Daily direct flight between Varanasi-Gorakhpur under UDAN-RCS flagged off

100 new airports and 1,000 new routes under UDAN by 2025 : Shri Scindia

International Flights Opens Up from 27^th March, 2022: Shri Scindia

First direct flight between Gorakhpur and Varanasi was flagged-off today. SpiceJet was awarded the route under the RCS-UDAN 4.1.

The inaugural event was graced by Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Shri Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Mahendra Pal Singh, MLA, Pipraich (Gorakhpur district) and Shri Bipin Singh MLA of Gorakhpur Rural, Smt. Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Shri Ajay Singh, Chairman & Managing Director, SpiceJet and many other dignitaries.

The airline will be operating daily flights and will deploy its Q400, 78-seater turbo prop aircraft designed for shorter distance flights on the route. SpiceJet is India’s largest regional carrier. The airline operates 63 daily flights under UDAN connecting 14 UDAN destinations to various parts of the country.

At present SpiceJet is providing its services at Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Kanpur and Kushinagar airports in Uttar Pradesh. This new flight route is a part of nine new UDAN flights that SpiceJet will be launching today out of which 6 will be for Uttar Pradesh specially and 3 will be for other states of the country.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia said, “Today is a historic day as we are connecting 2 ancient cities which have deep cultural and religious impact on the history of our country. Varanasi was connected with 11 cities but with the inauguration of this summer schedule, it will now further be connected with 4 more cities namely Gorakhpur, Jaipur, Guwahati and Jammu. Similarly, Gorakhpur which was connected with 6 cities will further be connected with 3 more cities – Varanasi, Bangalore and Kanpur amounting to 9 cities in total. In Gorakhpur, we are looking to increase the capacity of the civil enclave of Gorakhpur Airport to 300 passengers from current 100 passengers by December 2022.”

The Minister further emphasized that “Uttar Pradesh which had 4 airports now has 9 airports established namely Prayagraj, Kanpur, Bareilly and Kushinagar. In near future, 7 new airports in Saharanpur, Muradabad, Aligarh, Azamgarh, Shravasti, Chitrakoot and Sonbhadra and 2 new international airports in Noida and Ayodhya will be established. With this, Uttar Pradesh will have 18 domestic and 5 international airports.”

Shri Scindia further added that “Civil Aviation plays an important role in the country. Recently, Ministry of Civil Aviation was part of Operation Ganga where more than 23,000 Indian students were rescued out of Ukraine in a war situation with over 90 flights operating out of 5 neighbouring countries of Ukraine. I would like to thank Indian Air Force and all private airlines who were part of this operation and provided their full cooperation. Today it also marks an important day not just for the people of Uttar Pradesh but for the entire country as we are opening international flights from today onwards to connect India again with the world.”

In the last 5 years, 409 routes and 66 airports have been operationalized under the UDAN scheme and over 90 lakh people have benefitted from it. Over 1 lakh 75 thousand flights are flown under this scheme.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation plans and commits to construct 34 new airports taking the total number of airports to 100 new airports in India with 1,000 new routes under UDAN RCS scheme by the year 2025.

Gorakhpur and Varanasi are popular destination in Uttar Pradesh and attract many tourists throughout the year. Varanasi is a cultural centre of northern India and one of the world's oldest continually inhabited cities on earth which is famous for the bathing ghats along the banks of river Ganga. The most notable temples in Varanasi are Kashi Vishwanath, Sankat Mochan Temple, and Durga Temple. The city has long been an educational and musical centre. Many prominent Indian philosophers, poets, writers, and musicians live or have lived in the city, and it is home to India’s first residential university, Banaras Hindu University. Hindus from across the world visit Varanasi to perform holy dip in the Ganges and rituals at dozens of ghats along the river.

Whereas Gorakhpur is situated near Nepal Border along the banks of the Rapti river and is also a famous religious centre being the home to the Gorakhnath Math and Gorakhnath temple, the seat of the Nath sect and other Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh saints.

DGCA monitors airfares on certain routes on monthly basis to ensure reasonable airfares

Airfare capping is applicable on a rolling basis for a 15 days' cycle

Why is it in news?

During the last two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted the revenue streams of businesses including aviation sector. Under normal circumstances, airfares are neither established nor regulated by the Government. However, due to the unprecedented circumstances, fare bands with upper and lower limits were introduced by the Government as a special measure. The fare bands serve the dual purpose of protecting the interests of the travelers as well as of the airlines.

Highlights

·       Air fares are not regulated by the Governments. Under the provision of Sub Rule (1) of Rule 135, aircraft Rules 1937, airlines are free to fix reasonable tariff having regard to all relevant factors, including the cost of operation, characteristics of service, reasonable profit and the generally prevailing tariff. Air fare so established by the airlines is published on their respective website under the provision of Sub Rule (2) of Rule 135, Aircraft Rules 1937.

