Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Rajeshwar Rao. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Reserve Bank Deputy Governor M. Rajeshwar Rao on Saturday (December 7, 2024) pitched for an enforceable code of conduct for the Committee of Creditors (CoC) under the insolvency resolution process.

While emphasising that the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), which was introduced in 2016, has gained significant traction as a recovery and resolution mechanism, Mr. Rao also said significant improvements are needed with respect to the area of CoC.

CoC has a key role in implementing the corporate insolvency resolution process under the IBC.

At a conference in the national capital, Mr. Rao said there have been instances where the CoC’s performance has been found lacking in several aspects.

“This includes disproportionate prioritisation of individual creditors’ interests over the collective interests of the group, disagreements among the CoC members on approving the resolution plan due to concerns about undervaluation and perceived lack of viability, disagreement over the distribution of the proceeds,” he said.

Even when the resolution plan is agreed upon, Rao said there have been instances of non-participation in the CoC meetings and a lack of effective engagement, coordination or information exchange among the members.

According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor, nominees of financial creditors in CoC are entrusted with responsibilities that far exceed their actual authority.

“It is in the larger interest of the creditors that issues related to the conduct are addressed by the members themselves without waiting for the regulatory prescription…,” he said.

When incentives are not perfectly aligned, deviations from best practices become the norm, he said, adding that “we need an enforceable code of conduct for the CoC”.

“Ideally, IBBI [Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India] should have the powers to enforce norms for the conduct of all the stakeholders under the IBC process,” he said.

Mr. Rao also touched upon the role of insolvency resolution professionals who have a lot of operational responsibilities, and in many instances, he said, the resolution professionals do not enjoy the cooperation of other stakeholders to discharge their duties.

Mentioning incentivising resolution professionals, Rao said compensation should be determined by the market based on commercial considerations.

The RBI Deputy Governor also made various suggestions to further improve the insolvency resolution process, including addressing delaying tactics used by corporate debtors and having a better understanding of the reasons behind defaults.

He emphasised that the real success of a formal insolvency process lies in its role as a deterrent rather than based on its use.

Till March 2024, around 28,000 cases involving an outstanding default amount of ₹10 lakh crore were withdrawn prior to admission, he noted.

IBBI Chairperson Ravi Mital said it will be introducing certain things related to mediation pertaining to the insolvency resolution process.

Discussions are going on to have the mediation process option to help in faster resolution of stressed assets.

Mr. Rao and Mittal were speaking at a conference organised by the IBBI and INSOL India, an independent body that represents practitioners and other associated professionals specialising in the fields of restructuring, insolvency and turnaround.

Arati Kumar-Rao whisks her audience away from the relatively colder climes of Bengaluru to Jaisalmer district in the heart of the scorching Thar desert. “It has been almost two years since there has been any rain,” she explains at a talk titled Marginlands: An Exploration of Indian Landscapes, which was part of the fourth edition of the recently-concluded Green Literature Festival (GLF).

“This is what it looks like, the dunes we are on,” says the Bengaluru-based writer and photographer, displaying photographs of this arid area.

Arati Kumar-Rao
| Photo Credit:
SUDHAKARA JAIN

But the pastoralists who call the desert their home also know the secrets it harbours, including where to find water, even during prolonged droughts. Rao talks about sitting on top of a dune with her friend, Chhattar Singh, a shepherd farmer from that area, watching him unearth water from the belly of a dune.

“It hasn’t rained here for 22 months. How is this dune wet?” she asks before sharing what Singh has told her: there are places in the dunes in the Thar desert where they hold water in their bellies.

It is why the desert is dotted with self-replenishing, pitcher-shaped hand-dug wells or beris, a system suited for, “the youngest and most populated desert of the world.” The Thar, clearly, thrums with life, from pastoralists like Singh, who spend their lives walking their ungulates through the undulating landscape, to many plants and animals like the small but deadly saw-scaled vipers, hunting for food as the sun goes down and the hardworking scarab beetles, moving large balls of dung several times their own body weight to secret chambers deep in the dunes. “If you look around in the desert, it’s hardly deserted,” says Rao. “Our metaphors are so wrong; there are signs of life everywhere.”

