Sea Bed Polymetallic Nodules

Sea Bed Polymetallic Nodules

Government of India signed a 15 year contract with International Seabed Authority (ISA) for exploration of polymetallic nodules from Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) in 2002. In written replies to questions by members in the Lok Sabha today, the Union Minister of State for Science & Technology and for Earth Sciences Shri. Y.S.Chowdary said, the polymetallic sulfides are expected to contain rare earth minerals including gold and silver. The Government of India has an area of 75000 sq km in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) and close grid bathymetric surveys have been carried for Polymetallic Nodules in this area. A Test Mine Site (TMS) has been tentatively identified within the First Generation Mine Site (FGMS) for further detailed studies.

Seven cruises were undertaken to collect scientific data and samples pertaining to polymetallic sulfides along Central Indian Ridge (CIR) & Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR) region of the Indian Ocean in the year 2012-13. Based on the outcome of these surveys, India submitted an application for exclusive rights of exploration of polymetallic sulfides at a site of 10000 sq km along CIR & SWIR in Indian Ocean in 2013, which was approved by International Seabed Authority (ISA) in 2014.

As a part of development, a crawler based prototype shallow bed mining system has been developed and demonstrated at a water depth of 512 m. Extraction of copper, nickel and cobalt from polymetallic nodules has been demonstrated in a pilot plant with a capacity to process 500 kg nodules per day at Hindustan Zinc Limited, Udaipur.

Oceanographic Research vessels Sagar Kanya, Sagar Sampada, Sagar Manjusha and Sagar Nidhi of Ministry of Earth Sciences, Samudra Ratnakar of Geological Survey of India (GSI), Ministry of Mines and Sindhu Sankalp and Sindhu Sadhana of National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Council of Scientific & Industrial Research are deployed for ocean research.

The minister said the programme is at a stage of developing relevant technologies for harvesting polymetallic nodules lying at 4000m to 5000m water depth. Initial estimated resource of polymetallic nodules in the site retained by India in the Central Indian Ocean Basin is about 380 Million Metric Tonne (MMT) with 0.55 MMT of Cobalt, 4.7 MMT of Nickel, 4.29 MMT of Copper and 92.59 MMT of Manganese. However, the actual estimates will vary depending upon the new results of detailed survey and exploration coupled with results of test mining of nodules upon developing the mining technology, he added.

Exploration of Gas Hydrates has also been carried out by conducting 3D seismic survey in the Krishna-Godavari and the Mahanadi basins. 

New Initiatives to Attract Foreign Investment

New Initiatives to Attract Foreign Investment

India has one of the most liberalized FDI policy regimes in the world. Government has put in place an investor-friendly policy on FDI, under which FDI, up to 100%, is permitted, under the automatic route, in most sectors/activities. Significant changes have been made in the FDI policy regime from time to time, to ensure that India remains increasingly attractive and Investor-friendly.

In the light of the importance of foreign direct investments for economic growth and development, the government announced key FDI reforms in the defence and railways sectors. The entire range of rail infrastructure was opened to 100% FDI under the automatic route, and in defence, sectoral cap was raised to 49%. To boost infrastructure creation and to bring pragmatism in the policy, the Government reviewed the FDI policy in the construction development sector also by creating easy exit norms, rationalizing area restrictions and providing due emphasis to affordable housing.

To give impetus to the medical devices sector, a carve out was created in FDI policy on the pharmaceutical sector and now 100% FDI under automatic route is permitted. The Government, in order to expand insurance cover to its large population and to provide required capital to insurance companies, raised the FDI limit in the sector to 49%. Pension sector has also been opened to foreign direct investment up to the same limit. The FDI policy provisions pertaining to NRI investment have also been clarified by providing that for the purposes of FDI policy, investment by NRIs on non-repatriation basis under Schedule 4 of FEMA (Transfer or Issue of Security by Persons Resident Outside India) Regulations will be deemed to be domestic investment at par with the investment made by residents.

Government has undertaken a number of steps to improve Ease of Doing Business in India. Amongst the other important steps, Ministries and State Governments have been advised to simplify and rationalize the regulatory environment through business process reengineering and use of information technology.

