Not many would have taken a notice of this, but nonetheless this is another big thrust area of the Govt which will produce great results for Bharat over decades to come.

Why this is important?

  1. All of us must know how congested Indian railways and roadways are.
  2. Due to congestion in land transportation routes, the freight charges increases. logistical costs in India are some of the highest among major countries — 18% in India versus 8-10% in China and 10-12% in the European Union.
  3. India has 14500 km of inland waterways. Out of which only 5685 km are navigable by mechanized vessels. That means Inland waterways (Rivers, Canals etc.) provide a good means for transporting goods which can greatly reduce the pressure off the roadways and railways and further industrialize India.
  4. The cost of water transport in India is roughly ₹0.50 per kilometer, as compared to ₹1 by railways and ₹1.5 by roads.
  5. As we can see in below image India has a huge network of rivers which can be used for moving goods and people and also for tourism.
Source: Wikipedia.org

Lets understand what steps Modi Govt has taken in its first and second term for improving waterways of the nation.

  1. The National Waterways Bill, 2015 : Modi Govt passed this bill way back in 2015 to declare 111 National Waterways (NWs) just like National Highways. There were just 5 NWs before 2015. Declaring these river routes as NWs, it will legally enable Central Govt invest money, even attract investments from foreign organizations like World Bank etc.
  2. Investment on NWs: Of 111 waterways, nearly 29 NWs are fully operational and 2 partly operational. Major examples are NW1 (Prayagraj-Haldia stretch of the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly Rivers), NW2 (Sadiya-Dhubri stretch of Brahmaputra River) , NW3 (Kollam-Kozhikode stretch of West Coast Canal and Champakara canal and Udyogmandal canal).
  3. Connecting Waterways in B’desh with those in India: India is also investing in developing waterways in Bangladesh so that goods from and to North East India can easily be communicated to and from mainland India on water (though Bangladesh) instead of Rail or Road.
  4. The Marine Aids To Navigation Bill, 2021: This is a comprehensive act which provides a framework for the development, maintenance, and management of aids to navigation in India and is already approved by Parliament. The Act also repeals earlier laws which are obsolete.
  5. The Inland Vessels Bill, 2021: This act provides an uniform and comprehensive framework for the regulation, registration, insurance of vessels all throughout India and will therefore ensure a seamless navigation through out the nation. The Act also repeals earlier laws which are obsolete.

Many more steps are being taken to improve condition of ports, build multi-modal transport hubs and build new ports, promote ship manufacturing which will move Bharat in direction of becoming a powerhouse.

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