 bill no  281 of  2015 the distressed veteran sportspersons (welfare) bill, 2015 byshrimati ranjeet ranjan, mp a billto provide for the welfare measures for the distressed veteran sportspersons such      as old age pension for subsistence, disability assistance, healthcare         facilities and housing faciliteis to be undertaken by the state          and for the constitution of distressed veteran sportspersons                     welfare fund and for matters connected                       therewith and incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-sixth year of the republic of india as follows:—      1 (1) this act may be called the distressed veteran sportspersons (welfare) act,2015short title,extent,applicationandcommencement        (2) it extends to the whole of india and applies to sportspersons who are citizens ofindia and are for the time being, in distress5(3) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires:—definitions(a) ''appropriate government" means in the case of a state, the government of that state and in all other cases, the central government;(b) ''fund" means the distressed veteran sportspersons welfare fund established under section 3;5(c) ''prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act; and (d) ''veteran sportsperson" means a sportsperson who has represented a state in national games or represented india in olympic games or commonwealth games or asian games or in any international sports event10constitution of the distressed sportspersons welfare fund3 (1) the central government shall, within a period of six months of the commencement of this act, by notification in the official gazette, constitute the distressed sportspersons welfare fund for the purposes of this act with an initial corpus of rupees ten thousand crore to be provided by the central government after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf15(2) the central government and the state governments shall contribute to the fund in such ratio as may be prescribed(3) any sum of money received from body corporates, financial institutions and sports bodies, both domestic and international ones, individuals and bodies in the form of contributions and donations shall be credited into the fund20(4) the fund shall be administered by a board consisting of:—(i) the union minister of sports, as the chairperson—ex-officio;25(ii) five members to represent each of the sports bodies called associations, federations or by whatever name called, recognized by the international olympic committee (ioc) or as may be recognized by the central government, by notification in the official gazette, who shall be rotated in alphabetical order after every three years in such manner as may be prescribed;(iii) three members to represent the states to be nominated by the central government on the recommendation of the states who shall be rotated in alphabetical order after every three years, in such manner as may be prescribed;30(iv) two members to represent the veteran sportspersons to be nominated by the central government in such manner as may be prescribed (5) any veteran sportsperson who is in distress and who intends to avail old age pension for his subsistence or for disablity assistance shall apply to the board constituted under sub-section (4) in such form and in such manner as may be prescribed35(6) the board shall, on receipt of an application under sub-section (5), hold an enquiry to ensure that the particulars furnished by the sportsperson are in order and applicant fulfils the conditions for old-age pension or disability assistance, as the case may be, under the provision of this act40(7) on being satisfied that the applicant fulfils the prescribed conditions, the board shall sanction the old age pension not less than rupees ten thousand per month or disability allowance not less than rupees five lakhs, as the case may beutilization of the fund4 the fund shall be utilized, in addition to the purposes referred to in sub-section (4)of section 3, for the following purposes, namely:—(a) payment of premium of life insurance of veteran sportspersons;45(b) free healthcare facilities including medicines, pathological tests, x-rays and various scans, treatment as outdoor and indoor patients for the distressed veteran sportspersons and their family members; and(c) for such other purposes and welfare measures, as may be prescribed5 it shall be the duty of the appropriate government to set up a special cell for the purposes of monitoring the implementation of the provisions of this act within its territorial jurisdictionappropriate government to set up special cell56 the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament by lawin this behalf, provide adequate funds for carrying out the purposes of this actcentral 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 force regulating any of the matters dealt with in this actact to supplement other lawspower to make rules8 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act1015(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 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  reasonsour nation has produced world renowned sportspersons and of late, our nation has improved its medal tally at the olympics, asian games, commonwealth games and other international events which proves that games and sports are gaining popularity in our country there are sports like cricket, lawn tennis or to some extent badminton in which sportspersons are earning good money which may be enough to lead a  normal life but there are games where there is no money for the sportspersons very often incidents are reported by the media that veteran sportsperson is pulling bicycle rickshaw, or working as a labourer or as a waiter and so on so forth with the passage of time, many veteran sportspersons become distresed either due to old age, disability, infirmity, due to chronic diseases, etc they do not have money even for their subsistence, let alone spending money on their medical treatment and other necessities of life circumstances compel them to lead isolated life it is felt that welfare fund should be established for the sportspersons so that they may be provided old age pension, disability allowance, medical treatment or financial assistance for self employment the bill proposes to achieve this objectivehence this billnew delhi;ranjeet ranjannovember 17, 2015 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the establishment of  distressed sportspersons welfare fund with initial corpus of rupees ten thousand crore to be provided by the central government and thereafter contribute to the fund clause 6 makes it obligatory for the central government to provide adequate funds for carrying out the purposes of the bill the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated  fund of india it is not possible to quantify the actual amount which may be involved at this stage but it is estimated that a sum of rupees one thousand crore may involve as recurring expenditure per annumno non-recurring expenditure is likely to be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 8 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of this bill as the rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative powers is of a normal character———— a billto provide for the welfare measures for the distressed veteran sportspersons such as oldage pension for subsistence, disability assistance, healthcare facilities and housingfacilities to be undertaken by the state and for the constitution of distressedveteran sportspersons welfare fund and for matters connected therewithand incidental thereto————(shrimati ranjeet ranjan, mp)gmgipmrnd—2856ls(s3)—03-12-2015