 bill no  85  of 2007 the insurance agents welfare bill, 2007 by shri basudeb acharia, mp a billto make provisions for the welfare of insurance agents and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the fifty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the insurance agents welfare act, 2007(2) it extends to the whole of indiashort title, extent and commencement(3) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appointdefinitions2  in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(i) "fund" means the insurance agents welfare fund constituted under section 3 of this act;4 of 19385(ii) the expression "insurance agent" shall have the same meaning as is assigned to it in the insurance act, 1938; and(iii) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act3 (1) the central government shall set up a fund to be known as the insurance agents welfare fundinsurance agents welfare fund10(2) the fund shall consist of contributions from central government, the insurance companies and the insurance agents in such ratio as may be prescribed(3) the fund shall be administered by a board, consisting of—(a) the union finance minister, who shall be its ex-officio chairperson;(b) two members who shall be representatives of the insurance regulatory and development authority; and15(c) two members representing the insurance agents who shall be nominated by the central government in such manner as may be prescribed (4) the salary and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions of service of members of the board shall be such as may be prescribed4 the fund shall be utilized for the following purposes:—utilisation of the fund20(i) payment of compensation to next of kin of insurance agents in case of deathin harness;(ii) payment of old age pension after an insurance agent has attained the age ofsixty-five years;25(iii) payment of family pension to the dependents of the deceased insuranceagents;(iv) payment of premium for the medical insurance of the insurance agent andhis family; and(v) such other purposes as the board may deem necessary for the welfare of insurance agents30power to make rules5 the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act statement of objects and reasonsthe insurance agents play a major role in procuring business and in the growth of the insurance sector more than a million people are engaged as insurance agents in the public sector life insurance corporation alone majority of them have opted this profession as full time job the work requires a lot of time, energy and dedication the competition amongst insurance companies for business has tremendously increased after the opening up of this sector to private players both at national and international levelsit is estimated that seventy-five percent of the insurance agents earn less than rupees sixty thousand per annum which is not sufficient to meet even minimum requirements of a family their contribution to insurance sector is immense in creating assets and increasing profit of the companies, at the same time providing benefits of insurance to the general public in the absence of any welfare scheme by the government or social security, these insurance agents live in pathetic conditions a portion of profit earned by the insurance companies through hard work of such agents needs to be devoted for the welfare of insurance agents and their families it is the responsibility of the government in a welfare state to provide proper medical care, old age pension, family pension, etc to every citizen of the country therefore, a suitable legislation is urgently required to provide for general welfare of persons working as agents in the insurance sectorhence this billnew delhi;basudeb acharianovember 6, 2007 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for setting up of a insurance agents welfare fund and for constitution of a board to administer the fund the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is likely to involve a recurring expenditure of about rupees fifty crore per annuma non-recurring expenditure of about rupees one hundred crore is also likely to be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 5 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill since the rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character lok sabha———— a billto make provisions for the welfare of insurance agents and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(shri basudeb acharia, mp)mgipmrnd—4493ls(s-5)—16-11-2007