Inland Vessel Bill 2021

Inland Vessel Bill 2021

Subject : Economy / Legislations

Context : The Union Cabinet has given the nod to the Inland Vessels Bill, 2021, which will replace the Inland Vessels Act, 1917. The Bill will regulate safety, security and registration of inland vessels.

Concept :

Key features of the Bill:

• It provides for a unified law for the entire country, instead of separate rules framed by the States.
• The certificate of registration granted under the proposed law will be deemed to be valid in all States and Union Territories, and there will be no need to seek separate permissions from the States.
• The Bill provides for a central data base for recording the details of vessel, vessel registration, crew on an electronic portal.
• It requires all mechanically propelled vessels to be mandatorily registered. All non-mechanically propelled vessels will also have to be enrolled at district, taluk or panchayat or village level.

Inland Water Transport (IWT) in India:

• India has about 14,500 km of navigable waterways which comprise of rivers, canals, backwaters, creeks, etc.
• IWT is a fuel-efficient and environment-friendly mode.
• As per the National Waterways Act 2016, 111 waterways have been declared as National Waterways (NWs).
• The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is implementing the Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) at an estimated cost of ₹5369.18 crores 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.