 bill no xv of  2017 the water scarce regions of marathwada, vidharbha, bundelkhand and in eastern and southern parts (prohibition of growing water intensive crops and setting up of thermal power plants and other large scale water intensive industries) bill, 2017 a billto provide for the prohibition of growing water intensive  crops and setting up of thermal power plants and other large scale water intensive industries in water scarce regions of marathwada, vidharbha, bundelkhand and such other regions in eastern and southern parts of the country and for the promotion of growing less water consuming crops particularly those developed by indian council of agricultural research and such other bodies and for matters connected therewith and incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-eighth year of the republic of india, as follows:—(2)  it extends to the whole of  india(3) it shall come into force with immediate effectdefinitions2 in the act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "appropriate government" means in the case of a state the government ofthat state and in other cases the central government;5(b) "council" means indian council agricultural research set up by thegovernment of india;(c) "water intensive crops" means those crops which require large quantities ofwater for growing them and declared as water intensive by the central government by notification in the official gazette, of its own or as recommended by the council10 153 (1) notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in forceor any decree of any court of memorandum of understanding between the appropriate government and any company or firm or any permission accorded by any authority or agency of the government, growing of water intensive crops and setting up of thermal power plants and other large scale water intensive industries in water scarce regions in marathwada, vidharbha, bundelkhand and such other regions, is hereby prohibited(2) it shall be the duty of the appropriate government to ensure the compliance of theprovisions of this actprohibition of growing waterintensivecrops and setting up of thermal power plants and other large scale water consuming industries in water scarce regions(3) it shall be the duty of the appropriate government and council to develop lesswater consuming cereals for water scarce regions and promote adoption of diversifying cropping patterns and modern agronomic practices in such regions20penalty4 whoever contravenes any of the provisions of this act shall be punishable withsimple imprisonment of six months and with fine not less than two lakh rupees but which may extend to five lakh rupees25overriding effect of the act5 the provisions of this act and rules made thereunder shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in forcepower to remove difficulties306 if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the centralgovernment may make such order or give such direction, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, as appears to it to be necessary or expedient for the removal of the difficulty and any such order shall be finalpower to make rules7 the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules forcarrying out the purposes of this act statement of objects and reasonsmarathwada, vidharbha and madhya maharashtra regions in the state of maharashtra, bundelkhand in madhya pradesh and uttar pradesh and certain other regions in karnataka, telangana, andhra pradesh, tamil nadu, jharkhand, chhattisgarh etc are water scarce and drought prone regions of late these regions are getting scanty rainfall and levels of groundwater are depleting very fast in these regions even drinking water is a luxury consistent drought conditions have brought hunger, starvation, suicide by farmers, economic backwardness and other miseries in these areasas per study conducted by indian institute of tropical meterology, pune and the indian institute of science, bengaluru, the large impact of marathwada drought in the year 2015 is a reflection of poor management of water resources and agriculture it is also a fact that in these regions, for earning more money, farmers are lured to sow water intensive crops such as sugarcane, paddy etc mostly the groundwater is used in raising these crops leading to severe drought and water scarcitysimilarly, large quantities of water is required in thermal power plants for cooling and various other purposes various industries particularly producing mineral water, colas etc also use large quantities of water such power plants and industries need to be discouraged in water scarce regions the study which has been referred to above has advocated adoption of sustainable strategies consistent with the nature variability for rainfed agriculture such as diversification with pulses and water resource management farmers may be given advisories for diversifying cropping pattern from water intensive crops to pulses, oilseeds, maize and agro forestry and adoption of modern agronomic practices like raised bed sowing, alternate furrow irrigation, sprinkler irrigation, drip irrigation, mulching etcseveral drought tolerant varieties of paddy have been developed in the country farmers may be advised to go for sowing these varieties it is learnt that in indonesia drought tolerant sugarcane is grown in a big way this may be tested in our country so that we do not have to face the shortage of sugar however, in water scarce regions growing of water intensive crops and setting up of thermal power plants and other large scale water intensive industries have to be bannedhence this billrajkumar  dhoot memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 7 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill the rules will relate to matters of details only the delegation of legislative power is of normal character ———— a billto provide for the prohibition of growing water intensive  crops and setting up of thermalpower plants and other large scale water intensive industries in water scarce regions of marathwada, vidharbha, bundelkhand and such other regions in eastern and southern parts of the country and for the promotion of growing less water consuming crops particularly those developed by indian council of agricultural research and such other bodies and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto ————(shri rajkumar dhoot, mp)gmgipmrnd—1322rs(s3)—21-07-2017