Cabinet approves offering of coal by coal companies through a common e-auction window instead of sector specific auctions

Feb 26, 2022 | Business


The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today approved the following:




i.     Offering of all the non-linkage coal by coal companies through one e-auction window of CIL (CIL) / Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL). This e-auction will cater to all the Sectors namely Power Sector and Non Regulated Sector (NRS) including traders and coal would be offered through this auction in place of the present system of sector specific auctions.


ii.     The above will be subject to CIL / SCCL meeting the coal linkage requirements against existing linkages and do not impact the current linkages to power and non-power consumers at contracted prices.


iii.    Coal offered through the single e-auction window shall be transport mode agnostic with default option being through Rail mode. However, coal may be lifted by the consumers through the road mode/other modes depending upon their choice and suitability without paying any additional charges or discount to the coal companies.


iv.     Long term allotment of coal by CIL/SCCL, without affecting the supplies against existing coal linkages, to their own gasification plants shall be allowed at prices as may be decided by the coal company. However, the taxes, duties, royalty etc shall be paid by the coal companies on the notified prices of coal for power sector.




Major impact, including employment generation potential:


Market distortions would be removed and single rate for all the consumers will evolve in the e-auction market. It shall increase operational efficiencies and lead to an increase in domestic coal demand by efficiency in domestic coal market. Besides the discretion presently vested in coal companies of allocating coal to different end use sectors will be eliminated. Further the coal companies shall be able to establish coal gasification plants by availing coal from their own mines. It shall help in developing clean coal technology in the country.




Removal of market distortions through offer of coal under a single e-auction window at the same rate for all the consumers of the economy will attract more consumers towards domestic coal.  Thus, the demand of domestic coal is expected to increase.  CIL also has ambitious coal productions plans for the future with an aim of producing 1 BT (Billion Tonne) coal by 2023-24.  Hence, with better availability of domestic coal with better price stability and predictability, the import of coal is expected to come sown drastically.  This would reduce the dependence on imported coal and would help to make Atmanirbhar Bharat.




This measure would ensure sustainability and development of the coal gasification technology.  Use of clean coal technology like coal gasification would mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of coal usage.




Financial Implications:


Clubbing of the e-auction windows would not involve any additional cost to the coal companies.




Background:


The coal market is segmented and regulated and consequently there are many different market-discovered rates for same grade of coal in each segment of market. Segmentation with rate differentiation results in coal market distortions. By these reforms in the coal market coal of any particular grade may be sold in the market at one rate (one grade, one rate), with default mode of transport being Railways, through a transparent and objective e-auction mechanism. A single e-auction window would enable the coal companies to sell coal through the market discovered price mechanism to all the consumers.   Besides the above, the need of the hour is to move away from the conventional coal use to clean coal technologies. The coal companies are planning to diversify business via coal gasification route. In coal block allocation mechanism, coal gasification is being encouraged through incentives like rebate in the revenue share. Similar incentivization is necessary to help early establishment of this new use of coal and related technologies. The coal companies would have flexibility to supply coal to their coal gasification projects.


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Government approves ‘ New India Literacy Programme, a new scheme of Adult Education for FYs 2022-27”

Feb 17, 2022 | Business


Government approved a new scheme “New India Literacy Programme (नव भारत साक्षरता कार्यक्रम) for the period FYs 2022-2027 to cover all the aspects of Adult Education to align with National Education Policy 2020 and Budget Announcements 2021-22. The National Education Policy 2020 has recommendations for Adult Education and Lifelong Learning.


The Union Budget 2021-22, announcement had been made to enable increased access of resources, online modules covering the entire gamut of adult education will be introduced.


The objectives of the scheme is to impart not only foundational literacy and numeracy but also to cover other components which are necessary for a citizen of 21st century such as  critical life skills (including financial literacy, digital literacy, commercial skills, health care and awareness, child care and education, and family welfare); vocational skills development (with a view towards obtaining local employment); basic education (including preparatory, middle, and secondary stage equivalency); and continuing education (including engaging holistic adult education courses in arts, sciences, technology, culture, sports, and recreation, as well as other topics of interest or use to local learners, such as more advanced material on critical life skills).


The scheme will be implemented through volunteerism through online mode. The training, orientation, workshops of volunteers, may be organized through face-to-face mode. All material and resources shall be provided digitally for easy access to registered volunteers through easily accessible digital modes, viz, TV, radio, cell phone-based free/open-source Apps/portals, etc. 


The scheme will cover non-literates of the age of 15 years and above in all state/UTs in the country. The target for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy for FYs 2022-27 is 5 (five) crore learners @ 1.00 crore per year by using “Online Teaching, Learning and Assessment System (OTLAS)” in collaboration with National Informatics Centre, NCERT and NIOS in which a learner may register him/herself with essential information like name, date of birth, gender, Aadhaar number, mobile number etc.


