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GS Paper: GS3-13.Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc:

  • Public Wi-Fi Access Network Interface

    In a bid to improve wireless connectivity, the Union Cabinet approved setting up of the public WiFi was part of the Prime Minister WiFi Access Network Interface (PM- WANI).

    Do you know?

    According to TRAI, in most major economies, for 50%-70% of their total usage time, mobile users use WiFi technology to communicate. However, in India, this figure is less than 10%.

    PM- WANI

    • The WiFi will be provided through public data offices (PDOs) for which there will be no licence, registration or any other fees.
    • The PDO, to be set up along the lines of public calling office, can be a mom-and-pop store in the area or the common services centre present in various small towns, gram panchayats, and villages in the country.
    • The PDOs can either provide the internet on other own or lease it from other telecom and internet service providers.

    The centre-stage: Public Data Offices (PDO)

    • The idea of a PDO was first floated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in 2017.
    • Like a PCO, the PDO allows users to connect to a public WiFi system for a limited session depending on the internet pack chosen by the user.
    • These internet packages can either by charged on per minute or per hour basis by the PDOs.

    Licensing of PDOs

    • There will be no licence for PDOs. A simple registration system will be put in place for PDO aggregators as well as app providers, which will be approved within seven days of the application being submitted.
    • In addition to the PDOs, there will also be PDO aggregators, which will look after the authorisation and accounting of PDOs.

    A note for users

    • A third layer will of app providers, available for download on the Play Store as well as the Apple Store, will enable users to register for using the public WiFi at a particular place.
    • Users, however, will not be required to download different apps, as a single app will provide seamless connectivity to any PDO across the country.

  • How should India navigate future energy transition?

    The article is based on the book by Daniel Yergin, titled ” The New Map: Energy, Climate and the Clash of Nations”. The book throws some questions to countries dependent on oil and suggests the framework for their transition to renewable.

    Six broad themes underlying the energy transition

    • The first is the US shale revolution, which transformed the US from a major importer of oil and gas to a significant exporter.
    • The second is the leveraging by Russia of its gas exports to compel former members of the Soviet Union to stay within its sphere of influence and to embrace China into an energy partnership.
    • The third is China’s assertion of its rights over the South China Seas — a critical maritime route for its energy imports and the Belt and Road initiative;
    • The fourth is sectarian strife (Sunni/Shia) in the Middle East which, compounded by volatile and falling oil prices, has brought the region to the edge;
    • The fifth is the Paris climate summit and its impact on public sentiment, investment decisions, corporate governance and regulatory norms.
    • Sixth is the consequential impact of the manifold and impressive advancement of clean energy technologies.

    Questions for India

    • The ongoing transition in the energy world raises several questions for India.
    • How might they impact its objective to provide reliable, affordable, clean and universal access to energy?
    • Who will bear the costs of the transition — in particular, the costs of retrofitting industrial infrastructure and upgrading the power grids.
    • How can it prevent the “perfect storm” of high unemployment due to laid-off coal workers and stranded assets thermal power plants, slowed economic growth and environmental degradation?
    • How realistic is a green transition for an economy almost totally dependent on fossil fuels?

    Three policy initiatives for the government

    1) Securing favourable terms with oil suppliers

    • The government leverage its buyer strength to secure “most favoured” terms of trade for crude supplies.
    • In this regard, they bring out one development that plays to India’s advantage — the onset of “peak oil demand” (that is, demand will plateau before supply depletes).
    • However, there is no consensus on the timing of peak demand.

    2) Develop own systems for photovoltaics (PVs) and batteries

    • India must develop its own world-scale, competitive, manufacturing systems for photovoltaics (PVs) and battery storage.
    • Otherwise, India will not be able to provide affordable solar units unless it accepts the further deepening of dependence on Chinese imports.
    • Currently, China manufactures 75 per cent of the world’s lithium batteries; 70 per cent of solar cells; 95 per cent of solar wafers and it controls 60 per cent of the production of poly silica.
    • China is also looking to secure a chokehold over several strategic minerals (cobalt, nickel).

    3) Prepare a clean energy technology strategy

    • Technology is the answer to the energy transition.
    • That is what will bring the system to the tipping point of radical change.
    • China has placed clean energy R&D at the forefront of its “Plan 2025”.
    • The India strategy should identify relevant “breakthrough technologies”, establish the funding mechanisms and create the ecosystem for partnerships (domestic and international).

