Gati Shakti: Transforming India’s logistics

The Union Budget 2023 has increased the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan’s budget from ₹5,000 crore to ₹10,000 crore and allocated ₹2.4 lakh crore to the Indian Railways. This plan aims to improve India’s logistics competitiveness by increasing the railways’ share in freight movement from 27% to 45% and addressing infrastructural challenges. However, several challenges such as operational and connectivity issues, infrastructural challenges, and lack of integration need to be addressed to achieve these targets.

What is PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan?

• Comprehensive development: It is a comprehensive infrastructure development plan announced by the Government of India in November 2021.
• Aim: The plan aims to improve economic growth and sustainable development by focusing on infrastructure such as roads, railways, airports, ports, mass transport, waterways, and logistics.
• Increased Budget: The Union Budget 2023 has increased the budget for the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan
• The plan includes the development of five main corridors:
• East-West Corridor: It will connect the east and west coasts of India, stretching from Silchar in Assam to Porbandar in Gujarat.
• North-South Corridor: It will connect the northern and southern parts of India, stretching from Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.
• North-East Corridor: It will connect the northeastern states to the rest of India, stretching from Imphal in Manipur to Kohima in Nagaland.
• South-West Corridor: It will connect the southwestern states to the rest of India, stretching from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.
• East Coast Corridor: It will connect the east coast states to the rest of India, stretching from Kolkata in West Bengal to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.
• The railways have a pan-India network and offer an efficient and economic mode of logistics movement, making them an essential component of the plan.

The Freight Movement at Present

• Freight movement Impact: Currently, 65% of freight movement is done by road transport, leading to congestion, pollution, and increased logistics costs.
• convenience over cost: Although the cost of rail transportation is less than road transportation, convenience has taken precedence over cost, and the railways have lost their share in freight movement to more flexible modes.
• For instance: In 2020-21, coal constituted 44% of the total freight movement of 1.2 billion tonnes, followed by iron ore (13%), cement (10%), food grains (5%), fertilizers (4%), iron and steel (4%), etc.
• Non-bulk commodities: Transportation of non-bulk commodities accounts for a very small share in the rail freight movement
• Rise in Container Traffic: The convenience of moving non-bulk commodities in containers has led to an increase in containerized traffic. Globally, railway systems are heavily investing in advanced rail infrastructure for quick and low-cost container movement.

Infrastructural, Operational, and Connectivity Challenges

• The national transporter faces several challenges, leading to a shift of freight traffic to roads.
• Infrastructure: Increased transit time by rail, pre-movement and post-movement procedural delays, lack of necessary terminal infrastructure, maintenance of good sheds and warehouses, and uncertain supply of wagons are some of the infrastructural challenges that customers face.
• Connectivity: The lack of integrated first and last-mile connectivity by rail increases the chances of damage due to multiple handling and also increases the inventory holding cost.

Strategies to Improve Efficiency in Rail Cargo Movement in India

• Overall improvement: The Indian Railways need to improve infrastructure and encourage private participation in the operation and management of terminals, containers, and warehouses to efficiently utilize resources.
• Special Entity Needed: Establishing a special entity under the railways to handle intermodal logistics in partnership with the private sector could address the first and last-mile issue faced by the railways.
• For instance: An integrated logistics infrastructure with first and last-mile connectivity is essential to make rail movement competitive with roads, and facilitate exports by rail to neighbouring countries such as Nepal and Bangladesh.
• An Uber like model: An Uber-like model for one of the two cargo wagons, wherein the customer can book the wagon using an online application, could help in increasing the utilization rate of these wagons.

Way ahead

• The adoption of railways for cargo movement is crucial to improve India’s logistics competitiveness.
• The Indian Railways are upgrading their infrastructure with PM Gati Shakti, but a continuous monitoring of existing projects and identification of new priority areas are required to achieve the targets of rail freight movement.

Conclusion

• The PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan has the potential to transform India’s logistics infrastructure and increase the railways’ share in freight movement. However, several challenges such as operational and connectivity issues, infrastructural challenges, and lack of integration need to be addressed. The upcoming Dedicated Freight Corridors, multimodal logistics parks, and establishment of a special entity under the railways could address these challenges.

What is Digital India Act, 2023?

The Union government has formally outlined the Digital India Act, 2023 which is a broad overhaul of the decades-old Information Technology Act, 2000.

