The applications will help ensure proper monitoring of projects and boost vision of Digital India Posted On: 08 NOV 2019 2:26PM by PIB Delhi Indian Railways launched three applications for all-India rollout to strengthen the IT enablement of railways which will help ensure proper monitoring of projects being undertaken by Indian Railways and will boost the vision of Digital India. The details and the salient features of these three applications are as under:
CRS Sanction Management System: CRS Sanction is an important aspect in construction, maintenance and up-gradation of railway assets. An online application for CRS Sanction Management has been developed in which all works pertaining to level crossings (closure, manning, shifting etc.) and minor bridges.
Further modules under development in this application are increase of speed over Turnouts & Loop Lines, inspection of new lines and doubling etc. The benefits of the project are-
Expeditious preparation and processing of cases for CRS Sanction. Effective monitoring of compliance of observations raised by the CRS. On-Line Repository of circulars/check-lists/guidelines related to CRS Sanction. Managerial reports to monitor the cases, comparative performance.
Rail-road crossing GAD approval system: This project for online e-Governance platform was developed by Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Road Transport & Highways to expedite preparation, processing & approval of General Agreement Drawings (GADs) related to construction of Road Over Bridges (ROB)/Road Under Bridges (RUB).
It has been running successfully since 2014. Now, a module has been developed to cover cases of construction of ROBs/RUBs for States & UTs also. The benefits of the project are- Accountability of Railways and State Governments/UTs is fixed to each stage for approval of proposals.
Better and real time coordination between the stakeholders (Railways/States). Facilitates users to get proposal status through mail and SMS at each stage. Complete proposal is targeted to be approved in maximum of 60 days. All information related to the proposal and contact person is available within the proposal.
TMS for construction: This application has been developed for new assets being constructed by the construction/project organisation. The assets master data can now be regularly filled during the stage of construction and completion of assets, by the construction officials before itself final scrutiny and test check by the open line officials. The benefits of the project are-
Data validation at source. Ease in data entry and correction thereof. Easy checking/verification of data entry. For every data the ownership and responsibility is defined and fixed in the application design.
Ministry of Steel has issued the Steel Scrap Recycling Policy. The policy aims to achieve the following objectives –
· To promote circular economy in the steel sector. · To promote a formal and scientific collection, dismantling and processing activities for end of life products that are sources of recyclable (ferrous, non- ferrous and other non-metallic) scraps which will lead to resource conservation and energy savings and setting up of an environmentally sound management system for handling ferrous scrap.
· Processing and recycling of products in an organized, safe and environment friendly manner. · To evolve a responsive ecosystem by involving all stakeholders.
· To produce high quality ferrous scrap for quality steel production thus minimizing the dependency on imports. · To decongest the Indian cities from ELVs and reuse of ferrous scrap.
· To create a mechanism for treating waste streams and residues produced from dismantling and shredding facilities in compliance to Hazardous & Other Wastes (Management & Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 issued by MoEF & CC.
· To promote 6Rs principles of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover, Redesign and Remanufacture through scientific handling, processing and disposal of all types of recyclable scraps including non-ferrous scraps, through authorized centers / facility.
Background Steel Ministry’s endeavor is to develop a globally competitive steel industry by adopting state of the art environment friendly technologies. Ferrous Scrap being the primary raw material for EAF/ IF based steel production, the policy envisages a framework to facilitate and promote establishment of metal scrapping centers in India. This will ensure scientific processing & recycling of ferrous scrap generated from various sources and a variety of products. The policy framework shall provide standard guidelines for collection, dismantling and shredding activities in an organized, safe and environmentally sound manner.
Steel is a material most conducive for circular economy as it can be used, reused and recycled infinitely. While iron ore remains the primary source of steel making, used or re-used steel in the form of Scrap is the secondary raw material for the steel industry. Indian steel industry is characterized by the presence of a large number of small steel producers who utilize scrap with other inputs in EAF/IF for steel making. As on March 2019, 47 Electric Arc Furnaces & 1128 Induction Furnaces are operating in the country and largely depend upon scrap as a raw material to produce steel.
National Steel Policy 2017 (NSP-2017) aims to develop a globally competitive steel industry by creating 300 Million TPA Steel production capacity by 2030 with a contribution of 35-40% from EAF/IF route. Although, scrap is the main raw material for secondary sector but primary sector also uses Scrap in the charge mix of BOF to the tune of 15% to improve efficiency, minimize cost of production and other process needs. The availability of raw materials at competitive rates is imperative for the growth of the steel industry and to achieve NSP-2017 target. Thus, the availability of right quality of scrap, in adequate quantity is one of the critical factors for the future growth for both EAF/IF sector & primary sector.
