Economic

Infrastructure - II
GEOGRAPHY

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Economic Infrastructure - II

Important projects of Transportation

Bharatmala Project:

Source : CMHGlobal

 This ambitious project is estimated at Rs.10 trillion, the largest ever outlay for a government road
construction scheme. This will subsume all existing highway projects including the flagship National
Highways Development Project (NHDP) launched in 1998.

 The project will start from Gujarat and Rajasthan, move to Punjab and then cover the entire string of
Himalayan states - Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand - and portions of borders of Uttar
Pradesh and Bihar alongside Terai, and move to West Bengal , Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh right up
to the Indo-Myanmar border in Manipur and Mizoram.

 Special emphasis will be given on providing connectivity to far-flung rural areas including the tribal and
backward areas.

 According to government officials working out the details of the scheme, the total road length to be
developed as expressways under Bharatmala will be around 51,000 km.

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Components of Bharat Mala Project:

 Construction of national highways through coastal/border areas, ports, backward areas, religious and
tourist sites.

 Border and coastal connectivity will cover 7,000 kms of National Highways at an estimated cost of Rs
80,000 Crore.

 Construction, strengthening and widening of approximately 1,500 major bridges and 200 Railway Over
Bridges (ROBs)/Railway Under Bridges (RUBs) on national highways.

 Improvement of the existing National Highways providing better connectivity to district headquarters.

 Improving connectivity to Char Dham i.e. the pilgrimage sites of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri &
Gangotri in Uttarakhand.

 Enhancing freight traffic along the identified 44 economic (freight) corridors, inter-corridors and feeder-
routes for development. The corridors include, among others, Mumbai-Kochi-Kanyakumari, Bengaluru-
Mangaluru, Hyderabad-Panaji and Sambalpur-Ranchi.

 Upgrading roads with dividers, pedestrian ways, underpasses, and installation of signaling and lighting
systems.

 Use of the Border Roads Organization (BRO) services to build roads on rougher terrain.

Sagarmala Project
 The Sagarmala project, under the Ministry of Shipping, seeks to develop a string of ports around India’s
coast.

 The objective of this initiative is to promote “Port-led development” along India’s 7500 km long coastline.

 It aims to develop access to new development regions with intermodal solutions and promotion of the
optimum modal split, enhanced connectivity with the main economic centres and beyond through
expansion of rail, inland water, coastal and road services.

 To implement this, State governments would set up State Sagarmala committees, headed by the chief
minister or the minister in charge of ports.

 At the central level, a Sagarmala Development Company (SDC) will be set up to provide equity support to
assist various special purpose vehicles (SPVs) setup for various projects.

The Sagarmala initiative will address challenges by focusing on three pillars of development, namely:

 Supporting and enabling port-led development through appropriate policy and institutional
interventions and providing for an institutional framework for ensuring inter-agency and ministries/
departments/states’ collaboration for integrated development.
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Source : The Business News

 Port infrastructure enhancement, including modernization and setting up of new ports.

 Efficient evacuation to and from hinterland.

Why is it important?

 India is located along key international trade routes in the Indian Ocean and has a long coastline of over
7,500 km.

 Yet, capacity constraints and lack of modern facilities at Indian ports tremendously elongates the time
taken to ship goods in and out of the country and has held back India’s share in world trade.

 Developing rivers as inland waterways can also help save domestic logistics costs.

 Sagarmala could boost India’s merchandise exports to $110 billion by 2025 and create an estimated 10
million new jobs (four million in direct employment).

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Green Highways (Plantation, Transplantation, Beautification & Maintenance) Policy-

2015
 The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has framed Green Highways (Plantation, Transplantation,
Beautification & Maintenance) Policy-2015 with a vision to develop eco-friendly National Highways with
participation of the community, farmers, NGOs, private sector, institutions, government agencies and
the forest department.

 The highways developed as green corridors not only sustain biodiversity and regenerate natural habitat
but also benefit all stakeholders, from road users to local communities and spur eco-friendly economic
growth and development.

 The objective is to reduce the impacts of air pollution and dust as trees and shrubs along the Highways act
as natural sink for air pollutants and arrest soil erosion at the embankment slopes.

 Plants along highway median strips and along the edges reduce the glare of oncoming vehicles which
sometimes become the cause of accidents.

 The community involvement in tree plantation directly benefits local people by generating employment.
The Panchayats, NGOs and other Self Help Groups (SHGs) will be involved in the process of planting and
maintenance.

 The plant species selected will be region specific depending on local conditions such as rainfall, climate
type of soil etc.

 For example, at some places soil conditions may suit the plantation of Jamun or mango trees while
at other places plants and grasses can be grown to derive biomass. Wherever possible,
transplantation of existing trees will be given preference while widening the roads.

 The policy aims at changing the whole process for the avenue plantation and landscape improvement.

 Earlier, the land needed for these activities was not considered during the Detailed Project report (DPR)
stage. Now the new policy has recommended that the requirement of land for tree plantation should be
included in the Land Acquisition Plans prepared by the DPR consultants.

 This move will help in pre-planning of the plantation activities and the space required for the same, so
that there is a systematic plan before the construction of National Highways. One percent of the civil cost
of the road projects will be for developing green corridors.

 To ensure accountability a monitoring agency will conduct a performance audit of executing agencies for
various projects on an annual basis and award new contracts to the agencies based on their past
performance.

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Indian Expressways
 These are six or eight lane highways with controlled access. Such roads have a 7m-wide divider.

