Gujarat anti-terror bill
1)
The Gujarat Assembly passed the landmark Gujarat Control of
Terrorism and Organised Crime Bill 2015.
2)
The new Bill is a reworked version of the Gujarat Control of
Organised Crime Bill (GUJCOC), 2003, which was earlier rejected twice by the
President due to some of its contentious provisions.
3)
controversial
provisions of the Bill :
i.
Clause 16 stipulates that a confession made by a person before a
police officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Police shall be admissible
in the trial of such accused, co-accused, abettor or conspirator.
ii.
extension of the period of investigation from the stipulated 90
days to 180 days.
iii.
Clause 20 (4) of the Bill makes offences non-bailable.
iv.
power given to investigating agencies to hold the suspect in custody
for 30 days.
4)
The Bill makes evidence collected through the interception of
wire, electronic or oral communication (phone tapping) admissible in the court.
5)
It provides immunity to the State government from legal action.
Ø Clause 25 of the Bill
states, “No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the State
government or any officer or authority of the State govt. for anything which is
in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act".
6)
Activists and members of civil society have opposed the draconian provisions
of the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Bill 2015.
7)
Near identical provisions are found in the Prevention of Terrorism
Act (POTA), which was repealed in 2004, the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities
(Prevention) Act (TADA), which is also repealed and Maharashtra Control of
Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) which is still in force.
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Gas pooling for fertilizer sector approved by cabinet
1)
The Cabinet approved a proposal to pool or average out prices of
domestic natural gas and imported LNG used by fertilizer plants to make the
cost of fuel uniform and affordable.
2)
Fertilizer plants consume about 42.25 million standard cubic
metres a day (mscmd) of gas for manufacture of subsidised urea.
Ø Out of this, 26.50 mscmd
comes from domestic fields and the balance 15.75 mmscmd is imported liquefied
natural gas (LNG).
Ø The $5.18 per million
British thermal unit price of domestic gas is about half the cost of LNG.
3)
The cost of gas, which is the most important component for
production of urea, varies from plant to plant owing to differential rates at
which imported LNG is contracted as well as the cost of transportation.
4)
What is gas pooling?
Ø averaging of different
rates of domestic and imported gas to ensure supply of fuel to all urea plants
at a uniform delivery cost
5)
Advantages of gas
pooling :
a)
help in focusing on improving plant efficiency
b)
help in price advantage in sourcing of LNG
c)
help bring down the cost of fuel
d)
help save subsidy : help save Rs.1,550 crore in subsidy
e)
would benefit 30 urea plants
6)
CCEA had proposed making state-owned gas utility GAIL India as the
pool operator.
7)
The pooling mechanism will be effective from next month.
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Kindly clarify how this will lead to:
ReplyDelete1) bringing down the cost of fuel. How will import substitution happen?
2) price advantage in sourcing LNG. I do not understand the phrase 'price advantage in sourcing'
Thanks in advance!
Hope it clarifies your doubts to some extent.
Delete1) The domestic gas price is the same for all, but that of imported LNG varied for each company. Gas Pooling will help reduce cost of production for players which are mostly reliant on imported LNG. Because price of domestic gas is about half the cost of imported LNG. Now they’ ll have to pay average price of domestic natural gas and imported LNG that is significantly lower than the imported LNG price. Therefore, It will bring down the cost of fuel for these companies.
2) Import substitution of fertilizers will happen in long term because the move will lead to a lower working capital requirement and encourage higher output in the coming years.
3) price advantage in sourcing LNG means the price at which the LNG is sourced from outside will be less than the earlier price paid by the companies to LNG suppliers because now they will have to pay average or pooled prices of domestic and imported LNG .