on the 28th july, 2006 bill no xxii of 2006 the destitute and neglected women (welfare) bill, 2006 a billto provide for the maintenance and welfare measures to be undertaken by the state for the destitute, neglected, old, infirm or physically challenged widow, divorcee or unmarried women through establishment of an authority and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the fifty-seventh year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the destitute and neglected women (welfare) act, 2006short title,extent andcommencement(2) it extends to the whole of india(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 other cases, the central government;(b) "authority" means the destitute and neglected women welfare authority established under section 3;(c) "destitute" in relation to a women who may be a widow, divorcee or unmarried means a women who has no relative or kinsmen to support her or who has no independent source of livelihood including the livelihood to her minor children dependent on her or any woman stricken with infirmity owing to old age, physical deformity, ailment, mental imbalance and who lives uncared for;(d) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act; (e) "widow" means an adult female human whose husband has died after her legal marriage3 (1) the central government shall, as soon as may be, by notification in the official gazette, establish the desitute and neglected women welfare authority for the purposes of this actestablishment of the destitute and neglected women 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 sued(3) the headquarter of the authority shall be at bangalore in the state of karnataka; (4) the authority shall establish its branches in all the states and union territories at such conspicuous places as may be prescribed;(5) the authority shall have a secretariat with such number of officers and employees, with such terms and conditions of service as may be necessary for the efficient functioning of the authority as may be prescribed(6) the authority shall consist of —(a) a chairperson, who shall be the minister-in-charge of the union ministry of social justice and empowerment;(b) a vice-chairperson with such qualifications as may be prescribed to be appointed by the central government;(c) three 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;(d) two members representing the union ministry of human resource development to be appointed by the central government;(e) not more than five members to be appointed by the central government in consultation with the governments of states, by rotation in alphabetical order, to represent the governments of the states;(f) four members to be appointed by central government from amongst the non-governmental organizations working for destitute women or widowsfunctions of the authority4 (1) it shall be the duty of the authority to promote by such measures, as it thinks fit or appropriate, welfare measures for destitute or neglected women or widows of the country(2) without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of sub-section (1) the authority shall,—(a) maintain district-wise register of destitute or neglected women or widows who are in need of assistance from the authority with such details and in such manner as may be prescribed;(b) work out plans and formulate schemes for the welfare of destitute or neglected women or widows  covered under this act;(c) give wide publicity through the electronic and print media about the welfare measures being undertaken by the authority;(d) perform such other functions not inconsistend with the provisions of this act, as may be assigned to it by the appropriate government from time to time5 the appropriate government shall, on the recommendation of the authority, provide the women covered under this act, the following facilities, namely:—facilities to the destitute or neglected women or widows(a) monthly allowance of two thousand rupees if the woman is having any dependent children and rupees one thousand five hundred in case she has no dependent child as subsistence allowance;(b) residential accommodation free of cost wherever necessary;(c) free education including technical education to dependent children; (d) free medical aid;(e) gainful employment;(f) free vocational education wherever necessary; (g) such other facilities, as may be necessary, for her rehabilitation, proper development, and for maintaining a respectable life in the society:provided that if any woman covered under this act either gets gainful employment or remarries, all the facilities provided to her and her dependent children in accordance with the provisions of this act shall be withdrawn from the date the get the gainful employment or remarries, as the case may be 6 the central government shall provide adequate funds to the authority, after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf, from time to time for carrying out the purposes of this actcentral government to provide fundsact to have overriding effect7 the provisions of this act shall have effect, notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force, but save as aforesaid the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other law for the time being applicable to women covered under this actpower to make rules8 the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act statement of objects and reasonsquite a large number of women in our country particularly those belonging to lower and middle income groups or classes of the society become destitute after the death of their husbands who do not leave adult sons behind them or are divorced women or unmarried women either neglected by their families or being lonely have no means to support them it has also been seen that in many cases the widows are thrown out of the households many of them work as housemaids for their survival and to support the children if they have the ones but even this is not possible for the infirm, old, physically or mentally challeged women who mostly survive on begging many women are forced into flesh trade and become sex workers to avoid starvation, which makes their lives disgraceful the position of destitute women is more awful in rural areas because being illiterate they are exploited to the extent possibleit is expedient to liquidate the exploitation of the destitute, neglected women or widows in a welfare state like ours and provide financial assistance and other necessary facilities to such women so that they live honourably in the society for this purpose an authority should be established to ensure that the conditions of destitute, neglected women or widows should not become so miserable due to poverty which may enable the unscrupulous elements of the society to exploit the situation and make their lives disgraceful in the societyhence this billprema  cariappa financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the establishment of the destitute and neglected women welfare authority clause 5 provides for certain facilities to the destitute and neglected women clause 6 lays down that central government shall provide rquisite funds the bill if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupees five hundred crore may involve as recurring expenditure per annumnon recurring expenditure to the tune of one hundred crore may also involve memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 8 of the bill gives power to the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of this bill the rules will relate to matters of details onlythe delegation of legislative power is of normal character rajya  sabha———— a billto provide for the maintenance and welfare measures to be undertaken by the state for thedestitute, neglected, old, infirm or physically challenged widow, divorcee or unmarriedwomen through establishment of an authority and for matters connected therewith orincidental thereto————(shrimati prema cariappa, mp)mgipmrnd—1764rs(s5)—28-07-2006