 These high intensity highways have separate tunnels for traffic in each direction.

 Complete fencing is done to avoid humans and animals crossing the expressway. No two-wheelers, three
-wheelers or tractor vehicles allowed.

 Provision of petrol pumps, motels, workshops, toilets, emergency phones, first aid and breakdown vans
are made for emergencies.

 Riparian green belts are also developed along with the Expressways.To implement this, State
governments would set up State Sagarmala committees, headed by the chief minister or the minister in
charge of ports.

Source : TimesofIndia

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A few of the major expressways include

Expressway Name Distance State

Ahmedabad Vadodara 95 km Gujarat

Mumbai-Pune 93 km Maharashtra

Jaipur-Kishangarh 90 km Rajasthan

Allahabad Bypass 86 km Uttar Pradesh

Nature of projects involved in development of transport infrastructure

BOT (Build – Operate - Transfer)
 BOT finds extensive application in the infrastructure projects in public–private partnership.

 In the BOT framework a third party, for example the public administration, delegates to a private sector
entity to design and build infrastructure and to operate and maintain these facilities for a certain period.

 During this period the private party has the responsibility to raise the finance for the project and is entitled
to retain all revenues generated by the project and is the owner of the regarded facility.

 The facility will be then transferred to the public administration at the end of the concession agreement,
without any remuneration of the private entity involved.

 Some or even all of the following different parties could be involved in any BOT project:

 The host government

 The concessionaire

 Lending banks

 National or regional development banks

 Parties to the project contracts

Advantages of BOT

 Encourage private investment.

 Inject new foreign capital to the country.

 Transfer of technology and know-how.

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 Completing project within time frame and planned budget.

 Providing additional financial sources for other priority projects.

 Releasing the burden on the public budget for infrastructure development.

The other models on similar lines are:

 BOOT (build–own–operate–transfer)

 BOO (build–own–operate)

 BLT (build–lease–transfer)

 DBFO (design–build–finance–operate)

 DBOT (design–build–operate–transfer)

 DCMF (design–construct–manage–finance)

Government Initiatives to address Urban Transport issues:

 Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission JNNURM, 2005:
JNNURM was launched in 2005 and closed in 2014 (now succeeded by Atal AMRUT Mission). It attempted
to improve the public transport system in larger cities through funding of public transport buses,
development of comprehensive city mobility plans and supporting city transport infrastructure projects.

 National Urban Transport Policy, 2006:

The policy envisages safe, affordable, quick, comfortable, reliable and sustainable urban transport through
establishment of quality focused multi-modal public transport systems.

 Green Urban Transport Scheme, 2016:

The scheme aims to improve non-motorised transport infrastructure such as dedicated lanes for cycling,
pedestrians, increasing access to public transport, use of clean technologies and adoption of intelligent
transport systems (ITS).

 Mass Rapid Transit/ Transport Systems (MRTS):

The metro rail has come up as a favoured alternative of mass transport in Indian cities. In 2017, the
government introduced a new Metro Policy which aims to improve collaborations, standardising norms,
financing and creating a procurement mechanism so that the projects can be implemented effectively.

 Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS):

BRTS segregates the movement of buses from all other transport modes, and introduces other changes in
the road infrastructure that are associated with safety. BRTS is an important component of the AMRUT
(Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) programme.

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 National Transit Oriented Development Policy, 2017:

The policy framework aims to promote living close to mass urban transit corridors like the Metros,
monorail and bus rapid transit (BRT) corridors.

 Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP):

This project is in partnership with the Ministry of Urban Development and UNDP, and aims to promote
environmentally sustainable urban transport in India.

 Personal Rapid Transit System (PRT):

It is a transport mode combining small automated vehicles, known as pods, operating on a network of
specially built guideways. In 2017, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) had called the
expression of interest (EOI) for launching India’s first driverless pod taxi systems on a 70 km stretch from
Dhaula Kuan in Delhi to Manesar in Haryana.

 National Public Bicycle Scheme (NPBS):

In 2011, NPBS was launched to build capacity for the implementation and operation of cycle sharing
systems across the country. The first public bicycle sharing (PBS) initiative — Trin Trin was launched in
Mysuru.

 Promotion of Electric Vehicles:

The Indian Government plans to have an all-electric fleet of vehicles by 2030. For promotion of electric
vehicles FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of hybrid & Electric vehicles). Under FAME, the Centre
subsidizes the cost of electric buses and has sanctioned 390 buses in 11 cities (as of April 2018).

Some Current Initiatives in Roadways:

FASTag:

 The FASTag is a reloadable tag that allows automatic deduction of toll without having to stop for
carrying out the cash transaction. The tag uses radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and
is fixed on the windscreen of the vehicle once active.

 The tag is valid for five years and comes in seven different colours — violet, orange, yellow, green,
pink, blue, black. Each colour is assigned to a particular category of vehicles.

 It was rolled out in April 2016, and the Government made it mandatory from December 1, 2017 for
all new cars and trucks to be fitted with a FASTag before they were sold.

 To encourage the use of FASTags, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) refunds 5% of the
total monthly transactions.

 Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL) (a company incorporated by National

Highways Authority of India) and National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) are implementing
this program.

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 FASTag is presently operating at both national and state highways.

Benefits:

 Ease of payment – No need to carry cash for the toll transactions, saves time.

 Near non-stop movement of vehicles leading to lower fuel cost.

 It has the environmental benefit of reduced air pollution, reduced use of paper.

