Provisions of Mysuru Declaration

• We, the Representatives and Officials recognize the efforts to promote inclusive and accountable Local Self Governments in the delivery of services, in consonance with the priorities and the aspirations of our citizens.

• We accept responsibility for seizing this moment to strengthen our commitments to promote transparency, empower citizens, and harness the power of new technologies towards timely and quality delivery of services; enhancing citizen service experiences
• We uphold the value of openness in our engagement with citizens to improve services, incorporating diverse views when designing and delivering services. We embrace principles of transparency and open government with a view towards achieving greater prosperity, well-being, and human dignity for the sustainable development of local communities.

Together, we declare our commitment to:

• Increase the availability of Citizen Services at the grassroots levels in a timely and efficient manner, commencing with offering of the following basic, statutory, and/ or essential services at the Gram Panchayat level from 1st April 2022.
• Implement the highest standards of professional integrity and accountability towards timely delivery of Public Services
• We pledge to lead by example and contribute to advancing Service Delivery at the grassroots level. Our goal is towards timely delivery of Services for empowering citizens, promoting the inclusive and sustainable growth of rural India.
• We commit to espouse these principles in <state Name>, and work to foster institution-building at the grassroots level that empowers and delivers Services for citizens; Improving Quality of Life through efficient and effective service delivery mechanisms for Panchayat residents, specifically for the welfare of women, children, senior citizens, divyang and other vulnerable and marginalized sections of society.
• Participants from 16 States signed the Mysuru Declaration and resolved to roll out the Common Minimum Service delivery by Panchayats across the country from April 1, 2022.
• The declaration is aimed at recognizing Citizen-Centric Services as the “Heart of Governance”.

Strategic Petroleum Reserves in India

• It is a storage of crude oil which would act as a cushion during any external supply disruptions or supply-demand mismatch shock.
• The global standard for strategic oil reserves, as set by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and Integrated Energy Policy 2006 of India recommended that country should maintain a reserve equivalent to 90 days of oil imports for strategic- cum-buffer stock purposes.
• The crude oil storages are constructed in underground rock caverns and are located on both the East and West coast of India. They are considered to be more environment friendly and incur less evaporation loss than ground level storage.
• Construction of storage facilities are maintained by Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (an SPV of the Oil Industry Development Board under MoPNG).
• Presently, strategic reserves are situated at Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Mangalore (Karnataka), and Padur (Kerala).
• Moreover, project of 3 additional reserves is in pipeline at Chandikhol (Orrisa), Bikaner (Rajasthan) and Rajkot (Gujrat).

Phase II of Strategic Petroleum Reserves

• Under Phase I of strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) programme, Government of India, through its Special Purpose Vehicle, Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Limited (ISPRL), has established petroleum storage facilities with total capacity of 5.33 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) at 3 locations, namely (i) Vishakhapatnam (1.33 MMT), (ii) Mangaluru (1.5 MMT) and (iii) Padur (2.5 MMT), and all the storage facilities have been filled with crude oil. The petroleum reserves established under Phase I are strategic in nature and the crude oil stored in these reserves will be used during an oil shortage event, as and when declared so by Government of India.
• Under Phase II of the petroleum reserve programme, Government has given approval in July 2021 for establishing two additional commercial-cum-strategic facilities with total storage capacity of 6.5 MMT underground storages at Chandikhol (4 MMT) and Padur (2.5 MMT) on PPP mode.

Vehicle Scrapping Policy 2021

Road Transport and Highways Ministry announced the Voluntary vehicle fleet modernisation programme. The programme is also known as the Vehicle scrapping policy.

Why in news?

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the National Automobile Scrappage Policy and said the initiative will promote a circular economy and make the process of economic development more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
• The policy, aimed at recycling old and unfit vehicles, will give a new identity to India’s mobility and auto sector, Mr Modi said in his address while virtually unveiling the initiative during an ‘Investors Summit’ organised in Gandhinagar.
• The summit, which saw the participation of potential investors and industry players, was organised to attract investment for setting up vehicle-scrapping infrastructure under the Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernisation Programme, as per an official release. “This policy will play a major role in removing unfit vehicles from our roads in a scientific manner. It will modernise the vehicular population on our city roads,” he added.
• Under this policy, people who give their old vehicles for turning them into scrap will be given a certificate by the government, he said.
• People having this certificate will not be charged any registration fee on the purchase of a new vehicle, said Mr Modi, adding that such vehicle owners will also be entitled to some rebate on road tax.
• The policy would attract an investment of Rs. 10,000 crores and create thousands of employment opportunities, he said.

Aim of the Policy:

• The policy is aimed at creating an ecosystem to phase out unfit and polluting vehicles.
• It will reduce pollution, improve fuel efficiency and increase the government’s revenue collection from the sale of new vehicles.
• The policy will kick in for government vehicles from April 1, 2022.

Key Features of the Policy:

• A vehicle has to undergo fitness tests after 20 years in the case of privately owned vehicles and 15 years in the case of commercial vehicles.
• Any vehicle that fails the fitness test or fails to renew its registration certificate may be declared as an End of Life Vehicle. 
• Vehicle re-registration fees will be increased to discourage people from running old vehicles.
• Automated fitness centres will be established throughout the country to ease vehicle scrapping.
• All government vehicles will be de-registered after 15 years.
• Vintage cars will be exempted from this policy and separate guidelines will be formulated to regulate them.

Incentives for Scrapping: 

• A vehicles scrap value of the ex-showroom price of the vehicle ranging from 4-6% will be given to the owner if they choose to vehicle scrap policy
• A rebate of up to 25% will be given on Road Tax
• Vehicle manufacturers will be advised to give a 5% discount on new vehicles against a scrapping certificate.