·       In order to prevent excessive charging and sudden surges in airfares and to promote transparency by scheduled domestic airlines, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued Air Transport Circular 02 of 2010 wherein airlines are required to display on their respective websites the tariff sheet route-wise across their network in various fare categories and the manner it is offered in the market.

·       DGCA has a Tariff Monitoring Unit that monitors airfares on certain routes on monthly basis to ensure that the airlines do not charge airfares outside a range declared by them.

·       The fare bands were revised from time to time in view of the substantial hike in price of Aviation Turbine Fuel(ATF) in order to keep the aviation sector viable while protecting the interests of the passengers. Presently, fare capping is applicable on a rolling basis for a 15 days' cycle. The Government regularly reviews the situation. Further, decisions regarding the domestic scheduled operations and relaxation in fare capping is subject to prevailing COVID-19 situation, status of operations and passenger demand for air travel.

This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation Gen. (Dr) V. K. Singh (Retd) in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 28^th March, 2022..

Direct flight between Indore and Jammu flagged-off. Minister of Civil Aviation Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Gen (Retd) V.K Singh inaugurated the direct flight between Indore and Jammu by Indigo on 28th March, 2022.

Why is it in news?

Indore is connected with 22 cities now.

Highlights

·       The inaugural event was graced by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology and Earth Science, MoS for Prime Minister’s Office, Personal, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space, Shri Tulsiram Silavat Minister - Water Resources, Fisheries Welfare and Fisheries Development, Govt of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Shankar Lalwani Member of Parliament, Indore, Smt. Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Shri Sanjeev Kumar, Chairman, Airport Authority of India (AAI), Shri Sanjay Kumar, Chief Revenue and Strategy Officer, Indigo and many other dignitaries.

·     3 new aerobridges, 15 parking bays, international and domestic cargo terminal and perishable goods terminal to come up in Indore

1748 foreign airlines flights and 1440 domestic airlines flights are connecting India globally

·       The airline will be deploying its A320, a 150-seater twin turbofan engine passenger aircraft and is primarily used on Domestic routes. With the launch of direct flight between Indore and Jammu, Indore will now have 28 daily flights.  632 weekly flights will be operating out of Madhya Pradesh.

·       Speaking on the occasion, Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia said, “Today marks an important day in history of Indian Civil Aviation as the crown of India will be connected with the heart of India. Indore is a city of many firsts in terms of education, history and cleanliness and was declared India’s first “Water Plus City” previous year. It is the only city in India where two renowned international academic institutions are present – IIM & IIT.  My aim is to develop 1 or 2 cities in every state which is full connected with the entire country and in Madhya Pradesh, Indore has achieved this. Previously, Indore was connected with 12 cities but in 6 months, we have connected Indore to 22 cities such as Panaji, Kishangarh, Raipur, Belgaum, Gwalior, Pune, Nagpur etc. Apart from Jammu, we have also connected Indore with Visakhapatnam and Chandigarh from today onwards.”

·       The minister further emphasized that “We have opened international flights from yesterday onwards after a break of 2 years due to Covid-19 pandemic and from today onwards, 1748 foreign airlines flights and 1440 domestic airlines flights are connecting India globally.”

·       Commenting on the importance of Indore, the minister said “In the last 6 months, we have given more importance to Indore by starting the work of 3 new aerobridges, 15 new parking bays and parallel taxi tracks and international cargo terminal. By this year, we are going to establish domestic cargo terminal and perishable goods terminal in Indore. I have given the permission to convert a state hangar in the old terminal into a VIP state hangar.”

·       Shri VK Singh congratulated the team and further said that “We have seen a steady increase of flights from Indore. It is a delightful news for the people of Indore to have a direct flight connectivity with Jammu and it will boost the city in terms of economic growth. I would like to appreciate and thank management of Indigo for their full cooperation.”

·       The people of Indore and its adjoining areas will be benefitted by getting direct air connectivity to Jammu which will facilitate seamless movement of passengers between Indore and Jammu and vice-versa. With these new commercial flights, common people will get multiple options to travel between these places which will boost the tourism potential and increase the economic activity of both regions.

The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare released the Final Estimates of 2020-21 and First Advance Estimates of 2021-22 of Area and Production of various Horticultural Crops.

Why is it in news?

The released estimate has been compiled on the basis of information received from States/UTs and other Governmental source agencies and makes a detailed comparative study with the previous records.

Highlights of 2020-21

·         Total Horticulture production in 2020-21 is estimated to a record 334.60 Million Tonne, which is an increase of about 14.13 Million Tonne (4.4%) over that achieved in 2019-20.

