Tag: government policy

National Logistics Policy

 To complement PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (NMP) , the National Logistics Policy (NLP) was launched on 17th September 2022 by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. While the PM GatiShakti NMP addresses integrated development of the fixed infrastructure and network planning, the NLP addresses the soft infrastructure and logistics sector development aspect, inter alia, including process reforms, improvement in logistics services, digitization, human resource development and skilling.

Vision

The vision of NLP is to drive economic growth and business competitiveness of the country through an integrated, seamless, efficient, reliable, green, sustainable and cost-effective logistics network by leveraging best in class technology, processes and skilled manpower. This will reduce logistics cost and improve performance.

Targets

The targets of the NLP are to: (i) Reduce cost of logistics in India; (ii) improve the Logistics Performance Index ranking – endeavor is to be among top 25 countries by 2030, and (iii) create data driven decision support mechanism for an efficient logistics ecosystem.

Comprehensive Logistics Action Plan (CLAP)

To achieve these targets, a Comprehensive Logistics Action Plan (CLAP) as part of the NLP was launched covering eight action areas including (i) Integrated Digital Logistics Systems; (ii) Standardization of Physical Assets and Benchmarking of Service Quality Standards; (iii) Logistics Human Resource Development and Capacity Building; (iv) State engagement; (v) EXIM Logistics; (vi) Services Improvement Framework; (vii) Sectoral Plans for Efficient Logistics (SPEL); and (viii) Facilitation of Development of Logistics Parks.

Outreach Events/meetings:

Since the launch of the NLP, significant progress has been made with respect to the implementation of the Policy. By means of regional conferences, one-on-one interactions, and inter-Ministerial meetings, DPIIT has facilitated the implementation of NLP. An overview of these outreach activities is given below.

1. Inter-Ministerial meeting on 28th July 2023

  • On completion of ten months of the launch of the National Logistics Policy (NLP), an inter-Ministerial meeting to review the progress of its implementation was held by DPIIT, on 28th July 2023. During the meeting measures taken by different Ministries to improve logistics efficiency in the country were showcased.
  • The meeting saw participation from eleven infrastructure and user Ministries including M/o Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH), M/o Port Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW), M/o Coal, D/o Food & Public Distribution, M/o Civil Aviation (MOCA), M/o Steel, D/o Commerce, D/o Fertilizer, D/o Revenue, M/o Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and M/o Power and, National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Limited (NICDC).
  • The meeting was Chaired by Special Secretary (Logistics). Secretary DPIIT had joined during the closing session. The meeting was divided into two sessions. Session, I focussed on review of measures undertaken by DPIIT and Session II covered progress in implementation of the NLP by participating Ministries.

2. Regional Workshops (between 20th March and 12th April 2023)

  • DPIIT organised five regional workshops between 20th March and 12th April 2023. All workshops had a dedicated session on NLP, wherein key features and progress of NLP was showcased and participating States/UTs presented the status and key highlights of respective State Logistics Policy and other interventions.
  • Over 500 participants covering Officials from all 36 States/UTs and concerned line Ministries/Department, and representatives from knowledge partners and multilateral organisations, attended these workshops.

 

3. Other one-on-one Interactions / Meetings:

  • Meetings on Logistics Performance Index (LPI): In an endeavor to further improve India’s ranking in the LPI, DPIIT has undertaken several measures. To apprise the World Bank team about the several initiatives and reforms of the Government of India and draw their attention on need for greater emphasis on objective based methodology for LPI scoring, Secretary, DPIIT met senior officials of World Bank Group at their headquarter in Washington DC.
    • In continuation with that DPIIT held a series of meetings with the World Bank Group [Logistics and Infrastructure India team] and concerned line Ministries.
    • A dedicated Unit is being set up within the Logistics Division to develop and implement an action plan for improving India’s LPI ranking.
    • In addition, concerned line Ministries are setting up a dedicated cell for a focused project-based approach to improving India’s performance across the six LPI parameters.
  • Services Improvement Group (SIG) meetings: In line with approved institutional mechanism for the NLP, an Inter-Ministerial SIG was constituted on 14th March 2023. Chaired by SS (Logistics), this group comprises of representatives from MoRTH, MoR, MoPSW, MNRE, MoP, DoT, MoPNG, MoCA, NITI Aayog, MoEFCC, MoHUA, DoR and DoC.
  • Objective: The SIG has been constituted to facilitate speedy resolution of logistics services and processes related issues of the industry, in a coordinated manner. Resolution of issues through SIG shall promote inter-operability; eliminate fragmentation in documentation, formats, processes, liability regimes and reduce gaps in regulatory architecture.
  • E-LoGs portal (digital system for registering logistics related issues by logistics sector associations): As on date 29 logistics sector associations are registered on the E-LoGs portal, with total 71 issues, of which 34 issues have been resolved.
  • Regular roundtables with industry players and SIG meetings are held.  Till date, six meetings of SIG, along with industry associations have been held.

