Inland Waterways

• India has one of the longest navigable inland water networks. But out of the total 15,000 kilometres of a navigable river, India is currently using just 2000 km. 
• West Bengal has the longest navigable length of rivers, followed by Assam and Bihar.
• Inland waterways Transport constitutes just 0.5% of the total cargo transport. In China, 47% of goods and passenger traffic is transported through inland waterways. Whereas in India, domestic transport through water is 3.5%, out of which 0.5 % is inland & 3% is coastal.

• According to a government study, one litre of fuel moves 24 tons/km on the road, 95 tons/km on rail and 215 tons/km on inland waterways.

1. It is cheaper than Road and Railways and costs 1/5th compared to road transport. 
2. The Carbon footprint is also lower than road and rail systems.
3. Land acquisition requirements are almost negligible compared with roads and railways. 
4. The infrastructure that needs to be developed is minimal.
5. There is also little scope for transit losses.
6. It will open up considerable investment in the areas like water-based tourism, dredging of rivers, and operation of terminals generating millions of new jobs.

National Waterway Act, 2016

• Inland Waterways, Shipping and Navigation, are covered in Entry 24 of the Union list. Hence, Parliament is empowered to legislate on this.
• This act repealed all earlier Acts for individual waterways, and 111 National Waterways have been notified under the provisions of this act. 

• 13 National Waterways are working
  • National Waterway 1: Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly River System (longest with length of 1620 km)
  • National Waterway 2: Brahmaputra River from Sadiya to DHubri
  • National Waterway 3: Kollam-Kottappuram stretch on Champakara canal and Udyogmandal canal
  • National Waterways 4: Kakinada-Puducherry stretch of Canals (on Godavari and  Krishna and Canals)
  • National Waterway 10: Amba
  • National Waterway 68: Mandovi
  • National Waterway 73: Narmada
  • National Waterway 83: Rajpuri Creek
  • National Waterway 85: Kundalika
  • National Waterway 91: Shastri
  • National Waterway 97: Sundarbans Waterways
  • National Waterway 100: Tapi
  • National Waterway 111: Zuari

Jal Marg Vikas Project

• This project aims to develop infrastructure to enable National Waterway 1 for commercial navigation on the Varanasi-Haldia stretch of river Ganga.
• In 2018, the Varanasi freight terminal became operational when the cargo ship ‘MV Rabindranath Tagore’ arrived in Varanasi from Kolkata.

Ways to Finance

• The government is using the corpus of the National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) and Central Roads Fund  (CRF) for upgrading the Inland Waterways.
• Apart from that, the market borrowing route is also used. 

The bill replaced the Inland Vessel Act of 1917.

The act has brought all inland vessels & waterways in India under uniform union government regulation. Earlier, there were different regulations across different states.

Provisions of the Act include

• State governments may declare by notification any inland water area as a “Zone”. Any mechanically propelled vessel would have to obtain a certificate indicating the zone in which the vessel can be operated.
• The government would maintain a central database of inland vessels.
• Mechanical vessels must have certain equipment and signals to ensure safe navigation. In case of an SOS signal is sent by the vessel, the nearest vessel must respond to the call and failure to respond can result in a fine up to Rs. 10,000.
• In case of an accident, the nearest police station will hold the jurisdiction for the inquiry.
• The Centre will prescribe the rules for the minimum qualification of the crew.