What is the news : Recently, the Union Cabinet approved the Inland Vessels Bill, 2021, which will replace the Inland Vessels Act, 1917 after passing in Parliament

Features of the Bill:

• A key feature of the Bill is a unified law for the entire country, instead of separate rules framed by the States.
• The certificate of registration granted under the proposed law will be deemed to be valid in all States and Union Territories, and there will be no need to seek separate permissions from the States.
• The Bill provides for a central database for recording the details of vessel, vessel registration, crew on an electronic portal.
• All non-mechanically propelled vessels will also have to be enrolled at the district, taluk or panchayat or village level.
• It enlarges the definition of ‘inland waters’, by including tidal water limit and national waterways declared by the Central Government.
• It also deals with pollution control measures of Inland Vessels. This Bill directs the Central Government to designate a list of chemicals, substances, etc. as pollutants.

 Inland Waterways:

• India has about 14,500 km of navigable waterways which comprise of rivers, canals, backwaters, creeks, etc.
• As per the National Waterways Act 2016, 111 waterways have been declared as National Waterways (NWs).
• NW-1: Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly River System (Prayagraj-Haldia) with length 1620 km is the longest National Waterway in India.
• The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is implementing the Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) for capacity augmentation of navigation on the Haldia-Varanasi stretch of Ganga (part of NW-1) with the technical and financial assistance of the World Bank.