Mar-17Eco Flashcards
Mar-17Eco-Index
3.1. Draft Security Rules for E-Wallet Firms
3.2. Insurance Literacy Programme for School
3.3. Lok Sabha Clears Finance Bill 2017, Mini Reforms
Package
3.4. Eight Tribunals Face Axe
3.5. Global Energy Architecture Performance Index
Report
3.6. Aadhaar Pay
3.7. Free Credit Report
3.8. Stagnating Female Labour Force Participation in
India
3.9. Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs)
3.10. Roadblocks in Hydrocarbon Industry of India
3.11. Blue Revolution
3.12. Trade in Agricultural Products-Warehouse Receipts
3.13. Jal Vikas Marg Project
3.1. DRAFT SECURITY RULES FOR E-WALLET FIRMS
Why in news?
The Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology issued the draft Information
Technology (Security of Prepaid Payment
Instruments) Rules 2017 for public
consultation.
The personal information of the customers
will be treated under Section 72A of the
Information Technology Act, and the financial
data of the customer shall be deemed to be
sensitive personal data under the
“Information Technology Rules, 2011, and
every e-PPI issuer shall maintain and
implement the practices and procedures
prescribed in those rules.
What is digital wallet (e-wallet)?
It includes apps like Paytm, MobiKwik, Freecharge, or Oxigen which can be used for cashless transaction.
They allow you to create an account using the mobile number. You can add money to the wallet via net banking or debit/credit card.
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3.2. INSURANCE LITERACY PROGRAMME FOR SCHOOL
Why in news?
National centre for financial education set up with the collaboration of various governmental financial and educational organisation on March 10, 2017, extended the insurance literacy for School education to implement the National Strategy for financial education.
National Strategy for Financial Education
The basic financial education consists of fundamental tenets of financial well-being of the country. On this premises, government had come up with a broad action framework namely National Strategy for Financial Education in 2012.
It will work under policy frame of Vision, Mission, Goals, Strategic action plan, Stakeholders.
Vision: A financial aware and empowered India.
Financial education for; role of money, advantage of savings, advantage of formal financial sectors, protection through insurance.
Mission: To undertake massive Financial Education campaign
Financial education campaign for; all section of society, increasing the skill and competence, life cycle started from school and education institution.
Goals: It must be achieved with certain objects
Awareness for various types of financial products and their features
Change attitudes to translate knowledge into behaviour.
Make consumers understand their rights and responsibilities as clients of financial services.
Strategic Action Plan: with timeframe of 5 years
To set up the structure as envisaged in this document
financial education in school curriculum up to senior secondary level
Create awareness about consumer protection and grievances redressal machinery available in the country
The financial education to be delivered by trained persons in a format suitable to each target group.
Channelized the stakeholders such as NGOs, civil society, Independent research organisation.
To establish initial contact with 500 million adults, educating them on key saving, protection and investment-related products.
Stakeholders: financial Consumers, Financial Market Players (FICCI, DICCI etc), Educational institution, Financial Sector Regulator, Multilateral Players such as OECD, G-20 etc.
Moreover, the implementation of above strategy plan will be implemented by The National Centre for Financial Education (NCFE) has set-up for proposed strategy.
NCFE comprising representatives from all financial sector regulators i.e. Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA), Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) and National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM).
NCFE will work under the guidance of a Technical Group on Financial Inclusion and Financial Literacy of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC).
Towards a Financial Literate society
India has 30%-plus savings rate, but it is not channelized to investment. Such an initiative could help improve that situation.
According to the survey, conducted by Standard & Poor: 73% of Indian men are financially illiterate whereas the same statistics for Indian women was 80%. This is due to the orthodox belief system that women are seen to be housekeepers and all the finance related matters of the household are addressed by men.
The above survey also highlighted that 76% of the Indian adult population lacks knowledge about basic finance and 14% of Indians save in a formal financial institution, which is later on reflected in terms of low financial Inclusion.
Digital platform will help in achieving the financial literacy to grassroots level. This is because mobile Internet penetration in rural India is expected to reach at 70 million in 2017.
3.3. LOK SABHA CLEARS FINANCE BILL 2017, MINI REFORMS PACKAGE
Why in news
The Lok Sabha signed off on Finance Bill 2017, ratifying the government’s tax proposals announced in the
budget.
