 bill no  304 of 2015 the traditional fishermen (socio-economic protection and welfare) bill, 2015 byshri vinayak bhaurao raut, mpa billto provide for the socio-economic protection and welfare of the traditional fishermen in the country by establishing a welfare fund for their benefit and for providing adequate life insurance cover against accidents, medical care, financial assistance for fishing nets, boats and other necessities, unemployment allowance during lean periods, free education including vocational education and training to their children and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-sixth year of the republic of india as follows:—(2) it extends to the whole of india (3) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—definitions5(a) "accident" means an accident caused during the course of fishing including drowning;(b) "administrator" means an administrator appointed under section 5; (c) "appropriate government" means in the case of  state, the government of that state and in other cases the central government;10(d) "fisherman" means a person who earns his livelihood by catching fish from the fisheries and whose only source of income is the money he earns from selling such fish;(e) "partial disablement" means such disablement which has reduced the working capacity of a fisherman temporarily which he was capable of having before the accident;(f) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act;15(g) "total disablement" includes any disablement which incapacitates a fisherman for all work which he was capable of performing prior to the accident; and(h) "welfare fund" means the traditional fishermen welfare fund established under section 420long term national policy for the welfare of traditional fishermen3 the central government shall, as soon as may be, but within one year from the commencement of this act, formulate, in consultation with the government of the states having substantial population of fishermen, a long term national policy for the welfare of traditional fishermen and their families and protect their fishing rights and interests against the onslaught of big fishing companies including the multinationals254 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, establish a traditional fishermen welfare fund for the purpose of this actestablishment of traditional fishermen welfare fund(2) the initial corpus fund of the welfare fund shall be two thousand crore rupees which shall be provided by the central government after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf30(3) after the establishment of the fund, money to the fund shall be provided by the central and the concerned state governments in such proportion as may be agreed to from year to year and the money received by way of donations from individuals, body corporates, financial and other institutions shall also form the corpus money of the fund(4) the fund shall be administered by the central government in such manner as may be prescribed35appointment of administrators5 the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, appoint suchnumber of administrators who shall entertain the claims for payment of compensation and other facilities under this act6 the fund established under this act shall be utilised for,—utilisation of the fund(a) life insurance cover to the traditional fishermen and their families;40(b) free medical care to the traditional fishermen and their family members; (c) financial assistance to the traditional fishermen for the purchase and repair offishing nets, boats and other equipments required for fishing;(d) unemployment allowance during illness or financial crisis during lean periods;(e) free education including technical and vocational education to the children of traditional fishermen; and(f) such other purposes as may be prescribed5fixation of compensation and payment thereof7 (1) subject to the provisions of this act, the amount of compensation payable to a traditional fisherman sustaining injury resulting in his death or partial or total disablement or in case of his drowning or sweeping away by the water currents or in his disappearance in a storm or cyclone or tsunami, shall be such as may be specified by the central government from time to time by notification in the official gazette10(2) in case of death of a traditional fisherman, the compensation fixed under sub-section (1) shall be paid to the spouse of the deceased or to his legal heir or to the children, as the case may be, and in case the deceased being unmarried the compensation shall be paid to his parents(3) every claimant for payment of compensation under this act shall apply to the administrator in prescribed format giving details as may be prescribed15(4) every claim for compensation under this act shall be finalized by the administratorand payment shall be made within thirty days of the claim8 the appropriate government shall,—miscellaneous provisions20(a) establish adequate number of schools and vocational training institutes and healthcare centres in and around the  areas inhabitated by traditional fishermen for their benefit including their families and children;(b) provide adequate and hygienic marketing facilities to the fishermen for theircatch;(c) provide subsidy on kerosene and petrol;25(d) protect the fishing rights and interests of the traditional fishermen bypreventing national and multinational companies from fishing in the fisheries within the jurisdiction of traditional fishermen as may be determined by the central government from time to time;(e) through the coast guard and navy, prevent the trespassing by fishermen of other countries into the fisheries of indian waters;30(f) take up issue with neighbouring countries through diplomatic channelswhenever the indian fishermen are detained with their boats and nets by such countries so as to ensure their timely release; and(g) take such other measures as it may deem necessary for the protection andwelfare of traditional fishermen359 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of theprovisions of any other law applicable to fishermen for the time being in forceapplication of other laws not barred10 the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf, provide adequate funds to the states for carrying out the purposes of this actcentral government to provide requisite funds40power to make rules11 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rulesfor carrying out the purposes of this act(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,40both 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 reasonsthere are millions of traditional fishermen and their families spread over thousand of kilometers of coast line of our country their main occupation and means of livelihood is catching fish and selling it in the market and they are doing this for generations however, the fishermen and their families live in abject poverty nearly hand to mouth whereas the middlemen, wholesalers and retail traders of fish flourish at their cost as the sea food is becoming popular not only in the country but worldwide sea products are very much in demand but the status of traditional fishermen has remained the same many of the fishermen are carried away by water currents particularly during storms, cyclones and tsunami, etc and lose their lives similarly, they get drowned while fishing or receive injuries leading to partial or total disablement but there is nobody to look after them except their hapless poor families in fact, the disablement or death of a fisherman ruins his family who remain at the mercy of fate alonesince the poor fishermen are part and parcel of our society and ours being a welfare state, it is necessary that the fisherman too are provided with adequate insurance cover against accidents, healthcare, financial assistance in case of need, educational, vocational facilities for their children, etc they should also get subsidy on kerosene and petrol and cold storage and marketing facilities for their catch they are also needed to be protected from the onslaught of big national and multinational companies often fishermen from neighbouring countries trespass into indian waters for illegal fishing which needs to be stopped traditional fishermen of our country are, therefore, required to be given maximum security and facilitieshence this billnew delhi;vinayak bhaurao rautnovember 16 , 2015 financial memorandumclause 4 of the bill provides for the establishment of the traditional fishermen welfare fund clause 5 provides for the appointment of administrators clause 10 provides that the central government shall provide adequate funds to the state governments for carrying out the purposes of this bill the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupees three thousand crore may involve as recurring expenditure per annuma non-recurring expenditure of rupees two thousand crore may also involve memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 11 gives power to the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill as the rules relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of normal character———— a billto provide for the socio-economic protection and welfare of the traditional fishermen in the country by establishing a welfare fund for their benefit and for providing adequate life insurance cover against accidents, medical care, financial assistance for fishing nets, boats and other necessities, unemployment allowance during lean periods, free education including vocational education and training to their children and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto———— (shri vinayak bhaurao raut, mp)gmgipmrnd—2936ls(s3)—08122015