 It also envisages the social benefit of reduced toll payment hassles, analytics for better highway
management.

 The most important economic benefit of this is the reduced effort in management at toll plaza,
reduced effort in monitoring centrally.

NATRIP

 The National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRIP) will be under the
Department of Heavy Industry (with representatives from the automobile sector)

 It aims to set up testing, validation, and R&D infrastructure across seven locations in India.

SARDP-NE

 The Special Accelerated Road Development Program for the North Eastern Region has been rolled
out for improving road connectivity between State Capitals and District HQs in the North-Eastern
Region.

Railways
 Railways are an efficient form of transportation. The railways generate less pollution and involve fewer
accidents.

 Indian railway system is the main artery of the country’s inland transport, catering to its needs for large
scale movement of traffic, both freight, and passenger, thereby contributing to economic growth and also
promoting national integration.

 The first rail in India was started in 1853 between Bombay and Thane over a distance of 34 km. But the
real progress started after 1857 only.

 In 1900, the total length of railway network was nearly 40,000 km. At the time of partition, Indian railways
were run by 37 companies. The total length of the railway network at that time was 65,900 m out of which
54,700 km remained in India.

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 The total route-length of India railway is 63,273 km on which 47,375 trains ran covering 7,025 stations.

 At present, the Indian railway network is the biggest in Asia and the fourth largest in the world.

 Indian railways entered the Metro Age during 1984-85.

 The Railways have also introduced fast goods trains to carry priority goods quickly to their destinations.

 Container service has been introduced to provide door to door service which the trucks had been doing
so far. The container services reduce transport and delivery time. They ensure greater security of goods
and freedom from pilferage.

Gauges of Indian Railways

Indian railways comprise three gauges:

 Broad Gauge: This gauge has a 1.675 metres distance between the two lines. More than 55% (34,880
km) length of Indian railways is broad gauge.

 Metre Gauge: The distance between two rails is one metre. About 38% (23, 419 km) of Indian railways is
metre gauge.

 Narrow Gauge: This is of two types. One is 0.762 metre and the other is 0.610 metre broad. It is confined
to hilly areas only. Nearly 7% (4,068 km) of the Indian railways is narrow gauge.

Distribution of Indian Railways:

North Indian Plain:

 This region has a very dense network of railways from Amritsar to Howrah.

 This is a plain area which is very much suitable for the construction of railways.

 This densely populated region has highly developed agriculture and industry. Large scale urbanization has
also helped in the development of the railways.

 The density of the railway network is closely related to agricultural and industrial development.

 There are a few focal points such as Delhi, Kanpur, Mughal Sarai, Lucknow, Agra and Patna. However, Delhi
is the main point from where railway lines radiate in all directions.

 For political, administrative and economic reasons, Delhi is connected with major ports like Mumbai,
Kolkata (Howrah) and Chennai through superfast trains.

Peninsular Plateau:

 The whole of Peninsular Plateau has hilly and plateau terrain which hinders the development of railways.

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 The population density is also moderate.

 For such reasons, excepting, Saurashtra and Tamil Nadu, a relatively open and more loose network has
developed here.

 Trunk routes are aligned in such a way that there are efficient connections between Mumbai - Chennai,
Chennai-Cochin, Chennai-Delhi and Chennai-Hyderabad.

Source : MapsofIndia

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Himalayan Region:

 Railways are practically absent in the Himalayan region.

 The rugged terrain, hill and valley topography, backward economy and sparse population are the factors in
this region.

 The only railway lines are narrow-gauges.

 Some of the important rail links are Kalka-Shimla, Pathankot-Kangra and Siliguri-Darjeeling.

 There is practically no railway line in the north-eastern states of Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh,
Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland. These areas have rough terrain covered with thick forests.

 The population is sparse and the economy is in a backward state. Construction of railways under these
conditions is a difficult and costly affair.

Coastal Plains:

 There is a distinct contrast in the rail network between eastern coastal plains and western coastal plains.

 There exists a long trunk route all along the east coast but such a rail track is missing along the western
coast from Mumbai to Cochin.

 The outcrops of the Western Ghats being very close to the coast, restrict the wider and the Ghats life away
from the coast.

Railway Zones
S. No. Zone Headquarters

1 Central Railway Mumbai

2 Eastern Railway Kolkata

3 Northern Railway Delhi

4 North-East Railway Gorakhpur

5 North East Frontier Malegaon

6 Southern Railway Chennai

7 South Central Railway Secunderabad

8 South East Railway Kolkata

9 Western Railway Mumbai (Church Gate)

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S. No. Zone Headquarters

10 East Coast Railway Bhubaneswar

11 East Central Railway Hajipur

12 North Central Railway Allahabad

13 North Western Railway Jaipur

14 South Western Railway Hubli

15 West Central Railway Jabalpur

16 South-East Central Railway Bisapur

Developments On Dedicated Freight Corridor Project

 The Dedicated Freight Corridor project under the nodal authority Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation
India Limited (DFCCIL) will connect a land mass over 3300 kilometers in the country and could prove to
be a backbone of India’s economic transport facility.

 The Western corridor from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust near Mumbai will be
1499 kilometers.

 The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor from Ludhiana to Dankuni will be 1839 kilometer long.

Green Initiatives
 In a significant move towards a clean environment in platforms and railway tracks, Indian Railways has
inducted bio-toilets (green toilets) designed jointly by the Indian Railways and DRDO on certain trains.

 These bio-toilets are well suited to the unique requirement of Indian Railways passenger coaches.