The estimated total outlay of “New India Literacy Programme” is Rs.1037.90 crore which includes Central share of Rs.700 crore and State share of Rs.337.90 crore respectively for the FYs 2022 -27.


 Salient Features of the scheme


  1. School will be Unit for implementation of the scheme.

  2. Schools to be used for conducting survey of beneficiaries and Voluntary Teachers (VTs).

  3. Different strategies are to be adopted for different age cohorts. Flexibility for States/UTs will be provided to undertake innovative activities.

  4. Foundational Literacy and Numeracy will be imparted through Critical Life Skills to all non-literates in the age group of 15 years and above.

  5. Use of Technologies to impart Adult Education for wider coverage of the scheme.

  6. Performance Grading Index (PGI) for State/UT and district level will show the performance of States and UTs to implement the scheme and achievements on yearly basis by weighing both the physical and financial progress through UDISE portal.

  7. CSR/Philanthropic Support may be received by hosting ICT support, providing volunteer support, opening facilitation centres for learners and for providing IT access to economically weak learners in the form of cell phones, etc

  8. Priority and Saturation in Literacy- The age cohort of 15-35 will be saturated first followed by ages 35 and above. Priority will be given in terms of categories to the Girls and women, SC/ST/OBC/Minorities, Persons with Special Needs (Divyangjans), Marginalized/ Nomadic/ construction workers/ laborers/etc. who can substantially and immediately benefit from adult education. In terms of location/area, the focus shall be on all aspirational districts of NITI Aayog, districts with literacy rates less than the National/State average, districts with female literacy rates less than 60% as per the 2011 Census, Districts/ Blocks with large SC/ST/ Minority population, Educationally Backward Blocks, Left Wing Extremism Affected districts.

  9. Convergence with Ministries and Departments for effective implementation of NILP:  MeitY: Digital Literacy, DFS/MoF: Financial Literacy, MoSDE: Skilling, DoJ/MoLJ: Legal Literacy, MoD: Involvement of  NCC Volunteer and Ex- Servicemen, MoYAS: Involvement of NYKS, NSS, MoRD: NRLM and DDU-GKY, MoC: Involvement of Cooperative Societies, MoHFW: Health and Hygiene Literacy, NDMA/MHA: Disaster Management, MoMA: for implementing among Minorities, DoHE: Continuing Edn, Min of Culture: Libraries, Cultural Literacy, MoPR: For Panchayat support, Rural Libraries, MWCD: Involvement of Anganwadi Workers, and MoTA: Implementing in Tribal areas etc.




  1. NILP as  Janandolan:


  • The three crores students/children of around 7 lakh schools registered under UDISE along with about 50 lakh teachers of Government, Aided and Private schools will participate as volunteer.

  • An estimated 20 lakh students from Teacher Education and Higher Education Institutions will be actively involved as volunteer.

  • Support will be garnered from PRIs, Anganwadi workers, ASHA workers and an estimated 50 lakhs NYSK, NSS and NCC volunteers.

  • There will be involvement of community, participation of philanthropic/CSR organizations through volunteerism and through Vidyanjali portal.

  • States/UTs will promote individual/ family/ village/ district success stories through various platforms.

  • It will utilize all types of media – Electronic, Print, Folk & Inter-personal platforms including social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, TV channels, radio, etc.


  1. Central Portal to be developed by NIC for aggregated data capturing equipped with Mobile App, Online Survey Module, Physical & Financial Modules and   Monitoring Framework, etc.

  2. Assessment of Literacy will be conducted using scientific format to capture the real-life learnings and skills for functional literacy. Assessment on demand will also be made through OTLAS and e-certificate jointly e-signed by NIOS and NLMA will be issued to the learner.

  3. Annual Achievement Survey of Learning Outcomes by samples of 500-1000 randomly selected learners from each state/UT and Outcome-Output Monitoring Framework (OOMF).


Adult Education (प्रौढ़ शिक्षा) is now ‘Education for All’ in the country: As a progressive step, it has also been decided that from now onwards that the term “Education For All” will be used in place of “Adult Education” by the Ministry in view of the fact that the terminology “Adult Education” is not incorporating appropriately all non-literates of 15 years and above age group.


As per Census 2011, the absolute number of non-literates of the country in 15 years and above age group is 25.76 crore (Male 9.08 crore, Female 16.68 crore). In consideration of the progress of persons certified as literates being to the tune of 7.64 crore under the Saakshar Bharat programme implemented during 2009-10 to 2017-18, it is estimated that currently around 18.12 crore adults are still non-literate in India.


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Government approves continuation of Scheme of Assistance to National Sports Federations with an outlay of Rs. 1575 crore

Feb 3, 2022 | Business


Strengthening its support for sports in India, the Union Government has approved continuation of Scheme of Assistance to National Sports Federations (NSFs) with an outlay of Rs. 1575 crore for XV Finance Commission Cycle (2021-22 to 2025-26). The Scheme of Assistance to NSFs is the flagship Central Sector Scheme and the main source of funding for preparation of national teams for all major national and international competitions, including the Olympic Games, Para-Olympics, Asian Games, Para Asian Games, Commonwealth Games (CWG) and other major international tournaments.


