              || law for the time being in force, whoever forces any child into begging shall be punished with |                                                                                    |                              || imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than four years but which may extend to       |                                                                                    |                              || seven years and also with fine which may extend to rupees five lakh                          |                                                                                    |                              || 40                                                                                            |                                                                                    |                              || 6                                                                                            | the provisions of this act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent |                              || therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force                             |                                                                                    |                              || overriding                                                                                    |                                                                                    |                              || effect of the                                                                                 |                                                                                    |                              || act                                                                                          |                                                                                    |                              || power to                                                                                      |                                                                                    |                              || make rules                                                                                   |                                                                                    |                              || 7                                                                                            | (                                                                                  |                            1 || for carrying out the purposes of this act                                                    |                                                                                    |                              |5(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 rule statement of objects and reasonsdespite all efforts made and welfare measures taken by the central government and state governments, the practice of begging continues unabated all over the country this practice is very much prevalent especially in the metropolitan cities and urban centers there are organized gangs who exploit innocent children and force them into begging for gathering alms for the gang leaders and organizersprevention of begging has to go along with programmes for education, vocational training and rehabilitation of the children, women and men found engaged in begging in addition, some alternative sources of livelihood should be made available to the beggarstherefore, it is high time that a law for prevention of begging be brought forward and other alternative sources of livelihood be made available to these under-privileged peoplehence this billnew delhi;kirit premjibhai solankimarch 3, 2015 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for a national action plan for prevention of begging and rehabilitation of beggars clause 4 provides for constitution of a rehabilitation fund for rehabilitation of beggars the bill, therefore, if enacted, would involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that an annual recurring expenditure of about rupees five hundred crore is likely to be incurred from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of about rupees one hundred crore is also likely to be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 7 of the bill empowers the central 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———— a billto provide for prevention of begging and rehabilitation of beggars in the country and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(dr kirit premjibhai solanki, mp)