Decision incorporates recommendations made by Committee on Enhancing Domestic Oil and Gas Exploration
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on Tuesday approved the Policy framework on reforms in exploration and licensing sector for enhancing domestic exploration and production of oil and gas.
The Cabinet decision was based on the recommendations of a High-powered Committee on Enhancing Domestic Oil and Gas Exploration chaired by Vice-Chairman NITI Aayog and including the Cabinet Secretary, CEO, NITI Aayog, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs and CMD, ONGC. The decision signals a paradigm shift in the core goal of the Government, moving from revenue-maximisation to production-maximisation, with focus on exploration. This will incentivise increased investment and production.
In Category I basins where potential is established and production is taking place, to give boost to further exploration in unexplored areas of these basins, the weightage of revenue sharing has been reduced from 50% to 30%. Also, in order to ensure that revenue sharing does not disincentivise higher production, the maximum revenue sharing has been capped at 50%.
In the less prospective Category II and Category III basins, revenue sharing has been totally dispensed with and allotment of basins would be solely based on the exploration work programme. On successful discovery, the production and full revenue will accrue to the operator, with Government asking for no share. This is apart from marketing and pricing freedom, which has been assured in all basins. Only in case there is windfall gain, and annual revenue exceeds USD 2.5 billion, government will take a share of additional revenue.
The Committee recommendations had focussed on liberalising exploration and production regime, enhancing production from existing producing fields of NOCs and simplifying the approval processes, all of which has been accepted by the cabinet.
The cabinet decision also gives complete marketing and pricing freedom to oil and gas production. In gas, it is also extended this to those fields whose first Field Development Plan (FDP) is yet to be approved. It also gives concession in the royalties in case the oil fields are brought to production earlier.
The production enhancement scheme for nomination field of National Oil Companies (NOCs) is likely to augment production by leveraging new technology, capital and management practices through private sector participation. The NOCs will be held accountable for enhancing production through objective assessment of performance.
The cabinet also decided to give 66 fields of NOCs to private operators for increasing the production. NOCs will get share in the increased production apart from getting what what was being produced by them.
Through this policy, a transparent, investor friendly and competitive policy framework is envisaged to accelerate exploration activities and provide impetus to expeditious production of oil and gas.
Integrating the recommendations of NITI Aayog, the cabinet decision focuses on enhancing exploration & production activities, which would have massive macro-economic benefits in terms of development of support services, employment generation, transfer of advanced technology etc.
Continuing reforms in the oil and gas sector includes further simplification of approval processes, with measures to be initiated for promoting ease of doing business through setting up coordination mechanism and simplification of approval of DGH, alternate dispute resolution mechanism etc.
Union Minister of State Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti inaugurates Sikaria Mega Food Park, the1st Mega Food Park of Tripura
Background: Under the Visionary guidance of Hon’ble Prime Minister ShriNarendraModi, Ministry of Food Processing Industries is focusing on boosting the food processing industry so that agriculture sector grows exponentially and become a major contributor to doubling the farmer’s income and ‘Make In India’ initiative of the government.
To give a major boost to the food processing sector by adding value and reducing food wastage at each stage of the supply chain with particular focus on perishables, Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing Mega Food Park Scheme in the country. Mega Food Parks create modern infrastructure facilities for food processing along the value chain from farm to market with strong forward and backward linkages through a cluster based approach.
Common facilities and enabling infrastructure is created at Central Processing Centre and facilities for primary processing and storage is created near the farm in the form of Primary Processing Centers (PPCs) and Collection Centers (CCs). Under the Scheme, Government of India provides financial assistance upto Rs. 50.00 Crore per Mega Food Park project.
Panic button. SCIM portal under Safe City Project. DNA Analysis Facilities in States.
Panic button: Conceived way back in 2015, mobile phone manufacturers and mobile telephony service providers were mandated by the Ministry of Telecom to include a physical panic button on all mobile phones in the country. Such a panic button must be backed by an emergency response mechanism through the local police when panic button message would alert the specified family members etc. of a woman in distress situation.