 

Progress on Implementation of NLP & CLAP

Since the launch of the NLP, progress made in implementation of the CLAP is summarised below:

  • Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP): For digital integration in logistics sector and to provide single sign to users who are trading goods and using multiple modes of transport – the Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP) was launched along with the NLP.
    • ULIP is an indigenous data-based platform which integrates 34 logistics-related digital systems /portals across Ministries / Departments. It is worth noting that GST data is also being integrated with ULIP.
    • ULIP provides opportunities to private sector to develop use cases on ULIP. By signing Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and after due diligence, data on ULIP can be accessed through API integration and private players can develop apps/use cases.
      • Over 614 industry players have registered on ULIP.
      • 106 private companies have signed NDAs
      • 142 companies have submitted 382 use cases to be hosted on ULIP.
      • 57 applications have been made live.

 

  • EXIM Logistics: To promote trade facilitation and streamline EXIM logistics, following measures have been undertaken:
    • Infrastructure gaps are being addressed and digital initiatives undertaken (under National Committee on Trade Facilitation);
    • An EXIM Logistics Group has been constituted;
    • A Comprehensive port connectivity plan developed by M/o port shipping and waterways, to address last and first mile infra gaps and promote seamless movement of goods to ports. 60 projects of MORTH and 47 of Railways have been sanctioned to improve last mile connectivity to ports.
    • To improve port productivity and address issues, several meetings have been held with MOPSW, port authorities, etc.; Port Processes studies have been conducted at 3 Major Ports (Chennai, JNPT and Vishakhapatnam); Visit to ports are being undertaken by DPIIT.
    • The Logistics Data Bank (LDB) is an application that tracks and traces of EXIM cargo. greater predictability, transparency and reliability, logistics cost will come down and wastages in supply chain will reduce.
      • Using LDB data, new analysis of port-wise vessel turnaround time is being prepared. Congestion between port and nearest check post is provided in the form of Port to CFS/ICD (For import cycle); CFS/ICD to Port (For export cycle); Port to nearest toll plaza. Using these analytics, port authorities are taking measure to improve performance.

 

  • Human Resource Development
  • To promote professionals in the sector, Government is notifying qualification packs for different job roles in the sector.
  • A Webinar with Capacity Building Commission, Central Training Institutes (CTIs) and State Administrative Training Institutes (ATIs) was held in July 2023.
  • To further give traction to training and capacity building in Logistics and Infrastructure Development, Syllabus and training modules is being developed.
  • Sectoral Plan for Efficient Logistics (SPEL)
  • To address sector-specific needs in the logistics sector and streamline movement of bulk and break-bulk cargo in the country, Sectoral Plans for Efficient Logistics (SPEL) are being developed by user Ministries. These include sector specific action plans /interventions necessary for seamless movement of goods across different origin-destination pairs.
  • So far, Comprehensive Port Connectivity Plan (CPCP) to bridge last mile gaps to ports, has been developed by M/o Port, Shipping and Waterways. The CPCP consisting of 107 Port connectivity projects (47 of MoR and 60 of MoRTH) has been notified.
  • A Coal Logistics Plan for efficient coal evacuation has been developed by M/o Coal.
  • M/o Steel is also developing its sectoral plan.

 

  • State Engagement
  • State Logistics Policy: To bring holistic focus on ‘logistics’ in public policy at State level, States/UTs are developing State Logistics Plans (SLPs) aligned with NLP. So far, 22 States have notified their respective State Logistics policies.
  • Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS): An indigenous logistics performance index on lines of the World Bank’s LPI, called ‘Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS)’ index for logistics performance monitoring across states has been developed. The survey is conducted annually and States are ranked according to their performance. The main objective is to identify areas of improvement and support State Governments to undertake adequate infrastructure, services and regulatory reforms to improve their logistics performance. The LEADS 2023 report will be unveiled soon.
  • Logistics Cost Framework
  • Logistics Division, DPIIT, has initiated an endeavour to estimate Logistics cost, since no official estimates available and they vary from 8-14% of GDP.
  • In the past studies in private sector (Armstrong & Armstrong and NCAER):
      • Armstrong & Armstrong – 13% of GDP;
      • NCAER, 2018 – 8.10% of GDP.
  • Hence a need was felt for developing accurate estimates based on holistic data and relevant statistical models.

