 bill no  21 of  2014 the prohibition of human trafficking of indian citizens abroad and welfare of overseas indians bill, 2014 by shrimati jayshreeben k patel, mp a billto provide for prohibition of human trafficking of indian citizens to foreign countries and welfare of indian citizens employed abroad and for matters connected  therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-fifth  year of the republic of india as follows:—definitions2  in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "fund" means the overseas indians welfare fund constituted under section 5;5(b) "human trafficking" means an act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harbouring or receiving a person through use of force, coercion, fraud or any other means for the purpose of exploitation including sexual exploitation or engaging him as a forced labour in a foreign country; and10(c) "overseas indian" means an indian citizen who is employed outside india by a person who is not an indian citizen or any company or any enterprise or any vessel which is not registered in the territory of india but does not include indian citizens working in organs or agencies of the united nations organisation 3 any person who commits or attempts to commit or abets an act of human trafficking shall be guilty of committing an offence of human trafficking under this actoffence of human trafficking4 the central government shall15duties of the central government(i) take such measures as it may deem necessary including entering into bilateral agreements to generate international co-operation to check human trafficking of indian citizens; and(ii) enter into social security agreements with other countries for ensuring protection and welfare of indian citizens working overseas205 (1) the central government shall constitute a fund to be known as the overseas indians welfare fundoverseas indians welfare fund(2) the fund shall be utilized for the following purposes, namely:—(a)  welfare of persons who become victims of human trafficking;(b)  boarding and lodging facilities for distressed overseas indians;25(c)  meeting expenditure on airlifting of mortal remains of deceased overseas indians to india or for cremation/burial of such persons if the employer is unable or unwilling to do so and the family is unable to meet the cost;(d) emergency medical care to overseas indians in need; and (e) legal assistance to overseas indians in deserving cases30central government to provide funds6  the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf, credit such sums of money to the fund as it may think fit for carrying out the purposes of this actpunishment for human trafficking357 whoever commits the offence of human trafficking shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than seven years but may extend to life imprisonment and also with fine which may extend to rupees five lakhcompulsory registration of recruiting agencies8  every person or agency engaged in recruitment or placement of indian citizens foremployment with foreign nationals or in companies outside the country shall get itself registered with such authority, as may be designated by the central government for this purpose409  whoever contravenes the provisions of section 8 shall be punished withimprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years or with fine which may extend to rupees five lakh or with bothpunishment for contravention of section 810  the provisions of this act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in forceact to have overriding effectpower to make rules11  (1) the central government may, by  notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act5 (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 rule10 statement of objects and reasonshuman trafficking is a crime against humanity it involves an act of recruiting, transporting, harbouring or receiving a person through use of force, coercion or such other means for the purpose of exploiting them every year, thousands of men, women and children become victims of human trafficking the demand for workers abroad are steadily increasing many workers migrate illegally every year as the procedure for legal migration is very cumbersome and expensive the allurement of good life abroad often lead people to fall into the booby trap of human traffickersindian workers who migrate legally also face many problems like non-payment or delay in payment of wages, harsh working and inhuman living conditions, retention of passport by owners, cheating by intermediaries, incidents of physical abuse and sexual exploitation, etc in most of the countries access to legal recourse is denied to such workers moreover, in some countries legal recourse is so expensive that in most cases employees are not able to afford such optionsunited nations convention against transnational organized crime (untoc) and the protocols thereto, assists states to implement the protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking the protocol requires states to implement the provisions of the protocol by amending their respective domestic laws in india, trafficking of human beings are taking place in the guise of recruitment agencies therefore, it is an urgent necessity to bring the present legislationthe bill, accordingly, seeks to provide, inter alia, for-(i) making human trafficking a punishable offence; (ii) setting up of an overseas indians welfare fund; and (iii) compulsory registration of recruitment agencies, etc and to provide for punishment to those agencies who carry out the business of recruiting persons for overseas employment without registrationnew delhi;june 9, 2014 financial  memorandumclause 5 of the bill provides for setting up of an overseas indians welfare fund it further provides for welfare measures for overseas indians who are victims of human trafficking clause 6 provides that the central government shall credit such sums of money to the fund as it may think fit for carrying out the purposes of the bill the bill, therefore, if enacted will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that an annual recurring expenditure of about rupees one thousand crore is likely to involve from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of rupees five hundred crore is also likely to be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 11 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 prohibition of human trafficking of indian citizens to foreign countries and welfare of indian citizens employed abroad and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(shrimati jayshreeben k patel, mp)gmgipmrnd—678ls(s-3)—27062014