Further, Scrap based steel making technologies have been envisaged as one of the important options to reduce GHG emission intensity. This shall feature as an important initiative of the steel sector to minimize Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. This shall also contribute in adopting the principle of 6Rs i.e. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover, Redesign and Remanufacture to avoid any adverse impact on the environment and strengthening the foundation of sustainable development.
There is a worldwide trend to increase steel production using scrap as the main raw material as recycling of scrap helps in conservation of vital natural resources besides other numerous benefits. The use of every ton of scrap shall save 1.1 ton of iron ore, 630 kg of coking coal and 55 kg of limestone. There shall be considerable saving in specific energy consumption also as the same will reduce from around 14 MJ/Kg in BF/BOF route to less than 11 MJ/ Kg in EAF/IF route, i.e. savings in energy by 16- 17%. It also reduces the water consumption and GHG emission by 40% and 58% respectively. Thus, the demand of steel scrap has increased considerably in the past globally from 367 mt in 2000 to 589 mt in 2017.
The availability of scrap is a major issue in India and in 2017 the deficit was to the tune of 7 million Tons. This was imported at the cost of more than Rs. 24,500 crores (approx.) in 2017-18. The gap between demand and supply is can be reduced in the future and the country may be self-sufficient by 2030. This is mainly because with the increase in consumption of steel in the recent past and ELVs, the generation of scrap is likely to be increased considerably. This scrap has to be channelized so that the same can be utilized for steel production in an environmentally friendly manner.
The scrapping policy shall ensure that quality scrap is available for the steel industry. Scrap is an important input for the electric furnaces. If quality scrap is provided as the charge to the electric furnaces, then the furnaces can produce high grade steel. High Grade Steel Scrap shall not have the impurities if processing is done with the scrap processing centres and by shredders etc. The high-grade steel scrap shall be recycled to produce high grade steel again, to be used in the industries such as equipment manufacturing, automobiles and other downstream industries. Scrap with less or no impurities shall result in better long products that are commonly used in construction industry and is common use steels. If better processed scrap is produced in the country, it shall result in not only import substitution of scrap but also import substitution of high-end steel that is currently imported in the country.
The current supply of scrap is 25 MT from the domestic unorganized scrap industry and 7 MT from import of scrap. There is potential to harness this 7 MT of scrap that is currently being imported from the domestic market itself. This shall require adequate collection centres, dismantling centres shall work in a hub-spoke model and feed to the scrap processing centres. To produce 7 MT more of scrap, the country shall require 70 scrap processing centres each with the capacity of 1 lakh tonnes; this is without disturbing the existing dismantling centres. The 70 scrap processing centres shall require about 300 collections and dismantling centres on the presumption that 4 collecting and dismantling centres cater to scrap processing centre.
And when the production of steel rises to 250 MT, as is envisaged in the National Steel Policy, then the requirement of scrap shall rise to 70-80 MT. This shall require about 700 scrap processing centres, that is 700 shredders. These shall in turn be fed by 2800-3000 collections and dismantling centres spread all over the country.
If one were to consider the employment generation potential of the scrap industry that would operate in the organized sector, it is considerable. Operating on the 4+1 hub and spoke model, where 4 collection and dismantling centres were to cater to the 1 scrap processing centre then 400 jobs would be created by one such composite unit. And for 70 units producing a total of 7 MT of scrap the potential for employment generation would be of 2800 persons. If the country was to produce 70 MT, as expected as per NSP 2017, the employment generation could be in the range of 3 lakh jobs. In addition, there would be skilling of persons, capacity building and training of Ragpickers, kabaddi-walas, aggregators. Employment would arise from the logistics support that the collection, dismantling and scrapping centres would require to move the material in and out of the centres and to the user industry.
Working Model The increased production of vehicles and increased use of consumer durable white goods in the last two decades and their rapid obsolescence shall generate large quantities of end of life products. This shall result in generation of continuous flow of large ferrous scrap for recycling in steel production. To address the issue of collecting such end of life products for increasing scrap generation in India and also to structure the informal recycling sector based on environmental and scientific fronts, a hub and the spoke model is promulgated
An Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee has been set up with Secretary, Ministry of Steel as Convener and Secretaries of Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH), Department of Heavy Industry (DHI), Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Department Revenue and Ministry of Labour & Employment as members. The mandate of the Committee is as under:
· Policy changes required for creating an organized steel scrapping eco system;
· Monitoring the operationalization and enforcement of relevant laws/regulations in this regard.
