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(GIST OF YOJANA) Redefining Mobility: Transforming Landscape of Transport Sector

(DECEMBER-2023)

Redefining Mobility: Transforming Landscape of Transport Sector

Introduction:

The present transport system of the country comprises several modes of transport including rail, road, coastal shipping, air transport etc. Transport has recorded substantial growth over the years both in the spread of the network and in output of the system.
The Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways are responsible for the formation and implementation of policies and programmes for the development of various modes of transport save the railways and civil aviation.

Roads

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways was formed in 2009 by bifurcating the erstwhile Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways into two independent ministries.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules, regulations and laws relating to road transport and transport research. It encompasses

construction and maintenance of national highways (NHs);
administration of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989;
National Highways Act, 1956 and National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008;
formulation of broad policies relating to road transport, environmental issues, automotive norms, etc., besides making arrangements for movement of vehicular traffic with neighbouring countries.

The capacity of national highways in term of handling traffic (passenger and goods) needs to be in tandem with industrial growth.

Bharatmala Pariyojana

The Ministry has taken up a detailed review of NHs network with a view to developing road connectivity to border areas, development of coastal roads including road connectivity for non-major ports, improvement in the efficiency of national corridors, development of economic corridors, inter corridors, and feeder routes, along with integration with Sagarmala, etc., under Bharatmala Pariyojana.
The Pariyojana envisages the development of about 26,000 km length of economic corridors, which, along with the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) and North-South and East-West (NS-EW) Corridors are expected to carry majority of the freight traffic on roads.
Further, about 8,000 km of inter corridors and about 7,500 km of feeder routes have been identified for improving effectiveness of economic corridors, GQ and NS-EW Corridors.
The programme envisages development of Ring Roads/bypasses and elevated corridors to de-congest the traffic passing through cities and enhance logistic efficiency, etc.

Green National Highways Corridor Project

The Green National Highways Corridor Project was launched in 2016. The project includes upgradation of about 781 km of various national highways passing through Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. It was launched under the Green Highways Policy that was unveiled in 2015 to actualise the vision of developing eco-friendly and green national highways. The objectives of the project include:

to evolve a policy framework for plantation along national highways; to reduce the impact of
air pollution and dust as trees and shrubs are known to be natural sinks for air pollutants;
to reduce the impact of ever increasing noise pollution caused due to increase in the number of vehicles;
to arrest soil erosion at the embankment slopes; etc. The project is being run with World Bank aid.

National Highways Authority of India

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was set up under the NHAI Act, 1988. It has been entrusted with National Highways Development Project (NHDP), which along with other minor projects, has vested in it 50,329 km of national highways for development, maintenance and management.
Its objective is to ensure that all contract awards and procurements conform to the best industry practices with regard to transparency of process, adoption of bid criteria to ensure healthy competition in the award of contracts, implementation of projects conform to the best quality requirements, and the highway system being maintained to ensure best user comfort and convenience.

National Highways Development Project

The National Highways Development Project (NHDP) is a project to upgrade, rehabilitate and widen major highways in the country to a higher standard.
The project was started in 1998. This project is managed by NHAI under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
It represents 49,260 km of roads and highways work and construction in order to boost economic development of the country. The NHDP has been subsumed in the ongoing Bharatmala project.

PM GatiShakti Plan

PM GatiShakti - National Master Plan for Multi modal Connectivity, 2021 is essentially a digital
platform to bring 16 ministries, including Railways and Roadways together, for integrated planning and coordinated implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects.
The multi-modal connectivity will provide integrated and seamless connectivity for movement of people, goods and services from one mode of transport to another.

