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Infrastructure

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September 25, 2018

Discuss the merit of water based transportation against the road and railways. What are the steps the Government of India has taken to promote Indian waterways and what more needs to be done? (200 words)

Refer – Business Line

Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.

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IAS Parliament 6 years

KEY POINTS

Merits of Water based transportation

·        Low Cost of transportation

·        Less polluting

·        Less expensive to build & expand

·        India specific – with its natural advantage of a 7,500 km coastline and 14,500 km of potentially navigable waterways, India can take a lot of pressure from the road and rail infrastructure.

Steps taken

·        The Lok Sabha has recently passed an amendment to the Central Road Fund Act, 2000, proposing to allocate 2.5 per cent of the funds collected for development of waterways.

·        Port led connectivity and modernisation programme – Sagarmala project.

·        Jal Marg Vikas Project (National Waterway-I: River Ganga) – It envisages to develop a fairway between Varanasi and Haldia.

·        Development of eight new National Waterways.

·        The shipping ministry has recently eased the Cabotage law which specifies that only Indian flagged vessels are allowed to carry cargo between Indian ports.

Challenges

·        The government has identified 106 more waterways for navigation apart from NW-1.

·        But even NW-1 makes water transportation possible for only a few vessels and only during daytime.

·        Also, only in monsoon months when the water levels are high, transportation could be made possible in such rivers.

Suggestions

·        Dredging of rivers

·        Building new ports

·        Lower port charges

·        Digital GPS for night navigation

·        Need for better berthing facilities

·        A proper river information system

·        Ensuring quick evacuation of goods from the port

·        Leveraging technology to offer single document for multi-modal transportation

Tapasvi 6 years

Kindly review

IAS Parliament 6 years

Good attempt. Shorten the introduction part. Keep writing.

Manav 6 years

Kindly review. Thanks. 

IAS Parliament 6 years

Suggestion part is missing. How a tighter Cabotage law will promote Indian waterways need to be explained. Keep writing.

Secret agent 6 years

Kindly review. 

IAS Parliament 6 years

Good attempt. Keep writing.

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