Key changes proposed
Anti – Black Money
o Linking Aadhar with PAN and
Income Tax: It has been made
mandatory to quote Aadhaar
number after July 1, 2017
when: (i) applying for a PAN, or
(ii) filing the Income Tax
returns. This would help in
weeding out multiple PANs
held by one individual which
were used for tax evasion.
o Lowering limit on cash transactions: Cash transactions above two lakh rupees will not be permitted: (i) to a single person in one day, (ii) for a single transaction (irrespective of number of payments), and (iii) for any transactions relating to a single event. The earlier limit proposed in the Budget was Rs 3 lakh. This will ensure a paper trail for all high-value transactions.
o Streamlining political funding:
Contributions to political parties will have to be made only through a cheque, bank draft, electronic means, or any other scheme notified by the government.
Bill also contains provisions to introduce electoral bonds to make contributions to political parties.
It removes: (i) the limit of 7.5% of net profit of the last three financial years, for contributions that a company may make to political parties, (ii) the requirement of a company to disclose the name of the political parties to which a contribution has been made.
For Ease of Doing Business
o The merger of eight tribunals with existing ones and pay parity for judges will ensure that these quasi-judicial bodies are adequately staffed, ensuring faster disposal of cases.
o Ambiguity over taxation of foreign portfolio investors removed.
Towards cashless economy
o Payments regulator to be set up within the central bank
o Tax breaks to point-of-sale manufacturers and for small business using digital modes of payment collection.
Power to impose penalty by officers: The Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 and the Depositories Act, 1996 were amended in 2004 to empower the adjudicating officer to impose penalties on offenders for various offences including their failure to furnish information, documents or returns. Amendments to the Finance Bill, 2017 propose to clarify that the adjudicating officer will always be deemed to have had this power.
Issues
It is yet another attempt to bypass Rajya Sabha by legislating non-budgetary policies through the finance bill.
Aadhar has been made mandatory when it itself faces issues of privacy, legality and acceptability.
The rationale behind replacing certain Tribunals is unclear. For example, the TDSAT may not have the expertise to adjudicate matters related to the pricing of airport services.
Allowing the executive to determine appointment, reappointment and removal of members could affect the independent functioning of the Tribunal. There would be conflict of interest if the government were to be a litigant before a Tribunal, as well as determine appointment of its members.
The amendments also state that the central government will have the power to amend the list of these Tribunals, through a notification. That is, prior Parliamentary approval is not needed to bring other Tribunals into this scheme.
Income tax officer’s power has been increased. This can be misused by the ruling party for political vendetta. There is a need for “checks and balances” on taxmen and they should put on file the objective for conducting survey, search and raid, otherwise there would be no accountability.
Political party funding from corporate has been made easier and less transparent.
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3.4. EIGHT TRIBUNALS FACE AXE
Why in news?
The Lok Sabha approved amendments in the Finance Bill of 2017 to wind up eight tribunals. These Tribunals are proposed to be replaced, and their functions are proposed to be taken over by existing Tribunals under other Acts.
Changes with respect to tribunals in Finance Bill
There are changes in the norms for tribunals, appellate tribunals and other boards associated with the administration of 17 central laws.
Amendments to the Finance Bill, 2017 propose that the central government may make rules to provide for the (i) qualifications, (ii) appointments, (iii) termof office, (iv) salaries and allowances, (v) resignation, (vi) removal, and (vii) other conditions of service for the Chairpersons and other members of the Tribunals that will continue to operate.
The amendments also state that the central government will have the power to amend this list of Tribunals, through a notification. That is, prior Parliamentary approval is not needed to bring other Tribunals into this scheme.
Rationale for these changes
Many tribunals wrapped up had not much work load and can be shared by other tribunals.
This rearrangement will free infrastructure and staff unused by the tribunals.
Adequate staffing will ensure reduce the pendency of cases in tribunals.
Overall, this will improve ease of doing business and generate positive investor sentiments.
Issues with these amendments
By allowing the government to determine the appointment, reappointment and removal of members through rules, the threshold of Parliamentary scrutiny of these provisions is being lowered. Earlier these were done through amendments to the respective acts of the tribunals. Thus, Parliament was involved.
The rationale behind replacing certain Tribunals is unclear. For example, the TDSAT may not have the expertise to adjudicate matters related to the pricing of airport services.
Also, the NCLAT which deals with matters related to company disputes and governance will have the expertise to deal with matters related to anti-competitive practices, which are currently managed by the Competition Appellate Tribunal.
The Supreme Court in 2014 held that appellate tribunals have similar powers and functions as that of High Courts, and hence matters related to their members’ appointment and reappointment must be free from executive involvement.
