 bill  no  70 of  2018 the  rural labour (welfare) bill, 2018 by shri shrirang appa barne, mp a billto  provide for the welfare measures to be undertaken by the state for the rural labouremployed in the agriculture sector and allied activities thereto and other ruraloccupations by establishing a welfare fund for such labour and for takingother measures to improve their living and working conditionsand for matters connected therewithbe  it enacted by parliament in the sixty-ninth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the rural labour (welfare) act, 2018(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,—(a) "appropriate government" means in the case of a state, the government ofthat state and in other cases, the central government;(b) "committee" means the national rural labour welfare committee established under section 3;(c) "employer" includes cultivator, orchard owner, poultry farm owner, livestock rearer, agency society, food processing unit, crusher, oil or pulses mill or any such establishment located in any rural area which employs rural based labour;5(d) "fund" means the rural labour welfare fund established under section 5; (e) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act; and10(f) "rural labour" means any person residing in a village and engaged in any rural vocation such as agriculture, horticulture, sericulture, poultry, rearing of livestock including piggery, food processing, handicrafts, weaving or any such other occupation as a wage earner whether in cash or kind, for his livelihood and includes any person engaged through a contractor or engaged as a self employed person153 (1) the central government shall, as soon as may be, by notification in the official gazette, establish a committee to be known as the national rural labour welfare committee for carrying out the purposes of this actestablishment of the national rural labour welfare committee(2) the headquarter of the committee shall be at new delhi and the committee may establish offices at such other places in the country as it may deem necessary for carrying out the purposes of this act(3) the committee shall consist of—20(a) a union minister to be appointed by the central government in such manner as may be prescribed, chairperson ex-officio;(b) five members of parliament of whom three shall be from the house of the people and two from the council of states to be appointed by the presiding officers of the houses concerned, members, ex-officio;25(c) six representatives from the union ministry of labour, planning andfinance to be appointed by the central government in such manner as may be prescribed, members; and(d) seven members to be nominated by the governments of the states to be rotated amongst the states in alphabetical order30(4)  the term of the office of chairperson, members of the committee and the procedure to be followed in the discharge of its functions shall be such as may be prescribed4 (1) the committee shall, as soon as may be, formulate a national policy for the betterment and welfare of the rural labourformulation of a natinoal policy for the welfare of rural labour35(2) the national policy so formulated under sub-section (1) shall be uniformlyimplemented throughout the country and the policy may incorporate provisions for uninterrupted work round the year, minimum remunerative wages, healthcare including maternity facilities, old age pension, compensation in case of accident and such other facilities as may be deemed necessary40establishment of rural labour welfare fund5 (1) the central government shall, with effect from such date as may be specifiedby notification in the official gazette in this behalf, establish for the purposes of this act, a fund to be called the rural labour welfare fund which shall be administered by the central government in such manner as may be prescribed45(2) the central government shall after due appropriation made by parliament bylaw in this behalf, credit to the fund in each financial year such sums of money as it considers necessary for carrying out the purposes of this act(3) the fund shall also consist of the moneys received from—(a) the government of the states as contributions, towards the fund;(b) the body corporates as donations; (c) financial institutions and other institutions, domestic and foreign ones asassistance; and(d) donations from the employers and general public and bodies5(4) the fund shall be utilized to promote the welfare measures for the rural labour which are necessary or expedient to do and in particular to defray the costs towards,—(i) improving educational facilities for the children of rural based labour; (ii) improving water supply for drinking and other purposes;10(iii) improving the standard of living and nutrition for families of rural basedlabour;(iv) amelioration of social condition of rural based labour; (v) providing housing and recreational facilities; (vi) providing medical facilities to the rural based labour and their families;15(vii) providing financial assistance in case of infirmity or disability due toaccident etc;(viii) old age pension to the rural based labour; and (ix) providing and improving the welfare measures included in the nationalpolicy and such other welfare measures as may be prescribed206 the central government may require a state government or union territoryadministration or a local authority or any employer to furnish for the purposes of this act, such information in such form and within such period as may be prescribedstate government, etc to furnish the requisite information257 notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, it shall be the duty of the appropriate government to ensure availability of work round the year to the rural labour through the employers or in such manner as that government may deem expedient or necessaryappropriate government to ensure avaliability of work round the year tothe rurallabourannual report308 the central government shall, after the inputs provided by the governments of the states and union territory administrations, submit an annual report, in such form and in such manner, as may be prescribed, of the administration of the fund and other welfare activities carried out under this act, to the president of india who shall cause the report to be laid before both the houses of parliament along with action taken thereon as soon as it is received9 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 rules10 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act3540(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  reasonsit is rightly said that india lives in villages because nearly eighty per cent of its population lives in the villages and mostly depends on agriculture and agro based occupations there are farms, orchards, poultry farms, livestock rearing farms where rural based labour are employed they work as weavers, small scale entrepreneurs, handicraft artisans, potters, cobblers, blacksmiths, etc there are millions of such agricultural, home based and other workers who are unorganized and remain exploited and poor throughout their lives and live in distress from generations together their wages and income are meagre and they do not get employment round the year as a result, they are poverty striken and remain neglected even by the state none of the welfare laws like the minimum wages act, 1948, the maternity benefit act, 1961, the payment of gratuity act, 1972 and the workmen compensation act, 1923 applies in case of unorganised rural labour during old, the rural labourers were not provided employment and therefore lacks money for food, medicines and clothes the rural labourers do not have round the year employment and in case of agricultural sector, they get employment which is dependent on monsoonin a welfare state, like ours, it is the duty of the state to introduce welfare measures for the have-nots like the rural based labour who remain unorganized and exploited hence, it is necessary to formulate a national welfare policy for the rural based labour and constitute a welfare fund for them to ameliorate their living conditions in pursuance of the said policy, the central and state governments will implement the welfare measures contained in that policy and defray the costs to the welfare fundhence this billnew delhi;shrirang appa barnefebruary 12, 2018 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the establishment of a national rural labour welfare committee clause 4 provides for formulation of a national policy for the betterment and welfare of the rural labour clause 5 provides for the establishment of rural labour welfare fund for which the central government shall provide funds in each financial year the bill, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupees five thousand crore may involve as recurring expenditure per annuma non-recurring expenditure to the tune of rupees one thousand crore may also involve from the consolidated fund of india memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 10 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 lok  sabha———— a billto  provide for the welfare measures to be undertaken by the state for the rural labouremployed in the agriculture sector and allied activities thereto and other ruraloccupations by establishing a welfare fund for such labour and for takingother measures to improve their living and working conditionsand for matters connected therewith————(shri shrirang appa barne, mp)mgipmrnd—4235ls(s3)—28-02-2018