Recently India suggested that developing nations, consisting of India too, are confronting a double disadvantage at the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO’s) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB).

India’s Concerns

These Developing nations are challenged not only by the lack or an adequate pool or trade law experts to represent them effectively at the DSB but also by particular efforts to bring within the body’s range non – trade issues such as labour and environment.

Background

India has been regularly advocating that certain issues, comprising or labour and environment, must be kept out of the WTO’s radar and instead be dealt with by the global bodies such as the International Labour Organisation and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The developed world, however, is adamant that the WTO addresses, what they say, global trades new challenges, including labour and environment.

Must Read: PM Ujjwala Yojana: an LPG Scheme

About WTO

As an intergovernmental organisation, the World Trade Organisation regulates international trade. Signed by 123 Nations on 15 April, 1994, under the Marrakesh Agreement, the WTO commenced on 1 January 1995. WTO replaced General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that commenced in 1948.

The WTO handles regulation of trade between participating countries by providing a framework for negotiating trade agreements and a dispute resolution process intended at enforcing participants’ attatchment to World Trade Organisation agreements which are signed by representatives of member Governments and ratified by their Parliaments.

Functions of World Trade Organisation

• The World Trade Organisation shall make sure the implementation, administration and operation and further the objectives of this Agreement and of the Multilateral Trade Agreements, and shall also cater to the framework for the administration, implementation and operation of the multi lateral Trade Agreements.
• The World Trade Organisation shall administer the understanding of Rules and procedures Governing the settlement of Disputes.
• The World Trade Organisation shall administer Trade Policy Review Mechanism.
• The World Trade Organisation is also a centre of economic research and analysis, WTO cooperates intimately with two other parts of the Betton Woods System, the IMF and the World Bank.

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On 1 May, at 12:12pm, PM Shri Narendra Modi launched PM Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. The Yojana intends to cater five crore LPG connections to women belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) households, over the next three financial years. This Yojana will cost Rs. 8000 crore, that is going to be partially funded from the savings resulting from LPG users who gave up their as part of the Give up Programme.

Ujjwala Yojana a result of ‘Give It Up’ Scheme

Highlighting the success of the ‘Give It Up’ scheme the PM said that about one crore consumers had given up their subsidy that had led to savings of nearly Rs. 2000 crore per year. He further said, in a way clearly establishing the link between ‘Give It Up’ scheme and ‘Ujjwala Yojana’, that money would be utilized to cater LPG connections to BPL households of rural India.

In his budget speech in February, the Finance Minister of India had also announced an allocation of Rs. 2000 crore in this fiscal to cater LPG connections to at least 1.5 crore women from rural BPL households.

Must Read: Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY)

About Ujjwala Yojana

Not only those persons, who voluntarily gave up their LPG connections, but also those, who are earning Rs. 10 lakh of more in a year, have been considered ineligible for the subsidy.

Under the Ujjwala Yojana, the aspirants of new LPG connection do not have to pay any security deposit; and the administrative cost Rs. 1,600, cost of pressure regulator and safety hose is going to be paid by the Government. Consumers have the choice to buy gas stove and refills on Easy Monthly Scheme (EMI).

The selection of BPL households is proposed to be done using the socio-economic caste census data. In India, at present, there are 16.64 crore active LPG consumers for whose requirement about 21 million tones of gas are needed.

Expansion Plans of Ujjwala Yojana

According to the Prime Minister about 10,000 new distributorships and infrastructure expansion plans were in the works to meet the enhanced demand soaring up due to the new connections.

With the expansion in number of consumers and in the consumption of LPG, particularly in rural areas, the incidents causing serious health hazards related with cooking based on fossil fuels are certainly going to decrease: according to an estimation by WHO (World Health Organization), in Indian, nearly 5 lakh deaths happen only due to unclean cooking fuels. Experts have already opined for many times that burning fire (Fossil Fuel) in the open kitchen is like burning 400 cigarettes an hour.

Also Read: Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY)

LPG Demand to Double

In the coming years, perhaps in two or three years to be very precise, LPG’s demand in India is expected to touch a double digit level, a Government’s release has said.

In order to meet this challenging demand the Government has taken several steps, as has been claimed by the Government’s spokespersons, to enhance infrastructure.

