- During April-December, 2014-15, major and non-major ports achieved a total cargo throughput of 775.17 million tonnes, showing an increase of 6.8% over the same period of 2013-14.
- During April-November 2014-15, 2 million new telephone connections were added, way ahead of the 12.13 million new connections in the corresponding period of 2013-14.
- Overall teledensity has increased from 75.23% at the beginning of April 2014 to 12% at the end of November 2014, while total broadband connections have touched 82.22 million.
- In order to ensure equity in access and to accelerate socio-economic growth in rural areas, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has planned to connect all 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats in the country with minimum 100 Mbps bandwidth under the National Optical Fibre Network Project (NOFN). Cable laying has been completed in about 5000 villages and the project is likely to be completed by 31 December 2016.
- The level of urbanization has increased from 27.78% in 2001 to 18% in 2011. According to Census 2011, as many as thirty-five cities in India had a million plus population. At current rates of growth, urban population in India is projected to reach 575 million by 2030.
- Three new schemes have been announced for development of urban infrastructure. These are the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), and Smart City Scheme.
- All statutory towns will be covered under the SBM which will be in force till 2 October 2019. The objectives of the SBM are elimination of open defecation, eradication of manual scavenging, modern and scientific solid waste management, and generating awareness about sanitation and its linkage with public health.
- The objective of HRIDAY is to preserve the character of a heritage city and facilitate inclusive heritage-linked urban development by exploring various avenues including involvement of the private sector.
- It is proposed to develop 100 smart cities identified on the basis of stipulated criteria. These cities will have smart (intelligent) physical, social, institutional, and economic infrastructure to improve public services.
RECENT POLICY INITIATIVES FOR ENHANCING CRUDE OIL AND NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION
- New Gas Pricing Formula: The Government approved the New Gas Pricing formula on 18 October, 2014 and released New Gas Pricing Guidelines, 2014. The increase in price of domestically produced natural gas strikes a fine balance between the expectations of investors and interests of consumers.
- Project for Survey of Un-appraised Sedimentary Basins of India: A project has been undertaken to appraise about 1.5 million sq. km area in twenty-four sedimentary basins where scanty geo-scientific data is available.
- Data generated under the project shall be stored, maintained, validated in a National Data Repository (NDR) which is being set up in the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH).
- Gas Grid Infrastructure: In addition to the existing 15,000 km gas pipeline network, another 15,000 km has been planned for completion of the gas grid.
