The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi accorded approvals to the proposals of Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) & Department of Fertilizers. They are,
- Proposal of the MoES for Deep Ocean Mission.
- Proposal of the Department of Fertilizers for Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) rates for Phosphatic & Potassic (P&K) Fertilisers for the year 2021-22.
Deep Ocean Mission
The ‘Deep Ocean Mission’ of MoES will be a mission mode project to support the Blue Economy Initiatives of Government of India.
i.Objective – To explore the deep ocean for resources and develop deep sea technologies for sustainable use of ocean resources in the Indian Ocean.
ii.Cost of the Mission – Estimated cost of the Mission -INR 4077 crore for a period of 5 years, it will be implemented in a phase-wise manner.
- The estimated cost for 1st phase for the 3 years (2021-24) would be INR 2823.4 crore.
iii.Nodal Ministry – Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).
Components of Deep Ocean Mission
i.Deep Ocean Mission will have 6 Major Components –
- Development of Technologies for Deep Sea Mining, and Manned Submersible
- Development of Ocean Climate Change Advisory Services
- Technological innovations for exploration and conservation of deep-sea biodiversity
- Deep Ocean Survey and Exploration
- Energy and freshwater from the Ocean
- Advanced Marine Station for Ocean Biology
ii.These components will support the Blue Economy priority areas of Exploring and harnessing of deep sea minerals and energy; coastal tourism; Marine Fisheries and allied services; Deep sea exploration of ocean resources; off-shore energy development; Marine Biology, Blue trade and Blue manufacturing.
iii.The components propose setting up of Offshore Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) power desalinations plants.
Key Points
i.The research vessel needed for deep ocean exploration will be built in an Indian shipyard. This will boost indigenisation in the building of vessels & Technologies and also create employment opportunities.
ii.Globally 95% of the Deep Ocean remains unexplored. In India 30% of our population live in coastal areas, the ocean remains a major economic factor for people living in coastal areas.
- India has a 7517 kms long coastline and is home to 9 coastal states and 1382 islands.
- Government of India’s Vision of New India by 2030 released in February 2019 highlighted the Blue Economy as one of the 10 core dimensions of growth.
Note – UN has declared the decade 2021-30 as Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.
Fixation of Nutrient Based Subsidy Rate for P&K for 2021-22
The CCEA chaired by PM Modi has approved the proposal of the Department of Fertilizers for fixation of Nutrient Based Subsidy Rates (NBS) for P&K Fertilizers for the year 2021-22.
- The subsidy on P&K fertilizers is governed by NBS Scheme w.e.f. 01.04.2010.
- The subsidy is released to fertilizer companies as per NBS rates so that they can make available fertilizers to farmers at affordable price. The estimated additional subsidy would be around Rs 14,775 crore.
Per Kg Subsidy rate in INR
| N (Nitrogen) | P (Phosphorus) | K (Potash) | S (Sulphur) |
| 18.789 | 45.323 | 10.116 | 2.374 |
Recent Related News
i.November 27, 2020, MoES proposed to launch ‘Deep Ocean Mission’, it envisages underwater exploration of minerals, energy and marine diversity and also enhance India’s presence in the Indian Ocean.
ii.April 21, 2021, CCEA chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the formulation of an exclusive subsidy policy for Urea produced through Coal Gasification. The proposal was put forth by the Department of Fertilizers.
About Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES)
Union Minister – Harsh Vardhan (Chandni Chowk, NCT of Delhi)
About Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers
Union Minister – D.V. Sadananda Gowda (Bangalore North, Karnataka)
Minister of State – Mansukh Mandaviya (Rajya Sabha, Gujarat)
