 bill no 118 of  2017 the water conservation authority of india bill, 2017 bydr manoj rajoria, mp a billto provide for the establishment of a water conservation authority for the conservation of water of the rivers, ground and rainwater through traditional means of ponds, wells, canals, trenches, etc and by building reservoirs, bunds and check dams, reviving dried rivers, making trenches in riverbeds, building recharge shafts, deepening and widening canals and ponds, building permanent water conservation structures by means of rainwater harvesting to recharge the groundwater, encouraging people to participate in water conservation movement and plantation of trees in a big way and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the water conservation authority of india act, 2017short title, and commencement(2) it shall come into force with immediate effect2 in this act, unless the context otherwise, requires,—definitions5(a) ''appropriate government" means in the case of a state, the government ofthat state and in all other cases, the central government;(b) "authority" means the water conservation authority of india established under section 3; and(c) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act53 (1) the central government, shall as soon as may be, but within one year of the commencement of this act, by notification in the official gazette, establish a water conservation authority of india for carrying out the purposes of this actestablishment of the water conservation authority of india(2) the authority shall be a body corporate by the name aforesaid having perpetual succession and common seal with power to acquire, hold and dispose off property, both movable and immovable and to contract and shall by the said name sue and be sued10(3) the headquarters of the authority shall be at karauli in the state of rajasthan and the authority may with the prior approval of the central government, establish offices at such other places in the country as it may deem necessary for carrying out the purposes of this act(4) the authority shall consist of:—15(a) the union minister of water resources, who shall be the chairperson ex-officio;(b) a deputy chairperson to be appointed by the central government having the background or specialisation in water conservation and such other qualification as may be prescribed;20(c) five members of parliament of whom three shall be from house of the people and two from the council of states to be nominated by the presiding officer of the respective house, members;(d) four members to be appointed by the central government to represent the union ministries of agriculture and farmers welfare, finance, drinking water and sanitation, and rural development, respectively, members; and25(e) not more than four members to be appointed by the central government, in consultation with the governments of the states representing governments of the states, in the alphabetical order, and it shall be ensured that all the states get represented in the authority, by rotation30(5) the salaries and allowances payable to and other terms and conditions of service of the deputy chairperson and other members of the authority shall be such, as may be prescribed35(6) the authority shall have a secretariat with such number of officers and staff headed by a secretary who shall be the member secretary of the authority, with such terms and conditions of service, as may be prescribed, from time to time(7) the authority shall observe such procedure in the transaction of its business, as may be prescribedfunctions of the authority404 (1) the authority shall formulate and execute a comprehensive action plan for the conservation of water of rivers, ground and rainwater throughout the country and perform such other functions relating to water conservation as may be assigned to it by the central government, from time to time(2) without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of sub-section (1) the action plan for the conservation of water may also include,—45(a) building adequate number of reservoirs at conspicuous places in differentparts of the country, particularly in desert and drought prone areas;(b) reviving all the dried rivers and make trenches in all the river basins; (c) constructing bunds and check dams on river beds;(d) works relating to deepening and widening canals and ponds; (e) building recharge shafts and construction of sufficient number of trenchesat appropriate places;5(f) building permanent water conservation structures and provision for recylingof wastewater;(g) desiltation of existing reservoirs, ponds, canals and such other water bodies; (h) recharging shafts for dried up borewells, village ponds and hollows; (i) reviving all the lost ponds and lakes; (j) encouraging people to participate in water conservation in particular schoolchildren and villagers to build water conservation structures;10(k) advising the appropriate government to make rain water harvestingcompulsory in all government buildings, public parks and places, households and establishments and educate the masses about rainwater harvesting;(l) advising the appropriate government to diversify water guzzling crops;15(m) giving wide publicity through radio, videos, pamphlets, booklets, hoardings,and through print and electronic media the importance of water conservation;(n) encouraging tree plantation as a movement; and (o) such other functions as may be deemed necessary for carrying out thepurposes of this act205 the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament by lawin this behalf, provide adequate funds to the authority every year for carrying out the purposes of this actcentral government to provide fundsmaintenance of accounts and records256 the authority shall maintain proper accounts and other relevant records andprepare an annual statement of accounts in such form as may be prescribed and the accounts shall be audited by the comptroller and auditor general of india at such intervals as may be specified by himannual report7 the authority shall for each financial year prepare in such form as may be prescribed,its annual report giving a full account of its activities during the previous financial year andsubmit a copy thereof to the central government30 8 the central government shall cause the annual report and the audit report, togetherwith a memorandum of action taken thereon, of the authority to be laid before each house of parliamentannual report and audit report to be laid before parliamentact to have overriding effect359 the provision of this act and rules made thereunder shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force10 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of anyother law for the time being in forceact to supplement other lawspower to make rules11 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rulesfor carrying out the purposes of this act40(2) every rule made under this act by the central government shall be laid, as soon asmay 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 thesuccessive 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 rule5 statement of objects and reasonsthe state of rajasthan is one of the states gripped in water crisis having 19 out of the33 disricts being famine affected the rainfall deficit in the districts of dholpur, karauli, bharatpur, sawaimadhopur and other districts of the state of rajasthan has worsened the situation of water crisis similarly, the marathwada and madhya maharashtra in the state of maharashtra, various parts of karnataka, bundelkhand and some other parts of the country recently faced worst crisis of water shortage and some parts had even to rush drinking water through trains from other parts of the country to quench the thirst of the people and livestock this grim situation has taught the people the importance of water and consequences of wasting it and importance of saving it in coming years, water shortage will be major challenge but today most of the rainwater and water of the river goes waste in the oceans groundwater resources have been used for all kinds of purposes from agriculture through tubewells in farming areas to cities where groundwater is increasingly being used as the primary water source through borewells, handpumps, well etc in farm sector water guzzling crops such as sugarcane, paddy, etc are being cited for receding levels of groundwater in fact the unregulated usage of groundwater has led to massive exploitation of this precious resourceso there is urgent need for water conservation in the country the rainwater has to be conserved through rainwater harvesting and other means similar action has to be taken for the conservation of river water for this purpose, it is felt that national authority for the conservation of water be established to concentrate on this vital requirement of life and through conservation, problem of water scarcity and shortage can certainly be brought down if not eliminatedhence this billnew delhi;manoj  rajoriajuly  4,  2017 financial  memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the establishment of water conservation authority of india clause 5 makes it obligatory for the central government to provide adequate funds to the authority every year the bill if, enacted will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of one lakh crore rupees may involve as recurring expenditure per annum from the consolidated fund of indiaa non recurring expenditure to the tune of five lakh crore rupees for creating the assets may also involve 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 details only, the delegation of legislative power is of normal character———— a billto provide for the establishment of a water conservation authority for the conservation of water of the rivers, ground and rainwater through traditional means of ponds, wells, canals, trenches, etc and by building reservoirs, bunds and check dams, reviving dried rivers, making trenches in riverbeds, building recharge shafts, deepening and widening canals and ponds, building permanent water conservation structures by means of rainwater harvesting to recharge the groundwater, encouraging people to participate in water conservation movement and plantation of trees in a big way and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(dr manoj rajoria, mp)gmgipmrnd—983ls(s3)—19-07-2017