The Provident Fund rules and the Provident Fund Act are indeed one or the same thing since it was the Provident Fund Act that came into existence on 4th March, 1952 that actually stated the Provident Fund rules. It was this Act that actually led to the formation of the Provident Fund rules and regulations in India.
A company or and organisation having 20 or more workers is liable to be a part of the Provident Fund scheme of India. According to this scheme a person needs to pay a certain percentage of his basic salary to the government the exact same percentage is also paid by the employee to the government authority. Following the retirement of this worker, he gets to have this huge amount from the company and the government with a further interest of 9 percent.
The Government of India has indeed forged a good scheme to help the masses post their retirement. There are endless Provident Fund rules which need to be taken care of and thus if you are really interested in knowing all about the Provident Fund Act as well as, the Provident Fund rules and regulations in India then you can try reading the same from couple of websites that are provided below.
http://www.legalindia.in/public-provident-fund-act-1968
http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/content/pdfs/70975.pdf
Apart from these you can also get to know more about Provident Fund rules and regulations in India, Provident Fund Act or Provident Fund rules from the official EPFO site. The link the same is –
http://www.epfindia.com/
It is not possible to mention all the diferent aspects of this Provident Fund Act and this is the sole reason that the links to the Provident Fund rules have been provided in here. The Provident Fund rules and regulations in India are aimed at the general masses and for their betterment. People have indeed benefited out of the same and the retired employees have indeed considered this Provident Fund scheme as their mode of survival in their hour of crisis when they are at the fag end of their life.
No matter what your need be the links mentioned above would give you a complete as well as comprehensive knowledge about the Provident Fund rules and regulations in India. Almost all the details of the act and the rules are mentioned in the link and if you are really trying to know all about the subject and the scheme then the links would be able to guide you in the process.