‘Life is now proving to be a struggle for many of these people. They have to deal with extreme climate events, laws and policies that are not always friendly to them,’ says Rao.
| Photo Credit:
hadynyah

A drought of ideas

Over hundreds of years, people living in and off this harsh desert landscape have learnt how to not just survive but also thrive here, creating adequate water systems in a land that gets only 4 inches of rain annually, even managing to farm here. But life is now proving to be a struggle for many of these people. They have to deal with extreme climate events, laws and policies that are not always friendly to them, government interventions, or the rapid urbanisation taking over their commons, becoming scapegoats in the ongoing tussle between rapid development and conservation.

“For the Indian government, the Thar is a wasteland…something that has to be better utilised,” says Rao. To “improve” this wasteland, water is piped from the Sutlej down to the Thar. “By the time it reaches, there is hardly any water and what does is putrid…stinking,” says Rao, pointing out that this district, which did not even know what a mosquito was, is now the district with the highest incidence of malaria in Rajasthan.

Harvested rain water

The people who live here refuse to drink this water, using it for cleaning or for their livestock instead, preferring instead to drink rainwater harvested from their wells. “The women just walk a few meters down to their local beris, and that is the time of socialising for them because that’s the only time they get out of the house,” says Rao, who calls herself government-agnostic. She believes that no government in history has been fair to the desert landscape and its people, their interventions often ironically converting perfectly healthy deserts into the wastelands they perceive them to be. This, in turn, forces people who’ve traditionally lived off this land into congested cities since they can no longer sustain themselves on these vastly altered landscapes.

“We live in the age of a mass forgetting of local geographies….do not know how to treat the land anywhere,” she says, pivoting the discussion back to Bengaluru, which oscillates between spells of flooding and water shortage precisely because we have forgotten the city’s topography. “Chhattar Singh says that before a drought caused by a shortage of rainfall comes the drought of ideas. And that is what we’re living through today.”

Symbiotic relationship

The view that the deeply symbiotic relationship between local communities and the landscapes they inhabit means that they should be included in the larger conservation narrative was repeatedly reiterated in this edition of the GLF.

Take, for instance, the opening session titled The Nilgiris in Focus: A Conservationist’s Nightmare, which had conservationists Vasanth Bosco and Dr. Tarsh Thekaekara in conversation with writer Monisha Raman, discuss, among other things, the role played by communities in preserving and restoring ecosystems. Or how many sustainable solutions already exist within communities, as entrepreneur Nagaraja Prakasam states in a session titled India’s Green Transition: Opportunities for Investors and Ventures, where he shared the stage with other entrepreneurs Rajan Mehta, Vishal Pandya and Benedict Paramanand (also the founder of GLF).

Prakasam, the author of Back to Bharat: In Search of a Sustainable Future, believes that while climate change and inequality are big problems, his extensive travels across the country have shown him that solutions are within reach. In his opinion, many existing systems practised by various communities in the country already provide answers to some of these problems, whether it is the regenerative nature of Jhum cultivation or the opportunities and health benefits of traditional backyard poultry farming. “India has solutions. You just have to go find it, promote it, and fund it, of course,” reiterates Paramanand.

(From left) Nina Chandavarkar, Ravi Chellam, Dr. Alister Scott, and Seema Mundoli.
| Photo Credit:
MURALI KUMAR K

The power of language

The close relationship between humans and nature in India was also emphasised by wildlife biologist and conservation scientist Ravi Chellam at an afternoon session titled Rewilding: The Only Hope. “India is a shining example of how coexistence is possible,” says Chellam, who shared the stage with Dr. Alister Scott, the co-director of the Global Rewilding Alliance, Nina Chandavarkar, the founder of Okios Landscape Architects and Seema Mundoli, writer and faculty at Azim Premji University, on this occasion.