The emergency response system can be triggered in the following manners: On the smart phones, the power button when pressed three times quickly. Dialing 112 from any phone. In case of feature phones, long press of the touch key 5 or 9. Using 112 India Mobile App.
The emergency message coming out of the above modes, will trigger a response from the emergency response centre through a team of trained personnel who can handle emergency requests of various kinds and get the necessary relief services launched.
SCIM portal under Safe City Project: Being implemented in 8 cities, the project includes creation on ground assets & resources and mindset safety of women. Some of the key features of the safe city project include: Identification of sensitive hot spots in each city. Installation of CCTV surveillance covering the entire hot spot. Automated number plate reading machines to be deployed in extremely sensitive areas.
Intensive patrolling in vulnerable areas beyond the identified hot spots. Improving street lighting and public toilet facilities for women. Others like setting up women help desks in police stations, augmentation of women support centres etc.
All the above measures would be coordinated through an Integrated Smart Control Room in the city. In order to facilitate States to monitor and manage the Safe City projects and avoid duplication on ground, an online Safe City Implementation Monitoring (SCIM) portal has been developed by MHA.
SCIM will facilitate online tracking of deployment of assets and infrastructure created under the Safe City projects. SCIM facilitates an evidence based online monitoring system. SCIM also creates a digital repository of assets, infrastructure and social outreach programs, as well as best practices achieved in each City.
DNA Analysis Facilities in States: In view of the complaints of delay in cases of sexual assault investigations, it was proposed that dedicated DNA analysis facilities should be created in the forensic science laboratories on a mission mode. Timely testing of DNA samples from the crime scene is the quickest process of obtaining forensic evidence in cases of sexual assault on women. In the initial phase, dedicated DNA analysis facilities have been sanctioned for the forensic science laboratories located at Chennai, Madurai, Agra, Lucknow, Mumbai and Kolkata.
The survey covered general population (10-75 years), in all the 36 states and union territories covering over 2 lakh households and 4.73 lakh people in 186 districts of the country.
Key findings and highlights of the survey: India is home to six crore alcohol addicts, more than the population of 172 world nations including Italy.
Alcoholism is a condition that requires medical attention, but unfortunately only less than 3% of the people with drinking problem get any treatment. There is a large number of people in the country addicted to various drugs. More than 3.1 crore Indians (2.8%) have reported using cannabis products, Bhang, Ganja, Charas, Heroin and Opium, in last one year. Unfortunately only one in 20 drug addicts gets treatment at a hospital.
Country liquor accounts for 30% of the total liquor consumption, and Indian made foreign liquor also account for the same amount.
In Punjab and Sikkim, the prevalence of cannabis use disorders is considerably higher (more than thrice) than the national average. At the national level, Heroin is most commonly used substance followed by pharmaceutical opioids, followed by opium (Afeem).
Less than 1% or nearly 1.18 crore people use sedatives, non medical or non prescription use. However, what is more worrying that its prevalence is high among children and adolescents. This problem of addiction of children is more prevalent in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi and Haryana.
Cocaine (0.10%) Amphetamine Type Stimulants (0.18%) and Hallucinogens (0.12%) are the categories with lowest prevalence of current use in the country.
What has the government done in this regard? The Government has taken several policy and other initiatives to deal with drug trafficking problem. It constituted Narco-Coordination Centre (NCORD) in November, 2016 and revived the scheme of “Financial Assistance to States for Narcotics Control”.
In 2017, the government approved new Reward Guidelines with increased quantum of reward for interdiction or seizure of different illicit drugs.
For effective coordination with foreign countries, India has signed 37 Bilateral Agreements/Memoranda of Understanding.
Narcotics Control Bureau has been provided funds for developing a new software i.e. Seizure Information Management System (SIMS) which will create a complete online database of drug offences and offenders.