    Conclusion

    As an economy which is energy import-dependent, fossil-fuel-based India must balance between the rising demand for energy and an unhealthily strong linkage between this demand and environmental pollution.

  • Future of 5G in India

    India, which has the highest average monthly mobile data traffic per smartphone, is expected to surpass 350 million 5G subscriptions by 2026, according to a report by Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson.

    Also read:

    [Burning Issue] 5G Technology

    Ericsson Mobility Report, 2020

    • As per the report, four out of every ten mobile subscriptions in 2026 will be 5G globally with 5G subscriptions forecast to reach 3.5 billion.
    • In the India region, LTE (long-term evolution technology) subscriptions are forecast to increase from 710 million in 2020 to 820 million in 2026” by which time 3G will be phased out.
    • LTE remains the dominant technology in 2020, accounting for 63%.
    • Based on the reported timeline for spectrum auction for 5G services, India could have its first 5G connection in 2021.

    Internet usage in India

    • In India, the reliance of people on mobile networks to stay connected as well as work from home during the pandemic has resulted in average traffic per smartphone is the global highest.
    • Low prices for mobile broadband services, affordable smartphones and increased time spent by people online all contribute to monthly usage growth in India.

    Back2Basics: 5G Technology

    • It is the next-generation cellular technology that will provide faster and more reliable communication with ultra-low latency.
    • A government panel report points out that with 5G, the peak network data speeds are expected to be in the range of 2-20 Gigabits per second (Gbps).
    • This is in contrast to 4G link speeds in averaging 6-7 Megabits per second (Mbps) in India as compared to 25 Mbps in advanced countries.
    • Once 5G becomes commercial, users will be required to change their current devices in favour of 5G-enabled ones.
    • However, it is likely that the primary use of the technology will go beyond the delivery of services on personal mobiles devices.

  • Solar Power Tariffs in India

    India’s solar power tariffs have hit a new record low of ₹2 per unit.

    Can you relate this?

    We have such a lower cost of solar energy. Then why do we rely on coal powered thermal power plants?

    Solar energy scenario in India

    • India has an ambitious target to increase its solar power base – by 2022, it wants to quadruple its current solar capacity to 100GW.
    • A number of industrial-scale solar energy plants have come up in the past few years.
    • The government-backed company Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI) has been auctioning solar energy capacity to various private developers using a bidding process that favours the cheapest tariffs.

    Low tariff may seem lucrative

    • The record low solar tariffs are mainly due to the “reverse bidding” process, which selects the cheapest bidder.
    • India is now said to be considering a ceiling on solar tariffs – a cap of ₹2.5 ($o.035) and ₹2.68 ($0.038) per unit – for solar power companies that use both domestic and imported equipment.
    • India imports over 90 per cent of solar equipment including cells and modules from overseas, mainly from China and Malaysia.
    • The govt. now is in proves to impose a 25 per cent safeguard duty on solar equipment imports to protect domestic manufacturers, which could further put pressure on the razor margins of solar developers.

    Impacts of such low tariff

    • With the steep drop in prices, there are also concerns about the quality of the equipment being deployed, raising questions about future regulation and related costs.
    • The infrastructure of many solar plants in India didn’t meet many environmental stress factors and technical standards, according to a study.
    • India also has a target of increasing its rooftop solar capacity to 40,000 megawatts (MW) by 2022 similar to trends in many European countries.
    • But, here too, prohibitive costs of solar equipment have kept many residential property owners from switching to rooftop solar despite a government subsidy.

    Back2Basics: SECI

    • It is a company of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India, established to facilitate the implementation of the National Solar Mission (NSM).
    • It is the only Central Public Sector Undertaking dedicated to the solar energy sector.
    • The company’s mandate has been broadened to cover the entire renewable energy domain and the company will be renamed to Renewable Energy Corporation of India (RECI).
    • It is responsible for the implementation of a number of govt. schemes, major ones being the solar park scheme and grid-connected solar rooftop scheme etc.
    • It has a power-trading licence and is active in this domain through the trading of solar power from projects set up under the schemes being implemented by it.

    Reverse bidding Process

    In a reverse auction, the buyer puts up a request for a required good or service. Sellers then place bids for the amount they are willing to be paid for the good or service, and at the end of the auction the seller with the lowest amount wins.