“Over the decades, while giving talks outside the country, I found people being amazed that we’ve done such a good job of retaining our wildlife populations,” says Chellam, who believes that the usage of the term “rewilding” could have enormous, potentially harmful implications for how conservation is practised in a country like India. “The official policy paradigm is, there is wildlife, and there are people, and if there are people where wildlife is, they need to be moved out,” he says, pointing out that this is especially true of tiger reserves in India.

Referring to the earlier Nilgiris discussion, where one of the points discussed was how invasive plants are running rampant in the absence of local people who were once integral to the ecosystem in many protected areas, Chellam says that this is a good example of what happens when we blindly adopt “the western model” of conservation in our country. “When you start with the view that people and wildlife are not compatible, the official conservation policy is throwing the people out,” says Chellam, who believes that using the term “rewilding” will only strengthen this argument. “In this era of climate change, what are we talking about? Why do people with the least carbon footprint have to continue paying the cost for conservation as currently mandated by official policy?”

Colonial history

Scott, in his official role as the co-director of the Global Rewilding Alliance, which, according to him, has “223 organisations operating in over 125 countries influencing the rewilding of about 2.5 million sq km of land and about 5 million sq km of ocean,” agrees that a conservation narrative that advocates the removal of people is not the way to go. “Out of those 223 organisations, I would say that exactly zero advocate removing people from landscapes to help nature recover. There is absolutely zero tolerance for that kind of policy among our members,” he says.

In his opinion, this policy stems from “an ugly history, especially in the United States and many countries with a colonial history,” which had a tradition of removing people from the landscapes they inhabited. He brings up the example of Yellowstone, once home to many Native Americans, which was declared a national park in 1872, leading to the expulsion of many tribes from that landscape. “The concept of wilderness was created to create this false idea that an untouched landscape with no humans in it was the only legitimately wild landscape,” he says. “But as we know, throughout history, indigenous peoples have worked with the land and nature in incredibly sustainable ways.”

Retail sales of vehicles across categories in India grew by 11.21% at 32,08,719 units in November, as compared to 28,85,317 units in the same month last year riding on two-wheeler demand, Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations said on Monday (December 9, 2024).

Retail sales of two-wheelers were at 26,15,953 units last month, as compared to 22,58,970 units in November 2023, a growth of 15.8% buoyed by the festive spillover.

On the other hand, passenger vehicle (PV) retail was down 13.72% at 3,21,943 units, as against 3,73,140 units in the year-ago month. The PV segment faced notable headwinds, Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) said in a statement.

“While November was initially expected to build on its prior momentum, particularly due to the marriage season, dealer feedback suggests that this segment underperformed overall expectations,” FADA President, C.S. Vigneshwar said in a statement.

He further said, “although rural markets offered some support, primarily in the two-wheeler category, marriage-related sales remained subdued.” The late occurrence of Deepawali at the end of October also caused a spillover of festive registrations into November, affecting the month’s sales trajectory, Mr. Vigneshwar added.

On PV retail, he said, “dealers cited weak market sentiment, limited product variety and insufficient new launches, compounded by the shift of festive demand into October.” Mr. Vigneshwar further said, “although rural interest was present, it failed to significantly improve sentiment. Inventory levels have reduced by about 10 days, but to remain high at around 65-68 days.” He reiterated FADA’s request to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to further rationalise inventory so that the industry can enter the new year on a healthier footing, reducing the need for additional discounts.

In the commercial vehicles segment, FADA said retail sales were at 81,967 units last month as compared to 87,272 units in November 2023, down 6.08%.

Mr. Vigneshwar said factors such as restricted product choices, older model issues, limited financier support, and the absence of major festivals in November following a strong October impacted CV uptake.

“External elements such as elections, a slowdown in coal and cement industries, and weak market sentiment also weighed heavily on this category,” he added.

FADA said three-wheeler sales in November were at 1,08,337 units, as against 1,03,939 units in the year-ago month, up 4.23%.