The government has constituted a fund called “National Fund for Control of Drug Abuse” to meet the expenditure incurred in connection with combating illicit traffic in Narcotic Drugs; rehabilitating addicts, and educating public against drug abuse, etc.
The government is also conducting National Drug Abuse Survey to measure trends of drug abuse in India through Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment with the help of National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre of AIIMS.
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has drafted National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (2018-2023) for addressing the problem of drug and substance abuse in the country, dumping a long-pending draft policy on the matter.
What is it? Central Wakf Council is a statutory body established in 1964 by the Government of India under Wakf Act, 1954 (now a sub section the Wakf Act, 1995).
It has been established for the purpose of advising Centre on matters pertaining to working of the State Wakf Boards and proper administration of the Wakfs in the country.
It is a permanent dedication of movable or immovable properties for religious, pious or charitable purposes as recognized by Muslim Law, given by philanthropists.
Composition and appointments: The Council is headed by a Chairperson, who is the Union Minister in charge of Wakfs and there are maximum 20 other members, appointed by Government of India as stipulated in the Wakf Act.
The conference provides a forum for promoting safety and health at work by exchanging knowledge, practices and experience.
The Conference has been organized by Directorate General Factory Advice and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI), Ministry of Labour and Employment, German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV), Germany in association with Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and International Social Security Association – Manufacturing, Construction and Mining.
What is ‘Vision Zero’ concept? The concept of Vision Zero is based on four fundamental principles viz. life is non-negotiable, humans are fallible, tolerable limits are defined by human physical resistance, and people are entitled to safe transport and safe workplaces. The Vision is based on principles of Controlling Risks, Ensuring Safety and Health in Machines, Equipment and Workplaces and Skill Upgradation of Workforce.
Way ahead: The concept of ‘Vision Zero’ is fast gaining international acceptance and is expected to leverage the efforts of the Government of India to raise the occupational safety and health standards in the country so as to improve the occupational safety and health situation.
Argentina is the 72nd country to sign the Framework Agreement of the International Solar Alliance.
Background: The agreement of the International Solar Alliance was opened for signature during the COP22 at Marrakech on November 15, 2016. The signatories of the agreement include India, France, Australia, UAE, UK, Japan amongst others.
About ISA: The Paris Declaration establishes ISA as an alliance dedicated to the promotion of solar energy among its member countries.
Objectives: The ISA’s major objectives include global deployment of over 1,000GW of solar generation capacity and mobilisation of investment of over US$ 1000 billion into solar energy by 2030.
What it does? As an action-oriented organisation, the ISA brings together countries with rich solar potential to aggregate global demand, thereby reducing prices through bulk purchase, facilitating the deployment of existing solar technologies at scale, and promoting collaborative solar R&D and capacity building.
When it entered into force? When the ISA Framework Agreement entered into force on December 6th, 2017, ISA formally became a de-jure treaty based International Intergovernmental Organization, headquartered at Gurugram, India.
Objectives of the Bill: To seek the accountability of public functionaries and authorities for timely delivery of goods and services. To create democratic, decentralized and participative approach to enable wider public participation.
To Initiate monitoring of programmes and policies through community score cards, citizens report card and social audits.
Key provisions: The purview of bill includes any entity or body, which is under the control of the government, governor and the high court of Rajasthan. Entity or the body set up by Central Government to function within the State of Rajasthan and partially or wholly providing public goods and services provided there is consent of the Central Government.
It seeks to impose penalties and compensation and initiate departmental action against the Grievance Redressal Officer (GRO) of the service delivery department for non-compliance. For example: If the local police have failed to deliver it duties, the onus is on the GRO.
The Bill will also set up a grievance redressal mechanism starting from village panchayats. The Bill included provisions for citizens’ charter, public hearing, social audit and information and facilitation centres.
Significance of this law: This law will compliment RTI which is becoming far more challenging. The citizen centric law will enable citizens to initiate enquiries rather than relying on the departmental enquires in the existing system.