  • Power sector reforms: UK lessons for India

    Reforms in power sector in the UK were extensive and offers some important lessons for India. This article elaborates on the issue of reforms the challenges in introducing such reforms in India.

    Background of the power sector reforms in UK

    • After living with vertically integrated utilities till 1989, they unbundled.
    • Unbundling created markets both at generation and retail end.
    • Today, they are back to a situation where 70% of the power generated is sold outside the wholesale market.
    • The Electricity Act, 1989, which paved the way for the appointment of a regulator and thereafter, leading to unbundling, both vertical and horizontal.
    • Twelve distribution utilities were set up (called RECs) along with three-generation companies and also a national wires company (called NGC).
    • All of them were privatised barring Nuclear Electricity.
    • Retail competition was introduced in 1990 and was extended to all consumers in 1998.
    • A wholesale market was set up for generators.
    • The next major step was to fragment the generators because the regulator felt that they were colluding.
    • NETA in 2001 was primarily a tie-up between gencos and their consumers with long-term power purchase agreements.
    • The Energy Act, 2012, was enacted, which envisaged further changes.

    Issues with Power sector reform in India

    • The Electricity Act, 2003 is a very cautious and timid exercise compared to what has been done in the UK.
    • Through the Act, we have merely unbundled and ring-fenced our utilities so that there is transparency in the accounts; this itself took us several years.
    • There has been no attempt to create a wholesale market or a full-fledged retail market where the consumer chooses the supplier.
    • Large consumers, having loads in excess of 1 MW, however, have the option of open-access where they can opt to receive supply from some other entity, instead of his incumbent utility.
    • The road to open access though has been bumpy, and discoms have opposed it tooth and nail.
    • Besides what was possible in the UK may not be possible in India.
    • The UK did not have a regime of cross-subsidies where the commercial and industrial sectors subsidise agriculture and low-end domestic consumers and also did not have high commercial loss levels.
    • Moreover, in the UK, all consumers were metered, unlike India.
    • There is yet another factor: ‘Power’ falls in the Concurrent List.
    • The Centre and states rarely see eye-to-eye on several issues concerning the sector, especially on matters relating to distribution.
    • Consequently, any major change does not get accepted.

    Issues in introducing reform in India

    • The CERC floated a discussion paper in December 2018 about the creation of a wholesale market in India.
    • This amounts to retrofitting, and retrofitting in an existing architecture has its limitations.
    • But the issue is whether India should attempt creating a wholesale market or for that matter a full-fledged retail market in India, especially after the experience of the UK.
    • The UK is almost back to the era of vertically integrated utilities, and consumers barely switch their retailer.

    Way forward

    • We need to privatise our distribution sector by creating joint ventures with the government.
    • the government will have to undertake initial hand-holding till such time commercial losses are wiped out.
    • This is the model which was followed in the case of Delhi and has proven successful.
    • Commercial losses have come down from 50% to single-digit figures within a span of 10 to 12 years.
    • Once we reach that stage, we can think of creating a full-fledged retail market where a consumer can choose her supplier.

    Consider the question “Despite several reforms in the power sector, India still lacks full-fledged retail. What are the challenges in the creation of such a market. Suggest the ways to deal with the challenges.”

    Conclusion

    The Indian consumer is only interested in good quality power supply at a reasonable price. We only need to take policy measures so that the incumbent utilities can provide this, since, this will be the least costly path.

    Source:-

    https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/power-reforms-uk-lessons-for-india/2127560/

  • Gujarat Maritime Cluster Project at GIFT City

    The Gujarat Maritime Cluster coming up in the GIFT (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) City at Gandhinagar will be a dedicated system to address logistics of ports and seaways.

    Try answering this:

    Q.What do you mean by Central Business Districts? How it is different from a Special Economic Zone (SEZ)?

    What is a Maritime Cluster?

    • The concept of the maritime cluster is new to India, but these clusters have been driving some of the most competitive ports of the world like Rotterdam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Oslo, Shanghai, and London.
    • Simply put, a maritime cluster is an agglomeration of firms, institutions, and businesses in the maritime sector that are geographically located close to each other.

