 bill  no 226 of  2018 the farmers (guaranteed income and welfare) bill,  2018 by adv joice george,  mp a billto provide for the constitution of farmers welfare fund to ensure guaranteed income to farmers irrespective of natural calamity or price fall and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-ninth year of the republic of  india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the farmers (guaranteed income and welfare) act,  2018short title, extent and commencement(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, appoint5definitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "agricultural produce" means any agricultural produce grown by the farmer;(b) "farmer" means a person possessing agricultural land measuring not more than ten acres and have no major income from any source other than agriculture operations;(c) "fund" means farmers welfare fund constituted under section 4;5(d) "guaranteed income" means assured income to the farmer from the agricultural produces, fixed and declared by the central government under section 3;10(e) "natural calamity" includes drought, flood, cyclone, hailstorm, landslide, cloud burst, tsunami, earthquake or fire especially in forest and adjacent areas or such other conditions as may be notified by the appropriate government, from time to time, and(f) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act3 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, declare guaranteed income for each crop, in every financial year15central government to declare guaranteed income for farmers(2) the declaration of guaranteed income under sub-section (1)  shall be on the basis of the cost of production including the value of manpower employed for producing each cropconstitution of farmers welfare fund4 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a fund to be known as the farmers welfare fund for carrying out the purposes of this act20(2) the central government and the state governments shall contribute to the fund in such ratio as may be prescribed(3) such other sums as may be received by way of donation, contribution or assistance or otherwise including money received as corporate social responsibility from corporate sector shall also be credited to the fund255 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a board to be known as the farmers welfare board for the purpose of administering the fundconstitution of farmers welfare board(2) the board shall consist of—30(a) a chairperson, to be appointed by the central government in such manner as may be prescribed;(b) one representative of the niti aayog; (c) one representative of every state government; (d) three members representing the agro-based commerce and industry sector, to be appointed by the central government in such manner as may be prescribed;35(e) three representatives of the farmer, to be appointed by the central government in such manner as may be prescribed;(f) three members of parliament representing states where agriculture is the main stay of population; and40(g) the secretary of the union ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare who shall be ex-officio secretary to the board (3) the salary and allowances payable to and other terms and conditions of service of chairperson, members and other officers and staff of the board shall be such as may be prescribed45(4) the central government shall provide to the board such number of officers and staff as may be required for its efficient functioningfunctions of the board6 (1) the board shall take such steps, as it may deem appropriate, for the welfare of farmers(2) without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision, the board shall ensure the following provisions for the benefit and welfare of farmers, namely:—5(a) good quality seeds, manure, pesticides, fertilizers and other necessarytools and machineries at reasonable price as per their requirements;(b) uninterrupted power and water supply at reasonable rates for agriculturaloperation;10(c) fix and declare minimum support prices of agricultural commodities beforethe sowing seasons after taking into consideration all the relevant factors and in particular the following factors, namely:—(i) input cost including capital investment; (ii) labour charges; (iii) maintenance cost of the farm;15(iv) transportation and marketing facilities for agricultural produce; (v) payment of adequate compensation to farmers or their family membersin case of accident or death during agricultural operations;(vi) free medical and health insurance facilities to the farmers and theirfamily members;20(vii) adequate cold storage facility for agricultural products at appropriateplaces;(viii) provision of loan facilities or financial assistance to farmers; (ix) provision of a comprehensive crop insurance scheme for reparationof loss of crops due to natural calamities; and25(x) a guaranteed income for farmers so that agriculture and alliedactivities may be adopted by public as a profession7 the central government may give such directions to the state government as it may think necessary for the purposes of this actcentral government to issue directions308 the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament by lawin this behalf, provide adequate funds to the farmers welfare board for carrying out the purposes of this actcentral government to provide adequate funds to farmers welfare board9 the provisions of this act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in forceact not inconsistent with other laws35power to remove difficulty10 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 may appear to be necessary or expedient for removing the difficulty:provided that no such order shall be made after the expiry of the period of two years from the date of commencement of this actpower to make rules11 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, makes rules for carrying out the purposes of the act510(2) every rule made under this section shall be laid before each house of the 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  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  reasonsagriculture supports more than half of india's population, but the per capita income of farmers is only about one-fifth of the average per capita income of the country moreover, the farming community now has been experiencing a situation of distress on account of several factors, such as rising lost of production, increasing frequency of extreme climatic events, viz droughts, heat waves and floods, and vagaries of guaranteed incomecurrently, a farmer is born in debt, live in debt and dies is debt due to total negligence and non-remunerative, people are not preferring agriculture as a profitable profession in short, an immediate effective intervention by the government to safeguard the dreams, hopes and aspirations of agrarian people, is the need of the hour the establishment of farmers welfare board, will lend a helping hand for the poor farmers to remove indebtedness and social insecurity by providing guaranteed incomehence this billnovember 19, 2018 financial memorandumclause 4 of the bill provides for the constitution of a farmers welfare fund by the central government it further provides that the state government shall contribute to the fund in such ratio as may be prescribed clause 5 provides for constitution of a farmers welfare board clause 6 provides for utilisation of fund by the board for welfare of farmers including guaranteed income for each crop the bill, therefore, if enacted will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a recurring expenditure of about rupees one hundred crore per annum would involve from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of about rupees fifty 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 the constitution of farmers welfare fund to ensure guaranteed income to farmers irrespective of natural calamity or price fall and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(adv joice george,  mp)mgipmrnd—2121ls(s3)—19-12-2018