PIB Summary- 12th July, 2022 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

Open Acreage Licensing Programme

Why in News?
Recently, the Government of India has launched the OALP Bid Round-VIII, offering 10 blocks for International Competitive Bidding.

Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP)

• The Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) replacing the erstwhile New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) was approved in March 2016 and the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) along with the National Data Repository (NDR) were launched in June 2017 as the key drivers to accelerate the Exploration and Production (E&P) activities in India.
• Under OALP, companies are allowed to carve out areas they want to explore oil and gas in.
• Companies can put in an expression of interest (EOI) for any area throughout the year but such interests are accumulated thrice in a year. The areas sought are then offered for bidding.
• This policy is different from the past where the government identified areas and offered them for bidding.
• The successful roll-out of the HELP regime, followed by OALP Bid Rounds, has led to an increase in exploration acreages in India.
• OALP has helped in removing red-tapism and brought in a quantum jump in the Exploration & Production sector.

About Hydrocarbon Exploration & Licensing Policy (HELP)

• The Hydrocarbon Exploration & Licensing Policy (HELP), which adopts the Revenue Sharing Contract model, is a giant step towards improving the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ in the Indian Exploration and Production (E&P) sector.
• It comes with attractive and liberal terms like reduced royalty rates, no Oil Cess, marketing and pricing freedom, round the year bidding, freedom to investors for carving out blocks of their interest, a single license to cover both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon resources, exploration permission during the entire contract period, and an easy, transparent and swift bidding and awarding process.
• Bid Round-IV onwards, bidding rounds are being carried out under the further liberalized policy terms, which focused on production maximization with higher weightage to Committed Work Programme in Category I basin and no revenue share bids required for less explored Category II & III basins.
• Category-I basins have established reserves and fields that are already producing while Category-II basins are ones that have contingent resources pending commercial production. Category-III basins are ones that have prospective resources awaiting discovery.

NITI Aayog

Why in News?
NITI Aayog welcomed Shri Parameswaran Iyer as NITI Aayog’s CEO.

About NITI Aayog

• The NITI Aayog serves as the apex public policy think tank of the GoI.
• It was established in 2015, by the NDA government, to replace the Planning Commission which followed a top-down model.
• It advises both the centre and states on social and economic issues.
• It is neither a constitutional body nor a statutory body but the outcome of an executive resolution. It was not created by the act of parliament.

It has two Hubs.

• Team India Hub acts as interface between States and Centre.
• Knowledge and Innovation Hub builds the think-tank acumen of NITI Aayog.

Composition

• Chairperson: Prime minister
• Vice-Chairperson: To be appointed by Prime-Minister
• Governing Council: Chief Ministers of all states and Lt. Governors of Union Territories.
• Regional Council: To address specific regional issues, Comprising Chief Minister and Lt. Governors Chaired by the Prime Minister or his nominee.
• Ad-hoc Membership: Two members in ex-officio capacity from leading Research institutions on a rotational.
• Ex-Officio membership: Maximum four from the Union council of ministers to be nominated by the Prime Minister.
• Chief Executive Officer: Appointed by the Prime-minister for a fixed tenure, in the rank of Secretary to Government of India.
• Special Invitees: Experts, Specialists with domain knowledge nominated by the Prime Minister.

Objectives

• To generate a platform for national development, sectors and strategies with the collaboration of states and centre.
• To boost the factor of cooperative federalism between the centre and the states. For national development, it is necessary for both wings to work in synergy.
• To develop such mechanisms which work at the ground root level for progressive growth. A nation develops when its regions and states develop.
• To work on long term policies and strategies for long-term development.
• To set up a system for monitoring progress so that it can be used for analysing and improving methods.
• To provide a platform for resolving inter-departmental issues amicably.
• To make it a platform where the programmes, strategies, and schemes can be monitored on a day to day basis, and it could be understood which sector needs more resources to develop.
• To upgrade technological advancements in such a manner that focus can be made on initiatives and programmes.
• To ensure India’s level and ranking at the worldwide level and to make India an actively participating nation.
• To progress from food security towards nutrition and standardised meals and focus on agricultural production.
• To make use of more technology to avoid misadventures and corruption in governance.
• To make the working system more transparent and accountable.

NITI Aayog – Seven Pillars of Effective Governance

• To look after pro-people agenda so that the aspirations and desires of no one are compromised.
• To respond and work on the needs of citizens.
• Make citizens of the nation involve and participate in various streams.
• To empower women in all fields, be it social, technical, economic, or other.
• To include all sects and classes under one head. To give special attention to marginalised and minority groups.
• To provide equal opportunity for the young generation.
• To make the working of government more accountable and transparent. It will ensure less chance of corruption and malpractices.

Related Concerns and Challenges

• NITI Aayog has no powers in granting discretionary funds to states, which renders it toothless to undertake a transformational intervention.
• It acts as an advisory body only that advises the government on various issues without ensuring the enforceability of its ideas.
• NITI Aayog has no role in influencing private or public investment.
• Politicization of the organization has been in recent times.
• NITI Aayog has been transformed into a glorified recommendatory body which lacks the requisite power to bring positive change in the government’s actions.