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(GIST OF YOJANA) Infrastructure Development for the Next Generation [SEPTEMBER-2019]

(GIST OF YOJANA) Infrastructure Development for the Next Generation

[SEPTEMBER-2019]

Infrastructure Development for the Next Generation

Introduction

The Government has emphasized on creating world-class infrastructure for building a New India. It has undertaken various projects such as the Sagarmala Project (for accelerating port-led development), the Bharatmala Project (to link India from west to east), the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link project (for building the country's largest sea bridge) and the Setu Bharatam Project (making national highways free of railway level crossings) among others, to improve the present conditions of infrastructure. It also connected various villages through the construction of roads providing significant relief to the rural masses.
The Government has also provided impetus for regional air connectivity, increased safety measures in railways and the development of smart cities for urban transformation. All these developmental efforts have paved the way for a better India with a strong economic base.
PRADHAN MANTRI AYVAS YOJANA (PMAY)
The Government has launched a comprehensive mission “Housing for All by 2022”.
The scheme aims to construct more than four crore houses across the length and breadth of the nation within a span of next seven years (2015-2022).
The scheme known as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) is implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS).
The objective of the PMAY is to provide ever)' family with a pucca house, with a water connection, toilet facilities, and 24x7 electricity supply and access and to build 2.95 core housing units in rural areas and 1.2 crore housing units in urban areas.
This mandate also includes upgradation of slums. Achieving the goal of ‘Housing for All’ will be a big step in the realisation of New India Vision 2022 that will trigger economic growth and create millions of jobs for skilled as well as unskilled workers. Moreover, given the forward and backward linkages of the housing sector, the focus on affordable housing could bring rich dividends for other sectors such as steel and cement.
The target beneficiaries of the scheme would be poor and those living under EYVS and L1G categories in urban establishments of the country in 4041 statutory towns as per Census 2011 with focus on 500 Class I cities that would be covered and carried out in three substantial phases as follows:
PMAY Phase I: April 2015 to March 2017;
PMAY Phase II: April 2017 to March 2019;
PMAY III: April 2019 to March 2022.
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Urban (PMAY-U) aims to achieve the objective of ‘Housing for All’ by 2022 through its four pillars :
In-situ slum redevelopment;
Affordable housing through a credit linked subsidy scheme;
Affordable housing in partnership between public and private agencies; and
Subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction or enhancement.

ENERGY

The Government’s on-going energy sector policies aim “to provide access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy”. At the convergence of its domestic goals and the global development agenda, it also intends to hit the following milestones:
Make available 24x7 power to all by 2019;
Achieve 175 GigaWatt (GW) of renewable energy generation capacity by 2022; and
Reduce imports of oil and gas by 10 per cent by 2022-23.
Some of the major challenges on achieving the milestones set for 2022- 23 are
Overall energy: A variety of subsidies and taxes distort the energy market and promote the use of inefficient/over efficient fuels and also make Indian exports and domestic production uncompetitive as energy taxes are not under GST, and hence, no input credit is given.
Power: The high industrial/commercial tariff and the cross subsidy regime have affected the competitiveness of the industrial and commercial sectors.
Oil and Gas: Lack of market driven gas prices for old fields disincentivises further production. Also, the gas pipeline infrastructure is not adequate.
Coal: There is a tendency to expand open-cast mining and discourage underground operation even for better quality coal reserves.
Renewable Energy: High energy costs result in reneging on old Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and erode their sanctity. This leads to uncertainty regarding power off-take and consequently endangers further investments.
Energy efficiency: Limited technical capabilities, high initial capital expenditure, limited market and other issues have affected efforts to achieve energy efficiency.