Currently, there is already a Bill pending in Parliament since 2014, which seeks to ensure uniformity in conditions of service across 26 tribunals, appellate tribunals and other authorities. This has also been examined by a Parliamentary Standing Committee, which agreed that tribunals must be free from executive involvement.
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3.5. GLOBAL ENERGY ARCHITECTURE PERFORMANCE INDEX REPORT
The Global Energy Architecture Performance index, prepared in collaboration with Accenture, is part of the World Economic Forum’s System initiative on Shaping the Future of Energy.
The index benchmarks the energy system performance of 127 countries according to 18 indicators covering three core dimensions: energy access and security, sustainability and contribution to economic growth.
The list was topped by Switzerland followed by Norway and Sweden in the second and third place, respectively.
India has marginally improved its position to 87th place on a global energy architecture performance index. Regarding India, the report noted that it is “facing a vast array of challenges in the power sector in order to meet its growth targets“.
Among the BRICS nations, Brazil was the top performer as it was ranked at the 30th place, followed by Russia (48th), South Africa (76th), India (87th) and China (95).
3.6. AADHAAR PAY
Why in news?
The government has requested all public sector banks to go live with Aadhaar Pay (a digital payment platform for merchants).
What is Aadhaar Pay?
While the government launched BHIM as a payment application for peer-to-peer transactions, Aadhaar Pay is meant for merchants to receive digital payments from customers over the counter through Aadhaar authentication.
Customers need not use debit or
credit cards, download mobile
applications or even carry a
mobile or any other device to
make cashless transactions. They
will need just a bank account
seeded with Aadhaar and will be
able to use their thumb
impressions for authentication.
The merchant needs a
smartphone and has to
download his or her bank’s
Aadhaar Pay app from the
Google Play Store and accept
payments by sending a pull
notification to the customer’s
bank account.
For Aadhaar Pay transactions the merchants will have to pay to their respective banks the merchant discount rate, or MDR, which has been fixed at 0.25% of the transaction amount.
Benefits
The move is aimed at getting people who are not comfortable using cards or mobile wallets also to make digital payments by just leveraging the Aadhaar database and using thumb impression as the authentication factor.
Aadhar Pay smartphone payment app would also eliminate the fee currently being charged by the private card companies such as “MasterCard” and “Visa”.
The Aadhar Pay App for merchants would help eliminate the long waiting period and hassle of getting a new POS (Point of Sale) machine.
Hence it will encourage the use of digital payments leading to cashless economy.
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3.7. FREE CREDIT REPORT
Why in news
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made it
mandatory for all credit information bureaus in the
country to provide a full credit report, on demand
and without any charge, to individuals whose credit
history is available with them.
At present, there are four such companies in India:
CRIF High Mark Credit Information Services Pvt. Ltd,
Equifax Credit Information Services Pvt. Ltd,
Experian Credit Information Co. of India Pvt. Ltd and
Transunion Cibil Ltd.
As you can avail one free report from each bureau,
this means that you can get four free reports every year.
What is a credit report?
A credit information report (CIR) contains details of your credit history, as collated by a credit information company.
Whenever you apply for a loan, the lender contacts a credit bureau to check your credit background to know details such as, whether you have paid earlier dues on time.
This information reflects your monthly payments and how you manage your credit. It forms a part of your overall credit history, and will reflect in your CIR. Based on the information, the bureau assigns a score.
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3.8. STAGNATING FEMALE LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION IN INDIA
Why in news?
National Sample Survey (NSS) data for India show that labour force participation rates of women aged 25-54 have stagnated at about 26-28% in urban areas, and fallen substantially from 57% to 44% in rural areas, between 1987 and 2011.
The abnormality
This is despite the favourable economic and demographic conditions. Economic growth has been high; fertility has fallen substantially; and female education has risen dramatically.
In other regions, including Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa, similar trends have led to large increases in female participation.
Possible Reasons
Labour supply factors:
o Rising incompatibility of work and family duties as the workplace moves away from home.
o An income effect of the husband’s earnings.
o Stigma against females working outside the home (generally or in particular sectors).
o The decline might be driven by increasing returns to home production, relative to market production. This might be particularly relevant if the domestic production is childcare.
Labour demand factors:
o Jobs deemed appropriate for more educated women (especially in healthcare, education and public service) have not grown commensurately with the rise in female education.
o The lack of availability of agricultural and non-agricultural jobs in rural areas appears to be driving the declining participation in rural areas.
o Structural change in India led to a rapidly shrinking agricultural sector in favour of a rapidly expanding service and construction sector where female labour force participation is less.
o The lack of a shift towards manufacturing and a persistently low female share in manufacturing ensured that the labour force as a whole did not become more female.
