ECONOMY (GOVERNMENT SCHEMES) 1. Bharatmala Pariyojana What is Bharatmala Pariyojana, Bharat Mala Project is an ambitious road development initiative under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. It has been envisaged as an umbrella program that will subsume unfinished projects of National Highways Development Project (NHDP) and also focus on new initiatives like development of roads for better connectivity. It was approved by the Union Cabinet on October 25, 2017. What Does the Project Consist of The project will expand approximately 83,000 km of roads at an investment of Rs 6.9 lakh crore by 2022 It includes economic corridors of around 9,000 km, inter-corridor and feeder roots of around 6,000 km, 5,000 km roads under the National Corridors Efficiency Program, border and international connectivity roads of around 2,000 km, coastal and port connectivity roads of around 2,000 km, expressways of around 800 km and 10,000 km of NHDP roads. Bharatmala will give the country 50 national corridors as opposed to the 6 we have at present. With this, 70 80 percent of freight will move along NH as against the 40 percent at present. It envisages building 3300 kms of Border Roads of strategic importance along international boundaries and 2000 km of International Connectivity roads to promote trade with Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Components of Phase I and estimated expenditure are as follows : 0484-3190310 9446331522 9446331522 TPS 18 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS Date: 27-10-2017 NEO IAS 0484-3190310, 9446331522, 9446334122 9446331522 Page 1
Objective and Benefits It focuses on optimizing efficiency of road traffic movement across the country by bridging critical infrastructure gaps. Envisages improving the efficiency of the National Corridor (Golden-Quadrilateral and NS-EW corridor) by decongesting its choke points through lane expansion, construction of ring roads, bypasses/ elevated corridors and logistics parks at identified points. Special attention has been paid to fulfill the connectivity needs of backward and tribal areas, areas of economic activity, places of religious and tourist interest, border areas, coastal areas and trade routes with neighbouring countries under the programme. The programme will help to connect 550 Districts in the country through NH linkages. Currently, only around 300 Districts have NH linkages. Bharatmala will also have a positive impact on the Logistic Performance Index (LPI) of the country. The newer roads are expected to increase the speed of vehicles and decrease supply chain costs from the current average 18 per cent to six per cent. The programme will also help generate a large number of direct and indirect employments in the construction activity (nearly 100 million man days of jobs during the road construction and subsequently 22 million jobs as a result of the increased economic activity across the country.) How Funding will be Done? More than 70% of the works will be through government funding. The funding will be done via several routes including debt funds, budgetary allocation, private investment, toll operator transfer model etc. About one-third of the investment will come from fuel cess, over one-fourth from market borrowing and the rest from budgetary support, private investment and auctioning of completed highways. (i.e 2.09 lakh crore will be raised as debt from the market and 1.06 lakh crore will be mobilised through public-private partnership (PPP). The remaining 2.19 lakh crore will flow from accruals of the Central Road Funds and toll projects.) Implementation Bharatmala project will start in Gujarat and Rajasthan, followed by Punjab and subsequently traversing the Himalayan belt through Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur (next to the Indo-Burmese border) and then to Mizoram. North-eastern states have been given special focus in the project and international trade is a key aspect as well. The main agencies tasked with the construction are the National Highways Authority of India, National Highway and Industrial Development Corporation and state public works departments. 2. National Highways Development Programme (NHDP) NHDP was launched in 1998 with the objective of developing roads of international standards which facilitate smooth flow of traffic. It envisages creation of roads with enhanced safety features, better riding surface, grade separator and other salient features. National Highways constitute only 2% of the total road length in the country but carry 40% of the total traffic. NHDP is being implemented by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), an organisation under the aegis of Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways. The programme is being implemented in the following seven phases Phase I is the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ; 5,846 km) connecting the four major cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. NEO IAS 0484-3190310, 9446331522, 9446334122 9446331522 Page 2
3. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is an autonomous agency of the Government of India, responsible for management of a network of over 50,000 km of national Highways in India. It is a nodal agency of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The NHAI was created through the promulgation of the National Highways Authority of India Act, 1988. Hence it is statutory body. The NHAI is also responsible of the toll collection on several highways. 