 bill no  137 of  2014 the farmers (protection from natural calamities and other welfare measures) bill, 2014 by shri devji m patel, mp a billto provide for the protection of farmers affected by natural calamities and for other welfare measures and for matters connected therewithbe  it enacted by parliament in the sixty-fifth year of the republic of india as follows:—(2) it extends to the whole of indiadefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "appropriate government" means in case of a state, the government of that state and in all other cases, the central government;5(b) "farmer affected by natural calamity" means a farmer whose property, including livestock, crop, orchard, field, machine or tools, is lost, destroyed or damaged due to natural calamity;(c) "fund" means the farmers welfare fund constituted under section 4;10(d) "natural calamity" includes drought, flood, cyclone, hailstorm, cloud burst, tsunami, landslide or earthquake or such other conditions as may be notified by the appropriate government from time to time;(e) "old age farmer" means a farmer who has completed sixty years of age;and(f) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act153 (1) notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, every farmer affected by natural calamity shall be paid adequate compensation by the appropriate government in such manner as may be prescribedpayment of adequate compensation to farmers affected by natural calamities(2) the amount of compensation payable to a farmers under sub-section (1) shall be such as may be specified by the appropriate government from time to time, by notification in the official gazette;20(3) the appropriate government, while specifying the compensation under sub-section (2), shall take into account the actual loss suffered by a farmer affected by natural calamity;25(4) every claimant shall apply to an officer nominated by the appropriate government for the purpose of payment of compensation in such form and giving such information as may be prescribed:provided that nothing in this act shall prevent a gram panchayat from applying for compensation on behalf of all the farmers affected by natural calamity living within the jurisdiction of such gram panchayat30(5) every application for compensation under this act shall be disposed of within a period of thirty days from the date of its filingfarmers welfare fund4 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a fund to be known as the farmers welfare fund35(2) the initial corpus of the fund shall be rupees five thousand crore of which rupees four thousand crore shall be credited by the central government, after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf, and rupees one thousand crore shall be credited by the state governments in such manner as may be prescribed(3) the central government and the state governments shall contribute every year to the fund in such ratio as may be prescribed40(4) there shall also be credited to the fund any grant or donation that may be made by any person or institution5 (1) the appropriate government shall take such measures as it may think necessary and expedient for the removal of indebtedness amongst farmersmeasures for removal of indebtedness amongst farmers45(2) without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision, the measures shall include giving remunerative prices to farmers for their agricultural produce and provision of a comprehensive crop insurance scheme for farmerspension to old age farmers6 the appropriate government shall pay such pension, being not less than rupees one thousand per month, as it may deem appropriate keeping in view the rate of inflation and other necessary factors, to every old age farmer, whose income from all sources is not more than two thousand rupees per month, in such manner as may be prescribed5farmers credit scheme7 (1) the central government, in consultation with the state governments,formulate a scheme to be known as the farmers credit scheme for providing loans to farmers through banks and financial institutions(2) the scheme shall provide for—(i) terms and conditions governing the flow of credit to the farmers;10(ii) procedure of settling outstanding loans of farmers; (iii) guidelines regarding rate of interest to be charged on loans; (iv) relief measures for farmers affected by natural calamities; and (v) such other matters as the central government may deem necessary158 the central government may issue such directives to the banks and the financialinstitutions, as it may deem necessary, for carrying out the purposes of this act9 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other law for the time being in force, relating to matters provided in this actcentral government to issue directives to banks and financial institutions act not to be in derogation of 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 act2025(2) every rule made under this act 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 modificationor annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement of objects and reasonsin our country farmers constitute nearly seventy per cent of the total populationbeing a vast country, natural calamities do occur in one part of the country or the other almost round the year for instance, the state of rajasthan and parts of gujarat, maharashtra, bihar, uttar pradesh, jharkhand, madhya pradesh and chhattisgarh are drought prone every year, half of bihar is flooded and the other half faces drought similarly, in southern states, coastal areas are lashed with cyclones or tsunami whereas other parts of these states face drought conditions many parts of the country face earthquake, hailstorm, cloud bursts, extreme cold conditions and other natural calamities farmers mostly bear the brunt of such natural calamities they lose their crops, livestock and many a time their dwelling units and household items including food grains despite this, farmers are supposed to repay their loans whether their harvest is good or not in depression, many of them end their lives thousands of farmers have committed suicide in recent years in the states of andhra pradesh, maharashtra, punjab, uttar pradesh, madhya pradesh, tamil nadu and karnataka indebtedness of our farming community is a chronic and continuing problem which has to be taken care of through active efforts due to increase in life expectancy, the number of old age farmers is increasing and in their old age they have to face a number of problems compelling them to lead a miserable life since ours is a welfare state, the government is duty bound to provide social security to the farmers by giving them old age pension, remunerative prices of their produce and also provide them adequate compensation if their crops and property are affected by natural calamityhence this billnew delhi;devji m patelnovember 3, 2014 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the compensation to farmers affected by natural calamity clause 4 provides for constitution of farmers welfare fund clause 6 provides for old age pension to farmers clause 7 provides for the formulation of farmers credit scheme the expenditure in relation to the states shall be borne out of the consolidated funds of the respective states however, the expenditure in respect of union territories shall be borne out of the consolidated fund of india further, the central government is also required to assist the state governments by crediting monies into the farmers welfare fund for carrying out the purposes of the act the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupees five thousand crore may be involved as recurring expenditure per annuma non-recurring expenditure to the tune of rupees five hundred crore is also likely to be involved 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 detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character———— a billto provide for the protection of farmers affected by natural calamities and for other welfare measures and for matters connected therewith————(shri devji m patel, mp)gmgipmrnd—2720ls(s3)—02-12-2014