 bill no xxxvii of  2016 the water conservation authority of india bill, 2016 a billto provide for the establishment of a water conservation authority for the conservation ofwater of the rivers, ground and rainwater through traditional means of ponds, wells, canals, trenches, etc and by building reservoirs, bunds and check dams, reviving dried rivers, making trenches in riverbeds, building recharge shafts, deepending and widening canals and ponds, building permanent water conservation structures by means of rainwater harvesting to recharge the groundwater, encouraging people to participate in water conservation movement and plantation of trees in a big way and for matters connected therewith and incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-seventh year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the water conservation authority of india act, 2016short title, and commencement(2) it shall come into force with immediate effectdefinitions52 in this act, unless the context otherwise, requires,—(a) ''appropriate government" means in the case of a state, the government ofthat state and in other cases the central government;(b) "authority" means the water conservation authority of india established under section 3;(c) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act53 (1) the central government, shall as soon as may be, but within one year of the commencement of this act, by notification in the official gazette, establish a water conservation authority of india for the purposes of this actestablishment of the water conservation authority of india(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;10(3) the headquarters of the authority shall be at aurangabad in the state of maharashtra and the authority may with the prior approval of the central government, establish offices at such other places in the country as it may deem necessary for carrying out the purposes of this act;(4) the authority shall consist of the following members, namely:—15(a) the union minister of water resources, who shall be the chairperson ex-officio;(b) a deputy chairperson to be appointed by the central government having the background or specialisation in water conservation and such other qualification as may be prescribed;(c) five members of parliament of whom three shall be from lok sabha and two from the rajya sabha to be nominated by the presiding officer of the respective house;25(d) four members to be appointed by the central government to represent the union ministries of agriculture and farmers welfare, finance, drinking water and sanitation and rural development, respectively;(e) not more than four members to be appointed by the central government, in consultation with the governments of the states representing governments of the states, in the alphabetical order, and it shall be ensured that all the states get represented in the authority, by rotation;30(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 prescribed35(6) the authority shall have a secretariat with such number of officers and staff headed by a secretary who shall be the member secretary of the authority, with such terms and conditions of service, as may be prescribed from time to time(7) the authority shall observe such procedure in the transaction of its business as may be prescribedfunctions of the authority404 (1) the authority shall formulate and execute a comprehensive action plan for the conservation of water of rivers, ground and rainwater throughout the country and perform such other functions relating to water conservation as may be assigned to it by the central government(2) without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of sub-section (1) the action plan for the conservation of water may also include,—45(a) building adequate number of reservoirs at conspicuous places in differentparts of the country, particularly in desert and drought prone areas;(b) reviving all the dried rivers and make trenches in all the river basins; (c) constructing bunds and check dams on river beds;(d) works relating to deepening and widening canals and ponds; (e) building recharge shafts and construction of sufficient number of trenchesat appropriate places;(f) building permanent water conservation structures and provision for recylingof wastewater;5(g) desiltation of existing reservoirs, ponds, canals and such other water bodies; (h) recharging shafts for dried up borewells, village ponds and hollows; (i) reviving all the lost ponds and lakes; (j) encouraging people to participate in water conservation in particular schoolchildren and villagers to build water conservation structures;10(k) advising the appropriate government to make rain water harvestingcompulsory in all government buildings, public parks and places, households and establishments and educate the masses about rainwater harvesting;(l) advising the appropriate government to diversify water guzzling crops;15(m) giving wide publicity through radio, videos, pamphlets, booklets, hoardings,and through print and electronic media the importance of water conservation;(n) encouraging tree plantation as a movement; (o) such other functions as may be deemed necessary for carrying out thepurposes of this act205 (1) the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament bylaw in this behalf, provide adequate funds to the authority every year for the purposes of this actcentral government to provide funds25(2) the authority shall maintain proper accounts and other relevant records andprepare an annual statement of accounts in such form as may be prescribed and the accounts shall be audited by the comptroller and auditor general of india at such intervals as may be specified by himannual report6 the authority shall for each financial year prepare in such form as may be prescribed,its annual report giving a full account of its activities during the previous financial year andsubmit a copy thereof to the central government30 7 the central government shall cause the annual report and the audit report, togetherwith a memorandum of action taken thereon, of the authority to be laid before each house of parliamentannual report and audit report to be laid before parliamentact to have overriding effect8 the provision of this act and rules made thereunder shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force359 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any otherlaw for the time being in forceact to supplement other lawspower to make rules10 the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act statement of objects and reasonsmarathwada and madhya maharashtra in the state of maharashtra, various parts of karnataka, bundelkhand and some other parts of the country recently faced worst crisis of water shortage and some parts had even to rush drinking water through trains from other parts of the country to quench the thirst of the people and livestock this grim situation has taught the people the importance of water and consequences of wasting it and importance of saving it in coming years, water shortage will be major challenge but today most of the rainwater and water of the river goes waste in the oceans groundwater resources have been used for all kinds of purposes from agriculture through tubewells in farming areas to cities where ground water is increasingly being used as the primary water source through borewells, handpumps, well etc in farm sector water guzzling crops such as sugarcane, paddy, etc are being cited for receding levels of ground water in fact the unregulated usage of ground water has led to massive exploitation of this precious resourceso there is urgent need for water conservation in the country the rain water has to be conserved through rainwater harvesting and other means similar action has to be taken for the conservation of river water for this purpose, it is felt that national authority for the conservation of water be established to concentrate on this vital requirement of life and through conservation, problem of water scarcity and shortage can certainly be brought down if not eliminatedhence this billraj kumar dhoot financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the establishment of water conservation authority of india clause 5 makes it obligatory for the central government to provide adequate funds to the authority every year the bill if, enacted will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india though it is not possible to quantify the exact amount that will involve but it is estimated that a sum of one lakh crore rupees may involve as recurring expenditure per annumnon recurring expenditure to the tune of five lakh crores rupees for creating the assets may also involve memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 10 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 details only the delegation of legislative power is of normal character———— a billto provide for the establishment of a water conservation authority for the conservation ofwater of the rivers, ground and rainwater through traditional means of ponds, wells, canals, trenches, etc and by building reservoirs, bunds and check dams, reviving dried rivers, making trenches in riverbeds, building recharge shafts, deepending and widening canals and ponds, building permanent water conservation structures by means of rainwater harvesting to recharge the groundwater, encouraging people to participate in water conservation movement and plantation of trees in a big way and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto————(shri rajkumar dhoot, mp)gmgipmrnd—4921rs(s3)—10-03-2017