 Eight trains are presently running with approximately 500 bio-toilets and the results are very encouraging.
It is now planned that 2500 bio-toilets will be inducted soon.

 Railway Energy Management Company (REMC) to harness potential of solar and wind energy by setting up
75 MW windmill plants and energizing 1000 level crossings with solar power;

 New generation energy efficient electric locomotives and electrical multiple units (EMUs) saving about 60
crore units are to be put in place.

 More usage of agro-based and recycled paper and ban use of plastic in catering.

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UNESCO World heritage:

 Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) - designed by British architect F. W. Stevens,
Gothic style.

 Darjeeling Himalayan Railway also known as the Toy Train - built by Franklin Prestage.

 Nilgiri Mountain Railway is the only rack railway in India - built by the British.

 Kalka-Shimla Railway built under the direction of Herbert Septimus Harington.

Bullet trains
 Railways is doing pre-feasibility studies for running high-speed trains (popularly referred to as bullet trains)
at speeds above 350 kmph.

 Initially, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor has been taken up for which the pre-feasibility study has been
completed.

 A study is also being done on the Delhi-Mumbai route for raising the speed of passenger trains from 160
kmph to 200 kmph, i.e. for running semi-high speed trains. These corridors will be set up through the PPP
route.

SPART

 Self Propelled Accident Relief Trains (SPART)

 Railways aims to put SPART trains in all divisions soon.

IT in Indian Railways:
 Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS), Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs), Coin-operated Ticket
Vending Machines (CO-TVMs).

 Use of Aadhaar/UID for booking of tickets, validation of genuine passengers with GPS enabled handheld
gadgets in trains.

 E-ticketing has been made possible through mobile phones. SMS alerts to passengers are providing
updates on reservation status.

 Covering a larger number of trains under Real Time Information System (RTIS), whereby rail-users will be
able to access information through nominated websites and mobile phones.

Rail Avtaran
The Ministry of Railways has proposed to transform Indian Railways through 7 Mission Mode activities –
Avataran.

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1. Mission 25 Tonne:

 Aims to increase revenue by augmenting carrying capacity.

 To achieve this 10-20% freight loading will be done through 25-tonne axle-load wagons in 2016-17 and
target movement of 70% of freight traffic on high axle load wagons by FY19-20.

2. Mission Zero Accident:

It comprises of 2 sub-missions:

 Elimination of unmanned level crossings: The goal is to eliminate all unmanned level crossings on Broad
Gauge in the next 3-4 years through innovative financing mechanisms.It will reduce deaths due to
accidents and improve throughput of the network.

 TCAS (Train Collision Avoidance System): An indigenous technology has been developed to equip 100%
of the High Density Network with TCAS in the next 3 years. This will prevent head on collisions and
improve throughput by increasing average sectional speeds.

3. Mission PACE (Procurement and Consumption Efficiency):

 Aims to improve our procurement and consumption practices to improve the quality of goods and
services.

 It will introduce a culture of optimum usage by adopting practices such as Vendor Managed Inventory,
direct procurement of High Speed Diesel (HSD), and new procedures for identification and disposal of
scrap.

 Comprehensive review of procurement and consumption of HSD will lead to saving more than Rs 1,500
crore in 2016-17.

4. Mission Raftaar:

 It targets doubling of average speeds of freight trains and increasing the average speed of superfast mail/
express trains by 25 kmph in the next 5 years.

 Loco hauled passenger trains will be replaced by Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) trains over the next
five years.

 It will complement Mission 25 Tonne to increase throughput of the railway system.

5. Mission 100:

 This mission will commission at least a 100 sidings in the next 2 years.

 The current siding/ Private Freight Terminal (PFT) policy would be revised to elicit greater private
participation.

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 An online portal will be operated for accepting and processing all new applications, along with
decentralization of powers.

6. Mission beyond Book-keeping:

 It will establish an accounting system where outcomes can be tracked to inputs.

 This will transform Indian Railways as right accounting would determine right costing and hence right
pricing and right outcomes.

7. Mission Capacity Utilisation:

 It proposes to prepare a blueprint for making full use of the huge new capacity that will be created
through 2 Dedicated Freight Corridors between Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata.

Water Transport
One of the great advantages of water transportation is that it does not require route construction. The oceans
are linked with each other and are negotiable with ships of various sizes. All that is needed is to provide port
facilities at the two ends. It is much cheaper because the friction of water is far less than that of land. The
energy cost of water transportation is lower.

Water transport is divided into sea routes and inland waterways.

Shipping
 India has the largest merchant shipping fleet among the developing countries, and ranks 20th in the world
in shipping tonnage.

 The only government shipping company, namely the Shipping Corporation of India, is one of the biggest
shipping lines in the world, and has a merchant fleet of around 79 vessels . The tonnage of SCI accounts for
about 31 per cent of the total Indian tonnage.

 There are four major and four medium sized shipyards in India. There are another 32 small shipyards in the
private sector which caters to domestic requirements for small crafts.

 Of the major ones Hindustan Shipyard Ltd., Visakhapatnam and Cochin Shipyard Ltd., are under the control
of the Ministry of Surface Transport. The other ones namely, Mazagon Dock Ltd., Mumbai and Garden
Reach Ship-builders & Engineers, Kolkata are under the Department of Defence Production, Ministry of
Defence.

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 The Hindustan Shipyard established in the mid-forties originally by Scindia Steam Navigation Company and
taken over by the Central Government in 1961, has built 91 ships since 1947. 100% FDI is allowed in the
shipping sector.