On the overall near-term outlook, FADA said, “while the near-term outlook for December is not overwhelmingly strong across segments, it leans towards stability with pockets of potential growth, underlining a sentiment that overall remains cautiously optimistic.” With prospects of a bumper Kharif harvest likely to temper food inflation, the broader macroeconomic environment appears set to improve, potentially aiding consumer sentiment in the months ahead. However, the immediate December outlook derived from dealer feedback is mixed, it added.

In the two-wheeler segment, FADA said, “dealers suggest that while some buyers remain hesitant’ either awaiting new-year models or influenced by subdued post-festive sentiment’ others could be drawn by potential year-end discounts and stable rural demand.” As for the PV category, heavy discounting and improved product availability are expected to help offset weak consumer sentiment and a general year-end lull.

“While some customers are deferring purchases for new-year models, overall interest could pick up due to aggressive offers and end-of-year promotions.

“This sets a tone of cautious optimism, with a moderate chance of improved sales compared to November,” it added.

In the last 2.5 months, the company has alerted close to 252 million unique customers to these suspicious calls. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Monday (December 9, 2024) said its network has flagged a staggering 8 billion spam calls and called out 0.8 billion spam SMSes (text messages) within two-and-a-half months of the launch of its spam-fighting AI-powered solution.

The company informed in a release that leveraging an advanced algorithm, the AI-powered network has successfully identified close to 1 million spammers every day. Notably, 6% of all calls and 2% of all SMSes on the Airtel network have been identified as spam.

Delhi had the dubious distinction of accounting for a maximum number of the spam calls received and originated. In the last 2.5 months, the company has alerted close to 252 million unique customers to these suspicious calls and has observed that there has been a 12% decline in the number of customers answering them.

“Bharti Airtel, India’s first spam-fighting network, has flagged a staggering 8 billion spam calls and 0.8 billion spam SMSes within two and a half months of launching its AI-powered, spam-fighting solution,” the release said.

Airtel observed that a staggering 35% of the spammers have used landline telephones. Customers in Delhi have received the maximum number of spam calls, followed by customers in Andhra Pradesh and Western Uttar Pradesh.

Delhi is also where the maximum number of spam calls have originated, followed by Mumbai and Karnataka. In terms of SMSes, the maximum number have originated in Gujarat, followed by Kolkata and Uttar Pradesh, and the maximum number of customers targeted have been from Mumbai, Chennai and Gujarat.

According to the trends, 76% of all spam calls target male customers. Additionally, distinct differences have been noted in terms of spam call frequency across age demographics. Customers in the 36-60 age bracket have received 48% of all spam calls, while those in the 26-35 age bracket have been the second-most targeted, accounting for 26% of spam calls.

The release said just about 8% of the spam calls have landed in the handsets of senior citizens. The company gave insights into the hourly distribution of spam activity detected. The company said spam calls commence from 9 a.m. onwards and gradually escalate in volume as the day progresses.

The peak of spam activity is observed between noon and 3 p.m., during which the highest concentration of spam calls occurs. Moreover, there is a notable disparity in the frequency of spam calls between weekdays and weekends. “The volume of these calls diminishes by around 40% on Sundays. Specifically, devices in the price range of ₹15,000-₹20,000 are the recipients of approximately 22% of all spam calls,” it said.

By meticulously examining a multitude of parameters, the AI-driven system has been able to identify these unwanted intrusions in real-time with remarkable accuracy. The government has allocated 10-digit numbers with the prefix 160 for service and transactional calls.

“Customers can expect to receive calls from these 160-prefix series assigned to banks, mutual funds, insurance companies, stockbrokers, other financial institutions, corporates, enterprises, Small and Midsize Enterprise (SME), big and small businesses used for making transactional and service calls,” Airtel said.

Further, those customers who have not opted for Do-not-disturb (DND) and have subscribed to receiving promotional calls will continue to receive them from a 10-digit number with the prefix 140.

Image of Adani Group building. File
| Photo Credit: Vijay Soneji

”The Adani Group is planning to invest ₹7.5 lakh crore across sectors in Rajasthan,” a senior company official said on Monday (December 9, 2024).