It has been two weeks since the results of the Assembly election were announced, but no party has staked claim yet to form a government. While the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance has a clear majority, they have been wrangling over power-sharing and the Chief Minister’s post.
What next? While the existing Legislative Assembly will cease to exist post November 9, legal experts noted that there is no binding that the government should be in place by that day.
What is the Governor’s role in such circumstances? The Governor would be expected to go as per an order of preference set out in the Sarkaria Commission recommendations, which have also been ratified by the Supreme Court. By the order of preference, the Governor can invite:
A pre-poll alliance of parties. Invite the single largest party which stakes a claim to form government. Invite a post-poll alliance of parties, with all the partner in the coalition joining the government.
Invite a post-poll alliances of parties, with some becoming part of the government and some supporting from outside. The Governor can only summon the new House for the first sitting only after a new government is sworn in and the Cabinet has suggested a suitable date. The process of swearing-in of the newly elected members and appointment of the new Speaker can be held thereafter.
What after swearing in? Once any formation is sworn in, it will need to pass the floor test, which will reveal whether the executive enjoys the confidence of the legislature as mandated by the Constitution.
In the floor test, the person sworn in as the CM has to prove that s/he enjoys the confidence of the House. If the confidence motion fails, the Chief Minister has to resign.
If more than one person stake claim to form the government and the majority is not clear, the Governor has the powers to call a special session to assess who has the majority.
The datefor the floor test is decided by the Governor in consultation with the new government.
If no government can be formed, is President’s rule likely? Article 356 of the Constitution provides for the imposition of President’s Rule in a state in “case of failure of the constitutional machinery in the state”.
As per the constitutional stipulation, it can be imposed in cases where the President, on receipt of report from the Governor of the state or otherwise, is satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the government of the state cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
In Maharashtra‘s case, if the Governor is satisfied that no party or alliance can form a stable government would he recommend imposition of President’s rule.
The proposals to undertake additional ethanol production from B-heavy molasses/sugarcane juice/sugar syrup/sugar would be considered under the provisions of the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) notification, 2006, by an expert appraisal committee for granting environmental clearance.
What are ethanol and molasses? Ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, is a liquid that has several uses. At 95% purity, it is called rectified spirit and is used as the intoxicating ingredient in alcoholic beverages. At 99%-plus purity, ethanol is used for blending with petrol.
Both products are made from molasses, a byproduct of sugar manufacturing. For making sugar, mills crush sugarcane which typically has a total fermentable sugars (TFS) content of 14%.
The TFS component consists of sucrose along with the reducing sugars glucose and fructose. Most of this TFS component gets crystallised into sugar, and the remaining part is called molasses.
Molasses stages: The molasses go through three stages — A, B, and C, the last one being where the molasses are most un-crystallised and non-recoverable.
The ‘C’ molasses roughly constitute 4.5% of the cane, and have a remaining TFS of 40%. After C-molasses are sent to the distillery, ethanol is extracted from them. Every 100 kg of TFS yields 60 litres of ethanol.
Thus, from one tonne of cane, mills can produce 115 kg of sugar (at 11.5% recovery) and 45 kg of molasses (18 kg TFS) that gives 10.8 litres of ethanol.
How more ethanol can be produced? Mills can also produce only ethanol from sugarcane, without producing sugar at all. In this case, the entire 14% TFS in the cane is fermented. Here, a mill can make 84 litres of ethanol and zero kg of sugar.
In between the two extreme cases, there are intermediate options as well, where the cane juice does not have to be crystallised right till the final ‘C’ molasses stage. The molasses can, instead, be diverted after the earlier ‘A’ and ‘B’ stages of sugar crystal formation. Mills, then, would produce some sugar, as opposed to fermenting the whole sugarcane juice into ethanol.
If ethanol is manufactured using ‘B’ heavy molasses (7.25% of cane and with TFS of 50%), around 21.75 litres will get produced along with 95 kg of sugar from every 1 tonne of cane.
Why focus on more ethanol? Mills currently have all-time-high stocks of sugar, and they have been at loggerheads with farmers over non-payment of dues. Mill owners insist that the reason behind their woes is excess production of sugar and fall in its price.
