 bill no 37 of 2012 the salt workers welfare bill, 2012by shri pl punia, mp a billto provide for certain welfare measures for salt workers and for matters connected therewithbe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-third year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called  the salt workers welfare act, 2012short title and commencement(2) 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,—5(a) "salt worker" means a saltpan worker and includes workers engaged in digging wells for salt harvesting or drawing up sub-soil brine or briny water into the salt pans or loading or unloading or transportation or marketing of salt for earning their livelihood;10(b) "board" means the salt workers welfare board established undersection 3;(c) "fund" means the salt workers welfare fund constituted under section 5; and(d) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act3 (1) the central government shall establish a board to be known as the salt workers welfare board5(2) the board shall consist of—establishment of salt workers welfare board(a) the union minister of labour and employment—chairman, ex-officio;(b) five persons representing non-governmental organizations working for the welfare of salt workers, to be nominated by the central government in such manner, as may be prescribed - members; and10(c) five persons from amongst the saltpan workers, to be nominated by the central government in such manner, as may be prescribed—members (3) the salary and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions of service of the members of the board shall be such as may be prescribed4 (1) the board shall—15functions of the board(i) undertake, from time to time, census of salt workers;(ii) maintain a register of salt workers; (iii) issue identity cards to salt workers and their family members; (iv) fix, from time to time, minimum wages for salt workers and ensure payment of minimum wages so fixed to them;20(v) prescribe terms and conditions of work of salt workers including their working hours;25(vi) ensure that the work place of salt workers have basic amenities like access to potable drinking water, mobile clinics, protective gears, eye-goggles, boots, face masks, modern equipments to be used in salt making, sanitation facilities and rest sheds;(vii) provide free group insurance coverage to salt workers;(viii) ensure that there are adequate number of creches, schools and entertainment facilities for the children of salt workers;30(ix) ensure that salt workers are provided with alternate employment opportunities during lean season;(x) provide adequate health care facilities for salt workers and their family members; and(xi) take such other measures as may be necessary for welfare of salt workers and their family members35(2) for efficient discharge of its functions, the board may set up its offices at such places, with such number of officers and staff members, as it may deem necessary5 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a fund to be known as the salt workers welfare fund with an initial corpus of rupees five hundred crore40constitution of salt workers welfare fund(2) the central government shall, from time to time, credit such sums to the fund, as may be necessary for carrying out the purposes of the act(3) there shall also be credited to the fund such grants or donations as may be made by any person or institution(4) the board shall administer and utilize the fund for carrying out the functions entrusted to it under section 4(5) without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions, the fund shall also be utilized for providing following benefits to salt workers, namely:—5(i) payment of compensation to the next of the kin of the salt worker inevent of his death;(ii) payment of old age pension; (iii) payment of disability allowance; (iv) housing facility at subsidised rate;(v) loan at concessional rate of interest; and10(vi) transportation and marketing facilitiespower to make rules6 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act1520(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 reasonssaltpan worker community is one of the most disadvantaged communities in the world they are the poorest of the poor these workers live in extreme poverty they work in hot sunlight without any basic facilities like goggles, boots, drinking water, sanitation, etcthe children born to these parents also suffer from many ailments right from birth as their parents work bare foot, exposed to the relentless sun and other occupational dangers most of these workers suffer work related health hazards like blisters, burns, cuts, falling hair, headaches, ulcer, wart in legs and feet, fissures, keatodermia, callosities, atrophic scars, high blood pressure, skin cancer, etc their life expectancy is quite low and infant mortality is high these workers suffer from womb to tomb in silencesalt workers die young due to health hazards of their profession it is said that a saltpan worker has three ways to die—first gangrene, second tuberculosis and third blindness in every house, people die this way even after death, saltpan workers suffer an ignoble fate: their hands and feet are difficult to burn during cremation because of salt content in their bodies the wages of saltpan workers are very low and hence they have almost negligible chance to escape from the cycle of poverty and poor health most of the salt workers fall in debt trap of moneylenders and hardly get any chance to come out of it because of abject povertymost of the saltpan workers belong to the scheduled castes or the scheduled tribes they are millions in number living in several states there is an urgent need to provide some succour to these voiceless, powerless and resourceless citizens of our country the bill seeks to provide for setting up of the salt workers welfare fund to be utilized for welfare and rehabilitation of salt workers and also for setting up of a board to administer the fund in order to provide certain basic facilities to salt workers and their family membersnew delhi;pl puniamarch 15, 2012 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for setting up of a salt workers welfare boardclause 4 provides, inter alia, for undertaking census and maintaining a register of salt workers, issue of identity cards to them and other facilities clause 5 provides for setting up of a salt workers welfare fund with an initial corpus of rupees five hundred crore to be utilized for the welfare of salt workers it also provides that the central government shall, from time to time, credit such amount to the fund as may be necessary for carrying out the purposes of the act the bill, therefore, if enacted, would involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a recurring expenditure to the tune of rupees two hundred crore will be involved per annuma non-recurring expenditure to the tune of rupees seven hundred crore will also be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 6 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill the rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is, therefore, of a normal character———— a billto provide for certain welfare measures for salt workers and for matters connected therewith————(shri pl punia, mp)gmgipmrnd—5042ls(s3)—16-04-2012