4. The World Bank Logistics Performance Index What is WBLPI The Logistics Performance Index is an interactive benchmarking tool created by the World Bank to help countries identify the challenges and opportunities they face in their performance on trade logistics and what they can do to improve their performance. The LPI is based on a worldwide survey of operators on the ground (global freight forwarders and express carriers), providing feedback on the logistics friendliness of the countries in which they operate and those with which they trade. They combine in-depth knowledge of the countries in which they operate with informed qualitative assessments of other countries where they trade and experience of global logistics environment. Feedback from operators is supplemented with quantitative data on the performance of key components of the logistics chain in the country of work. The LPI consists therefore of both qualitative and quantitative measures and helps build profiles of logistics friendliness for these countries. It measures performance along the logistics supply chain within a country and offers two different perspectives: international and domestic. International LPI Provides qualitative evaluations of a country in six areas by its trading partners logistics professionals working outside the country. The Logistics Performance Index analyses countries across six components: 1. Efficiency of customs and border management clearance 2. Quality of trade and transport infrastructure 3. Ease of arranging competitively priced shipments 4. Competence and quality of logistics services 5. Ability to track and trace consignments and 6. The frequency with which shipments reach consignees within scheduled or expected delivery times. It is a biennial index published every two years. The last one is LPI 2016. Domestic LPI Logistics Performance Index does not address how easy or difficult it is to move goods to the hinterland. For that, World Bank has another measure a domestic LPI. Domestic LPI provides both qualitative and quantitative assessments of a country by logistics professionals working inside it. It includes detailed information on the logistics environment, core logistics processes, institutions, and performance time and cost data. It analyzes a country s performance over four factors: 1. Infrastructure, 2. Services, 3. Border procedures and 4. Supply chain reliability. LPI 2016 The LPI 2016 allows for comparisons across 160 countries. India s ranking has jumped from 54 in 2014 to 35 in 2016. NEO IAS 0484-3190310, 9446331522, 9446334122 9446331522 Page 3
While Germany tops the 2016 rankings, India is ahead of comparatively advanced economies like Portugal and New Zealand. In 2016, India s international supply chain efficiency was at 75% of top-ranked Germany. What Kind of Questions to Expect? Which of the following is/are the indicator/indicators used by IFPRI to compute the Global Hunger Index Report? (2016 Prelims) 1. Undernourishment 2. Child stunting 3. Child mortality Select the correct answer using the code given below. (a) 1 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 1 and 3 only Model Question With reference to the Logistics Performance Index, consider the following statements: 1. It is published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in association with the World Trade Organisation. 2. It consists of both qualitative and quantitative measures Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 Answer (b) SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 1. INS Chakra INS Chakra is Akula-class nuclear-powered attack submarine. It was launched as K-152 Nerpa in October 2008 and entered service with the Russian Navy in late 2009. The submarine was leased to the Indian Navy in 2011 after extensive trials, and was formally commissioned into service as INS Chakra II in April 2012. It is India s only operational nuclear submarine. 2. RoboBees (Aerial-To-Aquatic Robot) RoboBees are manmade autonomously flying micro robots Inspired by the biology of a bee, developed by researchers at the Wyss Institute in Harvard university The RoboBee is 1,000 times lighter than any previous aerial-to-aquatic robot. A RoboBee measures about half the size of a paper clip, weighs less than one-tenth of a gram, and flies using artificial muscles compromised of materials that contract when a voltage is applied. RoboBEES could perform myriad roles with potential uses in crop pollination, search and rescue missions, surveillance, biological studies as well as high-resolution weather, climate and environmental monitoring. New Hybrid RoboBees Recently Harvard scientists have developed a next-generation hybrid version of RoboBee that can fly, dive into water, swim, propel itself back out of water, and land safely. This is the first micro-robot capable of repeatedly moving in and through complex environments. NEO IAS 0484-3190310, 9446331522, 9446334122 9446331522 Page 4
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 1. Hambantota and India s Housing Project in Sri Lanka Hambantota Hambantota is the main town in Hambantota District, Southern Province, Sri Lanka. The coastal city of Hambantota gained strategic significance after President Rajapaksa built a massive port and an airport with huge Chinese loans. In July 2017, his successor government sold a majority stake of the port to China to service an outstanding $8-billion debt it owes China, fanning concerns of countries with competing strategic interests, particularly India and the US. Indian Housing project The Indian Housing Project is a housing reconstruction project funded by the Government of India and implemented through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL). Four Implementing Agencies (IAs) have been selected for this project, which is being executed in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka. UN-Habitat is one of the IAs together with the International Federation for the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in partnership with Sri Lanka Red Cross, the National Housing Development Authority (NHDA) of the Government of Sri Lanka and Habitat for Humanity. As many as 46,000 homes have been built in the Tamil-majority north and east, while 4,000 houses are currently being built in the hill country in the Central and Uva provinces, where several thousand Sri Lankans of recent Indian origin live and work. Recently Sri Lanka signed an agreement with India to build 1,200 houses in a public ceremony held in Hambantota. NEO IAS 0484-3190310, 9446331522, 9446334122 9446331522 Page 5