What is social accountability? “Social accountability” refers to actions initiated by citizen groups to hold public officials, politicians, and service providers to account for their conduct and performance in terms of delivering services, improving people’s welfare and protecting people’s rights.
Four pillars of social accountability? The four pillars are: (1) organized and capable citizens groups; (2) an enabling environment, with government champions who are willing to engage; (3) cultural appropriateness; and, (4) access to information.
Background: In its August 7, 2018, circular, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry had advised that the media should refrain from using the word “Dalit” for members belonging to Scheduled Castes and had directed that ‘Scheduled Caste’ should alone be used for all official transaction, matters, dealings, certificates for denoting the persons belonging to the community. It was questioned in the Supreme Court.
This advice had come in compliance with a direction from the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court.
What does the petition say? The plea said the word “Dalit” is a self-chosen name, used as a “positive self-identifier and as a political identity”. The petitioner said the name represented the people who have been affected by the caste system and the practice of untouchability.
The debate over the use of word- Dalit: The debate over the appropriateness of using the term ‘Dalit’ to refer to members of the Scheduled Castes is far from new.
A decade ago, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes disfavoured the use of ‘Dalit’, which it felt was unconstitutional. This is because belonging to a ‘Scheduled Caste’ is a legal status conferred on members of castes named in a list notified by the President under Article 341 of the Constitution. Therefore, arguably, ‘Scheduled Caste’ is the appropriate way to refer to this class of people in official communications and documents.
What’s the issue with advisory issued? The I&B Ministry’s advisory is confusing as it uses the words “for all official transactions, matters”, though the media’s references to the community are usually beyond official contexts.
Way ahead: It is inexplicable to oppose the use of the term ‘Dalit’ in the media and in non-official contexts — a nomenclature chosen and used by the community itself. Doing so lends itself to the charge that there is an attempt to deny the powerful and emotive meaning of the word Dalit.
The term has evolved over a period of time and has come to symbolise different things in different contexts — self-respect, assertion, solidarity and opposition to caste oppression. In the past, Dalits were referred to as ‘untouchables’, but the official term during British rule was ‘depressed classes’.
Mahatma Gandhi sought to remove the stigma of ‘pollution’ by using the term ‘Harijans’, or ‘children of god’. In course of time, the community rejected this appellation as patronising and sanctimonious. It was only some decades ago that they began to refer to themselves as Dalits.
‘Dalit’ literally means ‘downtrodden’ or ‘broken’, but it is a word pregnant with meaning, reflecting the struggle of a community to reassert its identity and lay claim to the rights that were denied to them for centuries.
What to study? For Prelims and Mains: Stem cells, iPSC- meaning, functions, significance and potential.
Context: Japan approves stem cells trial to treat spinal cord injuries. A team of Japanese researchers will carry out an unprecedented trial using human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) to treat spinal cord injuries.
What are induced pluripotent stem cells? Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are adult cells that have been genetically reprogrammed to an embryonic stem cell–like state by being forced to express genes and factors important for maintaining the defining properties of embryonic stem cells.
Although additional research is needed, iPSCs are already useful tools for drug development and modeling of diseases, and scientists hope to use them in transplantation medicine.
What are stem cells, and why are they important? Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. In addition, in many tissues they serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.
Stem cells are distinguished from other cell types by two important characteristics: First, they are unspecialized cells capable of renewing themselves through cell division, sometimes after long periods of inactivity. Second, under certain physiologic or experimental conditions, they can be induced to become tissue- or organ-specific cells with special functions. In some organs, such as the gut and bone marrow, stem cells regularly divide to repair and replace worn out or damaged tissues. In other organs, however, such as the pancreas and the heart, stem cells only divide under special conditions.
What are the similarities and differences between embryonic and adult stem cells? One major difference between adult and embryonic stem cells is their different abilities in the number and type of differentiated cell types they can become. Embryonic stem cells can become all cell types of the body because they are pluripotent. Adult stem cells are thought to be limited to differentiating into different cell types of their tissue of origin.
