 bill no 84 of 2009 the insurance agents welfare bill, 2009 by shri basudeb acharia, mp abillto make provisions for the welfare of insurance agents and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixtieth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the insurance agents welfare act, 2009(2) it extends to the whole of indiashort title, extent and commencement5(3) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notificationin the official gazette, appointdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(i) "fund" means the insurance agents welfare fund constituted undersection 3 of this act; and4 of 193810(ii) the expression "insurance agent" shall have the same meaning as is assignedto it in the insurance act, 1938; and(iii) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act3 (1) the central government shall set up a fund to be known as the insurance agents welfare fundinsurance agents welfare fund(2) the fund shall consist of contributions from central government, the insurance companies and the insurance agents in such ratio as may be prescribed5(3) the fund shall be administered by a board, consisting of—(a) the union finance minister, who shall be its ex-officio chairperson; (b) two members who shall be representatives of the insurance regulatory anddevelopment authority; and10(c) two members representing the insurance agents who shall be nominated bythe central government in such manner as may be prescribed(4) the salary and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions of service of the members of the board shall be such as may be prescribedin on of w4 the fund shall be utilized for the following purposes:—utilisation of the fund15(i) payment of adequate compensation to the next of kin of insurance agents incase of death in harness;(ii) payment of old age pension at such rate, as may be prescribed, to insuranceagent after he has attained the age of sixty-five years;(iii) payment of family pension at such rate, as may be prescribed, to thedependents of the deceased insurance agents;20(iv) payment of premium for medical insurance of the insurance agents and theirfamilies; and(v) such other purposes as the board may deem necessary for the welfare ofinsurance agentspower to make rules255 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rulesfor carrying out the purposes of this act30(2) every rule made under this section 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 rule statement  of  objects  and  reasonsthe insurance agents play a major role in procuring business and in the growth of the insurance sector more than a million people are engaged as insurance agents in the public sector life insurance corporation alone majority of them have opted for this profession as a full time job the work requires a lot of time, energy and dedication the competition amongst insurance companies for business has tremendously increased after the opening up of this sector to private players at national level and by permitting foreign direct investmentit is estimated that seventy five per cent of the insurance agents earn less than rupees sixty thousnad per annum which is not sufficient to meet even minimum requirements of a family their contribution to insurance sector is immense in creating assets and increasing profit of the companies, at the same time providing benefits of insurance to the general public due to absense of any welfare scheme aimed at providing the insurance agents the necessary social security, they live in pathetic conditions a portion of profit earned by the insurance companies through hard work of such agents needs to be devoted for the welfare of insurance agents and their families it is the responsibility of the government in a welfare state to provide proper medical care, old age pension, family pension, etc to every citizen of the country therefore, a suitable legislation is urgently required to provide for general welfare of persons working as agents in the insurance sectorhence this billnew delhi;basudeb achariajuly 21, 2009 financial  memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for setting up of a fund to be known as the insurance agents welfare fund and for the constitution of a board to administer the fund the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is likely to involve a recurring expenditure of about rupees fifty crore per annuma non-recurring expenditure of about rupees one hundred crore is also likely to be involved memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 5 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill since the rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character lok   sabha———— a billto make provisions for the welfare of insurance agents and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(shri basudeb acharia, mp)