 bill no lxxxvii of 2006 the farmers (protection and welfare) bill, 2006 a billto protect the interests of farmers by providing special facilities to improve their standard of living, removal of indebtedness, remunerative prices for their produce, increasing the yield by improving farming practices, techniques and allied occupations, for introducing compulsory market intervention in case of bumper crops, compulsory insurance of crops, livestock, old age allowance and welfare measures to be undertaken by the state and for matters connected therewith and incidental theretobe  it enacted by parliament in the fifty-seventh year of the republic of india is as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the farmers (protection and welfare) act, 2006short title, extent and commencement(2) it extends to the whole of india (3) it shall come into force with immediate effect52 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires:—definitions(a) "agricultural produce" includes wheat, paddy, coarse cereals like jowar, bajra, millet, maize, barley, madwa, gram, pulses, sugarcane, cotton, oilseed, vegetables, spices, jute, coconut, all types of fruits including areca nuts and such other agricultural commodities which may be notified from time to time by the central government in the official gazette and also includes seed as defined in the seeds act, 1966;(b) "appropriate government" means in the case of a state the government of that state and in other cases, the central government;(c) "bumper crop" means excess yield of any agriculture produce when the return to the farmer is not reasonable as compared to its cost of production;(d) "crop insurance" means insurance against loss of crop due to natural calamity and also includes loss suffered by a farmer on account of bumper crop;5(e) "farmer" means a person who owns land and cultivates  or causes it to becultivated thereon for agricultural or horticultural purposes and includes big, middle, small and marginal farmers as identified by the union planning commission;10(f) "natural calamity" includes calamity due to drought, flood, hail, wind, cyclone,super cyclone, tsunami, storm, frost, winter kill, lightening, fire excessive or heavy rains, snow, wild life, insect infestation, plant disease  and such other causes as may be prescribed;(g) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act153  (1) the central government shall, as soon as may be, formulate a long term action plan for the protection and welfare of the farmers throughout the country and in particular for the farmers of drought prone, coastal and other calamity prone areas and regions of the country as may be necessary, incidental or conducive for such action planlong term action plan for the welfare of farmers(2) in particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions such action plan may include—(a) comprehensive crop and livestock insurance scheme so as to compensatethe farmer against losses due to natural calamity or on account of bumper crop;20(b) compulsory market  intervention scheme for bumper crops to procure orarrange to procure excess crop of the farmer;(c) interim relief to farmers affected by natural calamity;25(d) writing off loans and interest accrued on farmers if crops are affected bynatural calamity consecutively for two years;(e) easy credit facility with nominal interest thereon through commercial andcooperative banks;(f) institutional mechanism for efficient marketing and export of farm produce;and30(g) welfare schemes including old age pension scheme for farmers who haveattained the age of sixty years or morefacilities to farmers4 notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, it shall be the duty of the appropriate government to,—35(a) consistently monitor the trends of production of agricultural produce rightfrom the beginning of every sowing season of every crop so as to estimate the likely production, local consumption, purchases by government agencies, surplus and such other things;40(b) in case of bumper crops, make transportation arrangements at subsidizedrates to carry the surplus produce to identified areas of state where such produce is likely to be consumed and make necessary marketing and yard facilities for such bumper crop;(c) ensure that farmer do not resort to distress sale of their agricultural produceand compulsorily extend market intervention through appropriate agencies in case of bumper crops;45(d) study the requirements of the farmers for promoting agriculture includingagricultural education, research and training and establish well equipped modern  krishivigyan kendras and agricultural universities at conspicuous places in the country;(e) establish agricultural farms in every block which shall ensure timely and adequate supply of quality seeds and saplings to farmers;(f) establish well equipped and modern veterinary hospitals in every block to assist farmers in animal husbandry;5(g) promote agro based industries such a food processing, dairy, poultry, rearingof animals, piggery, etc to enhance farm income;(h) promote the technique of group farming to encourage better farm managementand farming techniques with a view to  making agriculture economically viable;10(i) promote cultivation of vegetables, spices, floriculture, pisciculture, poultryfarming, piggery, sericulture, bee keeping, horticulture in the suitable areas for supplementing the income of farmers;(j) promote organic