 India’s coastline: 7517 km

 9 Maritime states (5 in Western coast and 4 in Eastern Coast)

 13 major ports (guided by Central Government) and 200 non-major (minor) ports (guided by
respective State governments)

National Automatic Identification System (AIS)

 To provide information about the ship to other ships and to the navy and the coast guard automatically.

 This information includes the ship’s identity, type, position, course, speed, navigational status to prevent
collision, helps in search and rescue operations and coastal surveillance.

 A Swedish defense company “Saab fitted systems on Indian lighthouses for AIS tracking.

 Data will be used by the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL), the Navy, Coast Guard
and DG Shipping.

Transchart
 It is the centralized ship chartering wing of the shipping ministry.

 To make shipping arrangements for government controlled cargoes

Vallarpadam
 India’s first dedicated international container transshipment terminal setup here.

 This project reduces our dependence on foreign ports for transshipment of India’s export-import
containers.

Adam’s Bridge / Ram Sethu

 The Indian and the Sri Lankan coastline are presently separated by a shallow sea called Sethu Samudram
which comprises the Gulf of Mannar, Palk bay and Adam's Bridge, also known as Ram Sethu.

 The Adam's Bridge is a discontinuous series of limestone shoals across the Palk Strait. The presence of
these shoals makes it impossible for ships and boats to cross the strait.

 As a result the ships have to navigate around Sri Lanka travelling an extra 700 kilometres and 30 hours.
This extra travel raises costs and delays the transportation between the eastern and western coastlines of
India.
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 The circumnavigation around Sri Lanka also has strategic ramifications as it inhibits seamless movement of
the Indian Navy along the Indian shoreline.

Source : Times of India

 Due to these reasons there is a proposal to dredge a canal across the shallow waters to create an artificial
passage for the ships. But the proposal is being opposed on several grounds.

 On environmental grounds the dredging activity will harm the bio-diverse region of Gulf of Mannar marine
biosphere reserve.

 On the social front, there is concern for loss of livelihood of fishermen in the region if the area becomes a
major shipping route.

 Due to these considerations there have been delays but the dominant view of all successive governments
has been to go ahead with the project due to its economic and strategic ramifications and hence detailed
studies on the project are going on.

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Ports
 Ports are a crucial part of the transportation infrastructure of the country. Transportation by ship is highly
energy efficient and can be increasingly used for intra-India traffic, and for international trade.

 Inland water transport today accounts for only 0.15 percent of domestic transportation, and there are
opportunities for considerable growth. Intra-India shipping on the coastline and along rivers can become
important alternatives in the Indian transportation scenario.

 At an administrative level, ports are divided into:

 Major ports (where the central government plays policy and regulatory functions)

 Minor ports (which are guided by state governments)

 As of today, the 13 major ports handle about 80 percent of the traffic. They are Chennai, Cochin, Ennore,
Jawaharlal Nehru, Kandla, Kolkata, Marmagao, Mumbai, New Mangalore, Paradip, Tuticorin,
Visakhapatnam and Port Blair.

 There are 187 minor and intermediate ports, 43 of which handle cargo.

 The minor ports are located in Gujarat(40), Maharashtra (53), Goa (5), Daman & Diu (2), Karnataka (9),
Kerala (13), Lakshadweep (10), Tamil Nadu (14), Pondicherry (1), Andhra Pradesh (12), Orissa (2), West
Bengal (1) and Andaman & Nicobar (23). Minor ports constitute an important competitive alternative to
the centrally regulated ‘major ports’.

West East

Port State Port State

JNPT Maharashtra Haldia/Kolkata West Bengal

Mumbai Maharashtra Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh

Kandla Gujarat Paradeep Odisha

Mormugao Goa Chennai Tamil Nadu

New Mangalore Karnataka Tuticorin Tamil Nadu

Cochin Kerala Ennore Tamil Nadu

Port Blair Andaman & Nicobar

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Source : MapsofIndia

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Deendayal (esrtwhile Kandla):

 In Kachchh, Kandla was the first port developed soon after Independence to ease the increased pressure
on Mumbai port in the wake of loss of Karachi to Pakistan.

 In order to cater to the north western part of the country namely Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu and
Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, Kandla was developed as a major port.

 Kandla is a tidal port.

 A free trade zone has also been developed to accelerate its growth.

 It handles crude oil, petroleum products, fertilizers, food grains, salt, cotton, cement, sugar and edible oils.

Mumbai:

 Mumbai is the biggest port with a very spacious natural well-sheltered harbor.

 It handles between a quarter and fifth of the country’s foreign trade in petroleum and petroleum products,
machinery and other dry cargo.

Jawaharlal Nehru Pattan (Nhava Sheva Port):

 This is India’s first hi-tech, completely computerized and automated multi-faceted port.

 Nhava Sheva port handles import of dry cargo and export and import of container cargo.

 Located over 5,000 acre port area, it faces the famous Elephanta islands and is only a few kilometers from
the main Mumbai port.

 Nhava Sheva will not only give relief to Mumbai city by diverting the growth in sea cargo traffic outside the
city limits, but would make it possible to handle efficiently large, modern and specialized vessels.

Mormugao:

 Mormugao in Goa is another important major port ranking fourth in terms of total volume of trade.

 Iron ore is exported from this port in a very large measure.

New Mangalore:

 Located on the shores of Karnataka, New Mangalore is yet another addition to the list of major ports.

