 bill no 108 of  2009 the  poor  and  destitute  agricultural  workers  and artisans  (welfare)  bill,  2009 by shri shailendra kumar, mp a billto provide for welfare measures for the poor and destitute and such other agriculturalworkers and artisans living in villages through an authority and establishment of a welfare fund for payment of compensation in cases of death or permanent disability, old-age pension, medical assistance, maternity and creche facilities for the women workers and artisans and for regulating the conditions of work and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixtieth year of the republic of india as follows:— 1  (1) this act may be called the poor and destitute agricultural workers and artisans(welfare) act, 2009short title, extent and commencement(2) it extends to the whole of indiadefinitions2  in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—5(a) "agricultural land" means any cultivable land used for cultivation of any agricultural produce, dairy farming, growing and harvesting of any horticultural product, raising and rearing of livestock, beekeeping, poultry, growing fodder and such other activities as may be connected with agriculture;10(b) "agricultural worker" means any person who works as a labourer on hire or in exchange whether in cash or in kind or partly in cash and partly in kind in farming activities including cultivation and tillage of soil, dairy farming, activities related to harvesting of horticultural commodities and includes any activity related to production of agricultural produce and rearing of livestock, poultry or any such work;(c) "appropriate government" means in the case of a state, the government of that state and in other cases, the central government;15(d) "artisans" includes all skilled workmen such as craftsmen, weavers, potters, blacksmiths, handicraft artisans, goldsmiths, painters and such other artisans working in villages;(e) "authority" means the poor and destitute  agricultural workers and artisans welfare authority established under section 3;(f) "employer" means any person who employs agricultural workers or artisans in any manner;20(g) "fund" means the poor and destitute agricultural workers and artisans welfare fund established under section 5;(h) "poor and destitute" means any person not living in a pucca house and includes those who live in huts with thatched roof or kutcha house and whose annual income from all sources does not exceed rupees ten thousand; and25(i) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act 3 (1)  the central government shall, as soon as may be, by notification in the official gazette, establish a poor and destitute agricultural workers and artisans welfare authority for the purposes of this act30establishment of a poor and destitute agricultural workers and artisans welfare authority(2) the authority shall be a body corporate by the name aforesaid having perpetual succession and common seal with power to acquire, hold and dispose off property, both movable and immovable, and to contract and shall by the said name, sue and be sued(3) the headquarters of the authority shall be at lucknow in the state of uttar pradesh and the authority may establish offices at such other places in the country as it may deem necessary for carrying out the purposes of this act35(4) the authority shall consist of the following members, namely:—(a) the union minister of labour and employment, who shall be the chairperson ex-officio;40(b) a deputy chairperson to be appointed by the central government having thebackground or specialization in labour related issues and such other qualifications as may be prescribed;(c) five members of parliament of whom three shall be from the house of the people and two from the council of states to be nominated by the presiding officer of the house concerned;45(d) four members to be appointed by the central government to represent the union ministries of agriculture, finance, labour and employment and rural development respectively;(e) three members to be appointed by the central government from amongst the poor and destitute agricultural workers and artisans in such manner as may be prescribed; and5(f) not more than four members to be appointed by the central government inconsultation with the state governments, representing state governments in the alphabetical order and it shall be ensured that all the states get represented in the authority by rotation10(5) the salaries and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions of service of the deputy chairperson and other members of the authority shall be such as may be prescribed(6) the authority shall have a secretariat with such number of officers and staff with such terms and conditions of service as may be prescribed from time to time(7) the commission shall observe such procedure in the transaction of its business, as may be prescribed15(8) the quorum to constitute any sitting of the commission shall be such as may be prescribedfunctions of the authority4 (1) the authority shall perform such functions relating to welfare measures for the poor and destitute agricultural workers and artisans as may be assigned to it by the central government20(2) without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of sub-section (1), the welfare measures referred to therein may also provide for,—(i) maintaining a district-wise register of poor and destitute agriculturalworkers and artisans in such manner and with such particulars and details as may be prescribed;25(ii) maintaining village-wise records pertaining to artisans and in particularrelating to weavers such as number of handlooms existing in each village, number of handloom weavers and workers and details of other artisans living in a village with such particulars and in such manner as may be prescribed;(iii) maintaining agricultural land records from village level to district level;30(iv) maintaining district-wise register of employers employing poor and destituteagricultural workers or the artisans, as the case may be, with such particulars and in such manner as may be prescribed;(v) ensuring availability of raw materials to