STEPS TAKEN:

  • In March 2023, Government organized a workshop with international experts to brainstorm on best practices.
  • Task Force with members including Senior Officials from concerned line Ministries and experts from academia, industry and think tanks, notified in March 2023.
  • Several meetings of Task Force held.
  • Using secondary data available in public domain baseline estimates for logistics cost achieved (using MOSPI’s Supply Use Tables). A long-term survey-based framework for logistics cost calculation developed.
  • Despite data limitations (data available in public domain is mainly aggregated estimates of transportation cost). This estimate will be used as a baseline for carrying out comprehensive trend analysis in future. This long-term survey-based study will help in arriving at robust logistics cost estimates at a disaggregated level so that targeted interventions across sectors / modes can be undertaken.

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One Nation One Ration Card

The pandemic has hit hard on the economy and disrupted the lives of many around the world. For some it is the question of health, for some it is the question of lives vs livelihood. One of the worst hit section of the society are the migrant workers for whom food, shelter and income has become the main concern.

In order to tackle the issue of food security, the Government of India introduced the One Nation One Ration Card scheme (ONORC). ONORC allows a beneficiary to access his food entitlements from anywhere in India irrespective of the place where the ration card is registered.

Presently, thirty-two States and Union territories have already completed the formalities of the scheme, which include linking beneficiaries’ ration cards with their Aadhaar numbers and installing e-Point of Sale (e-POS) machines in each FPS.

The full mobility of food subsidy under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 relies on digitisation of the public distribution system (PDS), a network of over 5,00,000 fair-price shops (FPS). This would be ensured on the basis of Aadhaar authentication and validated data.

The Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IMPDS) portal records all purchases made under ONORC.

What are the benefits of this scheme?

  • Ensuring Right To Food: Previously, ration cardholders can avail their entitlement of subsidised food grains under the National Food Security Act, only from the designated Fair price shop (FPS) within the concerned state. However, if a beneficiary were to shift to another state, he/she would need to apply for a new ration card in the second state. Thus, ONORC envisages removing the geographical hindrance to social justice and enabling the right to food.
  • Supporting the migrant Population: Nearly, 37% of the population is that of migrant labourers. The scheme is therefore important for anyone who is going to move from one place to the other.
  • Reducing Leakages: The ONORC can reduce leakages, because the fundamental prerequisite of this scheme is deduplication. This will ensure that the same person does not figure as a beneficiary in two different locations of the country. Further, the scheme is linked with Aadhaar and biometrics, this removes most possibilities of corruption.
  • Reducing Social Discrimination: ONORC will be particularly beneficial for women and other disadvantaged groups, given how social identity (caste, class and gender) and other contextual factors (including power relations) provide a strong backdrop in accessing PDS.

What are the Roadblocks?

  • Exclusion Error: The digitisation of this PDS process, through Aadhaar-linked ration cards and smart cards, has been pushed in an effort to reduce leakages. However, there has been a rise of exclusion errors in post-Aadhaar seeding. There are many sections of society who still don’t have Aadhar Cards, thereby depriving them of food security.
  • Domicile-Based Social Sector Schemes: Not only PDS, most of the anti-poverty, rural employment, welfare and food security schemes were historically based on domicile-based access and restricted people to access government social security, welfare and food entitlements at their place of origin.
  • Disrupting Supplies At FPS: An FPS receives the monthly quota of products strictly in accordance with the number of people assigned to it. The ONORC, when fully operational, would disrupt this practice, as some FPSs may have to cater to more numbers of cards even as others cater to less, owing to migration of people.

Suggestions by some experts

  • Opening up Alternate Delivery Centres: If emergencies continue to hamper uptake at ration shops, alternate delivery channels can be considered for delivering food grains to vulnerable groups.
  • Focusing on Nutritional Security: Food security should be seen from a broader framework of nutritional security. Therefore, ONORC must allow the portability of Integrated Child Development Services, Mid-Day Meals, immunisation, health care and other facilities.
  • Replacing PDS With Food Coupons: In the longer run, the PDS system may be replaced by a fool-proof food coupon system or direct benefit transfer. Wherein, a Below Poverty Line family can buy rice, pulses, sugar and oil from any Kirana store at the market price, by either paying fully through the coupon or by cash.

Conclusion

ONORC is the far-reaching reform of the public distribution ecosystem since the Food Security Act. It will provide food security to jobless migrants and will help achieve the target set under SDG 2: Ending hunger by 2030.

Population is the cause of inequality?