While speaking at the Rising Rajasthan Summit Adani Ports and Special Economical Zone (SEZ), managing director Karan Adani said, “50% of the total investment will be made within the next five years.”

“Adani Group plans to invest over ₹7.5 lakh crore across various sectors,” he said.

He said that the company plans to build the world’s largest integrated dream energy ecosystem involving 100 gigawatt of renewable energy, 2 million tonnes of Hydrogen and 1.8 gigawatt related to hydro projects.

“These investments will build Rajasthan into an oasis of green jobs,” Mr. Adani said.

The latest order takes the total number of aircraft that Air India has ordered with Airbus over the past two years to 350. File
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Air India on Monday confirmed that it placed an order to purchase 100 more Airbus aircraft, which include 10 widebody A350 and 90 narrowbody A320 Family aircraft. 

Airbus, in its order and delivery report published early October, disclosed that it had booked 235 orders from customers, including 85 from an undisclosed buyer on September 5. This was likely followed by two more orders in October.

These 100 new aircraft are in addition to the firm orders of 470 aircraft that Air India had placed with Airbus and Boeing last year, of which it has taken the delivery of 6 A350s and 35 B737-8s leaving it with 529 deliveries.

The latest order takes the total number of aircraft that Air India has ordered with Airbus over the past two years to 350. Its Airbus order last year of 250 planes included 40 A350 and 210 A320 Family aircraft. The 220 Boeing planes orders in 2023 included 190 737 MAXs, 20 787 Dreamliners and 10 777X jets.

The airline didn’t reveal the delivery timeline for the 100 new planes. It CEO Campbell Wilson recently said that the airline expected slower deliveries in 2025, and would grow its fleet by a third to 400 aircraft till 2027.

Airbus has a backlog of 8,769 aircraft and Boeing had a backlog of 6,259 planes in March. According to an analysis by CAPA based on 2023 delivery rates, the global order backlog was equivalent of 12 years of production.

Donald Trump slammed what he called unfair fees for U.S. ships passing through the Panama Canal. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday (December 21, 2024) slammed what he called unfair fees for U.S. ships passing through the Panama Canal and threatened to demand control of the waterway be returned to Washington.

He also hinted at China’s growing influence around the canal, a worrying trend for American interests as US businesses depend on the channel to move goods between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Also Read | China widens trade highway in South America with new mega port project

“Our Navy and Commerce have been treated in a very unfair and injudicious way. The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous,” he said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

“This complete ‘rip-off’ of our Country will immediately stop.” he added.

The Panama Canal, which was completed by the United States in 1914, was returned to the Central American country under a 1977 deal signed by Democratic president Jimmy Carter.

Panama took full control in 1999.

“It was solely for Panama to manage, not China, or anyone else,” Mr. Trump said. “We would and will NEVER let it fall into the wrong hands!”

He continued that if Panama could not ensure “the secure, efficient and reliable operation” of the channel, “then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question.”

Authorities in Panama did not immediately react to Mr. Trump’s post.

Although he does not officially take office until next month, Mr. Trump has nevertheless been flexing his political influence in the waning days of President Joe Biden’s administration.

The real estate mogul boasted on the campaign trail that as an entrepreneur, he was uniquely positioned to fight for U.S. business interests.

An estimated 5% of global maritime traffic passes through the Panama Canal, which allows ships travelling between Asia and the U.S. East Coast to avoid the long, hazardous route around the southern tip of South America.

The main users of the passage are the United States, China, Japan and South Korea.

The Panama Canal Authority reported in October that the waterway had earned record revenues of nearly $5 billion in the last fiscal year.

Photo used for representation purpose only.

Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce platform, has signed an MoU with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) to support and empower tech start-ups in India.

Aimed at encouraging the growth of innovators and entrepreneurs, the partnership would build on existing efforts under the Flipkart Leap and Ventures initiative with its $100 million fund, said Flipkart in a statement on Monday (December 9, 2024).