farming, use of natural manure, use of biomass for energyproduction, water harvesting and conservation techniques for the benefit of farmers;(k) provide such other facilities as may be prescribed155 the appropriate government shall provide to every farmer—miscellaneous provisions(a) free of cost medicare; (b) free of cost, education to his children including technical, medical andvocational;(c) easy institutional loans to remove indebtedness due to loans frommoneylenders on exorbitant rate of interest;20(d) adequate compensation in case of loss of crop due to natural calamity, diseaseor pest attack, as the case may be;25(e) adequate compensation of not less than four lakh rupees to the dependentsof a farmer in such manner as may be prescribed who takes the extreme step of committing suicide;(f) adequate old age pension which is sufficient to lead a dignified life; and (g) such other protective measures as may be prescribed6 the central government shall after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf provide, the requisite funds for carrying out the purposes of this act;central government to provide funds30power to remove difficulties7 (1) if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the centralgovernment may, by order published in the official gazette, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, remove the difficulty:provided that no such order shall be made after the expiry of the period of two years from the commencement of this act35(2) every order made under this section shall be laid, as soon as may be, after it is made,before each house of parliamentact to have overriding effect408 the provisions of this act and rules made thereunder shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law as aforesaid, the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other law for the time being in force dealing with farmerspower to make rules9 the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act statement  of  objects  and  reasonsours is predominantly an agrarian country because agriculture is the main occupation or means of dependence of more than seventy per cent of our population the farmers who not only constitute majority  of our population but, in fact, are the backbone of our economy because agriculture is the biggest  economic sector of our nation which contributes extensively to the gross domestic product(gdp), provides employment and livelihood to the maximum number of people agriculture sustains the country with food security and provides largest share of raw material to our industrial sector unfortunately, this vital  sector of our economy is badly neglected and so are the farmers  who are engaged in agriculture as a result there are spate of suicides being committed by poor and indebted farmers in various parts of the country particularly in maharashtra, andhra pradesh, karnataka, kerala, uttar pradesh, madhya pradesh, punjab, haryana,  etc the farmers are highly exposed to the vagaries of nature natural calamities like flood, drought, heavy rains, cyclones or super cyclone, tsunami, hail, wind, storm, frost, winter kill, lightening, fire, snow, wild life, insect infestation, plant diseases and vagaries of weather often reduce them to a state of extreme distress failure to get remunerative prices for the crops more so when bumper crops are grown and the shortcomings and the irregularities of the state procuring agencies also add to the distress of the poor farmers whenever there is a natural calamity, the state and the central governments under ad hoc measures spend crores of rupees every year in compensating the affected farmers but such ad hoc measures are   inadequate which fail to instill any sense of confidence in the farmers therefore, the need is felt to provide adequate security and protection to the farmers so far neglected which can be done through comprehensive crop and livestock insurance scheme and other schemes for the protection, benefit and welfare of the helpless farmers of the countryhence this billem sudarsana  natchiappan financial  memorandumclause 4 of the bill provides for certain facilities to be given to the farmers clause 5provides for payment of certain compensations, free of cost medicare, education to children, old age pensions etc   to the farmers clause 6 makes it obligatory for the central government to provide adequate funds for carrying out the purposes of the bill the bill if enacted will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupees ten thousand crores may involve as recurring expenditure per annuma non-recurring expenditure to the tune of rupees one thousand crores may also involve memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 9 of the bill gives power to the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill the rules will relate to matters of details onlythe delegation of legislative power is of normal character————— a billto protect the interests of farmers by providing special facilities to improve their standard of living, removal of indebtedness, remunerative prices for their produce, increasing the yield by improving farming practices, techniques and allied occupations, for introducing compulsory market intervention in case of bumper crops, compulsory insurance of crops, livestock, old age allowance and welfare measures to be undertaken by the state and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto————(dr em sudarsana natchiappan, mp)