 It caters to the export of Kudremukh iron ore and iron concentrates.

 It also handles fertilizers, edible oils, and polished granite stone.

Cochin:

 Cochin is the sixth major port on the western coast.

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 It is located at the entrance of Vembanad lagoon and is a natural harbor.

 It handles petroleum products, fertilizers, raw materials and other general cargo.

Tuticorin:

 Tuticorin is a new major port in Tamil Nadu located at the south-eastern extremity of the country.

 It handles a variety of cargo including coal, salt, edible oils, chemicals etc.

Chennai:

 Chennai is one of the oldest ports on the east coast. But it is an artificial port.

 It handles general cargo and ranks next only to Mumbai.

 The trade of this port comprises petroleum products, crude oil, fertilizers, iron ore and dry cargo.

Visakhapatnam:

 Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh is the deepest land located and protected port.

 An outer harbor has been developed for exporting iron ore and petroleum products.

 It also handles mineral cargo.

Paradeep:

 Paradeep in Orissa is a newly developed port and specializes in exporting iron ore.

 It also handles coal and other dry cargo.

Kolkata:

 Kolkata is an inland riverine port, some eighty miles away from the sea.

 It serves a very large and rich hinterland of Ganga-Brahmaputra basin.

 It is a tidal port and needs constant dredging of Hooghly river.

 For maintaining a minimum level of water in the river to ensure its navigability, water is supplied from
Farakka Barrage on the Ganga.

Haldia:

 In order to relieve the growing pressure on Kolkata port, a new major port has been developed
downstream at Haldia.

 It supplements the facilities available at Kolkata. Haldia handles mineral oil, petroleum products, fertilizers
and other dry cargo.

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Ennore:

 Ennore has been constructed 25 km north of Chennai to ease the burden on Chennai port.

 It is India’s first corporatised port with the private sector having 35% stake.

Inland Waterways
 Waterways provide only one-tenth of the total navigable ports of India.

 The total length of navigable waterways in India is 14,5000 km out of which only 5,200 km is navigable by
mechanized boats. Only 1,700 km is actually used.

 We also have a network of about 4,300 km of canals, of which a stretch of 475 km is navigable by
mechanized crafts but only 33.5 km is actually utilized.

 It shows that the inland waterways are greatly underutilized.

Important Inland Waterways

 Ganga: It is the most important inland waterway in India. It is navigable by mechanized boats up to
Patna and by ordinary boats up to Haridwar. It has been declared as National Waterway No. 1. The entire
route has been divided into three parts for development purposes. These parts are Haldia-Farakka (560
km), Farakka-Patna (460- km and Patna-Allahabad (600 km).

 The National Waterways (Allahabad-Haldia stretch of Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly River system) Act, 1982
has the provision that the regulation and development of this waterway is the responsibility of the Central
Government.

 Brahmaputra: It is also navigable by steamers upto Dibrugarh for a distance of 1,384 km out of which
only 736 km lies India and the rest is in Bangladesh.

 Rivers of south India: They are seasonal and are not much suited for navigation. However, the deltaic
areas of Godavari, Krishna and Mahanadi, lower reaches Narmada and Tapi, backwaters of Kera, Mandovi
and Zuari rivers of Goa serve as waterways. Godavari is navigable upto a distance of 300 km from its
mouth. Krishna is used as a waterway upto 60 km from the mouth.

 There are some navigable canals which serve as inland waterways. Buckingham canal in Andhra Pradesh
and Tamil Nadu is one such canal which provides water transport for a distance of 413 km. The other
navigable canals are Cumberjua, Kuranool, Cuddapah and Midanpur.

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National waterways

Source : Ganga Today

 National Waterway 1 - Allahabad - Haldia stretch of the Ganga - Bhagirathi - Hooghly river system with a
total length of 1,620 kilometres (1,010 mi) in October 1986.

 National Waterway 2 - Sadiya - Dhubri stretch of the Brahmaputra river system with a total length of 891
kilometres (554 mi) in 1988.

 National Waterway 3 - Kollam - Kottapuram stretch of the West Coast canal along with Champakara and
Udyogamandal canals, with a total length of 205 kilometres (127 mi) in 1993.

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 National Waterway 4 - Bhadrachalam - Rajahmundry and Wazirabad - Vijayawada stretch of the Krishna -
Godavari river system along with the Kakinada - Puducherry canal network, with a total length of 1,095 km
(680 mi) in 2007.

 National Waterway 5 - Mangal Ghadi - Paradeep and Talcher - Dhamra stretch of the Mahanadi -
Brahmani river system along with the East Coast canal, with a total length of 623 km (387 mi) in 2008.

 National Waterways 6 is an upcoming waterway between Lakhipur and Bhanga of the Barak River
leading to improved connectivity and transportation of cargo in the north eastern region. It will also
provide an alternative connectivity to these states which are presently dependent on rail/road connectivity
through the chicken’s neck at Siliguri.

Factors affecting Inland Waterways

 The rivers and canals should have regular flow of sufficient water.

 The presence of water falls, cataracts and sharp bends in the course of the river hinders the development
of waterways.

 Silting of the river bed reduces the depth of water and creates problems for navigation. Desilting of river
beds is a costly affair.

 Diversion of water for irrigation purposes reduces the quantity of water and should be done carefully.

 There should be sufficient demand for waterways to make it an economically viable mode of
transportation.