Till date, the e-tailer invested in 20 companies in the country and continued to identify startups with high growth potential, it said.

Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Flipkart Group, said, “This MoU reflects our shared goal of empowering startups through strategic support, resource access, and global market connections.’‘

According to the communique, this collaboration will enable access for startups to industry reports, research papers, datasets and other studies published by government authorities for market research and fast-track patent applications filed by startups for timely opportunities.

‘’We are happy to partner with Flipkart to bolster our focus on creating a thriving environment for startups to scale new heights,’‘ commented Sumeet Jarangal, Director DPIIT.

Under the Flipkart Ventures initiative, startups would be offered resources, guidance, and support for different milestones, such as prototype development, infrastructural support, network access and insights for international expansions.

‘’With the continued association and combined synergies, Flipkart was looking at unlocking opportunities for entrepreneurs with its $100 million venture fund to pioneer breakthroughs that shape the future of technology and business in India and beyond, added Mr. Kumar.

The story so far:

The Government is preparing to introduce several significant bills aimed at driving much-needed reforms in the shipping industry. Key among them are the Merchant Shipping Bill, 2024 and the Coastal Shipping Bill, 2024, both of which promise to bring transformative changes to boost the sector.

Why a new bill?

The Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, and the Coasting Vessels Act, 1838, which the new bills aim to repeal, have become outdated and fail to address the contemporary needs of the merchant marine sector. Significant regulatory gaps exist, particularly for vessels operating in the offshore sector which comprise nearly 50% of Indian-flagged vessels. Furthermore, maritime training was liberalised allowing private sector participation, yet there is no legal framework in the existing Act to regulate their activities effectively.

The Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, also restricts seafarers’ welfare provisions to Indian-flagged ships, despite 85% of the 2,80,000 active Indian seafarers working on foreign-flagged vessels. Additionally, the Act lacks enabling provisions for implementing certain international conventions that India has signed or plans to ratify. Crucially, the outdated, license-era provisions of the Act have become a roadblock to modernising maritime administration, which needs to transition from being a mere regulator to a regulator-cum-facilitator, thereby promoting the ‘ease of doing business.’

What are the features of the Merchant Shipping Bill?

The Merchant Shipping Bill introduces significant changes to modernise India’s maritime framework, drawing upon the best practices of leading maritime jurisdictions like the U.K., Norway, and Singapore. Some of the key reform measures include:

i) Ease of registration: the existing law restricts vessel registration to entities with 100% Indian ownership. The new Bill proposes significant reforms to attract foreign investment. It also reduces the ownership threshold for Indian citizens/entities from 100% to 51%, enabling more flexibility. It allows Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs), Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), and Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) to own and register Indian vessels. This is in line with the law of the U.S. where Green card holders are permitted to own American flagships or Singapore law where permanent residents can own ships of their flags. It also permits foreign entities to hold shares in Indian vessels while ensuring majority ownership remains with Indian entities, NRIs, or OCIs.

Additionally, the Bill allows the registration of vessels chartered by Indian entities under the bareboat charter-cum-demise, enabling entrepreneurs to acquire ownership of vessels at the end of the charter period. This provision, particularly beneficial for capital-deficient entrepreneurs, facilitates entry into the shipping industry without upfront investment.

India is the second largest ship recycling centre after Bangladesh, and the ship recycling industry practises the concept of cash purchase of the vessel before it is brought for demolition. Often it becomes difficult for cash buyers to register the vessels for their final voyage, as they no more remain ‘seaworthy’. To address challenges faced by the ship recycling industry, the Bill introduces provisions for temporary registration of vessels destined for demolition. This measure is expected to bolster activities at India’s ship recycling hubs like Alang.

ii) Enlarging the scope of vessels: the existing Act regulates only mechanised ships (engine-fitted vessels) above a certain size, leaving smaller mechanised vessels and all non-mechanised vessels outside its ambit. This regulatory gap has allowed many vessels to operate without adequate oversight. India’s offshore drilling sector gained prominence in 1974 when Sagar Samrat, a merchant vessel designed for exploratory offshore drilling, drilled the first well in Bombay High. Since then, the offshore sector has employed a diverse range of mechanised and non-mechanised vessels, such as accommodation barges, work barges, submersibles, and drones. However, these vessels remain either unregulated or inadequately regulated under the current framework, exposing the sector to operational and safety risks.

