The Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers (2022-23) present this Forty-Fourth Report (Seventeenth Lok Sabha) on ‘Fertilizer Subsidy Policy and Pricing matters including need to continue Urea Subsidy Scheme’ pertaining to the Department of Fertilizers , Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
The Coastal Aquaculture Authority (Amendment ) Bill, 2023 passed by the both Houses of the Parliament of India. The Government intends to reiterate that the coastal aquaculture and activities connected therewith are permitted activities within the CRZ under the CRZ notifications.
The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2023 was taken up for consideration and passed by the Lok Sabha on on 28.7.2023. This bill proposes to empower the Central government to exclusively auction mining lease and composite licence for 26 critical minerals in the country.
India has proposed opening up offshore mining or deep-sea mining of non-atomic minerals or poly-metallic nodules to private companies. Production leases are to be granted only through competitive bidding.
Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change moved the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill 2023 as reported by the Joint Committee of Parliament to be taken into consideration in Lok Sabha and subsequently requested the House to get the Bill passed.
The Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill 2023 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 26, 2023. The Bill proposes to omit at least six previously mentioned atomic minerals from a list of 12 which cannot be commercially mined.
The Lok Sabha passed the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, which proposes to fast-track the patent application process and encourage foreign investment when it comes to the use of India’s biological resources, thus facilitating the commercial use of traditional resources.
Around 60 per cent wells in urban India have registered a rise in groundwater levels in May 2023 compared to the 2013-2022 decadal average for the month, Tudu told the Lok Sabha.
Around 1,480 hectares of land along the Ganga-Padma in Murshidabad district of West Bengal have been eroded during the last 15 years, according to Government of West Bengal, said Tudu.
As much as 2.5 per cent of India’s urban waterbodies are encroached upon, compared to 2.5 per cent of rural ones, Bishweswar Tudu, Union minister of state for Jal Shakti told the Lok Sabha.
