Parliamentary panel suggests changes to Competition (Amendment) Bill (GS Paper 2, Governance)
Why in news?
- Recently, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance recommended various changes to a bill to amend the competition law, including bringing cartels under the scope of settlements as a ‘pragmatic recourse’.
- It also said the current prima-facie opinion timeline and that of passing the order for approval of combinations, should remain unchanged.
Reducing Timeline:
- Under the Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022 that was introduced in the Parliament on August 5, the Corporate Affairs Ministry has proposed reducing the timeline for CCI to form a prima-facie opinion on a case to 20 days from 30 days.
- It has proposed cutting down the timeline for approval of combinations to 150 days from 210 days.
- In this regard, the committee said that apprehensions were raised by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and stakeholders that it will put the authority in a difficult and onerous position.
- The committee is of the opinion that reducing the timeline can be burdensome for an already understaffed commission.
Cartel investigation:
- Among other recommendations, the panel said CCI should consider expanding the scope of settlements to include cartels also as a ‘pragmatic recourse to the whole process’.
- The argument against including cartels is that they, by their very nature are anti-competitive. A settlement provision for cartels on a case-by-case basis may be for the courts to decide. It does not require emphasis that any matter, cartels or otherwise, that reaches the settlement stage, would have an anti-competitive one.
- In the bill, the Ministry has proposed the introduction of a 'Settlement and Commitment framework to reduce litigations' and incentivise parties in an ongoing cartel investigation in terms of lesser penalty to disclose information regarding other cartels.
- An application for settlement can be filed only after receipt of the investigation report and before passing the final order by CCI as may be specified by the regulations.
Background:
- After the introduction, the bill was referred to the committee, which is chaired by BJP member Jayant Sinha.
- It will be the first time since the enforcement of the Competition Act in 2009 that amendments will be made to the Act.
- The Act was brought in 2002 and subsequently, it underwent amendments in 2007 and 2009.
- In May 2009, the antitrust provisions of the law came into force and two years later in May 2011, CCI started screening mergers and acquisitions.
Meeting of Special Committee for Interlinking of Rivers
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Why in news?
- Recently, the 36th Annual General Meeting of National Water Development Agency (NWDA) Society and 20th Meeting of Special Committee for Interlinking of Rivers (SCILR) were held under the chairmanship of Union Minister for Jal Shakti.
Key Highlights:
- Special Committee for Interlinking of Rivers (SCILR) approved the proposal of considering the modified Parbati-Kalisindh-Chambal (PKC) link project duly integrated with Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) as a part of National Perspective Plan of ILR and declare the Phase-I of the Project as a Priority interlinking project.
- SCILR was also apprised of status of Cabinet Note for constitution of National Interlinking of Rivers Authority (NIRA)recently submitted to Union Cabinet for approval.
Way Forward:
- The Interlinking of Rivers (ILR) Programme is very important for enhancing water and food security of the country and would be helpful in providing water to drought prone and rainfed farming areas.
IEX says it has become Indias first carbon-neutral power exchange
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Why in news?
- India's leading energy trading platform IEX said had become the country's first carbon-neutral power exchange using market-based tradable instruments to offset its carbon emissions.
CERSs:
- To reduce its carbon footprint, the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) said that it voluntarily cancelled the certified emissions reductions (CERs) from clean projects registered under the Clean Development Mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
- A CER is a certificate issued by the United Nations to member countries for preventing one tonne of carbon dioxide emissions.
Reducing GHG emissions:
- According to the recent UNEP 2022 report, global GHG emissions must be reduced by 45% by 2030 to get on track to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. The total global GHG emissions were estimated at around 53 GTCO2eq in 2021.
- The recently concluded COP27 reiterated the need to ramp-down GHG emissions. India has set a national target of net zero emissions by 2070.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced India's pledge at the COP26 Glasgow Summit in November 2021.
Way Forward:
- Net zero, or becoming carbon neutral, simply means not adding to the amount of greenhouse gases already present in the atmosphere.
- IEX is committed to fulfilling India's net zero emissions target by creating an ecosystem for reducing emissions.