These measures are expected to increase FDI, which complements and supplements domestic investment. Domestic companies are benefited through FDI, by way of enhanced access to supplementary capital and state-of-art-technologies; exposure to global managerial practices and opportunities of integration into global markets resulting into accelerated domestic growth of the country. Further, as FDI is largely a matter of private business decisions, global investors normally take time to assess a new policy and its implications in the context of a particular market before making investment. 

Only 8.15% of Indians are graduates, Census data show

Despite a big increase in college attendance, especially among women, fewer than one out of every 10 Indians is a graduate, new Census data show.

Over the weekend, the office of the Census Commissioner and Registrar-General of India released new numbers on the level of education achieved by Indians as of 2011.

They show that with 6.8 crore graduates and above, India still has more than six times as many illiterates.

While rural India accounts for only a third of all graduates, the rate of increase in graduates was faster in rural than in urban India over the last decade, and fastest of all among rural women. From 26 lakh graduates 10 years ago, nearly 67 lakh rural women are now graduates. Rural Indians are more likely to have non-technical graduate degrees than urban Indians, while urban India accounts for 80 per cent of all Indian technology and medicine graduates.

Among those with a graduate degree or above, the majority (over 60 per cent) are those who have a non-technical graduate degree.

Technical qualifications double

New Census data on the educational status of Indians show that the biggest increase is in the number of people pursuing engineering and technology diplomas or technical degrees equivalent to a graduate or postgraduate degree.

The proportion of Indians with engineering and technology qualifications has nearly doubled over the last decade, while the proportion of women technology graduate equivalents has more than tripled.

In all, there were over 73 lakh Indians with a tech qualification in 2011. India also has over 30 lakh people with a teaching degree and over 15 lakh people with a medical degree.

Chandigarh and Delhi have the highest proportion of graduates — over one in every five persons — followed by Maharashtra among the big States, while Bihar and Assam are worst off among the big States, with fewer than one in every 20 persons a graduate. Across the country — with the notable exceptions of Chandigarh and Kerala — the proportion of male graduates is higher than that of women.

The proportion of graduates among the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is far lower than the national average; just over four per cent of the SCs are graduates or above, while for the Scheduled Tribes, it is below three per cent, and lower still for women.

Urban India and its female demographic dividend

Over the past decade, India has been near the bottom of the global rankings, as far as female participation in theurban workforce is concerned. The good news: our analysis of data from the past two decades shows that this is beginning to change. Women (especially young women) are entering and looking to enter the urban workforce in large numbers.

The bad news: unfortunately, most women are only able to find marginal work in the informal economy, with low wages and little or no job security. In addition, highly educated young urban women appear to have very limited job options in urban India.

The growth in the urban female workforce is characterised by two trends—more than 60% of urban females are a part of the informal sector while unemployment is the highest among urban females with graduate degrees and above, with an unemployment rate of 15.7%, much higher than other demographic groups.

India’s urban female work-force participation rate (WPR) is one of the world’s lowest at 15%, ranking eleventh from the bottom among 131 countries, according to a 2012 report on global employment trends by the International LabourOrganisation (ILO). This, however, might be changing, with the participation rate growing 5.6% annually since 1991, in comparison with 2% for rural females and 3% for urban males.

Change in labour force participation: the female demographic dividend

Compared to other countries which are at similar levels of development, Indian women tend not to participate as much in wage employment. The WPR for women above 15 years of age in India was a little below 30% in 2011, significantly below the world average of around 50%, according to World Bank estimates. In comparison, Brazil and China were at 60% and 67% for the same age group.

The female WPR is especially low in urban areas and has remained close to 15% over two decades, as Figure 1 shows. Meanwhile, the female WPR in rural areas has varied between 25% and 30% in the same time period. In contrast, urban male participation rate is 53%, according to2011 National Sample Survey Organisation data (NSSO).

Fig 1: Workforce Participation (UPSS) by Gender and Place of Residence

Source: Employment and Unemployment Survey, NSSO (various rounds)

While several recent studies have highlighted low female WPRs in urban India, we present evidence to show that urban women are beginning to enter the labour market in greater numbers.