The new Bill seeks to address this issue by expanding the definition of ‘vessels’ to uniformly include a wide range of crafts, including submersibles, semi-submersibles, hydrofoils, non-displacement crafts, amphibious crafts, wing-in-ground crafts, pleasure crafts, barges, lighters, Mobile Offshore Drilling Units (MODUs), and Mobile Offshore Units (MOUs), whether mechanised or not. This definition is expected to enhance transparency and ensure comprehensive regulatory oversight in the offshore sector.

Furthermore, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, which exploited gaps in maritime security, underscored the urgent need for stricter regulation of all categories of vessels. By empowering authorities to issue instructions to all types of vessels, the new Bill aims to strengthen coastal security, making India’s coastline safer and more secure.

What about marine pollution?

The Government has recently undertaken several initiatives to minimise pollution from shipping activities. Some of the measures include reducing the sulphur content in marine fuel from 3.5% to less than 0.5%, banning the use of single-use plastics on Indian ships, and launching the online portal ‘Swachh Sagar’ to facilitate the proper disposal of ship-generated waste at Indian ports.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has adopted several conventions aimed at preventing and combating marine pollution, such as the Civil Liability Convention (CLC), the Convention on Limitation of Liability on Maritime Claims (LLMC), the Bunker Convention, the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), and the Wreck Removal Convention. The existing law, however, has either omitted or partially implemented these conventions. The new Bill fully incorporates these international conventions, aligning India’s maritime regulatory framework with global standards. This comprehensive approach reinforces India’s commitment to combating marine pollution and safeguarding the maritime environment for sustainable shipping practices.

What are provisions for seafarers’?

The remarkable growth in the number of Indian seafarers employed on foreign-flagged ships over the last 7-8 years stands out as one of the biggest success stories in Indian merchant shipping. The workforce has grown from 1,16,000 in 2015-16 to 2,85,000 today, with nearly 85% of these seafarers serving on foreign-flagged vessels.

However, the existing Act lacks provisions for the welfare and safety of this vast workforce working on foreign-flagged vesels. The proposed Bill addresses this gap by extending the scope of welfare measures initiated by the Union government to include Indian seafarers working on foreign-flagged ships as well. Furthermore, it seeks to extend the protections and benefits outlined in the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) to all Indian seafarers, ensuring better working conditions, safety standards, and support systems for those contributing to the global maritime industry.

What about maritime training?

Under Entry 25 of List 1 (Union List) of the Constitution, the Union Government is responsible for the education and training of the mercantile marine and the regulation of such education and training provided by States and other agencies. In the past, maritime training was primarily conducted by government-run institutions directly under the administrative control of the maritime regulator, the Director General of Shipping. Consequently, there was no need for a specific legal framework to regulate these institutions.

However, following economic liberalisation, maritime training was opened to the private sector. Today, over 160 maritime training institutes operate across the country, yet their activities are governed solely by rules, government orders, and notifications rather than an enabling legal framework. This regulatory gap has allowed unauthorised institutes to operate without obtaining proper approvals, making it challenging for the maritime administration to take action against offenders.

The proposed Bill seeks to address this significant anomaly by introducing clear legal provisions for regulating maritime training in line with the constitutional mandate. This step is expected to eliminate illegal maritime training institutes and associated fraudulent practices, which often exploit unsuspecting rural youth, while ensuring the delivery of high-quality, standardised maritime education nationwide.

Is there a focus on coastal shipping?

