Government set out a road map for reducing India’s crude oil imports by 10% by 2022, 15th edition of Global Mining Summit and International Mining & Machinery Exhibition, WHO World Malaria Report 2020
Government set out a road map for reducing India's crude oil imports by 10% by 2022
- Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel Shri Dharmendra Pradhan has said that India is currently using only 6% of the world’s primary energy and the per capita consumption of energy is still one-third of the global average. But, this is rapidly changing.
- India will drive the growth in global energy demand as its energy consumption is projected to grow at 3 percent per annum up to 2040, faster than all major economies of the world.
- India’s share of total global primary energy demand is set to roughly double to about 11% by 2040, driven by strong economic development.
- India’s energy justice, which rests on five key enablers of energy availability and accessibility to all, energy affordability to the poorest of the poor, energy efficiency, energy sustainability and energy security.
- Apart from achieving the renewable energy target of 450 gigawatts by 2030, India will focus on developing in an integrated manner a gas-based economy, cleaner use of fossil fuels, greater reliance on domestic fuels to drive biofuels, increasing the contribution of electricity, moving into emerging fuels, like hydrogen and promoting digital innovation across all energy systems.
- Our energy agenda is inclusive, market-based and climate-sensitive.
- We have adopted multiple pathways for energy transition.
- India is in the midst of a major transformative shift in its energy sector to end energy poverty in India.
- While doing so, our twin objectives are to enhance availability and affordability of clean fossil fuels and green fuels and to reduce the carbon footprint through a healthy mix of all commercially-viable energy sources.
- The Indian Government is also committed to reducing the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35% from 2005 levels.
- We are consistently taking energy policy initiatives.
- We are developing next generation infrastructure based on five guiding key enablers of energy availability and accessibility to all, energy affordability to the poorest of the poor, efficiency in energy use, energy sustainability to combat climate change as a responsible global citizen, and security for mitigating global uncertainties.
- The Five pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat focus on Economy, Infrastructure, System, Vibrant Demography and Demand.
- The Aatmanirbhar Bharat package and Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Yojana have provided relief to all sections of the society and provided necessary support to all sectors during the Covid-19 pandemic.
- These will enable India to bounce back quickly and start scripting the next chapter of Indian growth story.
- In the midst of coronavirus pandemic, Indians resolve to become self-reliant and Aatmanirbhar Bharat is on the mind of India.
- This dream is turning into a pledge.
- Aatmanirbhar Bharat has become a ‘mantra’ for the 130 crore Indians today.
- Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ is about transforming India from being just a passive market to an active manufacturing hub at the heart of global value chains.
- An Aatmanirbhar Bharat is a strong Bharat with robust manufacturing sector, self-reliant yet globally integrated economy.
- A Self-reliant India will be a Force Multiplier for the global economy.
- The mindset of free India should be ‘vocal for local’.
- We should appreciate our local products, if we don’t do this then our products will not get the opportunity to do better and will not get encouraged.
- Today, Multi-national Companies from across the world are coming to India.
- We have to move forward with the ‘mantra’ of Make in India as well as Make for World.
- Talking about efforts to shift towards a gas-based economy, Shri Pradhan said that it is a vital low carbon pathway enabling the energy transition.
- We have already laid over 16,800 km long gas pipeline network, while an additional 14,700-km gas pipelines are under different stages of construction.
- Largest ever roll-out of city gas distribution networks across India has been undertaken to enable inclusive growth.
- Plans have been chalked out to provide Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) infrastructure in most parts of the country.
- The CNG and PNG infrastructure will be provided in 407 districts.
- PNG connection for household has increased from 25 lakh in 2014 to 63 lakh now and is being further provided to 40 million and similarly CNG connection has increased from 938 in 2014 to 2350 now is being further put up to 10,000 CNG stations.
- After expanding these facilities, 70 per cent of the population will get clean energy.
- We are also making natural gas easily available at doorsteps for users through mobile dispensing.
- Recently, we have laid the foundation stone for the first 50 LNG fueling stations across the golden quadrilateral and major National Highways.
- Our goal is to set up 1000 LNG stations within 3 years.
- An estimated investment of 66 billion US dollars is lined.
- The Minister indicated that despite our various initiatives, including transition to renewables and other alternate energies, India’s oil demand would double and gas demand would triple by 2040.
- To ensure energy security for our economic growth, we are expanding our refining capacity from the current 250 MMTPA to 450 MMTPA.
- This will help India maintain its self-sufficiency in supply of petroleum products.
- We have successfully transitioned to Bharat – VI emission norms since April 2020.
