Mains Marathon

Approach

• Start your answer by explaining the Gati shakti Mission
• Mention the significance of the mission
• Mention the challenges associated with the success of the mission
• Conclude by giving the way forward

Answer

PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (PMGS-NMP) was launched on 13^th October 2021 for providing multimodal connectivity infrastructure to various economic zones.

The multi-modal connectivity will provide integrated and seamless connectivity for movement of people, goods and services from one mode of transport to another. It will facilitate the last mile connectivity of infrastructure and also reduce travel time for people.

It will incorporate the infrastructure schemes of various Ministries and State Governments like Bharatmala, Sagarmala, inland waterways, dry/land ports, UDAN etc.

Six pillars of the Plan:

• Comprehensiveness: It will include all the existing and planned initiatives of various Ministries and Departments with one centralised portal.
• Prioritisation: Through this, different Departments will be able to prioritise their projects through cross–sectoral interactions.
• Optimization: The National Master Plan will assist different ministries in planning for projects after identification of critical gaps.
• Synchronisation: Individual Ministries and Departments often work in silos and there is lack of coordination in the planning and implementation of the project resulting in delays.
• Analytical: The plan will provide the entire data at one place with GIS based spatial planning and analytical tools having 200+ layers, enabling better visibility to the executing agency.
• Dynamic: All Ministries and Departments will now be able to visualise, review and monitor the progress of cross-sectoral projects, through the GIS platform, as the satellite imagery will give on-ground progress periodically and progress of the projects will be updated on a regular basis on the portal.

Significance of Gati shakti

• Institutional infrastructure:
  • The Centre's support in creating an institutional framework in time-bound manner and implementation of projects under the PM Gati Shakti national master plan for multimodal connectivity will give a boost to overall infrastructure of the country.
• Ease of Living:
  • Endeavour to build Next Generation Infrastructure which improves Ease of Living as well as Ease of Doing Business.
  • The multi-modal connectivity will provide integrated and seamless connectivity for movement of people, goods and services from one mode of transport to another.
  • It will facilitate the last mile connectivity of infrastructure and also reduce travel time for people.
• Information help with investing:
  • PM GatiShakti will provide the public and business community information regarding the upcoming connectivity projects, other business hubs, industrial areas and surrounding environment.
  • This will enable the investors to plan their businesses at suitable locations leading to enhanced synergies.
• Utilisation of resources:
  • It will create multiple employment opportunities and give a boost to the economy.
  • PM Gatishakti, will also lead to optimum utilisation of the country's resources as everyone will be able to make their plan with complete information. ‘Infrastructure-based development’ will lead to an extraordinary increase in the strength of India’s economy, creating many new possibilities of employment.
• Improved competitiveness:
  • It will improve the global competitiveness of local products by cutting down the logistics costs and improving the supply chains, and also ensure proper linkages for local industry & consumers.
• Reduce turnaround time:
  • Besides cutting logistics costs, the scheme is also aimed at increasing cargo handling capacity and reducing the turnaround time at ports to boost trade.
• Tourism:
  • Infrastructure was key to development of tourism, including spiritual and medical tourism

Associated Concerns

• Low Credit Off-take: Although the government had taken up ‘strong’ banking sector reforms and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code had yielded about Rs. 2.4 lakh crore of recoveries on bad loans, there are concerns about declining credit offtake trends.
• Lack of Demand: In the post-Covid-19 scenario,there is a lack of private demand and investment demand.
• Structural Problems: Due to land acquisition delays and litigation issues, the rate of implementation of projects is very slow on global standards.
  • Getting approvals is very difficult in terms of land access, environmental clearances, also impending litigation in court delays the infrastructure projects.

PM Gati Shakti is a step in the right direction. However, it needs to address structural and macroeconomic stability concerns, emanating from high public expenditure.

Thus, it is imperative that this initiative is underpinned by a stable and predictable regulatory and institutional framework.

The mission cannot be successful without timely land acquisition clearances for initiating the new projects. Hence, a single window clearance is needed for speedy approval of projects.