Under the circumstances, ethanol is the only real saviour — both for mills and cane growers. In September this year, the government approved an increase in the price of ethanol to be procured by public sector oil marketing companies from sugar mills for blending with petrol for the 2019-20 supply year from December 1.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs also allowed conversion of old sugar into ethanol, which again is expected to help mills deal with the current overproduction in the sweetener and make timely payments to farmers for the cane delivered by them.
Ethanol production has been additionally facilitated with the government mandating 10% blending of petrol with ethanol.
It has been prepared by Tata Trusts in collaboration with Centre for social Justice, Common Cause, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Daksh, TISS-Prayas and Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.
It is India’s first-ever ranking of states on justice delivery.
Performance of various states: The list is topped by Maharashtra. Maharashtra is followed by Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Key Issues highlighted: Vacancy was an issue across the pillars of the police, prisons, and the judiciary, with only about half the states having made the effort to reduce these over a five-year period. The country as a whole has about 18,200 judges with about 23 per cent sanctioned posts vacant.
By 2017, women are also poorly represented in these pillars. The prisons in the country were over occupied at 114 per cent, where 68 per cent are undertrials awaiting investigation, inquiry or trial.
Nationally, high vacancies in the justice system. Only two states have met the 80 per cent of SC/ST/OBC reservation required to be followed and that there are high vacancies in prison staff.
Feni river: The Feni river forms part of the India-Bangladesh border. It originates in the South Tripura district, passes through Sabroom town on the Indian side, and meets the Bay of Bengal after it flows into Bangladesh.
The dispute: There has been no water-sharing agreement between the countries on the Feni previously.
The dispute over the sharing of the river water has been long-standing. It was taken up between India and Pakistan (before the independence of Bangladesh) in 1958 during a Secretary-level meeting in New Delhi.
Recent developments and significance of the MoU: In August 2019, India and Bangladesh held a water secretary-level meeting of the Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) in Dhaka, where it was agreed to collect data and prepare water-sharing agreements for seven rivers — Manu, Muhuri, Khowai, Gumti, Dharla, Dudhkumar, and Feni.
The MoU stands to benefit Sabroom town on the southern tip of Tripura. The present supply of drinking water to Sabroom town is inadequate. The groundwater in this region has high iron content. Implementation of this scheme would benefit over 7000 population of Sabroom town.
Moody’s also affirmed India’s Baa2 local-currency senior unsecured rating and its P-2 other short-term local-currency rating.
What this means for India? The decision to change the outlook to negative reflects increasing risks that economic growth will remain materially lower than in the past, partly reflecting lower government and policy effectiveness at addressing long-standing economic and institutional weaknesses than Moody’s had previously estimated, leading to a gradual rise in the debt burden from already high levels.
Reduction in outlook is the first step towards an investment downgrade, as India is now just a notch above the investment grade country rating. An actual downgrade in country ratings can lead to massive foreign fund outflows.
Why has Moody’s cut rating? Moody’s projected fiscal deficit of 3.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the year through March 2020, a breach of the government’s target of 3.3 per cent, as slower growth and a surprise corporate-tax cut curbs revenue.
India’s growth outlook has deteriorated sharply this year, with a crunch that started out in the non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) spreading to retail businesses, car makers, home sales and heavy industries.
Moody’s said the outlook partly reflects government and policy ineffectiveness in addressing economic weakness, which led to an increase in debt burden which is already at high levels.
India’s economy grew by 5 per cent between April and June, its weakest pace since 2013, as consumer demand and government spending slowed amid global trade frictions.
What does the government say? Noting Moody’s concerns, the Finance Ministry said that India continues to be among the fastest growing major economies in the world, and India’s relative standing remains unaffected.
The Government said it has undertaken series of financial sector and other reforms to strengthen the economy as a whole.
It has also proactively taken policy decisions in response to the global slowdown. These measures would lead to a positive outlook on India and would attract capital flows and stimulate investments.
The fundamentals of the economy remain quite robust with inflation under check and bond yields low. India continues to offer strong prospects of growth in near and medium term.
What are different general credit ratings? AAA: Highest credit quality that denotes the lowest expectations of default risk.
AA+/AA/AA-: Very high credit quality. ‘AA’ ratings denote expectations of very low default risk. They indicate very strong capacity for payment of financial commitments.
A+/A/A-: High credit quality that denotes expectations of low default risk. The capacity for payment of financial commitments is considered strong, however, vulnerability to adverse business or economic conditions exists.