- This initiative is part of our effort in curbing emissions in the road transport sector, which in turn will lead to better air quality for citizens across the country.
- The National Biofuel Policy (NBP), 2018 to promote biofuels in mass scale, with a target of 20% ethanol blending in petrol and 5% of bio-diesel by 2030.
- The Minister informed that the ethanol-blending percentage has risen from 0.67% in 2012-13 to now 6%.
- Twelve 2G Ethanol Bio-Refineries in 11 States are being set up with an overall capacity of 1100 kilo litre per day (KLPD).
- We are also working towards conversion of Used Cooking Oil to Biodiesel in select cities.
- Talking about the roadmap for SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation), Shri Pradhan said that it is an important initiative of government, which targets to setup 5000 compressed biogas plants with a target of 15 MMT per year with an investment potential for US $ 20 billion.
- Indian oil marketing companies are offering to private entrepreneurs assured price and offtake guarantee.
- The SATAT initiative is in line with the goals of AatmaNirbhar Bharat, Swachh Bharat Mission and boosting MSME sector.
- Reserve Bank of India has included CBG projects under Priority Sector that will help in getting loan for setting up CBG plants.
- He informed that a total of 1500 CBG plants are at various stages of execution.
- Talking about increased push to adopt hydrogen fuel mix, he said that last month, we launched the Hydrogen enriched-Compressed Natural Gas (HCNG) plant and dispensing station in Delhi and also rolled out the first set of buses with HCNG.
- Government set out a road map for reducing India’s crude oil imports by 10% by 2022.
- We are in the process of developing new strategies and initiatives to achieve this target.
- Enhancing indigenous oil and gas production is our utmost priority.
- Regarding the several transformational policy reforms undertaken to revitalize the E&P ecosystem and establish a conducive business environment, Shri Pradhan mentioned about the Discovered Small Field Policy, HELP, OALP, Setting up of National Data Repository, Policy to Promote and Incentivize Enhanced Recovery Methods for Oil and Gas, Policy framework for exploration and exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbons and so forth.
- Since long Government has been progressively moving towards marketing and pricing freedom regime of natural gas.
- We have allowed complete pricing and marketing freedom for domestic gas discoveries done after February 2019 and Premium Price for Gas from difficult area (Deep water, Ultra deep and HP-HT) area.
- The Minister said that in the oil & gas sector, we see open spaces for Start –Up in both within the existing domain of oil & gas as well as upcoming areas like Fuel Cells, Solar Energy, Hydrogen, Alternative Sources of Energy, Electric Vehicles, etc.
- Further their is currently about 175 Start Ups are at various stages of incubation under Oil & Gas PSUs with allocated fund of Rs 200 Cr to Selected Start-Ups, which is 62.5 % of pledged fund committed during Start Up Sangam. Incubation and mentoring support to Start-ups is provided through Tie-ups with educational / professional institutions like IITs / IIMs / NITs / established startup hubs.
- Oil & Gas PSUs have further committed ~ Rs 300 Cr for next three years period.Shri Pradhan said that oil and gas companies in India including oil PSUs are investing in developing renewable energy projects by focusing more on green energy investments such as renewables, biofuels and hydrogen going forward.
- India is progressively becoming a favoured destination for investment in Oil and Gas sector including renewables.
- Ensuring ‘Ease of doing business’ is our utmost priority.
- Our continuous focus is on maintaining sanctity of contracts and safeguarding investments.
- We have established dedicated Project Development Cells (PDC) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) cells in all Ministries for handholding and facilitating domestic and foreign investors.
- Adequate measures and safeguards have also been undertaken to address the concerns of businesses and investors arising out of the Covid pandemic.
15th edition of Global Mining Summit and International Mining & Machinery Exhibition
- Union Minister for Coal and Mines Shri Pralhad Joshi said that the Government is coming up with many structural reforms in the mining sector to realise its true potential.
- The proposed structural changes in the mining sector aim to increase participation of the private sector in mineral exploration, redefine the norms of exploration for auction of mineral blocks to ensure a seamless transition from exploration to production.
- They will also redefine the standard of exploration required for auctioning of blocks for prospecting license-cum mining lease and open acreage licensing policy for allocation of mining rights which will give a major boost to the production of minerals in the country.
- March, 2020 was a significant period during which leases of large number of working mines expired and they had to be auctioned immediately.
- The Government took a proactive and biggest industry-friendly step of transferring all statutory clearances to the new lessees by promulgating an ordinance.
- This was a major step to ensure seamless production of raw materials.