Embryonic stem cells can be grown relatively easily in culture. Adult stem cells are rare in mature tissues, so isolating these cells from an adult tissue is challenging, and methods to expand their numbers in cell culture have not yet been worked out. This is an important distinction, as large numbers of cells are needed for stem cell replacement therapies.
What is it? It is a “state-of-the-art” domestically produced Iranian submarine capable of firing cruise missiles. It was unveiled recently in Bandar Abbas.
It is Iran’s first submarine in the semi-heavy category. The underwater-vessel weighs nearly 600 tonnes and is equipped with torpedoes and naval mines in addition to cruise missiles. The submarine can operate more than 200 metres below sea level for up to 35 days.
It has subsurface-to-surface missiles with a range of about 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles), making it capable in reaching Israel and U.S. military bases in the region.
Context: Maiden ‘Regional Maritime-Safety Conference’ is being held in Mumbai. The Conference is being organized by India for the first time. Theme: ‘Regional Maritime-Safety Conference’.
The objective of the conference is to deliberate on issues related to assuring maritime safety in the India-ASEAN sub region, safeguarding our shores and promoting trade along the sea routes. The conference will address a wide range of issues that affect regional maritime safety, including transport safety, maritime law, ship building, transportation of hazardous goods, marine oil spill, pollution and environmental safety.
The inaugural edition is being organised by the National Maritime Foundation (NMF) in coordination with the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of External Affairs.
Context: Recently 3 Judges Recused themselves from hearing the case challenging the appointment of M. Nageswara Rao as interim director of the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Similar such incidents: Justice U.U. Lalit recused himself from hearing the dispute over land in Ayodhya after senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan pointed out that the judge had appeared for former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh in a related contest. Two judges of the Gujarat High Court withdrew from a set of controversial cases by merely saying, “not before me.”
Concerns associated: Often, judges don’t record their reasons for recusal in writing, allowing, in the process, leaving plenty of scope for conjecture and surmise. An unwarranted recusal, much like a failure to recuse when faced with genuine conflicts of interest, damage the rule of law.
To withdraw from a case merely because a party suggests that a judge does so impair judicial fairness. It allows parties to cherry-pick a bench of their choice. A mistaken case of recusal can prove just as destructive to rule of law as those cases where a judge refuses a recusal despite the existence of bias.
Are there any rules in this regard? There are no definite rules on recusals by Judges. Justice J. Chelameswar in his opinion in Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India (2015) held that “Where a judge has a pecuniary interest, no further inquiry as to whether there was a ‘real danger’ or ‘reasonable suspicion’ of bias is required to be undertaken,”
Need of the hour: Transparency in procedure is one of the major factors constituting the integrity of the office of a judge in conducting his duties and the functioning of the court, and so adopting a principle of disclosing reasons for recusal will augur well with it.
This will also help curb the tendency of forum shopping when a mischievous litigant, wanting to avoid a judge because the judge is known to be very strong, could raise baseless submissions on the conflict of interest.
The basic principle of judicial conduct: A judge should not have an interest in the litigation before him which could give rise to an apprehension of his deciding a matter in favour of one of the parties. Bias by interest falls into two broad classes. First, where the judge has a pecuniary interest in the subject matter of litigation and, second, wherefrom his association with or interest in one of the parties the judge may be perceived to have a bias in favour of that party.
Way ahead: In taking the oath of office, judges, both of the Supreme Court and of the high courts, promise to perform their duties, to deliver justice, “without fear or favor, affection or ill-will”.
Definite rules need to be framed in this regard. Judges should express their decisions in writing.
Conclusion: The nature of the judicial function involves the performance of difficult and at times unpleasant tasks, and to that end, judicial officers “must resist all manner of pressure, regardless of where it comes from.
This is the constitutional duty common to all judicial officers. If they deviate, the independence of the judiciary would be undermined, and in turn, the Constitution itself.”