The number of women working and seeking work grew by 14.4% annually between 1991 and 2011, even though the population of urban women grew at only 4.5% during the same time period, according to Census 2011.

The total number of women in the work force increased more than three-fold, from 9 million in 1991 to 28 million in 2011, while the number of women seeking or available for work increased more than eight-fold, from 1.8 million in 1991 to 15.5 million in 2011.

This means that the number of women in the workforce in 2011 would have been higher by more than 55% if these 15.5 million women were able to find jobs.

In comparison, the male workforce would have increased by only 13% if the 14 million men seeking or available for work found employment. This indicates a significant shift in women’s participation in the labour market in urban areas since 1991.

Fig. 2: Composition of Urban Male and Female Population, 2011

Source: Census of India, 2011

Fig. 3: Urban Female Population Composition 1991 and 2011, Age Group 20-40 years

 

Source: Census of India, 2011

This fact is corroborated by the Employment and Unemployment Survey 2011 conducted by the NSSO which shows that urban females between 15 and 59 years have the highest unemployment rate at 15.7% as compared to 9% for males belonging to the same age group.

These numbers indicate that urban women are increasingly looking to enter wage employment but are currently unable to find adequate and relevant opportunities.

If this trend continues, women might choose to drop out of the labour force altogether or settle for jobs that are not commensurate with their skills and expectations.

Unemployment is highest for women with graduate degrees and above

At 13.9%, the unemployment rate is highest for urban women with graduate degrees and above. Within this category of educational attainment, the unemployment rate for women aged 15 to 29 is even higher, at 23.4%. This highlights the severity of the problem for educated young women in urban India.

Some studies have suggested that a possible explanation for women voluntarily dropping out of the labour force is the stigma associated with working in jobs that require lesser qualifications.

Figure 4 shows the urban female workforce disaggregated by level of educational attainment. The ‘illiterate’ and ‘graduate’ categories have the highest number of workers.

Fig. 4: Work Status of Urban Women by Education Levels, 2011-12

 

Source: Employment and Unemployment Survey, NSSO 2011-12

The dotted line in Figure 4 shows unemployment rates for women aged 15 and above across categories of educational attainment.

The evidence shows that educated urban women are increasingly seeking work but are unable to find opportunities that meet their expectations. A skills training and industrialisation agenda might be inadequate to address the employment concerns of this demographic group.

Increase in marginal work for women

Illiterate and semi-literate women have a very low unemployment rate. A possible explanation: they are absorbed in the informal sector that requires low skills and offers low remuneration in sectors, such as services, manufacturing, wholesale trade and construction at low wages.

Close to 20% of urban females work as domestic help, cleaners, vendors, hawkers and salespeople. 43% of urban women were self-employed and the same proportion of women had regular wage salaried jobs, according to NSSO in 2011. Yet, 46% of urban women with regular wages have no social security or employment benefits, while 58% have no written contract for their jobs.

Skill-development programmes, such as vocational training and entrepreneurship development, might be beneficial to some extent for this group of workers and might enable them to move from vulnerable occupations to more secure ones. However, skill training is only one of the measures that will lead to better employability. A number of other factors such as societal and gender norms, education levels, access to credit and so on affect the employment sought by and available to these women.

Why Make-in-India and Skill-India Mission may fall short

India has transitioned to a $2 trillion economy in the past two decades without creating adequate and secure jobs for its large, mostly-unskilled labour force.

The current government is attempting to address this issue through two related sets of interventions. First, by promoting the industrial sector in India through the Make in India campaign and second, through the recently-launched Skill India Mission, which aims to train 400 million workers over the next seven years.

These interventions assume that industrialisation will drive job creation, following the development trajectories of the East Asian economies.

An examination of the numbers presented above allows us to question this assumption and add an additional set of priorities for India’s employment agenda. In their current form, these policies are not sufficiently cognisant of the changing composition of the work force, particularly in relation to women who comprise half of India’s potential work force.

An explicit focus on the changing nature of women’s work is essential to ensure the sustainability and inclusiveness of India’s growth. 

