PIB – August 26 , 2019


GS- 2 Paper

Topic covered- Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Draft National Resource Efficiency Policy, 2019

Context

Timeline for public consultation on Draft National Resource Efficiency Policy, 2019 Extended.

About

  • The Draft National Resource Efficiency Policy (NREP) envisions a future with environmentally sustainable and equitable economic growth, resource security, healthy environment (air, water and land), and restored ecosystems with rich ecology and biodiversity.
  • The Draft National Resource Efficiency Policy is guided by the principles of-
  1. Reduction in primary resource consumption to ‘sustainable’ levels, in keeping with achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and staying within the planetary boundaries,
  2. Creation of higher value with less material through resource efficient and circular approaches,
  3. Waste minimization,
  4. Material security, and creation of employment opportunities and business models beneficial to the cause of environment protection and restoration.

Key features

It envisions setting up a National Resource Efficiency Authority (NREA) with a core working group housed in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and a members group with representations from different ministries, state/union territory, and other stakeholders.

  1. NREA would be supported by an Inter-Ministerial National Resource Efficiency Boardto guide on the aspects critical to its implementation.
  2. It plans to offer tax benefitson recycled materials, green loans to small and medium Enterprises (SMEs).
  3. The policy aims for a ‘circular economy’ – Through efficient use of available material resources, based on principles of 6R.
  4. The 6R stands for reduce, reuse, recycle, redesign, re-manufacture and refurbishwhile the very premise of ‘green public procurement’ is to procure products with lower environmental footprints such as secondary raw materials and locally sourced materials.
  5. It also pitches for moving towards ‘zero landfill’ approach in the country, hinting at possibility of imposing ‘landfill taxes’ and ‘high tipping fees’ for bulk generators of waste so that they can move towards optimal use of materials and better waste management.

National Resource Efficiency Authority (NREA)

  • National Resource Efficiency Authority (NREA) will be constituted under the provisions of Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
  • It will have a core working group housed in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and a members group with representations from different ministries, state/union territory, and other stakeholders.
  • It will be supported by an Inter-Ministerial National Resource Advisory Efficiency Board (NREAB) to guide on the aspects critical to its implementation.

The functions of NREA

  • Develop and implement resource efficient strategies for material recycling, reuse and land-filling targets for various sectors.
  • Set standards for reuse of secondary raw materials to ensure quality.
  • Maintain a database of material use and waste generated, recycled and land filled, across various sectors and different regions and monitor the implementation.

Resource Efficiency

  • Resource efficiency is making more with fewer materials in practice, through a life-cycle approach.
  • It leads to minimizing impact on environment & the associated societal burdens, transforming ‘waste’ into ‘resources’ fostering circular economy, and strengthening resource security.
  • India as a signatory to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG) is committed to provide for sustained economic growth along with sustainable use of natural resources and safeguarding the environment.
  • Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy are important goals and central principles for achieving sustainable development. Sustainability is a global priority and SDGs commitment and 11th Five year plan also clearly enunciate importance of Resource efficiency (RE).

GS-2 Paper

Topic coveredImportant aspects of governance, transparency and accountability.

Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP)

Context

The Government has now launched the Bid Round-IVfor International Competitive Bidding,

About OALP

  • The OALP is a of the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy.
  • It provides uniform licences for exploration and production of all forms of hydrocarbons, enabling contractors to explore conventional as well as unconventional oil and gas resources.
  • OALP was introduced vide a Cabinet decision of the Government as part of the new fiscal regime in exploration sector called HELP or Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy,

Objectives

  • It aims to enable a faster survey and coverage of the available geographical area which has potential for oil and gas discovery.

Benefits

  • Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) gives an option to a company looking for exploring hydrocarbons to select the exploration blocks on its own, without waiting for the formal bid round from the Government.
  • Under Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), a bidder intending to explore hydrocarbons like oil and gas, coal bed methane, gas hydrate etc., may apply to the Government seeking exploration of any new block (not already covered by exploration).
  • The Government will examine the Expression of Interest and justification. If it is suitable for award, Govt. will call for competitive bids after obtaining necessary environmental and other clearances.
  • National Data Repository (NDR) has been created to provide explorers’ data on the country’s repositories, allowing them to choose fields according to their capabilities.
  • Data received through the National Seismic Programme, an in-depth study of 26 sedimentary basins, are continuously being added to the NDR.

Significance of OALP

  • India is the 3rd largest consumer of crude oil and petroleum products with oil and gas contributing 34.4% to primary energy consumption.
  • In 2015-2016, India’s crude oil import dependence rose to 81% from 78.5%.
  • In last five years, India has seen overall decline in exploration and production of conventional resources.
  • New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) was created in 1997.
  • It ended the state dominance and created a competitive environment leading to liberalization of oil and gas exploration and production industry.

For prelims-

World Badminton Championship 2019

Context

  1. V. Sindhu won the Gold at BWF Championship.

Highlights

  • The 2019 BWF World Championships is a badminton tournament which was held at Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland.
  • P V Sindhu on Sunday became the first Indian to win badminton World Championships gold.
  • She defeated to Nozomi Okuhara of Japan.
  • It was Sindhu’s fifth World Championships medal.
  • Sindhu has also won an Olympic silver in 2016 Rio Games, a silver at Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, an Asian Games silver at Jakarta and the BWF World Tour Finals last year.

Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT)

Context

36th Foundation Day of C-DOT celebrated.

About C-DOT

  • The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) is an Indian Government owned telecommunications technology development centre.
  • It was established in 1984 with initial mandate of designing and developing digital exchanges.
  • C-DOT has expanded to develop intelligent computer software applications.
  • It was started by Sam Pitroda as an autonomous telecom R&D organisation.
  • C-DOT has expanded to develop intelligent computer software applications.
  • It is one of the 2 Indian Government organisations which have been appraised at Maturity Level 5 of CMMI-DEV v1.3, other being Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) Software Technology Centre.

Community Radio Sammelan

Context

7th Community Radio Sammelan to be held in Delhi.

Highlights

  • The Seventh Community Radio Sammelan will be held in New Delhi.
  • The Sammelan, being organized by Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.
  • Theme – The theme of this year’s Sammelan is ‘Community Radio for SDGs’.
  • The representatives of the Community Radio Stations will discuss experiences and possibilities of programming for better public awareness on the Sustainable Development Goals.

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