Context: The Union Government has recently launched "Jalvahak" scheme to incentivise movement of cargo along the inland waterways, reduce logistics cost and de-congest roads and railways.
Relevance of the topic:
Prelims: Key facts about Jalvahak Scheme
Mains: Inland Waterways- Present status, benefits and constraints.
Present Status of Inland Waterways:
- India has approximately 14,500 km of navigable waterways which consist of rivers, canals, backwaters, creeks, etc. However, the share of Inland waterway transport (IWT) in India is currently only around 2% in comparison to 35% in Bangladesh and 20% in Germany.
Benefits of Inland Waterways:
- Reduce Logistics cost (12-14% of GDP) and bring it on par with the global standards (8-10% of GDP).
- Lower Investment and maintenance cost in comparison to road and railways.
- Environment Friendly:
- 50% lower carbon dioxide emissions in comparison to Roads.
- Negligible land requirement.
- Safe mode for hazardous cargo.
- Streamline Infrastructure:
- Reduces pressure on Roads and Railways.
- Provide for carriage of vehicles in the form of Roll-on-roll-off mode.
- Easy integration of the IWT with sea transport.
- Safe and less risky in comparison to other modes.
- Socio-economic development: IWT provides benefits in terms of trade and access to markets, enhance local community’s economic engagement, promote eco-tourism and boost employment opportunities. For example, Arth Ganga has potential to promote sustainable development with a focus on economic activities along river Ganga.
Constraints and Strategies:
Details about Jalvahak Scheme:
- Rationale: Need to provide incentives on the lines of Europe's Marcopolo initiative to encourage modal shift towards Inland waterways from better funded and developed Road and Railways sector.
- Duration of scheme: 3 years.
- Implementation agency: Inland and Coastal Shipping Limited (ICSL)
- Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Shipping, Ports, and Inland Waterways.
Design of the scheme:
- Financial incentives will be provided directly to the cargo owners who shift cargo from road/rail to Inland waterways.
- Incentive would be up to 35% of the total actual operating expenditure incurred on waterways.
- Incentive would be provided only on long haul movement of cargo i.e. distances more than 300 km.
Is the incentive applicable for all the Inland waterways?
- Presently, the incentives are applicable for movement of cargo along National Waterways 1 (river Ganga), National Waterways 2 (Brahmaputra river) and National Waterways 16 (River Barak). However, based on the success of the Scheme, it may also be extended to other waterways.
Way Forward: The inland waterways are cost-effective, fuel-efficient, safe and secure mode of transportation for goods and passengers. Going forward, the Jalvahak scheme should be implemented efficiently to increase the modal share of inland waterways from 2% to 5% as envisioned in Maritime India Vision 2030.