    Gujarat Maritime Cluster

    • While the project was conceptualized back in 2007, it received in-principle approval from the state government only in 2015.
    • The Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB), a nodal agency of the Gujarat government, has been trying to develop such a cluster at GIFT City in the state capital Gandhinagar.
    • This cluster will initially consist of Gujarat-based shipping lines, freight forwarders, shipping agents, bunker suppliers, stevedores, and shipbrokers with chartering requirements.
    • In the second stage, the cluster would attempt to bring Indian ship owners, ship operators, Indian charterers and technical consultants scattered in cities like Mumbai, Chennai, and Delhi to Gujarat.
    • Thereafter it would target to attract global players in the maritime sphere.

    Need for a maritime cluster

    • This project will try to bring back businesses that have migrated over the years to foreign locations due to the absence of the right ecosystem in the country.
    • Gujarat has a lot of ports and handles 40 per cent of the country’s cargo, but it does not target the entire value chain.
    • Since we didn’t have the ecosystem, a lot of Indian companies have moved to foreign locations. For instance, Adani Group has the biggest port in Gujarat, but for their chartering needs, they are based out of Dubai.

    Back2Basics: GIFT City, Gandhinagar

    • GIFT city is India’s first operational smart city and international financial services centre (much like a modern IT park).
    • The idea for GIFT was conceived during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor Summit 2007 and the initial planning was done by East China Architectural Design & Research Institute (ECADI).
    • Currently approximately 225 units/companies are operational with more than 12000 professionals employed in the City.
    • The entire city is based on concept of FTTX (Fibre to the home / office).The fiber optic is laid in fault tolerant ring architecture so as to ensure maximum uptime of services.
    • Every building in GIFT City is an intelligent building. There is piped supply of cooking gas. India’s first city-level DCS (district cooling system) is also operational at GIFT City.

  • Ghogha-Hazira Ferry Service

    PM has virtually inaugurated the Ghogha-Hazira Ro-Pax ferry service in Gujarat.

    Try this question from CSP 2016:

    Q.Recently, which of the following States has explored the possibility of constructing an artificial inland port to be connected to the sea by a long navigational channel?

    (a) Andhra Pradesh

    (b) Chhattisgarh

    (c) Karnataka

    (d) Rajasthan

    Ghogha-Hazira Ferry Service

    • It will work as a Gateway to South Gujarat and Saurashtra region. It will reduce the distance between Ghogha and Hazira from 370 km to 90 km.
    • It has a load capacity of 30 trucks (of 50 MT each) on the main deck, 100 passenger cars on the upper deck and 500 passengers plus 34 crew and hospitality staff on the passenger deck.
    • The reduced cargo travel time from 10 to 12 hours to about four hours will result in huge savings of fuel (approx 9,000 litres per day) and lower the maintenance cost of vehicles drastically.
    • The ferry service, while making three round trips per day on the route, would annually transport about 5 lakh passengers, 80,000 passenger vehicles, 50,000 two-wheelers and 30,000 trucks.

    Benefits

    • It will reduce the fatigue of truck drivers and enhance their incomes by giving them more opportunity to do extra trips.
    • It will give an impetus to the tourism industry with ease of access to the Saurashtra region and lead to the creation of new job opportunities.
    • With the onset of ferry services, the port sector, furniture and fertilizer industries in Saurashtra and Kutch region will get a big boost.
    • Eco-tourism and religious-tourism in Gujarat, especially in Porbandar, Somnath, Dwarka and Palitana will grow exponentially.
    • The benefits of enhanced connectivity through this ferry service will also result in increased inflow of tourists in the famous Asiatic lion wildlife sanctuary at Gir.

  • What are Bulk Drugs Parks?

    Himachal Pradesh is one of the states vying for the allotment of a bulk drug park under a central government scheme announced earlier this year for setting up three such parks across the country.

    Try this question:

    Q.The drug pricing system in India is an indirect outcome of the growing dependence on China for APIs. Discuss.

    What are Bulk Drugs or APIs?

    • A bulk drug also called an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), is the key ingredient of a drug or medicine, which lends it the desired therapeutic effect or produces the intended pharmacological activity.
    • For example, paracetamol is a bulk drug, which acts against pain.
    • It is mixed with binding agents or solvents to prepare the finished pharmaceutical product, ie a paracetamol tablet, capsule or syrup, which is consumed by the patient.
    • APIs are prepared from multiple reactions involving chemicals and solvents.
    • The primary chemical or the basic raw material which undergoes reactions to form an API is called the key starting material, or KSM.
    • Chemical compounds formed during the intermediate stages during these reactions are called drug intermediates or DIs.

