Daily Current Capsules 21^st April 2022

Infrastructure Development: Energy/GSIII
NITI Aayog Releases Draft Battery Swapping Policy

What's the NEWS

• In Budget Speech 2022-23, it was announced that The Government of India will be introducing Battery Swapping policy and interoperability standards in order to improve efficiency in the EV Ecosystem.
• In this regard, NITI Aayog held an inter-ministerial discussion to formulate a robust and comprehensive Battery Swapping policy framework in February 2022.
• After due deliberations and taking cognizance of all the inputs provided by relevant stakeholders, NITI Aayog has drafted the Battery Swapping Policy.

Know! about Battery swapping

• Battery swapping is an alternative which involves exchanging discharged batteries for charged ones. Battery Swapping de-links the vehicle and fuel (Battery in this case) and hence reduces the upfront cost of the vehicles.
• Battery swapping is popularly used for smaller vehicles such as 2 and 3 wheelers which have smaller batteries that are easier to swap compared to other automotive segments wherein the same can be implemented mechanically.
• Battery swapping offers three key advantages relative to charging: it is time, space, and cost efficient, provided each swappable battery is actively used.
• Further, Battery Swapping provides level playing field to innovative and sustainable business models such as ‘Battery As a Service'.

• During the COP26 summit in Glasgow, India committed to reduce carbon emission intensity by 45%, and take our non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030 and meet 50% of our energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030, and finally achieve the Net Zero target by 2070.
• The road transport sector is one of the major contributors to CO2 emissions and accords to one third of the particulate matter emissions.
• To decarbonize the transport sector, transition to clean mobility, led by electric vehicles, is paramount.
• Electric mobility represents a viable option to meet these commitments, while packed with innovative business solutions, appropriate technology, and support infrastructure.
• Several supporting initiatives have been implemented, such as the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric (Hybrid) Vehicles in India (FAME) I and II, and the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) for National Programme on Advanced Cell (ACC) Battery Storage (NPACC), to boost indigenous battery manufacturing capacity.
• State governments are developing complementary policies to promote EV adoption.
• India's e-mobility revolution is led by the two-wheeler (2W) and three-wheeler (3W) vehicle segments.
• 2Ws account for 70-80% of all private vehicles, whereas 3Ws play a critical role for last mile connectivity in cities.

• Oil India Limited (OIL) has taken the first significant step towards Green Hydrogen Economy in India with the commissioning of India's First 99.999% pure Green Hydrogen pilot plant, with an installed capacity of 10 kg per day at its Jorhat Pump Station in Assam
• The plant was commissioned in a record time of 3 months.
• The plant produces Green Hydrogen from the electricity generated by the existing 500kW Solar plant using a 100 kW Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) Electrolyser array.
• The use of AEM technology is being used for the first time in India.
• This plant is expected to increase its production of green hydrogen from 10 kg per day to 30 kg per day in future.
• The company has initiated a detailed study in collaboration with IIT Guwahati on blending of Green Hydrogen with Natural Gas and its effect on the existing infrastructure of OIL.
• Green hydrogen
• It is defined as hydrogen produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable electricity.
• This is a very different pathway compared to both grey and blue.
• Grey hydrogen is traditionally produced from methane (CH4), split with steam into CO2 - the main culprit for climate change - and H2, hydrogen.
• Grey hydrogen has increasingly been produced also from coal, with significantly higher CO2 emissions per unit of hydrogen produced, so much that is often called brown or black hydrogen instead of grey.
• Blue hydrogen follows the same process as grey, with the additional technologies necessary to capture the CO2 produced when hydrogen is split from methane (or from coal) and store it for long term.

• The high cost of production is the main factor behind the low use of green hydrogen.

Prelims Factoids
Sarmat Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

What's the NEWS

• Russia announced that it successfully test-launched a Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile at a time when Moscow-West tensions have sharply escalated over Ukraine.

• The missile was fired from the Plesetsk state test cosmodrome in northwest Russia's Arkhangelsk region.
• After the test, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the new missile complex has the highest tactical and technical characteristics and is able to overcome all modern means of anti-missile defense.
• An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a missile with a minimum range of 5,500 kilometres primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads).

Governance/GSII

NIDHI RULES, 2014

What's the NEWS

• The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has amended rules governing Nidhi companies, whereby its prior declaration will be mandatory for certain entities before they start accepting deposits.

• Under the Companies Act, 1956, a Nidhi or Mutual Benefit Society meant a company which the Central Government declared as Nidhi or Mutual Benefit Society by notification in the official gazette.
• Under the Companies Act, 2013, initially there was no need for a company to get declaration from Central Government to function as a Nidhi Company.
• Now, public companies desiring to function as Nidhis must obtain prior declaration from the central government before accepting deposits
• A Nidhi company, especially popular in southern states like Tamil Nadu, is a non-banking financial company. The core business of Nidhi companies is borrowing and lending money between their members.
• For timely disposal, it has also been provided in amended rules that in case no decision is conveyed by the central government within 45 days of the receipt of applications by companies in NDH-4 form, approval will be deemed as granted.
• This will apply for such companies which shall be incorporated after Nidhi (Amendment) Rules, 2022.

Defence and Security/GSIII

LAUNCH OF SIXTH SCORPENE SUBMARINE ‘VAGSHEER'

What's the NEWS

• Yard 11880, the sixth and last submarine of the Indian Navy's Kalvari class submarines of Project 75 has been launched today at the Kanhoji Angre Wet Basin of Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL).
• The first of the Project - 75 submarines was commissioned into the Navy in December 2017 and presently four submarines of this Project are in commission in the Indian Navy.
• The fifth submarine is progressing with the Sea Trials and is likely to be delivered this year.
• The sixth submarine will now commence setting to work of various equipment and their harbour trials.
• The crew will thereafter sail the submarine for the rigorous Sea Acceptance Trials after which the submarine would be delivered to the Indian Navy by late next year.