 bill no 18 of  2007 the  rural  electrification  bill,  2007 by shri ramdas athawale, mp a billto provide for the establishment of a rural electrification authority to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply to farmers for their agricultural activities and  at least one single point light connection to every household in rural  areas and for matters connected therewithbe it enacted by parliament in the fifty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the rural electrification act, 2007short title and extent(2) it extends to the whole of indiadefinitions52 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "authority" means the rural electrification authority established undersection 3;(b) "electricity" means electric energy generated, transmitted, supplied or tradedfor any purpose except the transmission of a message; and(c) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act3 (1) the central government shall establish an authority to be known as the rural electrification authority having its headquarters at mumbai in the state of maharashtraestablishment of rural electrification authority(2) the authority shall consist of five members to be appointed by the central government of whom at least two members shall be from amongst the farmers to be nominated by the central government in such manner as may be prescribed5(3) the central government shall appoint one of the members as the chairperson of the authority(4) the chairperson and other members of the authority shall hold office during the pleasure of the central government10(5) the salary, allowances and other terms and conditions of service of the chairperson and other members of the authority shall be such as may be prescribed(6) the authority may appoint a secretary and such other officers and employees as it considers necessary for the performance of its functions under this act and on such terms and conditions as may be prescribed154 (1) the authority shall perform such functions and duties as the central government may prescribe or direct, and in particular the following—functions and duties of the authority(i) develop a sound, adequate and uniform national policy in order to provide,—(a) uninterrupted power supply to the farmers for irrigation and otheragricultural purposes;20(b) uninterrupted power supply to the village and cottage industries andvillage artisans engaged in self-employment in villages; and(c) at least one single point connection of electricity in every dwellingunit of each village in the country25(ii) establish new power generating station in such areas as it may considernecessary;(iii) invite and encourage private sector in establishing power units exclusivelyfor the rural areas in the country;30(iv) carry out surveys and to collect and record data concerning the generation,distribution and utilisation of power in the rural sector and the development of power resources in the rural areas; and(v)  co-ordinate the activities of the national and state planning agencies inrelation to the control and utilisation of power resources for the rural sector(2)  without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of sub-section (1), the authority may also provide for—| 35                                                                                  ||-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| i                                                                                   || )                                                                                   || supply of electricity to the farmers at such subsidised rates, as may be            || prescribed, from time to time; and                                                  || (                                                                                   || ii                                                                                  || )                                                                                   || single point light connection and supply of electricity free of cost to the         || dwelling units of the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes || in rural areas                                                                     || 40                                                                                  || 5                                                                                  || (                                                                                   || 1                                                                                   || )                                                                                   || the authority shall set up a fund to be known as the rural electricity              || development fund                                                                   || rural                                                                               || electricity                                                                         || development                                                                         || fund                                                                               || (                                                                                   || 2                                                                                   || )                                                                                   || the central government and the state governments shall contribute to the fund       || in such ratio as may be prescribed                                                 || 45                                                                                  || (                                                                                   || 3                                                                                   || )                                                                                   || there shall also be credited to the fund such other sums as may be received by      || way of donation, contribution, assistance or otherwise by the authority            |(4)  all payments by the authority towards rural electrification expenditure and for its administrative expenditure shall be made from the fund6 the central government shall provide, from time to time, after due appropriation made by parliament by law, adequate funds for the rural electrification works to be undertaken by the authority5central government to provide funds7 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other law for the time being in forceprovisions to be in addition to and not in derogation of any other actpower tomake 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  reasonsthere is an acute shortage of power in our country which is the primary cause of our backwardness as a result of power shortage, both the industrial sector and the agricultural sector cannot make progress at the desired levels resulting ultimately in backwardness our power stations whether they are thermal, hydel or atomic are generating electricity much below their capacity whereas the demand for electricity is increasing day-by-day in all the sectors it has been observed that while distributing the generated electricity, the electricity boards and undertakings give priority to the urban areas and the industrial sector thereby neglecting the rural areas particularly the agricultural sector very often it has been seen that the electricity meant for rural areas is diverted to the urban areas hue and cry is raised by the people and by the print and the electronic media if there is a load shedding for a few hours in the cities but nobody bothers when the electricity is cut off in the rural areas for months together even if the crops of the hapless farmers are dying in the absence of water as he cannot run the tubewell without electricity since more than seventy-five per cent of our population is engaged in agriculture and agriculture-based small and cottage industries, it is our duty to give uninterrupted electricity supply to the agricultural sector it is also necessary to provide at least one point electric connection to every household including every hut in the country to remove the darkness prevailing there to achieve these objectives, it is proposed to establish a rural electrification authority to provide electricity exclusively to the rural areas and uninterrupted electricity supply to the agricultural sector and give at least single point light connection to every household in the villageshence this billnew delhi;ramdas  athawaledecember 15, 2006 financial  memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the establishment of the rural electrification authority clause 4 provides, inter alia, that authoritry  shall establish power stations and provide at least one power connection to every rural household clause 5 provides for setting up of a rural electricity development fund clause 6 provides that central government shall provide adequate funds to the authority the bill, therefore, if enacted, will  involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a recurring annual expenditure of rupees five hundred crores will be involveda non-recurring expenditure of about rupees one hundred crores is also  likely to be involved memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 8 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 the matters of detail only the delegation of legislative power, therefore, is of a normal character————— a billto provide for the establishment of a rural electrification authority to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply to farmers for their agricultural activities and  atleast one single point light connection to every household in rural  areas and for matters connected therewith—————(shri ramdas athawale, mp)mgipmrnd—229ls(s-3)—14022007