Steps ahead
The role of macro, trade and structural policies needs to be investigated. When comparing India with Bangladesh, we can notice how an export-oriented, manufacturing-centred growth strategy has led to increasing female employment opportunities there.
Policies will be needed to tackle the social stigma that appears to prevent particularly educated women from engaging in outside employment.
Beyond education, skilling, pay parity and board positions, India’s agenda also includes providing women leadership positions in political life.
India can also take lessons from Japan. An important component of the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Abenomics was “womenomics”, getting more women into the workforce and in positions of leadership.
The “womenomics” plan also contains reforms like removing the tax penalty for working mothers, and introducing new training subsidies to help them return to the workplace.
3.9. FARMER PRODUCER ORGANISATIONS (FPOS)
Why in news?
A conclave was held in Delhi to discuss the idea of creating a national-level association of FPOs as a lobbying platform.
What is FPO?
A Producer Organisation (PO) is a legal entity formed by primary producers, viz. farmers, milk producers, fishermen, weavers, rural artisans, craftsmen.
A PO can be a producer company, a cooperative society or any other legal form which provides for sharing of profits/benefits among the members.
FPO is one type of PO where the members are farmers.
Farmers, who are the producers of agricultural products, can form groups and register themselves under the Indian Companies Act.
Objectives of FPO
To overcome a host of challenges confronting small and marginal cultivators – from fragmentation of holdings to inadequate access to credit, technology, extension services and markets.
It is modelled on the role played by the National Dairy Development Board during the Operation Flood programme that involved support to dairy cooperatives from the village to the apex level.
Collectivization of Producers especially small and marginal farmers so as to form an effective alliance.
Supply of inputs such as seed, fertilizer and machinery, market linkages, training & networking and financial and technical advice are also among the major activities of FPO.
Institutions involved
NABARD initiated the Producer Organisation Development Fund (PODF) and SFAC has set up nearly 250 FPOs since 2011.
To strengthen their capital base, SFAC has launched a new Central Sector Scheme “Equity Grant and Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Farmers Producer Companies”.
Current Status
Across India, almost 3,000 FPOs have now either been registered or are in advanced stages of mobilisation.
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development has set a target of promoting another 5,000 in the next three years.
World Bank and Asian Development Bank, too, have incorporated FPO development as a standard feature in several agricultural intervention projects that they are funding.
Challenges
It takes 4 to 5 years to form a FPO that can stand on its feet
There is not much clarity in terms of choosing the most appropriate structure of the FPOs.
Farmers are afraid of companies as they are unaware about them.
Influential and bigger farmers tend to join cooperatives. FPO’s are with small and marginal farmers in majority membership.
The lack of engagement with RRBs that have extensive rural networks compared to commercial banks.
Way forward
Providing them urgent credit in an organised, institutional form.
o Providing comprehensive Early Stage funding for activities such as bulk purchase of inputs.
o Designing appropriate loan products.
o Encouraging Value Chain Financing under Priority Sector Lending. It will also incentivize innovation.
o Warehouse Receipts-based Lending and Price Risk Mitigation.
o Setting up a Dedicated Agri-Business Bank (NBFC) with the help of SFAC or NABARD.
The RBI guidelines on priority sector lending by banks already mention FPOs. This needs to be broadened to include “agri-input supply, agro-machinery rental/operation, agri-processing, packing, storage and transport units” owned by FPOs into the ambit of agricultural priority sector lending.
There is a need to promote FPOs on a scale similar to the SHG movement. SHGs got became prominent because of NABARD’s continuous nurturing of the concept and coordinating with various Government agencies to create an enabling policy environment.
Regional Rural Banks could play a pivotal role in financing FPOs. The RRBs could directly provide operational working capital limits such as cash credit facility, crop loans to farmers, SHG loans to FIGs/SHGs for raising crops and such other agricultural needs.
3.10. ROADBLOCKS IN HYDROCARBON INDUSTRY OF INDIA
Why in News?
Farmers in Neduvasal village of Tamil Nadu are protesting against an onshore hydrocarbon project block allotted under the Discovered Small Fields bidding.
Need of new energy projects
India now imports more than 80 per cent of its crude oil and 40 per cent of its natural gas requirement. This leads to sufficient depletion of foreign currency reserves and lose control on domestic inflation.