the weavers and other artisans ofvillages and work to the poor and destitute agricultural workers round the year;35(vi) regulating the conditions of work and fix minimum wages for the poor anddestitute agricultural workers and artisans covered under this act;40(vii) ensuring remunerative prices for the finished products of artisans bymaking suitable arrangements for purchase of such products by government agencies including ministries or departments by opening exclusive showrooms for their products, establishing stalls at conspicuous places for selling the products, arranging craft fairs, exhibitions and such other promotional activities as may be prescribed from time to time;(viii) payment of old-age pension to the poor and destitute agricultural workersand artisans and provision of provident fund facilities for them;45(ix) payment of compensation at prescribed rates to the families of poor anddestitute agricultural workers and artisans who die prematurely due to accident or illness or due to any other unnatural reason;(x) providing free of cost health care to the poor and destitute agriculturalworkers and artisans in such manner as may be prescribed;(xi) providing maternity and creche facilities for the female workers and artisans covered under this act;(xii) providing insurance facility to all the workers and artisans covered under this act; and5(xiii) such other provisions as may be deemed necessary for carrying out the purposes of this act105 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, establish a welfare fund for the purposes of this act to be called the poor and destitute agricultural workers and artisans welfare fund with an initial corpus of rupees ten thousand crore to be provided by the central government by due appropriation made by law by parliament in this behalfestablishment of a poor and destitute agricultural workers and artisans welfare fund(2) the central government, state governments and employers of the poor and destitute agricultural workers and artisans shall contribute to the fund in such ratio as may be prescribed15(3) such other sums as may be received by way of donations, contribution or assistance from individuals, organizations or otherwise shall also be credited to the fund(4) the fund shall be used for the welfare of the poor and destitute agricultural workers and artisans by the authority in such manner as may be prescribed206 notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the  time being in force, it shall be the duty of the appropriate government to ensure effective implementation of the provisions of this actappropriate government to ensure implementation of the actpower to remove difficulties7 if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the central government 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 such difficulty258 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other law for the time being in force regulating any of the matters dealt with in this actact not in derogation of any other law power to make rules9 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act30 35(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 reasonsmajority of our population lives in the villages and most of them depend on agriculture in one way or the other millions of poor and destitute agricultural workers and village artisans like handloom weavers, potters, goldsmiths, blacksmiths, shoemakers, barbers, handicrafts artisans, doll makers, mat and basket makers, painters, carpenters, etc also form part of the rural population the agricultural workers work on the fields or farms of the farmers to earn their livelihood they are poverty-stricken, homeless as they live in huts with thatched roof with no security from rains and cold and are landless and remain exploited throughout their lives as they are unorganized they are denied even the basic facilities of minimum wages, work round the year, maternity benefit etc by their employers even two square meals and a pair of clothes is a luxury for them the artisans too are poverty-stricken they do not get raw materials at reasonable prices or marketing facilities or working capital or any other protective measures from the state though their works are internationally acclaimed and are very much in demand abroad, their art is at the verge of extinctionours is a welfare state, hence it is the duty of the central and state governments to protect the poor and destitute agricultural workers and village artisans who make immense contribution to our gdp by introducing welfare measures and legal protection for them as they too are part and parcel of our society and the nationhence this bill financial  memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the establishment of a poor and destitute agricultural workers and artisans welfare authority clause 4 provides for maintaining a district-wise register of poor and destitute agricultural workers and artisans and for provision of certain facilities to these workers and artisans clause 5 provides for the establishment of the poor and destitute agricultural workers and artisans welfare fund with an initial corpus of rupees ten thousand crore to be provided by the central government thereafter funds are to be provided annually the bill, therefore, if enacted, is likely to involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupees five thousand crore would be involved as recurring expenditure per annuma sum of rupees one thousand crore would also be involved as non-recurring expenditure 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 detail onlythe delegation of legislative power is, therefore, of a normal character———— a billto provide for welfare measures for the poor and destitute and such other agricultural workersand artisans living in villages through an authority and establishment of a welfare fund for payment of compensation in cases of death or permanent disability, old-age pension, medical assistance, maternity and creche facilities for the women workers and artisans and for regulating the conditions of work and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(shri shailendra kumar, mp)