 bill no 63 of  2018 the river (conservation and elimination of pollution) bill, 2018 by shri shrirang appa barne, mp a billto provide for conservation and elimination of pollution of rivers of the country and for matters connected therewith be it enacted by the parliament in the sixty-ninth year of the republic of  india as follows:—short title and commencementdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "appropriate government" means in the case of a state, the government of that state and in all other cases, the central government;5(b) "committee" means the river conservation committee constituted under section 8;14 of 1947(c) "industry" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it under clause (j) of section 2 of the industrial disputes act, 1947;(d) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act; (e) "river" means an inter-state river or river valley; and10(f) "school" means any government school or a government aided school or a private school which imparts education from primary to senior secondary level3 the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, formulate a policy for mandatory cleaning of all the rivers of the countryformulation of a policy for mandatory cleaning of rivers4 the appropriate government shall include the ill-effects of water pollution as a subject in the curriculum of study in school education under their jurisdiction155 the appropriate government shall, prior to organizing any religious festival on the banks of a river, launch awareness campaigns on ill-effects of water pollution and its impact on human healthinclusion of illeffects of water pollution in school appropriate government to launch awareness campaign206 the appropriate government shall, after detailed study, systematically shut down industries that cause or are likely to cause river pollutionappropriate government to the industries causing river pollution vocational training7 the appropriate government shall put in place vocational training for the persons rendered jobless due to closure of industries causing pollution258 (1) with effect from such date as the central government may, by notification, appoint, there shall be constituted, for the purposes of this act, a committee to be known as the river conservation committeeconstitution of river conservation committee(2) the committee shall consist of:—(a) union minister of environment, forest and climate change; (b) union minister of water resources, river development and ganga rejuvenation;30(c) an environment scientist in the field of water pollution, as member; (d) a person having experience in the field of river conservation, as member;(e) chief ministers of all states as members; and (f ) an officer of indian administrative service as member—secretary, to be appointed by the central government in such manner as may be prescribed35(3) the union minister, whosover is senior, shall act as an ex-officio chairperson of the committee;(4) the committee shall meet at least twice in a month(5) the salary and allowances payable to and other terms and conditions of service of members of the committee other than the ex-officio members, shall be such as may be prescribed59 the union ministry of environment, forest and climate change shall providesecretarial and financial assistance to the committeecentral government to provide secretarial assistance10 the committee shall,—functions of the committee(a) ensure complete ban on pollution of river; (b) ensure the availability of clean and potable water;10(c) ensure pollution free zones within two kilometer area on both sides of therivers;(d) ensure that celebration of religious festivals does not cause river pollution; (e) organize mass compaign in order to cause awareness about the ill effects ofriver pollution;(f) ensure inclusion of ill-effect of river pollution in school curriculum;15(g) impose ban upon releasing or dumping of waste in to the rivers by factories; (h) impose penalty on any industry causing river pollution; (i) draw public attention towards the fatal effects of river pollution upon humanhealth; and(j) ensure total ban on releasing of effluents of drains into river20central government to provide funds11 the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament by lawin this behalf, provide requisite funds for carrying out the purposes of this act from time totimepower to remove difficulty2512 (1) if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the centralgovernment, in consultation with the state governments, may make such order or give such direction, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, as appears to it to be necessary or expedient for the removal of any difficulty:provided that no such order shall be made after the expiry of the period of two years from the date of commencement of this act30(2) every order made under this section shall, as soon as may be after it is made, be laidbefore both the houses of parliamentpower to make rules13 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act35540(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 modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement  of  objects  and  reasonsrivers are known as the lifelines of a country and act as a mirror of its culture and civilization in the indian culture, society, rulers and saints have given the title of mother to these life giving rivers and has also treated them with respect befitting a mother during the past few years, due to ever increasing industrialisation and urbanisation, the level of pollution has increased massively in major rivers due to indiscriminate use of river water for irrigation, drinking, power generation and for other purposes, challenges have increased manifold the indian rivers are in extremely bad condition the welfare of human race lies with the cleaning of rivers only through mutual cooperation, we can think of clean rivers there were times, when in india, trade was used to be carried through water ways, but today it has become a dream improving present conditions is necessary for a bright future today many rivers of india are biologically dead along with environment it is affecting the lives of the people also according to a world resources report, seventy per cent of indians drink polluted water many diseases ie cholera, jaundice, typhoid, etc are caused due to consumption of polluted water river water is also polluted by chemical fertilizers the quality of river water has further deteriorated due to industriesnearly more than one hundred and fifty rivers of india are polluted today rivers are used as dumping place and carriers of waste and chemical substances thrown out of the factories may industrial units are located along the banks of the ganga, the yamuna and the brahmaputra rivers number of factories in such cities are on rise and the only option is to discharge their chemical affluents into the rivers due to legislation during the 1980-90 decade, every day millions of gallons of polluted water from factories were discharging into the rivers by immersing puja and havan related items into holy rivers, people wish to gain spiritual wealth on all positive occasions, we used to immerse idols of gods or goddesses into the rivers and dead bodies and remains are also dumped into the riversmoreover, there are many rivers in himalayan region that are getting polluted due to heavy influx of touristsin order to make the ganga a clean, pollution free river, the national green tribunal headed by justice surat kumar on 13 july, 2017 declared an area of several metres on both sides of the ganga river between haridwar and unnav as non-construction zone and prohibited dumping within an area of five hundred metres of river bank and also directed to impose a penalty of rupees fifty thousand on any person who pollutes the riverthe ganga is one of the most polluted rivers in the world in which tonnes of sewage and industrial waste is being dumped on a daily basis originating as a crystal clear stream from the snow capped himalayan mountains, the ganga gets converted into toxic sludge after flowing through different industrial and non-industrial cities and due to indiscriminate use by the devoteesin the 1570 mile (approx 2527 km) stretch of ganga river from the himalayas to the bay of bengal, out of 480 crore litre sewage being daily discharged only one-fourth of it is being treated the colour of ganga river flowing below the bridges of industrial city like kanpur has turned dark grey, where industrial waste and sewage flowing in the drains gets discharged into the river and form continuous foams over surface of water the need is to put a check on the rapid pollution of such rivers in the countrythe bill, therefore, seeks to constitute a river conservation committee for conservation and elimination of the pollution of rivers in the countryhence this billnew delhi;shrirang appa barnejanuary 22, 2018 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for formulation of a policy for mandatory cleaning for all rivers of the country clause 5 provides for launching of awareness campaigns on ill-effects of water pollution clause 7 provides for vocational training for persons rendered jobless due to closure of pollution causing industries clause 8 provides that the central government shall constitute the river conservation committee clause 9 provides for secretarial and financial assistance to the river conservation committee clause 11 provides that the central government shall provide funds 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 two thousand crore would involve as recurring expenditure per annum from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of rupees five hundred crore is also likely to be incurred memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 13 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 lok sabha———— a billto provide for conservation and elimination of pollution of rivers of the country and for matters connected therewith————(shri shrirang appa barne, mp)mgipmrnd—4214ls(s3)—28-02-2018