Inland Waterways Authority of India

 The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) came into existence on 27th October 1986 for
development and regulation of inland waterways for shipping and navigation. The Authority primarily
undertakes projects for development and maintenance of infrastructure on national waterways through
grants received from the Ministry of Shipping.

Challenges of the Indian Waterways

 Large parts of Indian Waterways have inadequate Least Assured Depth (LAD) for commercial movement of
cargo. (At least 2.5 m, preferably 3.0 m LAD is necessary for round-the-year navigation.)

 Several rivers meander resulting in increase in distance to be travelled on waterways as compared to road
and rail. Then it becomes uneconomical to transport cargo via river.

 On many rivers, there are bridges with low vertical clearance which impede passage of bigger vessels on
the waterways such as NW-3. These bridges need to be raised to at least 5m.

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 ‘Water tourism’ which has the potential to generate considerable income for the local economies and
additional income from tourism is still at a nascent stage. For example, in Kerala, over 2000 people are
employed in houseboats and other motorboats that cruise the inland waterways filled with tourists.

National Waterway Policy, 2016

 The National Water Policy identifies additional 101 waterways as national waterways. The Schedule of the
Policy also specifies the extent of development to be undertaken on each waterway.

 The Policy repeals the five Acts that declare the existing national waterways. These five national
waterways are now covered under the Policy.

 The Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Policy states that while inland waterways are recognized as a
fuel efficient, cost effective and environment friendly mode of transport, it has received lesser
investment as compared to roads and railways.

 Since inland waterways are lagging behind other modes of transport, the central government has evolved
a policy for integrated development of inland waterways.

Airways
Civil Aviation
 Air transport is the fastest means of movement from one place to the other. It has reduced distances by
minimising the travel time.

 It is essential for a vast country like India, where distances are large and the terrain and climatic conditions
are diverse.

 Air transport in India made a beginning in 1911 when airmail operation commenced over a little distance
of 10 km between Allahabad and Naini.

 But the real development took place in the post-independence period.

 The Airport Authority of India is responsible for providing safe, efficient air traffic and aeronautical
communication services in the Indian Air Space. The authority manages 125 airports.

 In 2010, domestic movement involved 520.21 lakh passengers and about 23 lakh metric tonnes of cargo.

 Pawan Hans is the helicopter service operating in hilly areas and is widely used by tourists in north-
eastern sector.

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Pipelines
 Pipelines are used extensively to transport liquids and gases such as water, petroleum and natural gas for
an uninterrupted flow.

 Even solids can also be transported through pipelines after converting them into slurry.

 Water supplied through pipelines is familiar to all.

 Cooking gas or LPG is supplied through pipelines in many parts of the world.

 Pipelines can also be used to transport liquefied coal.

 Transportation by pipelines is a new development in India.

Source : Maps of India

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1. Naharkatia-Nunmati-Barauni Pipeline:

 This was the first pipeline constructed in India to bring crude oil from Naharkatia oil field to Nunmati.

 It was later extended to transport crude oil to the refinery at Barauni in Bihar. It is 1,167 km long. It is now
extended to Kanpur in U.P.

 The pipeline between Naharkatia and Nunmati became operative in 1962 and that between Nunmati and
Barauni in 1964. Construction work on the pipeline from Barauni to Kanpur and Haldia was completed in
1966.

 It has a number of pumping stations and subsidiary pipelines:

I. Noonmati-Siliguri pipeline transports oil from Nunmati (Guwahati) in Assam to Siliguri in West
Bengal.

II. Lakwa-Rudrasagar-Barauni pipeline has been constructed to carry crude oil from Lakwa and
Rudrasagar to the oil refinery at Barauni.

III. Barauni-Haldia pipeline, completed in 1966, transports refined petroleum products to Haldia port
and brings back crude oil to Barauni refinery.

IV. The Barauni-Kanpur pipeline carries refined petroleum products from Barauni to Kanpur.

V. The Noonmati-Bongaigaon section of this pipe is used to transport raw materials for the
Bongaigaon petro-chemical complex.

VI. Haldia-Rajbandh-Mourigram pipeline has been constructed to meet the requirements of the
southern part of West Bengal.

2. Mumbai High-Mumbai-Ankleshwar-Kayoli Pipeline:

 This pipeline connects the oil fields of Mumbai High and Gujarat with the oil refinery at Koyali. A 210km
long double pipeline connects Mumbai with Mumbai High.

 It provides facilities for transporting crude oil and natural gas. Ankleshwar-Koyali pipeline was completed
in 1965.

 It transports crude oil from Ankleshwar oilfield to Koyali refinery.

3. Salaya-Koyali-Mathura Pipeline:

 An important pipeline has been laid from Salaya in Gujarat to Mathura in U.P. via Viramgam.

 This is 1,256 km long pipeline which supplies crude oil to refineries at Koyali and Mathura.

 From Mathura, it has been extended to the oil refinery at Panipat in Haryana and further to Jalandhar in
Punjab.

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 It has an offshore terminal for imported crude oil.

4. Hajira-Bijapur-Jagdishpur (HBJ) Gas Pipeline:

 This pipeline has been constructed by Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) to transport gas.

 It is 1,750 km long and connects Hazira in Maharashtra to Bijapur in M.P. and Jagdishpur in U.P.

 It carries 18 million cubic metres of gas everyday to three power houses at Kawas (Gujarat), Anta
(Rajasthan) and Auraiya (U.P.) and to six fertilizer plants at Bijapur, Sawai Madhopur,. Jagdishpur,
Shahjahanpur, Aonla and Babrala.