·         Production of Fruits is estimated to be 102.48 Million Tonne, compared to 102.08 Million Tonne achieved in 2019-20.

·         Production of Vegetables is estimated to be 200.45 Million Tonne compared to last year’s production of 188.28 Million Tonne that is, an increase of 6.5%.

·         Production of Onion is reported to be 26.64 Million Tonne as against 26.09 Million Tonne achieved in 2019-20.

·         Production of Potato is estimated to a record production of 56.17 Million Tonne in 2020-21, an increase by 7.61 Million Tonne compared to 2019-20.

·         Production of Tomato is reported to be 21.18 Million Tonne, as against production of 20.55 Million Tonne achieved in 2019-20.

·         Aromatic & Medicinal crops have registered an increase of 12.4%, from 0.73 Million Tonne in 2019-20 to 0.83 Million Tonne in 2020-21.

·         Production of Plantation Crops has increased from 16.12 Million Tonne in 2019-20 to 16.63 Million Tonne in 2020-21.

·         Production of Spices has increased by 9.7%, from 10.14 Million Tonne in 2019-20 to 11.12 Million Tonne in 2020-21.

Highlights of 2021-22 (First Advance Estimates)

·         Total Horticulture production in 2021-22 is estimated to be 333.3 Million Tonne, a decrease of about 1.35 Million Tonne (decrease of 0.4%) over 2020-21 (Final).

·         Increase in production of Fruits while decrease in Vegetables, Spices, Flowers Aromatics & Medicinal Plants and Plantation Crops over previous year, is envisaged.

·         The Fruits production is estimated to be 102.9 Million Tonne compared to 102.5 Million Tonne in 2020-21.

·         The production of Vegetables is estimated to be 199.9 Million Tonne, compared to 200.4 Million Tonne in 2020-21.

·         Onion production is estimated to be 31.1 Million Tonne against 26.6 Million Tonne in 2020-21.

·         Potato production is expected to be 53.6 Million Tonne, compared to 56.2 Million Tonne in 2020-21. 

Import of Fertilizers in the Country

Government of India has mandated revival of Ramagundam, Gorakhpur, Sindri and Talcher units of Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCIL) and Barauni Unit of Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation Ltd (HFCL) through Joint Venture Company (JVC) of nominated CPSEs for setting up gas based ammonia-urea plants of 12.7 LMTPA capacity each.

Why is it in news?

On operationalization, these plants would add 63.5 LMTPA urea production capacity in the country.

Highlights

·       Government of India has also notified the New Urea Policy (NUP) – 2015 for existing 25 gas based urea units with the objective of maximizing indigenous urea production; promoting energy efficiency in urea production; and rationalizing subsidy burden on the Government.

·       The implementation of NUP-2015 has led to additional production from the existing gas based urea units due to which the actual production of urea has increased by 20-25 LMTPA in comparison to the actual production during 2014-15.

·       For Potassic & Phosphatic fertilizers, Govt. of India has taken following steps to reduce import:

       i.            Department of Fertilizers granted permission to Madhya Bharat Agro product Limited Unit-II, Banda Sagar, MP for production of 1.20 LMT per annum.

    ii.            Paradeep Phosphates Ltd is expected to manufacture additional DAP/NPK complex to the tune of 8 LMT per annum utilizing the 2 trains of ZACL Goa Plant.

 iii.            A new DAP/NPK Plant by RCF with annual capacity of 5 LMT and investment of 950 crore in Thal, commission in 2024.

 iv.            A new DAP/NPK Plant by FACT with annual capacity of 5.5 LMT at a cost of Rs 537 cr. Commissioning in June, 2024.

    v.            On exploration of minerals for raw materials for DAP & other fertilizers in India, discussion is in place with Ministry of Mines, GSI, MECL & PDIL.

 vi.            PDM or Potash Derived from Molasses (0-0-14.5-0) which is 100% indigenously manufactured has been included under Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) scheme.

The availability of fertilizers has remained comfortable across the country during the ongoing Rabi 2021-22 season. However, in between the season, some states highlighted shortfall of DAP fertilizer, particularly in few district. Accordingly, based on the requests of State Governments, DAP rakes were moved to meet the requirement.

The quantity and value of the urea imported by the country during each of the last five years is given in the table below:

Further, it is informed that all P&K fertilizers are covered under Open General License (OGL) under the Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) Scheme. They are imported by the companies on commercially viable terms. The quantity of P&K (DAP, MOP and NPK) fertilizers imported by the country during each of the last five years is given in the table below:

The information was given by the Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Shri Bhagwanth Khuba in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on 29^th March, 2022.