Important features of the PM Gati Shakti include:

Comprehensiveness: It will include all the existing and planned initiatives of various ministries and departments with one centralised portal. Every department will now have visibility of each other’s activities providing critical data while planning and execution of projects in a comprehensive manner;
Optimisation: The National Master Plan will assist different ministries in planning for projects after identification of critical gaps. For the transportation of the goods from one place to another, the plan will help in selecting the most optimum route in terms of time and cost;
Analytical: It will provide the entire data at one place with GIS based spatial planning and analytical tools having 200+ layers, enabling better visibility to the executing agency;
Dynamic: All ministries and departments will now be able to visualise, review, and monitor the progress of cross-sectoral projects, through the GIS platform, as the satellite imagery will give on ground progress periodically and progress of the projects will be updated on a regular basis on the portal.
Parvatmala Pariyojana: Parvatmala Pariyojana-National Ropeways Development Programme is being implemented for development of ropeways to improve accessibility and convenience for passengers and to promote tourism. Along with hilly areas, ropeways are being developed as alternative mode of transportation in congested urban areas e.g.,those of Varanasi, Ujjain.
National Registry of Vehicle and License Records: In order to usher in transformational improvements in this sector, the Ministry has put in place several policies for citizens. Transport Mission Mode Project has successfully automated RTO operations, set up a consolidated transport database. Along with it, a host of citizen and trade-centric applications have also been implemented. The salient aspects of this Mission Mode Project are two flagship applications—Vahan and Sarathi.

e-Tolling: National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) programme, the flagship initiative of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, has been implemented on pan- India basis in order to ensure seamless movement of traffic through fee plazas and increase transparency in collection of user fee using FASTag. The National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) is the Central Clearing House.

Railways: The Railways provide the principal mode of transportation for freight and passengers. It brings together people from the farthest corners of the country and makes possible the conduct of business, sightseeing, pilgrimage and education.

Research and Development:

The Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) at Lucknow is the R&D wing of Indian Railways.

It functions as a consultant in technical matters.
It also provides consultancy to other organisations connected with railway manufacture and design. RDSO, in collaboration with CSIR-CSIO has developed and deployed UV-C based anti-viral and anti-pathogen system for AC coaches by way of a deterrent to Covid.
It has also developed and designed high speed automobile carrier coaches which has up graded features of loading/unloading of two wheelers, four wheelers, MUVs, SUVs, tractors, etc., with a capability to cater higher payload of 18 tonnes and speed potential of 110 kmph.

Vande Bharat Express:

The Vande Bharat Express, formerly known as Train 18, is a semi-high-speed, electric multiple unit train operated by Indian Railways. In 2019, it was renamed as Vande Bharat Express to highlight the fact that it was manufactured entirely in India.
It began its operations in 2019 when the first of its kind was flagged off between New Delhi-Kanpur-Prayagraj-Varanasi route.

Shipping:

The Ministry of Shipping was formed in 2009 by bifurcating the erstwhile Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways into two independent ministries.
Maritime Transport is a critical infrastructure for the economic development of a country. It influences the pace, structure and pattern of development.

Maritime Development:

India has a long coastline of about 7,517 km, spread on the western and eastern shelves of the mainland and also along the Islands.
It is an important natural resource for the country’s trade.
There are 12 major ports and about 200 non-major ports. Indian shipping industry has over the years played a crucial role in the transport sector of the economy.

Sagarmala Programme:

To harness the coastline,14,500 km of potentially navigable waterways and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes, the Government of India has embarked on the ambitious Sagarmala Programme to promote port led development in the country.
The vision of the Programme is to reduce logistics cost of EXIM and domestic trade with minimal infrastructure investment This includes:

reducing the cost of transporting domestic cargo;
lowering logistical cost of bulk commodities by locating future industrial capacities near the coast;
improving export competitiveness by developing port proximate discrete manufacturing clusters, etc.

The objectives of the Programme include: port modernisation, new port development, port connectivity, coastal community development, etc.

Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan: Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan (Accessible India Campaign), being in line with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, Ministry of Civil Aviation has published the ‘Accessibility Standards and Guidelines for Civil Aviation Sector’ to assist people comprehend and understand the Universal Accessibility Standards.