 Each of the fertilizer plants has a capacity of producing 1,350 tonnes of ammonia per day.

 The construction of this pipeline is a unique engineering feat and has been completed at an estimated cost
of over Rs. 1,700 crore.

 The pipeline passes through 343.7 km long rocky area, 56.3 km long forest area, besides crossing 29
railway crossings and 75 big and small rivers.

 This is the world’s largest underground pipeline and has brought about a big transformation in the
economy of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

 It has been extended upto Delhi so that enough gas is made available to meet the growing demand of the
capital city.

5. Jamnagar-Loni LPG Pipeline:

 This 1,269 km long pipeline has been constructed by Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) at the cost of Rs.
1,250 crore.

 It connects Jamnagar in Gujarat to Loni near Delhi in U.P. and passes through the states of Gujarat,
Rajasthan, Haryana and U.P. This is the longest LPG pipeline of the world.

 It is like transporting 3.5 lakh LPG gas cylinders across 1,269 km every day and its capacity is being
increased to 5.0 lakh cylinder per day.

 It will result in net saving of Rs. 500 crore per year by eliminating road tanker movement and lead to
reduction of about 10,000 tonnes of pollutant emission per year.

 This is the first time that a cross-country pipeline has been used to transport LPG adding to availability of
supplies, safety in transportation and wider distribution.

 LPG is received at various points along the route for bottling in Ajmer and Jaipur (Rajasthan), Piyala
(Haryana), Madanpur Khadar (Delhi) and Loni (U.P.). Phase-I of the pipeline was completed in 2001 and
Phase-II was completed in 2003. Its capacity will be expanded from the current level of 1.7 million tonnes
to 2.5 million tonnes.
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6. Kandla-Bhatinda Pipeline:

 This 1,331 km long pipeline is proposed to be constructed for transporting crude oil to the proposed
refinery at Bhatinda.

 It is to be constructed by IOC at the estimated cost of Rs. 690 crore.

Pipelines have the following advantages over other means of transport:

 They are ideally suited to transport liquids and gases.

 Pipelines can be laid through difficult terrains as well as under water.

 It involves very low energy consumption.

 It needs very little maintenance.

The following are the main disadvantages of pipeline transport :

 It is not flexible, i.e., it can be used only for a few fixed points.

 Its capacity cannot be increased once it is laid.

 It is difficult to make security arrangements for pipelines.

 Underground pipelines cannot be easily repaired and detection of leakage is also difficult.

Communication Networks
 Human beings have evolved different methods of communication over time. In earlier times, the messages
were delivered by beating the drum or hollow tree trunks, giving indications through smoke or fire or with
the help of fast runners. Horses, camels, dogs, birds and other animals were also used to send messages.

 Initially, the means of communication were also the means of transportation.

 Invention of post office, telegraph, printing press, telephone, satellite, etc has made communication much
faster and easier.

 Development in the field of science and technology has significantly contributed in bringing about
revolution in the field of communication.

 People use different modes of communication to convey the messages.

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On the basis of scale and quality, the mode of communication can be divided into following categories :

Personal Communication System

 Among all the personal communication systems, the internet is the most effective and advanced one.

 It enables the user to establish direct contact through email to get access to the world of knowledge and
information.

 It is increasingly used for e-commerce and carrying out money transactions.

 The internet is like a huge central warehouse of data, with detailed information on various items.

 The network through internet and e-mail provides an efficient access to information at a comparatively
low cost.

 It enables us with the basic facilities of direct communication.

Mass Communication System

Radio

 Radio broadcasting started in India in 1923 by the Radio Club of Bombay. Since then, it gained immense
popularity and changed the sociocultural life of people. Within no time, it made a place in every household
of the country.

 Government took this opportunity and brought this popular mode of communication under its control in
1930 under the Indian Broadcasting System.

 It was changed to All India Radio in 1936 and to Akashwani in 1957.

 All India Radio broadcasts a variety of programmes related to information, education and entertainment.
Special news bulletins are also broadcast at specific occasions like sessions of parliament and state
legislatures.

Television

 Television broadcasting has emerged as the most effective audio-visual medium for disseminating
information and educating masses.

 Initially, the T.V. services were limited only to the National Capital where it began in 1959. After 1972,
several other centres became operational.

 In 1976, TV was delinked from All India Radio (AIR) and got a separate identity as Doordarshan (DD).

 After INSAT-IA (National Television-DD1) became operational, Common National Programmes (CNP) were
started for the entire network and its services were extended to the backward and remote rural areas.

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Satellite Communication

 Satellites are a mode of communication in themselves as well as they regulate the use of other means of
communication. However, the use of satellites in getting a continuous and synoptic view of a larger area
has made satellite communication very vital for the country for economic and strategic reasons.

 Satellite images can be used for the weather forecast, monitoring of natural calamities, surveillance of
border areas, etc.

On the basis of configuration and purposes, satellite system in India can be grouped into two:

 Indian National Satellite System (INSAT): The INSAT, which was established in 1983, is a multi-purpose
satellite system for telecommunication, meteorological observation and for various other data and
programmes.

 Indian Remote Sensing Satellite System (IRS): The IRS satellite system became operational with the
launching of IRS-IA in March 1988 from Vaikanour in Russia.

 India has also developed her own Launching Vehicle PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle). These satellites
collect data in several spectral bands and transmit them to the ground stations for various uses.

 The National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) at Hyderabad provides facilities for acquisition of data and its
processing. These are very useful in the management of natural resources.

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