BBB+/BBB/BBB-: Good credit quality that indicates that expectations of default risk are currently low. The capacity for payment of financial commitments is considered adequate, but adverse business or economic conditions are more likely to impair this capacity.
BB+/BB/BB-: This rating indicates an elevated vulnerability to default risk, particularly in the event of adverse changes in business or economic conditions over time; however, business or financial flexibility exists that supports the servicing of financial commitments.
B+/B/B-: This rating indicates that material default risk is present, but a limited margin of safety remains. Financial commitments are currently being met; however, capacity for continued payment is vulnerable to deterioration in the business and economic environment.
CCC+/CCC/CCC-: Substantial credit risk exists in this rating, where the default is a real possibility.
CC: This rating shows a very high level of credit risk with a possibility of defaults.
C: This rating shows that a default or default-like process has begun, or the issuer is in a standstill.
DDD/RD/SD/DD/D: This indicates that the issuer has entered into bankruptcy filings, administration, receivership, liquidation or other formal winding-up procedure or has ceased business.
Why? The law led to the sowing and transplantation of the summer paddy crop to be delayed by about a fortnight, and moved the harvesting season to end-October and early November — a time when the moist air and largely inactive wind systems cause particulate matter and gases from burning paddy stubble to hang in the atmosphere. This air is carried by northwesterly winds towards Delhi, which lies to the southeast of Punjab.
What is The Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, 2009? The law aimed at conserving groundwater by mandatorily delaying the transplanting of paddy to beyond June 10, when the most severe phase of evapotranspiration (transfer of water from land to the atmosphere through evaporation from the soil and plant transpiration) is over. Farmers were forbidden from sowing paddy before May 10, and transplanting it before June 10.
Why was the law enacted? There has been serious concern over the drastic fall in the water table in Punjab and the cultivation of paddy leads to over-exploitation of underground aquifers, as a very large number of tubewells (more than 14 lakh in 2015-16) running on free power pump out virtually endless amounts of water.
It was believed that early transplanting of rice (before mid-June) resulted in unsustainable withdrawals of groundwater with the monsoon still far, temperatures very high, and the evapotranspiration rate (ETR) at its peak. And hence this law was put in place.
What is the law’s link with air pollution? Farmers’ organisations say late sowing and transplanting delays the harvesting as well (it is end-October by the time operations end), and they are left with a very small window to prepare their fields for the next (wheat) crop.
In this situation, setting the stubble ablaze is a quick-fix solution. By this time, temperatures have started to fall, and a combination of atmospheric and meteorological conditions ensure that the smoke cannot disperse easily.
A part of the smoke from the farm fires is carried by westerly winds towards the NCR and further down the Indo-Gangetic plain.
But does the Act really help conserve groundwater? A study has reported a robust effect of the 2009 Act on reducing groundwater depletion. Between 2008-09 and 2012-13, the average annual rate of decline of groundwater in Punjab was 0.7 metres, less than the 0.9 m during the period 2000-01 to 2008-09, the study found.
What is Punjab’s underground water situation currently? According to a report in May 2019 by the Central Ground Water Board under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, 105 out of 138 blocks are in the dark zone. At current rates of depletion, good quality water in the first aquifer up to a depth of 100 m shall be exhausted in 10 years, and the entire subsurface water resource could be finished in the next 22 years.
The Tripura government recently announced that it would restore food supplies, leading to the Brus withdrawing a road blockade they had set up for eight days. The restoration of supplies, however, is only until a deadline of November 30, within which the Brus have to decide whether they will accept a package for repatriation to Mizoram.
Who are Brus? The Brus, also referred to as the Reangs, are spread across the northeastern states of Tripura, Assam, Manipur, and Mizoram.
In Tripura, they are recognised as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group. In Mizoram, they have been targeted by groups that do not consider them indigenous to the state.
What’s the issue? A bout of ethnic violence forced thousands of people from the Bru tribe to leave their homes in Mizoram. As many as 32,876 people are living in the refugee camps in the Jampui Hills of Tripura.
The displaced Bru people from Mizoram have been living in various camps in Tripura since 1997. In 1997, the murder of a Mizo forest guard at the Dampa Tiger Reserve in Mizoram’s Mamit district allegedly by Bru militants led to a violent backlash against the community, forcing several thousand people to flee to neighbouring Tripura.
The Bru militancy was a reactionary movement against Mizo nationalist groups who had demanded in the mid-1990s that the Brus be left out of the state’s electoral rolls, contending that the tribe was not indigenous to Mizoram.