Uttar Pradesh or UP is one of the largest states in India, and with a population of more than 22 crores(220 million), it would probably be the 5th most populous country in the world if independent following only China, India, US and the UK. This means that UP should have the resources to support such large population fiscally, in terms of proper remuneration and security. Research proves otherwise. And so, on the occasion of the World Population Day, Uttar Pradesh announced the two children policy in a bid to control the population of the state which has had a fertility rate more than the ideal 2.1 for decades now.

UP on a map of India
UP is the most populous Indian State with 22 crore or 220 million people
Horizontal tricolour flag bearing, from top to bottom, deep saffron, white, and green horizontal bands. In the centre of the white band is a navy-blue wheel with 24 spokes.
India has 1.33 billion people

However, there is a question that stands above all the policies that are to be enacted by the governments – is population really the main problem? And will controlling population be the answer to all the woes?

India is a partial welfare economy. That in turn means it is partially just a big corporate state speaking in terms of economics. The poor and the ones with quotas are provided with free fuel, almost free food and a remuneration even without jobs. This is a positive aspect to a country where the Moody’s announced in 2021 that the inflation rate has become alarmingly high and the government defending its every decision citing a lack of revenue. A lesser population would perhaps mean lesser poor, lesser taxes or probably a complete welfare state run by a capitalist model like those in Scandinavia. This dream might take more than a century to be realised, hence the word – perhaps. A lesser population might also mean a more even distribution of resources – as the incumbent Chief Minister of UP announced in his speech. A similar rhetoric was used by the World Trade Organisation for countries in Asia and Africa where the fertility rates have been traditionally high in an already large population. This rhetoric has also been used by the early Communist China and the Indian government since the 1970s in the name of family planning. Knowing these rhetorics might actually be helpful in understanding the way in which population is and is not a solution to the problems the world faces.

China was the most populous country when the Communist Party announced its victory in a long drawn Civil War. And it soon announced the Great Leap Forward Program followed by steps to open up the economy. And considering population to be the chief factor behind poverty, China announce the now infamous one child policy. The important thing is China is a strong economy in the present day and has reduced poverty to minimal levels and all this was done not because there was any absolute reduction in population (China saw a steady population growth rate in absolute numbers thanks to the pre-existing population being very large and will stay the most populous country at least till 2025), but because of a judicious use of the same. China introduced labour intensive industries in the country, drawing international investment and generating employment for virtually everyone there. The demographic effect of the one child policy has become apparent only in the recent years where China feared that the fertility rate less than 2 might lead to an ageing of the nation – a point where more people would be older than the then working population, prompting it to revise one child policy to a two children policy.

File:Flag-map of the People's Republic of China.svg - Wikimedia Commons
China renounced its One-Child Policy fearing an over aged population

India introduced the Two-Children policy back in the 1970s. The allegedly forced vasectomies during the Emergency months of the Indira Gandhi regime quite clearly reflect the apprehensions the stakeholders had regarding India’s future; the stakeholders being the government that needed funds and the World Bank and WTO that felt Indian population growth was alarming. India still maintains its family planning policy although in a relatively non-forced manner where the government uses mass media to convey this idea of ‘hum do humare do'(We two and our two) to the public. And while Indian population in the urban areas has quite neatly adopted to the idea, rural trends are not so appreciative of the same. India is projected to have more than 1.4 billion humans by 2030, about 15-18% of all humanity, the most populous nation on the planet. Indian government has failed to objectify its labour capital of its people – the government policies directed more towards social support than social upliftment. The generation of jobs was slow and inadequate and so was the generation of skilled labour per capita.

Most European countries, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong represent situations similar to India – large populations, high fertility rates in the middle and late 20th centuries and lack of land and resources. But their approach was to generate employment and skills while simultaneously reducing fertility rates which went down anyway as more people were educated, urban centers developed and prices of common commodities rose.

Hong Kong | History, Location, Map, & Facts | Britannica
Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated territories on the planet.

So, is state intervened birth control useful? In a nation as large as India, it might be, because a large population is still rural and poor and sustains on agricultural output alone or is an urban poor household that is keen on increasing the total labour it can provide to increase its income. However, one might quite clearly conclude understanding all previous scenarios explained that a large part of this intervened birth control is a propaganda or most probably a misjudgment of decades of flawed social and economic policies at the end of the Central and State governments.

To conclude, birth control policies are right considering the fact that a lesser population might mean lesser woes from both the government and the people, however, blaming population as the means and end to the prevalent problems by the state is just running away from accountability.

Happy World Population Day and we all can but await the results this new policy shall usher in the country.