Way Forward

Overall Energy: Oil, natural gas, electricity and coal may be brought under GST to enable input tax credit and the same GST rate may apply for all forms of energy to enable a level playing field.
Power: All PPAs including those with State generation companies should be based on competitive bidding. For agriculture, an upfront subsidy per acre of land through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) may be considered instead of providing separate subsidies for fertilizers, electricity, crop insurance etc. Moreover, it is necessary to actively promote cross-border electricity trade to utilize existing/upcoming generation assets.
Oil and Gas: It is important to provide for a common carrier and open access to gas pipelines and separate the developmental and regulatory functions of the PNGRB. In addition, providing for shared infrastructure for evacuation of oil and gas from small and scattered on-shore and offshore fields should be made possible.
Coal: Detailed exploration through exploration-cum-mining leases based on production revenue sharing model and with the onus on concerned State Governments.
Renewable energy: Central level agencies like Central Electricity Regulatory Commission or National Load Despatch Centre should socialize the costs of balancing inter-state transmission systems (ISTS) connected power plants, over the entire system, on the lines of the point of connection (PoC) or a similar mechanism.
Energy efficiency: Promote the mandatory use of LED and the replacement of old appliances in government buildings with five star appliances. Focus the UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All) programme on lower income households and small commercial establishments.
The number of appliances covered under the Standards and Labelling programme should be increased. Widen and deepen the Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) programme; make Energy Saving Certificate (ESCcrt) trading under the PAT scheme effective by ensuring strict penalties against defaulters. Promote the use of the public transport system.

TRANSPORT

Roads

It is a matter of pride that India is the world’s second-largest road network, and most dense among countries according to size. Increasing the coverage and quality of roads and highways is critical to enhancing connectivity and internal and external trade. By 2022-23, India should achieve the following objectives:
Increase connectivity by expanding the road network: achieve the Bharatmala Phase-I target by completing 24,800 km by 2021-22, including 2,000 km of coastal and port connectivity roads, complete Phase I of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) with quality monitoring at every stage, double the length of national highways (NHs) to 2 lakh km by 2022-23 from the existing 1.22 lakh km, and widen single/intermediate lane (SL/IL) NHs and reduce the length of SL/IL Nils to less than 10 percent of total length by 2022-23 from the present 26.46 per cent.
Improve the regulatory framework for roads to achieve better compliance, seamless connectivity, road safety and quality.
Reduce the number of road accidents and fatalities by 50 per cent by 2020.
The road sector in India accounts for the largest share in the movement of both passengers and freight. Driven by a rapidly growing economy, access to vehicle finance and improved road connectivity, the demand for mobility on roads has risen continuously, leading to a sharp rise in the number of road transport vehicles.
Over the years, both accessibility and mobility have improved through construction of new roads and development of existing roads.

Challenges

Capacity: The existing length of the NH network is 1.22 lakh km, which is 2.2 percent of the country’s total road network of 56.03 lakh km. The existing NH length with 4-lane and above NH standards is 27,658 km (22.59 per cent), and that with single/intermediate lane width is 32,395 km (26.46 per cent); the remaining 62,379 km (50.95 per cent) is of 2-lane NH standards.
Maintenance: Regular preventive maintenance has to be an integral element of road investment.
Land acquisition: Existing land laws should be amended to complete infrastructure projects at a fast pace.
Inter-agency co-ordination: Horizontal and vertical inter-agency cooperation is needed for planned land use to ensure inter-modal connectivity and to connect well with other parts of the network to boost overall capacity.
Funding: Sources for road funding are principally commitments from gross budgetary outlays, though these may stem from earmarked revenue streams, taxes and cess, dedicated road funds, or special development programmes such as the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).
Institutional arrangements: Large number of institutions and agencies are responsible for design, construction, operation and maintenance at all levels of Government. No single institution should be expected to successfully negotiate the multitude of responsibilities and functions associated with all classes of roads.