According to the Government’s release, the three public sector oil marketing companies have supported plans to extend rated LPG bottling capacity from the present over 15,000 thousand metric tone per annum (TMTPA) by nearly 10% at the end of Financial Year 17-18, in order to meet the expected increase in LPG demand.

Also Read: Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)

In order to facilitate the way for port-led industrialization, the Shipping Ministry, in a major developmental initiative, announced (in 2016) that its ambitious Sagarmala Project is going to concentrate on developing furniture clusters near major ports.

Project Sagarmala is a national programme with an aim to accelerate economic development by harnessing the potential of India’s coastline and river network.

In the past 20 years port-led industrialization throughout the world has assisted the manufacturing sector grow and this can be pursued in India too that would, in turn, enable the country to create a significant share in the global furniture market.

It has been pointed out that port and logistics infrastructure has played a decisive role in making China the biggest exporter of furniture by overtaking European Markets, Malaysia is also a furniture exporter having clusters located in close proximity to major ports.

Now Indian Government thinks that the development of port-based furniture clusters will help reduce the overall cost of exports from India and counter the Chinese dominance in the world furniture market as it has been claimed in a draft report on the national perspective plan of Sagarmala Project.

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Background

It was in 2003, that the then Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee first proposed Project Sagarmala. Its features at that time were:

Setup Sagarmala Development Authority (Similar to National Highway Authority of India); will obtain money via Maritime development cabs (5 paise pr kg on cargo); will improve ports, shipping industry, in land water transport, coastel shipping; and PPP and PDI to collect more investment.

In March, 2015, Union Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari, said that the Sagarmala Project, a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would create at least 12 Smart Cities and had the potential to increase India’s GDP by 2 per cent. The 12 Smart Cities, it was estimated in 2015, would cost Rs. 12,000 crore each.

It has to be kept in mind that Sagarmala Project was conceived and initiate to facilitate and promote port-led direct and indirect development and to provide port and evacuation infrastructure to transport goods to end from ports quickly efficiently and cost-effectively.

Sagarmala Target and Initiative

The Sagarmala Project has come out with a target of providing one crore employment. According to the national perspective plan on Sagarmala Port Project, the Port-led development has got potential for direct employment generation for 40 lakh persons and for 60 lakh persons indirectly.

The Sagarmala Project, in its initiative, has sought to develop a string of ports around India’s cost with an objective to promote “Port-led development” along India’s 75,000 km long coastline.

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The North East region, considering its geo-strategic position, has been and is an important part of India’s growth story. The region, having certain distinct advantages, is strategically situated with proximity to the major states in the east and neighboring countries such as Bhutan, Bangladesh, China, and Myanmar.

The North-East-region is a resource-abundant region with its expanses of farmland along with a vast talent pool. This makes it a strategic element for India’s development to steer it in the 21^st century.

Although the North-East is full of natural resources, it has lagged behind in taking advantage of its full potential as it faces challenges in terrain and weather conditions. In the North East States, in fact, the developmental needs are unique and merit special public and private interventions.

It is important to mention here that although the region has topped, in the context of literacy rate, amongst all the States of India, it has lagged behind when compared in the field of the national average in per capita income and thus has got lower per capita energy consumption.

No one can deny that energy and hydrocarbon resources and its development hold the magic key to unlock the potential of this region.

Thus, in order to empower the hydrocarbon sector for development of the North-East region, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, on 9 February 2016, released the Hydrocarbon vision 2030 for North-East India. In the Vision Document, the States covered are viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura. The vision document is a concentrated and consultative exercise for enhancing a common and shared aspiration for the benefit of the people of the North-East.

The Hydrocarbon Vision

The vision aims at doubling the production of Oil and Gas by the year 2030; making clean fuel affable; generating employment opportunities; making projects fast tracking, and encouraging cooperation with adjacent countries.

Also Read: Facts to know about Oil 

Purpose of  the Hydrocarbon Vision 2030

The purpose of the vision document is: to plan and prepare a roadmap for the next decades and-a-half to enhance the Oil and Gas production in the North-East-Region of India; to outline and do the required investment in hydrocarbon sector in the region to enhance exploration activities; and to expand the Piped Natural Gas (PNG) network and secure the availability of petroleum products, including Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in the remotest corners of the North-East region.

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