UPSC Articles
Inland Vessel Bill 2021
Part of: GS Prelims and GS -III – Infrastructure
In news
- Recently, the Union Cabinet approved the Inland Vessels Bill, 2021.
- It will replace the Inland Vessels Act, 1917 after passing in Parliament.
- The Bill will regulate safety, security and registration of inland vessels.
Features of the Bill:
- Unified law for the entire country, instead of separate rules framed by the States.
- Central database for recording the details of vessel, vessel registration, crew on an electronic portal.
- All non-mechanically propelled vessels will also have to be enrolled at the district, taluk or panchayat or village level.
- It enlarges the definition of ‘inland waters’, by including tidal water limit and national waterways
- It also deals with pollution control measures of Inland Vessels.
- It directs the Central Government to designate a list of chemicals, substances, etc. as pollutants.
Important value additions
- India has about 14,500 km of navigable waterways which comprise of rivers, canals, backwaters, creeks, etc.
- As per the National Waterways Act 2016, 111 waterways have been declared as National Waterways (NWs).
- NW-1: Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly River System (Prayagraj-Haldia) with length 1620 km is the longest National Waterway in India.
Pic courtesy: Ganga Today
Do you know?
- The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is implementing the Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) for capacity augmentation of navigation on the Haldia-Varanasi stretch of Ganga (part of NW-1) with the technical and financial assistance of the World Bank.
Pic courtesy: iasbaba