Way Forward

Increase connectivity by expanding the road network: To achieve this, the four very important projects to be undertaken:
Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I: complete 24,800-km by 2021-22,
Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for the North-Eastern region (SARDPNE), Phase ‘A’: improve about 4,099 km in the North-East,
‘North-East Road Network Connectivity Project Phase I’: improve infrastructure in Meghalaya and Mizoram and enhance connectivity with inter- state roads and international borders and Chardham Mahamarg Vikas Pariyojna.
Improve road maintenance and safety: Maintain NH assets by adopting a maintenance management system (MMS).
Streamline land acquisition: Sensitize stakeholders to iron out details of land acquisitions like determining market value, deciding a compensation amount, disbursement of compensation, etc., as detailed in the 2017 guidelines issued by MORTH.
Skill development: Introduce vocational training courses on road construction in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and ensure stringent testing of driving skills before granting driving licences by adopting technologically advanced methods such as the automated driving testing system.
Increase emphasis on research and development (R and D): Earmark 0.1 per cent of MORTH’s annual budget for R and D, establish a transport data centre at the national level for applied research on roads, enhance R and D on IT-enabled traffic management systems, and periodically revise codes/standards/guidelines related to technology use in line with the latest technological developments in the highways sector.
Increase the capacity and reach of public transport: Transform State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTUs) and promote public transport, rural transport and last mile connectivity and the Central Government will have to work with states to develop bus terminals and provide support on technologies/software such as VAHAN (for vehicle registration) and Saarthi (for driving licences).
Expand the reach of the electronic toll collection (ETC) system: Streamline the ‘FASTag’ charging system, and engage with stakeholders and concessionaires (for PPP toll plazas) to ensure that all toll plazas have the requisite infrastructure for ETC.

Railways

The Indian Railways (IR) is the third largest railway network in the world under a single management and is the fourth largest network in the world in terms of route km (67,368 km in FY17). It is also the largest passenger (1,150 billion-passenger km in FY17) and fourth largest freight (620 billion net-tonne km in FY17) transporting railway system globally. In FY17, 13,329 passenger trains carried over 22.24 million passengers daily while the freight transported was 1.1 billion tonnes.
By 2022-23, India should have a rail network that is not only efficient, reliable and safe, but is also cost effective and accessible, both with respect to the movement of people and goods. This requires achieving the following objectives:
Augment the capacity of existing railway infrastructure.
Increase the speed of infrastructure creation from the present 7 km/day to 19 km/day by 2022-23.
Achieve “100 percent” electrification of broad-gauge track by 2022-23 from the 40 percent level in 2016-17.
Increase the average speed of freight and mail/ express trains to 50 km/hr (from about 24 km/hr in 2016-17) and 80 km/hr (from about 60 km/ hr), respectively.
Improve the safety of the railways, achieving zero fatalities.
Enhance service delivery, achieving 95 per cent on-time arrivals by 2022-23.
By 2022-23, the railways should have a freight load of 1.9 billion tonnes and an improved modal share of 40 percent of freight movement from the current level of 33 per cent.
Increase the share of non-fare revenues in total revenue to 20 per cent.

Challenges

Over-stretched infrastructure with 60 per cent plus routes being more than 100 percent utilized, leading to a reduction in average speed of passenger and freight trains.
Moreover, negligible non-fare revenues and high freight tariffs have led to a sub-optimal freight share.

CIVIL AVIATION

India’s civil aviation sector has been growing steadily; the number of passengers was 158 million in 2016-17. Domestic passenger traffic increased at a CAGR of almost 10 per cent between 2007-08 and 20lb-17 and international passenger traffic grew at a CAGR of 8.07 per cent during the same period.

Objectives

Enhance the affordability of flying to enable an increase in domestic ticket sales from 103.75 million in 2016-17 to 300 million by 2022.
Double air cargo handled from about 3.3 million tonnes in 2017-I8 to about 6.5 million tonnes.
Expand the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) industry from USD 1.8 billion in 2017 to USD 2.3 billion.
Expand airport capacity more than five times to handle one billion trips a year.
Enhance availability and affordability of regional air connectivity and revive/upgrade 56 unserved airports and 31 unserved helipads through the Regional Connectivity Scheme - Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik (RCS-UDAN).
Ensure that airport tariffs, taxes on fuel, landing charges, passenger services, cargo and other charges are determined in an efficient, fair and transparent manner.

