Page 62 - economic_survey_2021-2022

36 Economic Survey 2021-22

 Auction calendar fixed: Spectrum auctions to be normally held in the
last quarter of every financial year.

l Along with this, various measures were undertaken to address liquidity
requirement of telecom service providers including moratorium/
deferment on payments of dues arising out of the adjusted gross revenue
judgement or due payments of spectrum purchased in past auctions
(excluding the auction of 2021).
Public procurement New guidelines for procurement and project management were announced
policy in October 2021
 Quality-cum-Cost Based Selection for the selection of bidders for works
and non-consultancy services allowed as well.
 Stringent deadlines for making payments: The new guidelines stipulate
timely release of payments of 75 per cent or more of bills raised within 10
working days of the submission of the bill. The remaining bill payment is
to be made after final checking within 28 working days.
 Arbitration and dispute resolution: Procuring authorities to set a special
board/committee to review the case before filing an appeal against any
order. Government has allowed for the release of 75 per cent of the amount
to contractors against a bank guarantee in cases where a procuring agency
has challenged an arbitral award.
Aviation Drone Rules (announced in August 2021)
 Extended applicability of rules: Drones up to 500 kg are now subject to
regulations, compared to the earlier limit of 300 kg.
 Several approvals abolished with the total forms to be filled reduced
from 25 to 5.
 Types of fees reduced from 72 to 4.
 Quantum of fees to be paid considerably reduced and delinked with the
size of drone.
 Removal of requirement of prior security clearance.
 Earlier restrictions on all foreign entities owning, manufacturing or
dealing with drones in India has been done away with.
 No remote pilot licence required for micro drones (for non-commercial
use) and nano drones.
 Expanded area of drone operations: An interactive map on the Digital
Sky platform specifies colour-coded zones on the map i.e. green, yellow
and red, indicating free zones, those which require prior permission,
and no-fly zones, respectively. The perimeters of these zones have also
been liberalised to increase freely accessible airspace under the green
category.
Financial sector l Banking: Reforms in Deposit Insurance
 Increase in deposit insurance from ` 1 lakh to ` 5 lakh per depositor
per bank. This led to 98.1 per cent of the total number of accounts
being fully protected and 50.9 per cent of total deposits being insured
at end-March 2021.