Roof Top Solar System

Roof Top Solar System

            Under ‘Grid Connected Rooftop and Small Solar Power Plants Programme’ of the Ministry 360 MWp projects have been sanctioned and 54 MWp aggregate capacity of projects have been installed. Under ‘Off-grid & Decentralized Solar Applications’ programme 108 MWp solar rooftop/ground mounted systems have been installed in the country for captive consumption. This was stated by Sh. Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal & New and Renewable Energy  in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.

             The Minister said that the systems are coming up with investment from rooftop owners and developers. Financing at low cost is important and one of the main factors for promotion.

The Minister further stated that the following steps have been taken by the Government to promote/encourage installation of grid connected solar roof top systems in the country:

Ø      Target set for installation of 40,000 MWp by year 2022.

Ø      15% Government subsidy for non-commercial and non-industrial categories for using domestic solar panels

Ø      Accelerated depreciation benefits for industrial and commercial buildings

Ø      Custom duty concessions and excise duty exemptions

Ø      10 years tax holiday

Ø      Loans available under Priority Sector Lending upto Rs. 10 lakhs for individuals

Ø      Provision of bank loans as a part of home loan/ home improvement loan

Ø      Loans for system aggregators from Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) at concessional interest rate (9.9% to 10.75% per annum)

Ø      Electricity Regulatory Commissions of 19 States/UTs have notified regulations for grid connectivity, net-metering/feed-in-tariff mechanism.

Unemployment and Employment

Unemployment and Employment

                       As per results of the last survey on employment and unemployment conducted during 2011-12 by National Sample Survey Office, estimated number of unemployed persons on usual status basis in the country was 1.06 crore, of which 0.78 crore was in the age group of 20-59 years for which information is available.  During the same period estimated number
 of  employed persons including part time and full time was estimated at 47.4 crore. 

Apart from survey on employment and unemployment conducted by NSSO, employment exchange statistics regarding jobseekers are also  complied based on information received from States. There are presently 978 employment exchanges in the country leading to approximately one  exchange per 12.4 lakh population.

          Government has created a separate Ministry of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship for making broad policies for all other Ministries/Departments with regard to market requirements and skill development and co-ordination with all concerned for evolving an appropriate skill development framework, removal of disconnect between the demand for and supply of skilled man power through vocational and technical training, skill up-gradation & building of new skills.  Government of India has set target of skilling 5 crore persons in the 12^thPlan. Government is imparting vocational training under Craftsmen Training Scheme (CTS), Apprenticeship Training Scheme (ATS) and skill development through modular courses under Skill Development Initiative Schemes. The Government runs various public employment generation schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Swarna Jayanti Shahri Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) restructured into National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) since September, 2013, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), and Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP). In addition, the government is promoting labour-intensive manufacturing and increasing employment opportunities by promoting tourismand agro-based industries. 

           As per information received from the States, State-wise details of placement effected through employment exchanges in the country during the last five years are at Annex-II.  Total number of educated job seekers on the live register of employment exchanges in the country as on 31^st December 2012 was about 3.75 crore of which about 45 percent was 10^th pass, 31 per cent 10+2 pass and 24 per cent graduates and post graduates.

India under pressure to declare emission targets

India under pressure to declare emission targets

Ahead of the UN climate summit in Paris in December this year, India is under growing pressure to announce its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), containing emission reductions targets, at the earliest date.

What are INDCs?

These are individual country commitments which are expected to indicate through their form and strength what shape any 2015 agreement might take.

• Countries across the globe have committed to create a new international climate agreement by the conclusion of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris in December 2015.
• In preparation, countries have agreed to publicly outline what post-2020 climate actions they intend to take under a new international agreement, known as their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs).
• The INDCs combine the top-down system of a United Nations climate agreement with bottom-up system-in elements through which countries put forward their agreements in the context of their own national circumstances, capabilities and priorities, within the ambition to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions enough to keep global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius.
• The INDCs will not only contain steps taken towards emission reductions, but also aim to address steps taken to adapt to climate change impacts, and what support the country needs-or will provide to address climate change.
• In February 2015, Switzerland became the first nation to submit its INDC to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, later followed by the European Union.