Central idea: Reconsideration of Safe Harbour

• The government is reconsidering a key aspect of cyberspace — ‘safe harbour’.
• Safe harbour is the principle that so-called ‘intermediaries’ on the internet are not responsible for what third parties post on their website.
• This is the principle that allows social media platforms to avoid liability for posts made by users.
• Safe harbour has been reined in in recent years by regulations like the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which require platforms to take down posts when ordered to do so by the government, or when required by law.

What is the Digital India Act, 2023?

• The act is a new legislation that aims to overhaul the decades-old Information Technology Act, 2000.
• The Act covers a range of topics such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), cybercrime, data protection, deepfakes, competition issues among internet platforms, and online safety.
• The Act also aims to address “new complex forms of user harms” that have emerged in the years since the IT Act’s enactment, such as catfishing, doxxing, trolling, and phishing.

Why was this act enacted?

• Data privacy: The Digital India Act will be implemented alongside the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022, which focuses solely on processing personal data in India.
• Lawful use of data: It seeks to address the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognizes both the right of the individuals to protect their personal data and the need to process personal data for lawful purposes.
• Comprehensive regulation: This Act and the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill will work in tandem with each other.

Key features of the Digital India Act

• Creating new regulations around newer technology, including 5G, IoT devices, cloud computing, metaverse, blockchain, and cryptocurrency.
• Reclassifying online intermediaries to separate categories instead of one general intermediary label, each one with its own set of regulations.
• Removing “safe harbour” immunity for online intermediaries for purposeful misinformation or other content violations from third parties.
• Creating digital standards and laws regarding artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technology.
• Criminalizing cyberbullying, identity theft, and unauthorized sharing of personal information without consent.

Significance

• The Digital India Act provides a legal framework for promoting the growth of the digital economy in India.
• It aims to create a conducive environment for the development and deployment of digital technologies across different sectors.
• The Act also addresses various challenges associated with cybersecurity and data privacy, which are critical issues in the digital age.

Conclusion

• The Digital India Act is expected to promote digital literacy and increase access to digital services for all citizens.
• It will help in creating a digital infrastructure that is secure, reliable, and accessible to everyone.
• The Act will also encourage the adoption of digital technologies in various sectors such as healthcare, education, and agriculture, leading to increased efficiency and productivity.

Kodaikanal Solar Observatory

The Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (KoSO) has been observing the Sun for over a century.

Why in news?

• Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (KoSO) has been observing the Sun for over a century
• KoSO has captured images of sunspots and recorded changes in the Sun’s behavior
• Solar physicists at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) and Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) have digitized 1.48 lakh solar images captured since 1904

A Brief History of Kodaikanal Solar Observatory

• KoSO is one of the world’s oldest observatories studying the Sun.
• Norman Pogson, astronomer and Government Astronomer of the Madras Observatory, proposed the idea of taking pictures of the Sun using a 20-inch telescope.
• The Madras Observatory was set up as the private effort of an official of the British East India Company in 1786.
• The decision to establish a solar observatory was taken in 1893, and Kodaikanal in present-day Tamil Nadu was chosen for its high altitude and dust-free environment.
• The Solar Physics Observatory opened on April 1, 1899, and was later named KoSO.
• The Bhavnagar Telescope, named after the Maharaja of Bhavnagar, was one of the more famous instruments at KoSO during the early decades of its operation.
• A 15cm telescope was used to capture solar images onto a photographic film or plate.
• Solar magnetic plages and prominences were recorded since 1911, taken on photographic films and plates.

Solar Observations, One Every Day: How They Are Taken

• White light images of the Sun have been captured every day since 1904 using a 6-inch telescope
• Visible light images reveal sunspots on the surface of the Sun.
• One image is taken daily around 8 am, which has been a fixed routine for over a century now
• Each observation accompanies the corresponding date and time, which is key for calibration purposes later.
• These plates or films are sent to the darkroom and developed either the same day or the next day
• Once the film has been developed, the date and time of observation are written on the plate and entered in the logbook.
• These plates or films are kept in an envelope with the handwritten date and time of observation and stored carefully in humidity-controlled rooms.