- The results of this particular reform have been encouraging and with this ordinance in place, recently Odisha has completed the successful auction of large number of iron ore mines.
- However, some of the successful bidders are trying to evade the process of auctions by delaying the production.
- However, such cases will be dealt seriously and in coordination with the state government, the Ministry is contemplating to bring stringent provisions in the act so that non serious players are terminated and barred from future auctions.
- The Government is fully committed to ensure that the auction of mineral resources of the country is a complete success and it generates revenue and employment for the state governments.
- The mining industry is a core to India’s growth ambition of USD 5 trillion.
- India is endowed with vast natural resources and the industry has contributed in many ways to the country’s economy like direct contribution to the GDP, indirect contribution through development of downstream industries and employment.
- In the view of mining sector’s interlinkages with industrial development, the government has also shifted its priorities in terms of availability of raw material, managing the country’s economy and natural resources.
- It is government’s priority to ensure that the regulatory environment is conducive to ease of doing business with simpler, transparent and time-bound procedures for doing business.
- Elaborating upon the recent mining and coal sector reforms undertaken by the government, Shri Joshi said that apart from generating jobs, reducing dependence on fuel import and stimulating the economic growth, the opening of the coal sector to private players will garner hefty capital investment in the country over next 5-7 years.
- FDI caps in the mining and exploration of metal and non-metal ores have been increased to 100% under the automatic route.
- The Geological Survey of India has almost doubled its exploration activity by implementing about 400 mineral exploration projects on various mineral commodities.
WHO World Malaria Report 2020
- The World Malaria Report (WMR) 2020 released by WHO, which gives the estimated cases for malaria across the world, based on mathematical projections, indicates that India has made considerable progress in reducing its malaria burden.
- India is the only high endemic country which has reported a decline of 17.6% in 2019 as compared to 2018.
- The Annual Parasitic Incidence (API) reduced by 27.6% in 2018 compared to 2017 and by 18.4% in 2019 as compared to 2018.
- India has sustained API less than one since year 2012.
- India has also contributed to the largest drop in cases region-wide, from approximately 20 million to about 6 million.
- The percentage drop in the malaria cases was 71.8% and deaths was 73.9% between 2000 to 2019.
- India achieved a reduction of 83.34% in malaria morbidity and 92% in malaria mortality between the year 2000 (20,31,790 cases, 932 deaths) and 2019 (3,38,494 cases, 77 deaths), thereby achieving Goal 6 of the Millennium Development Goals (50-75% decrease in case incidence between 2000 and 2019).
- Malaria Elimination efforts were initiated in the country in 2015 and were intensified after the launch of National Framework for Malaria Elimination (NFME) in 2016 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
- National Strategic Plan for Malaria Elimination (2017-22) was launched by the Health Ministry in July, 2017 which laid down strategies for the next five years.
- States of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya and Madhya Pradesh disproportionately accounted for nearly 45.47 percent (1,53,909 cases out of India’s 3,38,494 cases) of malaria cases and 70.54 percent (1,10,708 cases out of India’s 1,56,940 cases) of falciparum Malaria cases in 2019.
- 63.64% (49 out of 77) of malaria deaths were also reported from these states.
- Due to the efforts made by the Government of India in provision of microscopes, rapid diagnostics Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs) – about 5 crores have been distributed in 7 North-East States, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha up to 2018-19 and another 2.25 crore LLINs are being supplied/distributed during current financial year to high burden areas leading to reduction in endemicity in these otherwise very high endemic states.
- Additional procurement of 2.52 crore LLINs is initiated.
- Use of LLINs has been accepted by the community at large and has been one of the main contributors to the drastic malaria decline in the country.
- WHO has initiated the High Burden to High Impact (HBHI) initiative in 11 high malaria burden countries, including India. Implementation of “High Burden to High Impact (HBHI)” initiative has been started in four states i.e. West Bengal and Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh in July, 2019.
- A key strategy to reignite progress is the “High burden to high impact” (HBHI) response, catalyzed in 2018 by WHO and the RBM Partnership to End Malaria continued to make impressive gains in India, with 18% reductions in cases and 20% reductions in death respectively, over the last 2 years.
- Malaria has been made notifiable in 31 states/UTs (Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, , Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Pudducherry Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, D&N Haveli and Lakshadweep) and decline has been observed in the hitherto high endemic states.
- Percentage of decline in the year 2019 as compared to 2018 is as follows: Odisha – 40.35%, Meghalaya- 59.10%, Jharkhand – 34.96%, Madhya Pradesh –36.50% and Chhattisgarh –23.20%.