    Why is India promoting bulk drug parks?

    • India has one of the largest pharmaceutical industries in the world (third largest by volume) but this industry largely depends on other countries, particularly China, for importing APIs, DIs and KSMs.
    • This year, drug manufacturers in India suffered repeated setbacks due to disruption in imports.
    • Factories in China shut down when the country went into a lockdown, and later, international supply chains were affected as the Covid pandemic gripped the entire world.
    • The border conflict between India and China exacerbated the situation.

    What is the Centre’s scheme?

    • The Centre’s scheme will support three selected parks in the country by providing a one-time grant-in-aid for the creation of common infrastructure facilities.
    • The grant-in-aid will be 70 per cent of the cost of the common facilities but in the case of Himachal Pradesh and other hill states, it will be 90 per cent.
    • The Centre will provide a maximum of Rs 1,000 crore per park.
    • A state can only propose one site, which is not less than a thousand acres in area, or not less than 700 acres in the case of hill states.

    What does a bulk park offer?

    • A bulk drug park will have a designated contiguous area of land with common infrastructure facilities for the exclusive manufacture of APIs, DIs or KSMs, and also a common waste management system.
    • These parks are expected to bring down manufacturing costs of bulk drugs in the country and increase competitiveness in the domestic bulk drug industry.

    Why Himachal?

    • Himachal already has Asia’s largest pharma manufacturing hub, that is the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial belt, and the state produces around half of India’s total drug formulations.
    • Himachal offers power and water at the lowest tariffs in the country, and the state also has an industrial gas pipeline.
    • It jumped nine places in this year’s ease-of-doing-business rankings declared by the Centre last month, securing the seventh position in the country.

  • [pib] Sardar Sarovar Dam

    The PM has inaugurated dynamic lighting for the Sardar Sarovar Dam.

    Try this PYQ:

    What is common to the places known as Aliyar, Isapur and Kangsabati?

    (a) Recently discovered uranium deposits

    (b) Tropical rain forests

    (c) Underground cave systems

    (d) Water reservoirs

    Sardar Sarovar Dam

    • It is a concrete gravity dam on the Narmada River in Kevadiya near Navagam, Gujarat.
    • Four Indian states, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, receive water and electricity supplied from the dam.
    • The foundation stone of the project was laid out by then PM Jawaharlal Nehru on 5 April 1961.
    • The project took form in 1979 as part of a development scheme funded by the World Bank to increase irrigation and produce hydroelectricity, using a loan of US$200 million.

  • [pib] Electricity Access & Utility Benchmarking Report

    NITI Aayog, Ministry of Power, Rockefeller Foundation, and Smart Power India have together launched the ‘Electricity Access in India and Benchmarking Distribution Utilities’ report.

    About the report

    • It is based on a primary survey conducted across 10 states––representing about 65% of the total rural population of India.
    • Aimed at capturing insights from the demand (electricity customers) as well as supply-side (electricity distribution utilities), the report seeks to:
    1. Evaluate the status of electricity access in India across these states and distribution utilities along all dimensions that constitute meaningful access
    2. Benchmark utilities’ capacity to provide electricity access and identify the drivers of sustainable access
    3. Develop recommendations for enhancing sustainable electricity access

    Key findings of the report:

    • As much as 92% of customers reported the overall availability of electricity infrastructure within 50 metres of their premises; however, not all have connections, the primary reason being the distance of households from the nearest pole.
    • Overall, 87% of customers have access to grid-based electricity. The remaining 13% either use non-grid sources or don’t use any electricity at all.
    • The hours of supply have improved significantly across the customer categories to nearly 17 hours per day.
    • Nearly 85% of customers reported to have a metered electricity connection.
    • Access to electricity is observed in 83% of household customers.
    • Considering the overall satisfaction level, a total of 66% of those surveyed were satisfied––74% of customers in urban areas and 60% in rural areas.

    Recommendations made

    The key recommendations provided in the report are in the areas of policy and regulation, process improvement, infrastructure and capacity-building of utilities. Other recommendations included:

    • prioritizing the release of new connections for non-household customers
    • transfer of subsidies or other benefits directly into a customer’s account
    • enhanced technology-driven customer service; ensuring 100% metering of customers
    • segregation of feeder lines