The Government has taken a significant step by distinguishing between the technical regulation of ships and the commercial utilisation of Indian coastal waters, removing provisions related to the latter from the Merchant Shipping Act. These aspects, including licensing, permissions for operations along the Indian coast and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), creation of a coastal plan involving the Union and States, and the integration of inland and coastal shipping, have been incorporated into the proposed Coastal Shipping Bill, 2024. This focused approach aims to foster growth and development of the Indian coastal sector.

The move aligns with the Government’s flagship ‘Sagarmala’ program, which emphasises the promotion of coastal shipping through initiatives like dedicated berths for coastal vessels and enhanced hinterland connectivity for coastal cargo movement. Infrastructure development and a robust regulatory framework must progress simultaneously, making the introduction of the Coastal Shipping Bill both timely and essential.

Maritime development, like any developmental initiative, should remain bipartisan and above party politics. By fostering investment, enhancing safety, combating marine pollution, and supporting seafarers’ welfare, the proposed reforms promise to unlock the true potential of India’s maritime sector.

Amitabh Kumar is Former Director General Shipping, Government of India. Views expressed are personal.

नई द‍िल्‍ली. आपके साथ ऐसा कई बार होता होगा क‍ि कार या बाइक की चाबी कहीं रख दी और जरूरत पड़ने पर वो म‍िलती ही नहीं है. ये मोबाइल के साथ भी होता है. सोफे पर रखे तक‍िए के नीचे मोबाइल छ‍िपा बैठा रहता है और आप उसे पूरे घर में ढूंढ लेते हैं, लेक‍िन वो म‍िल नहीं पाता. ऐसा आपके साथ ही नहीं, हम सभी के साथ होता है. आपकी इस मुश्‍क‍िल का हल न‍िकालने के ल‍िए ज‍ियो ने अपना JioTag Go लॉन्‍च क‍िया है, जो गूगल के फाइंड माय ड‍िवाइस को सपोर्ट करता है. ये आपको आपकी कई चीजें ढूंढने में मदद करेगा.

JioTag Go: क्‍या है फीचर?
JioTag Go को इस तरह से बनाया गया है क‍ि ये आपके सामान, जैसे क‍ि चाबियां, पर्स, सामान और बहुत कुछ को ट्रैक कर सकता है. इसमें ब्लूटूथ v5.3 कनेक्टिविटी है और यह CR2032 बैटरी पर चलता है. आप इसका इस्‍तेमाल 1 साल तक कर सकते हैं.

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ब्लूटूथ रेंज में होने पर यूजर Find My Device ऐप के जर‍िए प्ले साउंड ऑप्‍शन को एक्‍ट‍िव कर सकते हैं, जिससे ट्रैकर बीप की आवाज न‍िकालने लगता है और आप आसानी से अपनी चीज तक पहुंच सकते हैं. अगर ट्रैकर ब्लूटूथ रेंज से बाहर है, तो ऐप Find My Device नेटवर्क का उपयोग करके मैप पर उसका लास्‍ट लोकेशन दिखाता है, साथ ही उस जगह तक पहुंचने के लिए नेविगेशन भी द‍िखाता है.

ये ड‍िवाइस बहुत ही कॉम्पैक्ट है और इसका वजन भी बेहद कम है इसल‍िए इसे साथ लेकर चलना भी आसान है. हालांकि, JioTag Go केवल Android 9 या उसके बाद के वर्जन चलाने वाले Android स्मार्टफ़ोन को ही सपोर्ट करता है. iPhone यूजर्स इसका इस्‍तेमाल नहीं कर सकते.

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आईफोन यूजर्स के लि‍ए कंपनी ने जुलाई में JioTag Air लॉन्‍च क‍िया था, जो Apple के फाइंड माय नेटवर्क के साथ कंपैट‍िबल है और ये iOS 14 और उसके बाद के सभी वर्जन को सपोट करता है. इन दोनों ड‍िवाइस के साथ ज‍ियो, इस मार्केट पर अपनी पकड़ बढ़ा रहा है.

1,499 रुपये की कीमत पर, JioTag Go, Apple के AirTag की तुलना में काफी सस्ता है. भारत में Apple के AirTag की कीमत 3,490 रुपये है.

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