 bill no  15 of 2008 the narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances (amendment) bill, 2008 by dr laxminarayan pandey, mp a billfurther to amend the narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances  act, 1985be  it enacted by parliament in the fifty-ninth year of the republic of india as follows:—short title1  this act may be called the  narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances(amendment) act, 2008 be substituted, namely:—'(xviii) "poppy straw" means all parts (except the seeds, the leaves, the husk, the roots and the stems) of the opium poppy after juice has been extracted therefrom'amendment of section 153  in section 15 of the principal act, after the proviso, the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:5"provided further that no person who has been issued a licence for cultivating opium poppy shall be subjected to any punishment, if, after harvesting it, he possesses either the leaves, the husk, the roots or the stems of the opium poppy"4 in section 19 of the principal act,—amendment of section 1910(i) for the words "which shall not be less than ten years but which may extend to twenty years and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupees but which may extend to two lakh rupees", the words "which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to two years and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than ten thousand rupees but which may extend to twentyfive thousand rupees" shall be substituted; and(ii) in the proviso, for the words "two lakh rupees", the words "twenty-five thousand rupees" shall be substituted155 in section 53a of the principal act, in sub-section (i), the following proviso shall be added at the end, namely:—amendment of section 53a"provided that any statement made by any person before any officer under this section shall not be the conclusive proof of offence having been committed under the act unless it is proved by other corroborative evidence" statement of objects and reasonsthe cultivators of opium poppy plant after extraction of the juice, keep poppy straw which includes the leaves, the husk, the roots and the stems until it is sold the existing definition of "poppy straw" in the narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances act, 1985, includes such leaves, husk, roots and stems this definition needs to be amended so that the cultivators and other persons in possession of these parts of the poppy plant, are not harassed by the enforcement authoritiespunishment prescribed for contravention of the provisions of the act in relation to poppy straw and for embezzlement of opium by cultivators is excessive it is, therefore, necessary to reduce the extent of punishment prescribed so as to make it realistic and also to facilitate implementation of the provisions of the act by the enforcement authorities and the courtsthe bill seeks to achieve the above objectivesnew delhi;laxminarayan  pandeydecember 12, 2007 annexure extracts from the narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances act, 1985 (61 of 1985)|     |     |     |     |     |    ||------|------|------|------|------|-----|definitions2 in this act, unless the context other requires,—|     |     |     |     |     |    ||------|------|------|------|------|-----|(xviii) "poppy straw" means all parts (except the seeds) of the opium poppy after harvesting whether in their original form or cut, crushed or powdered and whether or not juice has been extracted therefrom;|               ||----------------|| punishment     || for            || contravention  || in relation to || poppy straw   |15 whoever, in contravention of any provisions of this act or any rule or order made or condition of a licence granted thereunder, produces, possesses, transports, imports inter-state, exports inter-state, sells, purchases, uses or omits to warehouse poppy straw or removes or does any act in respect of warehoused poppy straw shall be punishable,—(a) where the contravention involves small quantity, with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees, or with both;(b) where the contravention involves quantity lesser than commercial quantity but greater than small quantity, with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, and with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees;(c) where the contravention involves commercial quantity, with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than ten years but which may extend to twenty years, and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupees but which may extend to two lakh rupees; provided that the court may, for reasons to be recorded in the judgment, impose a fine exceeding two lakh rupees|             ||--------------|| punishment   || for          || embezzlement || of opium by  || cultivator  |19 any cultivator licensed to cultivate the opium poppy on account of the central government who embezzles or otherwise illegally disposes of the opium produced or any part thereof, shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than ten years but which may extend to twenty  years and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupees but which may extend to two lakh rupees:provided that the court may, for reasons to be recorded in the judgment, impose a fine exceeding two lakh rupees|               ||----------------|| relevance of   || statements     || under certain  || circumstances |53a (1) a statement made and signed by a person before any officer empowered under section 53 for the investigation of offences, during the course of any enquiry or proceedings by such officer, shall be relevant for the purposes of proving in any prosecution for an offence under this act, the truth of the facts which it contains,—(a) when the person who made statement is dead or cannot be found or is incapable of giving evidence, or is kept out of the way by the adverse party, or whose presence cannot be obtained without an amount of delay or expense which, under the circumstances of the case, the court considers unreasonable; or(b) when the person who made the statement is examined as a witness in the case before the court and the court is of the opinion that, having regard to the circumstances of the case, the statement should be admitted in evidence in the interest of justice       lok   salok   sabhabha———— a billfurther to amend the narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances act, 1985————(dr laxminarayan pandey, mp)mgipmrnd—292ls(s5)—19022008