Challenges

Adequate hangar space and availability of land to expand airports at their current sites, particularly in major cities, are needed.
Skilled workers: According to a study conducted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Indian aviation could directly support 1.0 to 1.2 million jobs by 2035. This implies that about 0.25 million persons will need to be skilled over the next 10 years.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has mandated that all airports move from a single to a hybrid till structure.
Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) is relatively expensive in India.
The number of aviation safety violations needs to be controlled.

Wav Forward

Enhance aviation infrastructure. Complete the planned airports under the UDAN initiative in a time-bound manner, in addition to completing two new airports for Delhi and Mumbai by 2022.
Increase investment in the sector through financial and infrastructure support.
Increase skilled manpower: Promote collaboration between original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), industry and educational institutes to teach the latest concepts in the aviation industry including management principles, IT in aviation, etc.
Ease the regulatory environment for airports: Adopt a consistent model for tariff determination so that it reduces passenger cost and align taxation and pricing structure to global benchmarks by considering bringing aviation turbine fuel (ATF) under the rubric of GST.

PORTS and SHIPPING AND INLAND WATER TRANSPORT (IWT)

Objectives

Double the share of freight transported by coastal shipping and inland waterways from 6 per cent in 20 1 6-17 to 12 per cent by 2025.
Increase the port handling capacity to 2,500 million metric tonnes (MMT) by 2022-23.
Reduce the turnaround time at major ports from about 3.44 days (2016-17) to 1-2 days (global average) by 2022-23.
Increase the throughput of inland waterways from 55.20 MMT in 2016-17 to 60-70 MMT by 2022-23.
Augment the capacity of inland water transport by increasing the least available depth.

Inland Waterways

Inland Water Transport (IWT) carries less than 2 per cent of India's organized freight traffic and negligible passenger traffic. The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is mandated to develop and maintain infrastructure for fairway, navigational aids and terminals.
Until 2015, there were only five National Waterways (NWs) in the country.
In April 2016, 106 more waterways spread over 24 states were declared as NWs.
The Ministry is augmenting the capacity of NW-I under the Jal Marg Vikas project. The project will enable the movement of larger vessels of 1,500-2,000 tonnes on inland waterways.

Challenges

A minimum draft depth of 18 metres is needed to enable mother vessels to dock at ports.
It is difficult to attract capital for building inland vessels as it is a significant investment.

Way Forward

Dredging market to open up attracting more players, particularly international players, in dredging activities.
Expedite the completion of various projects under Sagarmala.
IWT should be integrated to multimodal/ intermodal connectivity.
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the implementation of the Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) to augment the capacity of National Waterway-1 (NW-I) with technical assistance and investment support from the World Hank at a cost of Rs. 5369.18 crore.

UPSC Pre General Studies Study Material

LOGISTICS

The contemporary definition of logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, materials handling and packaging.
Logistics management includes the design and administration of systems to control the (low of material, work-in-progress, and finished inventory to support business unit strategy.

Objectives

Achieve multi-modal movement of cargo on par with global logistics standards.
Reduce the logistics cost to less than 10 percent of GDP from the current level of 14 percent.
Expand the logistics market to USD 215 billion by 2020 from the current level of USD 160 billion.
Improve logistics skilling and increase jobs in the sector to 40 million by 2022-23 from about 22 million in 2016.

Challenges

Absence of last mile connectivity and infrastructure, competition and underutilized capacity, lack of interoperability of software systems used by the authorities governing different modes of transport leads to an increase in transit time.

Way Forward

Rationalize tariffs and determine prices in an efficient manner across different modes, create an overarching body that maintains a repository of all transport data to internal stake-holders and conduct robust analysis of the data, setting up multimodal logistics parks etc. will help address issues related to infrastructure development.