Demand is rising with economic growth but domestic production has been falling.
Challenges to the new domestic projects
Due to scarcity of land, there are protests at many places by farmer community against onshore oil projects.
Hydrocarbon Pricing:
o Oil Sector:
The new Hydrocarbon exploration licensing policy promotes revenue sharing contracts rather than
production sharing model.
This might discourage large investment in this
sector because of higher risks in revenue sharing
contract.
o Gas sector:
Unlike crude oil, domestic gas prices are not
market-linked but are formulae-based.
It is determined every 6 months as a weighted
average of four international benchmarks — US-based Henry Hub, Canada-based Alberta gas, UK-based NBP and Russian gas
Investments:
o PSU companies are also seen to make sub-optimal investments.
o Eg. ONGC acquired GSPC’s 80 per cent stake in the not-so-successful Deen Dayal asset for $1.2 billion.
o Sub-optimal capital allocation impedes the ability of the PSU companies to invest in the future prospects.
Poor Infrastructure: Due to lack of poor evacuation infrastructure in gas sector like poor pipeline connectivity, the sector has not achieved its full potential in India.
Government steps to promote hydrocarbon sector
Pricing reforms: Fuel prices like petrol and diesel have been deregulated especially after the slump of global oil prices. This has improved the profit margins of oil companies too.
The Hydrocarbon Exploration Licensing Policy has the following provisions:
o Revenue-sharing contract: Sharing revenue with the government as soon as commercial production begins.
o Unified licensing policy: Exploration of all possible hydrocarbons in a block
o Open acreage licensing: Bidders can select the exploration blocks on its own without waiting for the formal bid round.
o Pricing and marketing freedom for new gas production from difficult terrains.
Indian oil companies have also signed contracts to explore shale gas in the United States.
Renegotiation of long term projects with major gas suppliers to boost foreign investment.
Planning of strategic reserves in places like Vishakhapatnam, Padur, Bikaner etc. in times of low oil prices.
In the recent Budget, the government has proposed to create an integrated public sector ‘oil major’. This would enhance finances to bid for big-ticket foreign assets that see intense competition from major international players.
Box–Under recoveries
It denotes notional losses that oil companies incur due to the difference between the subsidized price at which the companies sell certain products like diesel and the price which they should have received for meeting their production cost.
3.11. BLUE REVOLUTION
Why in News?
Government has envisaged a program named
‘Blue Revolution’ based on integrated
approach to tap India’s potential in the
fisheries sector.
Government has identified thrust areas to
enhance fisheries production from 10.79 million metric tonnes (mmt) (2014-15) to 15 mmt in 2020-21.
Need
Government is planning to double the
farmer income by 2022. Emphasis on blue
revolution is a step towards it.
Components of envisaged program
Productivity enhancement shall be
achieved by production oriented activities
such as:
o Production of quality fish seeds
o Cost effective feed and adoption of technology.
o Use of High Yielding Verities of brooders
It will have a sub mission on Fish Fingerling (finger shaped fishes). About Rs. 520 crores will be used to establish hatcheries and Fingerling rearing ponds.
Background
Recently, Prime Minister has recently announced
plans to develop a smart city around Kandla port
in Gujarat, one of the 12 major ports of India.
Government is also planning to help fishermen
cooperatives to buy fishing boats at 50%
subsidized rates.
Government has launched Sagarmala project in
2015 to develop coastal Indian communities.
Significance
Production of fisheries can help improve agricultural exports of India.
Blue revolution focused on infrastructure development and livelihood opportunities will help improve employment in the allied sectors of Agriculture.
Box–1-Blue Revolution
Blue Revolution in technical sense refers to integrated development and management of Fisheries.
In a broader sense, blue revolution is now assumed to encompass even infrastructure development and creation of livelihood for communities along coasts.
Box–2-Pilot Project on Ornamental Fisheries
It is a fishery sub-sector dealing with breeding and rearing of coloured fish of both freshwater and marine water.
They are used for aesthetics like aquarium.
The major objectives of the pilot project are:
oPromote ornamental fish culture with cluster-based approach.
oAugment ornamental fisheries trade and exports.
oRural and peri-urban employment opportunities
oEmploy modern technology and innovation.
Box–3-Sagarmala Project
Its main objective is to promote port-led direct and indirect development and to provide infrastructure to transport goods to and from ports quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively.
Four components of Sagarmala project are:
oPort Modernization
oPort Connectivity
oPort led industrialization
oCoastal Community development
3.12. TRADE IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS-WAREHOUSE RECEIPTS
Why in News?
