 bill no 51 of  2016 the small-holder farmers (protection and welfare) bill, 2016 by adv joice george, mp a billto provide for protection and welfare of small-holder farmers by constitution of a minimum assurance price commission for their agricultural produce and a small-holder farmers welfare fund and for matters connected therewithbe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-seventh year of the republic of india as follows:—short title and commencement1 (1) this act may be called the small-holder farmers (protection and welfare) act,2016definitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "agricultural produce" means agricultural produce specified in the schedule; (b) "commission" means the minimum price assurance commission constitutedunder section 6;5(c) "fund" means the small-holder farmers welfare fund constituted undersection 4;(d) "mimimum assured price" means the price of the agricultural produces fixedand declared by the central government under section 3;(e) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act; and10(f) "small-holder farmer" means a person possessing agricultural land measuring not more than ten acres and who has no major income from any source other than agriculture 3 the central government shall, on recommendation of the commission, at least one month before every financial year, by notification in the official gazette, declare the minimum assured price for each agricultural produce15central government to declare minimum assured price of agricultural produce4 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a fund to be known as the small-holder farmers welfare fund for carrying out the purposes of this actconstitution of smallholder farmers welfare fund20(2) the initial corpus of rupees one hundred crore of which rupees fifty crore shall be provided by the central government, after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf, and rupees fifty crore shall be provided by the state governments in such proportion as may be prescribed(3) the central government and state governments shall contribute every year to the fund in such ratio as may be prescribed25(4) there shall also be credited to the fund moneys received under corporate social responsibility from the corporate and other private individuals5 the fund shall be utilized for—utilization of fund(i) providing minimum assured price for agricultural produce; (ii) payment of pension to every small-holder farmer who has attained the age of fifty-five years;30(iii) financial assistance to the young small-holder farmers for innovative proposals; and(iv) establishing efficient institutional mechanism for fullfledged marketing of agricultural produce356 (1) the central government shall, as soon as possible but not later than six months of the commencement of this act, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a commission to be known as the minimum price assurance commission(2) the commission shall consist of—constitution of the minimum price assurance commission(a) a chairperson to be appointed by the central government in such manner, as may be prescribed, from amongst the persons having knowledge in the field of agricultural operations in small-holder farming sector and expertise in agricultural economics;(b) a vice-chairperson to be elected by and from amongst the members of the commission representing the small-holder farmers;(c) two members of parliament, one each from lok sabha and rajya sabha, to be elected by the respective houses;5(d) one member not below the rank of joint secretary, representing the unionministry of agriculture;(e) one member not below the rank of joint secretary, representing the indiancouncil of agriculture research; and10(f) five members representing small-holder farmers to be nominated by thecentral government in such manner as may be prescribed(3) the term of office of the commission shall be three years (4) the commission shall be a body corporate having perpetual succession and common seal with power to acquire, hold and dispose of property both movable and immovable and to contract and shall, by the said name, sue or be sued157 the commission shall recommend to the central government—functions of the commission(a) the minimum assured price for agricultural produce after taking into consideration the cost of cultivation including fifty per cent margin on the cost of cultivation; and(b) the steps to be taken for the improvement of livelihood of small-holder farmers20power to issue directions8 the central government may issue such directions to the state governments as itmay think necessary for carrying out the purposes of this act9 the provisions of this act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in forceact to have overriding effect power to make rules2510 (1) the central government may make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act30(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 schedule[see section 3]1fibrecoconut2cerealspaddy3oil seedscoconut, oil palm4fruitsmango, orange, papaya, guava, banana, grapes, jack fruit, pineapple, rambutan, mangostin, cocoa5vegetablescommon pea, gram, tomato, turmeric, bitter gourd, snake gourd,ash gourd, elephant foot yam, winter crops, chilly6tuberstopioca, carrot, beet root, common taro, elephant yam, carrot,potato7spicespepper, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon8cash cropsrubber, tea, coffeestatement of objects and reasonsagriculture plays a pivotal role in indian economy and small-holder farmers owe a considerable share in it small-holder farmers are farmers with a low asset base and limited resource endowments and who depend on household members for most of the labour, small-holder farmers are characterized by smaller applications of capital but higher use of labour and other family-owned inputs, and generally higher index of cropping intensity and diversification farmers, especially small-holder farmers fall in debt trap due to vagaries of nature and lack of assured minimum support price for agricultural producecurrently, a farmer is born under debt and dies under the threat of its repayment due to total negligence and non-remunerative profession, youngsters are not preferring agriculture as promising and profitable the pitfalls in farming policy and free trade agreements make the situation more assailable, especially in rural economies the whole proceedings result in social discontent, anarchy and turmoil which paves the way for terrorism and naxalismin short, an immediate effective intervention is needed by the government to safeguard the dreams, hopes and aspirations of agrarian people the constitution of the small-holder farmers welfare fund and the minimum assurance price commission will lend a helping hand in removing indebtedness and social insecurity from small-holder farming communitythe bill seeks to achieve the above objectives financial memorandumclause 4 of the bill provides for the constitution of a small-holder farmers welfare fund with initial corpus of fifty crore rupees to be provided by the central government clause 6 provides for constitution of a minimum price assurance commission for the welfare of small-holder farmers the bill, therefore, if enacted will involve expenditure from consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a recurring expenditure of about rupees one hundred crore would be involved from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of about rupees fifty 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 protection and welfare of small-holder farmers by constitution of a minimum assurance price commission for their agricultural produce and a small-holder farmers welfare fund and for matters connected therewith————(adv joice george, mp)