Arrival of New Technology and the Process of Digitization

• Between 1904 and 2017, all solar observations were traced onto photographic films and plates
• A new telescope mounted with CCD cameras has taken over and, since 2017, continued to observe the Sun.
• Digitization of the records was initiated in 1984 by Prof J C Bhattacharyya, and others continued the effort.
• In 2018, digitized solar observations for the period 1921-2011 were made available to the scientific community.
• Raw and calibrated data for the period of 1904 to 2017 were added, and the digitization process is nearly complete.
• KoSO is now home to a digital repository of a whopping 1.48 lakh solar images adding up to 10 terabyte of data.
• These include 33,500 white-light images (showing sunspots), 45,000 images of the Ca II K spectral line (which reveals plages), and 70,000 H-alpha photographic plates that show prominences.

Yaoshang festival begins in Manipur

The Yaoshang festival, which is Manipur’s version of Holi, has begun.

Yaoshang Festival

• Yaoshang festival is celebrated every year on the full moon of Lamta (February-March) of the Meitei lunar calendar.
• It begins just after sunset followed by Yaosang Mei thaba, also known as Burning of the Straw Hut.
• Children visit neighbours to ask for monetary donations, called nakatheng.
• Yaoshang, unlike Holi, is celebrated with a traditional twist in Manipur.
• During these five days, Manipur comes alive with sporting events during the day and traditional “thabal chongba” dance in the night.

Key feature: Thabal Chongba Dance

• The thabal chongba is a traditional dance of the Meitei, where boys and girls gathered in an open ground and dance in a circle.
• But these days thabal chongba is performed throughout the month of Lamta.

Property tax in J&K

The Jammu and Kashmir administration notified rules for the levy of property tax in towns and cities of the Union Territory with the declared intention of making urban local bodies self-reliant in development works. It said the tax is levied everywhere except J&K, where urban local bodies remain entirely dependent on government funds. Jammu and Srinagar have municipal corporations. There are 19 municipal councils and 57 municipal committees in the UT.

Who will pay the tax now, and from when?

1. The UT administration has notified rules for the proposed property tax in the exercise of powers under Section 71A of the Jammu and Kashmir Municipal Act, 2000, read with Sections 65(1) and 73(1) of the Act.
2. In October 2020, the Union Home Ministry had authorised the administration to levy the tax.
3. The tax is proposed to be levied on people having property within the territorial jurisdiction of urban local bodies across J&K with effect from 1 April. However, not every property owner will pay.
4. According to the administration, houses with an area smaller than 1,000 sq ft — which make up 40 per cent of the total — will be exempt. Of the remaining houses, almost 80 per cent will pay less than Rs 600 a year — according to the administration, people in Shimla, Ambala, and Dehradun pay 10 times this amount.
5. Also, almost 46,000 of the 1.01 lakh shops in urban areas are smaller than 100 sq ft in area. Eighty per cent of these shops will pay a meagre Rs 600 a year — or Rs 50 per month. The rest will pay up to Rs 700 a year.
6. According to the administration, around 30,000 shops will pay less than Rs 2,000 in annual property tax, and 20,000 of these shops will pay less than Rs 1,500 — which again, is a tenth of what shop owners in Shimla, Ambala, and Dehradun pay.

What is the formula for calculating tax?

1. The property tax will amount to 5 percent of the Taxable Annual Value (TAV) in case of a residential property, and 6 per cent of TAV in case of a non-residential property.
2. The TAV will be decided based on factors like the type of municipality, the land value rate notified by the government, floor, area, usage, age of property, slab, other usage type, and occupancy.

What is the history of urban local bodies in J&K?

1. In the late nineteenth century, the Dogra ruler of the erstwhile princely state established a municipal committee each for the cities of Srinagar and Jammu, to look after their civic affairs under the J&K Municipal Act No. 16 of 1886.
2. The municipal committees were upgraded to municipal councils in 1956. Then, in 2003, the legislature of the erstwhile state passed a law to upgrade them to municipal corporations.
3. Today’s municipal committees and municipal councils were set up as town area committees and notified area committees in the erstwhile state from time to time.
4. The municipal committees of Jammu and Srinagar cities levied octroi on goods entering their areas, while the town and notified areas committees collected dharat.
5. To remove the inconvenience caused to the public by the collection centres at various places, the state government abolished octroi and dharat in the mid-1980s.
6. Even though the GST regime was introduced in 2017, the state government continued to collect the toll tax from goods carriers at Lakhanpur in view of J&K’s special status under Article 370.
7. The practice came to an end in January 2020 following the constitutional changes of 5 August 2019, including the abrogation of Article 370.