Central Depository Services (CDSL) is set to
launch the country’s first demat facility for
commodity markets that would primarily allow
warehouse receipts in demat form. This would
be a move to promote trade in agricultural
products.
Background
Traditionally, the lack of liquidity, quality testing and assurance, and delivery guarantees kept small farmers and institutional traders away from commodities market.
The grant of repository licenses to CDSL and
NCDEX and the SEBI proposals to introduce
commodity options are positive signs.
Currently a farmer can take the produce to a
certified warehouse and receive a negotiable
warehouse receipt with a unique identity (ISIN).
Significance
It provides better price realization for farmers
than the APMC markets.
It is safer collateral for lenders like banks and NBFCs to make credit available to farmer.
It gives a more efficient market place for hedgers and lowers disruptions in supply for the end customer.
It also helps in improving quality of agricultural produce with quality of product linked to price realization.
Challenges
Due to majority of smaller farm sizes in India, the total produce is many times lower than a single tradable lot at the exchange.
MSP has become the market price instead of being the minimum assured price creating a disincentive for farmers to carry the goods to the warehouses.
The suspension of forwards contracts, ban on trading of chana and castor in 2016 by the government has impacted volumes and market confidence thus lowering private participation in this market.
The storage cost at certified warehouses is higher than the cost at the non-certified one.
Way Forward
Creating a pool of farmers through initiatives like Farmer Producer Companies (FPC) will eliminate the problem related to small farmer lands.
To encourage private companies to directly buy from the farmers, the rules for purchase and payments at various APMCs need to be standardized.
Government should also introduce standard price adjustments based on location of the farm and the quality parameters to lower the influence of MSP.
Box–1-Central Depository Services Limited
A depository facilitates holding of securities in the electronic form and enables securities transactions.
CDSL was set up with the objective to provide secure depository services at affordable cost to all market participants.
It is promoted by BSE Ltd, and sponsored by India’s leading banks.
Box–2-Negotiable Warehouse Receipt (NWR)
Warehouse Receipts are documents issued by warehouses to depositors (like farmers) against the commodities deposited in the warehouses.
They may be either non-negotiable or negotiable.
Negotiable warehouse receipts are those that are transferable by simple endorsement /signature. Therefore they can be traded.
It has been defined in the Warehousing Act 2007.
3.13. JAL VIKAS MARG PROJECT
Why in news?
Ministry of Shipping is implementing phase 1 of Jal Vikas Marg Project (capacity augmentation of National Waterway-1) between Varanasi and Haldia with technical and financial assistance of World Bank.
Jal Vikas Marg Project was announced during Budget 2015-16.
About Jal Vikas Marg Project
This Project envisages developing a navigable channel (achieve Least Available Depth of 3.00 meters for commercial navigation of 1500-2000 tonnes of ship) between 1,620 km Allahabad and Haldia (National Waterway-1) stretch on river Ganga. This project will be completed in 6 years.
Main objective of the project is to provide an environment friendly, fuel efficient and cost-effective alternative mode of transportation.
National Waterway-1 (NW-1) is a waterway passing through Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal serving major cities like Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Howrah, Kolkatta, Haldia, etc.
International Waterway Authority of India (IWAI) is the implementing agency of this project.
With development of National Waterway-1 huge quantities of bulk cargo can be transported thereby helping in economic development of the region.
IWAI along with Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) will create logistics hubs with rail connectivity at important nodal points along the National Waterway.
The project includes development of fairway; multi-modal terminals at Varanasi, Haldia and Sahibganj; strengthening of river navigation system; conservancy works, modern River Information System; DigitalGlobal Positioning System; Night navigation facilities; Modern methods of channel marking and construction of a new state of the art navigational lock at Farakka.
This Project Will Result in Employment Generation; Provide Cheap, Efficient and Environment Friendly Option Transportation of Cargos; Economic Development of Areas Along the Nw-1 and Also Their Hinterlands; Maximum Utilization of Nw-1, Etc.
Box–1-About Inland Waterway Authority of India
It is an apex statutory body created in 1986 for development and regulation of inland waterways for shipping and navigation under Ministry of Shipping.
The head office of the Authority is at Noida (UP).
Box–2-About National Waterway (NW)
India has about 14,500 km of navigable waterways which comprise of rivers, canals, backwaters, creeks, etc. India has total of 111 NW out of which 106 where Created in 2016 as per NW Act, 2016.
