Excellent study material for all civil services aspirants - begin learning - Kar ke dikhayenge!
SHARE:
Sagarmala is dead, New maritime vision being created
Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment
- A huge story, finished: Sagarmala was the flagship programme of Modi govt. 1.0, that could not take off due to many constraints. All assumptions and projections on trade that formed the basis for Sagarmala were decimated due to the slowdown, de-globalisation, and finally, the pandemic. Hence, a new ‘Maritime Vision 2030’ was developed. Some 605 projects costing over Rs 8.78 lakh crore were identified for implementation under the Sagarmala programme in phases.
- A new vision: Now, the 'Maritime India Summit 2021' was organised by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways in March 2021.
- Focus Area: To further the port-led development along the 7,516-km long coastline. India will invest USD 82 billion in port projects by 2035 (under Sagarmala Programme), raise the share of clean renewable energy sources in the maritime sector, develop waterways and boost tourism around lighthouses. India aims to operationalise 23 waterways by 2030. Through the focus areas of upgradation of infrastructure, India aims to strengthen the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat.
- Current status of Indian Ports: India has 12 major ports and several minor ports along its West and East coast. Capacity of major ports have increased from 870 million tonnes in 2014 to 1550 million tonnes in 2021. Indian ports have measures such as: Direct port Delivery, Direct Port Entry and an upgraded Port Community System (PCS) for easy data flow that has helped in reduced waiting time for inbound and outbound cargo.
- Significance: It will help in growth of the maritime sector and promote India as a leading Blue Economy of the world. Further the Maritime India Vision 2030.
- Other initiatives for Port Development:
- Sagar-Manthan Mercantile Marine Domain Awareness Centre has been launched. It is an information system for enhancing maritime safety, search and rescue capabilities, security and marine environment protection.
- Ship repair clusters will be developed along both coasts by 2022. Domestic ship recycling industry will also be promoted to create 'Wealth from Waste'. India has enacted Recycling of Ships Act, 2019 and agreed to the Hong Kong International Convention.
- India aims to increase usage of renewable energy to more than 60% of total energy by 2030 across Indian ports.
- Sagarmala Programme: The programme was approved by the Union Cabinet in 2015 aiming at holistic port infrastructure development along the 7,516-km long coastline through modernisation, mechanisation and computerisation. Under this port-led development framework, the government had hoped to increase its cargo traffic three-fold. It included the establishment of rail/road linkages with the port terminals, thus providing last-mile connectivity to ports; development of linkages with new regions, enhanced multi-modal connectivity including rail, inland water, coastal and road services. It encompassed port modernization and new port development, port connectivity, enhancement port-linked industrialisation, coastal community development, promotion of coastal shipping and inland waterways, job creation and bridging skill gap in ports and maritime sector. The Government had also set up the Sagarmala Development Company Limited (SDCL) in 2016 to provide equity support for the project Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) set up by the Ports / State / Central Ministries.
- Knowledge centre -
- Global maritime trade - Maritime trade involves the transport of goods through the sea, using ships. Because of the risk involved in such kind of transport, the contracts related to this have some specific regulation, which evolved from customs and regulation from ancient times. Maritime shipping is the fundamental part of world trade. Around 80 per cent of global trade by volume and over 70 per cent of global trade by value are carried by sea. Of the 11.1 billion tons shipped internationally in 2019, 7.9 billion tons were dry cargo. (Dry cargo ships are used to carry solid dry goods that have a higher tolerance to heat and cold, such as metal ores, coal, steel products, forest products, and grains)
- India's coastline - India has a coastline of 7516.6 km, of which 5422.6 km is mainland coastline and 1197 km is Indian islands. Indian coastline touches nine states: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and two union territories (Daman and Diu & DNH, and Puducherry). The islands of Andaman and Nicobar had the longest coastline in India, amounting to a little over 1,900 kilometers, followed by Gujarat.
COMMENTS