Shri Anurag Thakur, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports expressed his heartfelt thanks to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for according approval for continuation of Scheme of Assistance to NSFs. Shri Thakur stated that this will give a big boost to the country’s quest for achieving a place of pride in sporting arena.


The outlay in the cycle will therefore be extended to NSFs to train and field national teams for national and international competitions between 2022 and 2026, prime among them, the Commonwealth and Asian Games of 2022, Olympics and Paralympics 2024 and Asian and Commonwealth Games in 2026.


The financial support extended by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports through this Scheme will be used by NSFs to conduct national coaching camps, procure sports equipment and consumables, provide training of international standards to athletes, conduct data analysis on the performance of athletes, provide sports science support, provide recovery and rehabilitation to athletes with injury, engage foreign coaches and high performance directors, as well as to set up a professional administrative system within the NSFs.


Besides providing support to elite athletes through the NSFs, the scheme also sets out to improve the bench strength of Indian athletes through a strong talent identification and development system so as to achieve sporting excellence and drive India towards becoming a sporting power house.


The support to NSFs through the Scheme has yielded superlative results in the past few years.  India won 7 medals in Tokyo Olympics 2020, in 6 separate disciplines, the highest Olympic medal tally for the country. In Tokyo Paralympics 2020, India won 19 medals, surpassing 12 medals won by the country in all previous Paralympics put together.  India got 66 medals in CWG, 2018, which was the best performance at an overseas CWG, 69 medals in Asian Games 2018, which was India’s highest ever tally at Asian Games, 72 medals in Para Asian Games 2018, which was India’s highest ever tally at Asian Para Games and 13 medals in Youth Olympics Games 2018, which was India’s highest ever tally at Youth Olympic Games.


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Cabinet approves extension of tenure of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis for three years

Jan 20, 2022 | Business


The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, today has approved the extension of the tenure of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) for three years beyond 31.3.2022.


The total implication of the extension for three years would be approximately Rs.43.68 crore.


Impact :


The major beneficiaries would be the Safai Karamcharis and identified manual scavengers in the country since the NCSK for 3 more years beyond 31.3.2022.  The number of Manual Scavengers identified under the MS Act Survey as on 31.12.2021 is 58098.


Details:


          The NCSK was established in the year 1993 as per the provisions of the NCSK Act 1993 initially for the period upto 31.3.1997.  Later the validity of the Act was initially extended upto 31.3.2002 and thereafter upto 29.2.2004.  The NCSK Act ceased to have effect from 29.2.2004.  After that the tenure of the NCSK has been extended as a non-statutory body from time to time through resolutions.  The tenure of the present Commission is upto 31.3.2022.




Background:


          The NCSK has been giving its recommendations to the Government regarding specific programmes for welfare of Safai Karamcharis, study and evaluate the existing welfare programmes for Safai Karamcharis, investigate cases of specific grievances etc.  Also as per the provisions of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, the NCSK has been assigned the work to monitor the implementation of the Act, tender advice for its effective implementation to the Centre and State Governments and enquire into complaints regarding contravention/non-implementation of the provisions of the Act.  Though the Government has taken many steps for the upliftment of the Safai Karamcharis, the deprivation suffered by them in socio-economic and educational terms is still far from being eliminated.  Although manual scavenging has been almost eradicated, sporadic instances do occur.  Hazardous cleaning of sewer/septic tanks continues to be an area of the highest priority for the Government.  Hence, the Government feels that there is a continued need to monitor the various interventions and initiatives of the Government for welfare of Safai Karamcharis and to achieve the goal of complete mechanization of sewer/septic tanks cleaning in the country and rehabilitation of manual scavengers. 


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Cabinet approves infusion of Rs.1,500 crore in Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA)

Jan 20, 2022 | Business


The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today approved the equity infusion of Rs.1500 crore in  Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA).


This equity infusion will help in employment generation of approximately 10200 jobs-year and CO2 equivalent emission reduction of approximately 7.49 Million Tonnes CO2/year.


Additional equity infusion of Rs.1500 crore by Government of India will enable IREDA:




  1. To lend Rs.12000 crore approximately to the RE sector, thus facilitate the debt requirement of RE of additional capacity of approximately 3500-4000 MW.

  2. To enhance its networth which will help it in additional RE financing, thus contributing better to the Government of India targets for RE.

  3. To improve the capital-to-risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) to facilitate its lending and borrowing operations.




IREDA, a mini ratna (Category-1) company under the administrative control of MNRE was set up in 1987 to work as a specialised non-banking finance agency for the Renewable Energy (RE) sector.   IREDA with more than 34 years of techno-commercial expertise, plays a catalytic role in the RE project financing which gives confidence to the FIs/banks to lend in the sector.


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