Cabinet nod for incentivising projects to improve oil recovery
New Delhi, Sep 12 : In a move to boost domestic production of hydrocarbons, the cabinet on Wednesday approved a policy to incentivise improved recovery of oil and gas from aging fields.
Following a cabinet meeting, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the fiscal incentives to attract investments and technology into the sector will help unlock an estimated Rs 50 lakh crore of oil and gas in the next 20 years.
"The cabinet has approved a policy framework to promote and incentivise enhanced recovery and improved recovery as well as unconventional hydrocarbon production methods and techniques to improve the recovery factor of existing hydrocarbons reserves for augmenting domestic production of oil and gas," Pradhan said.
"Because of this, new investment and technology will come and Rs 50 lakh crore worth of production will increase in 10 years," he said.
Technological interventions have significant potential in stimulating the recovery of hydrocarbon reserves from the mature and aging fields. An increase by 5 per cent in recovery rate of the original in-place volume in oil production is envisaged to produce 120 million tonnes of additional oil in next 20 years," he said.
"In case of gas, an increase of 3 per cent recovery rate on original in-place volume is envisaged, leading to additional production of 52 billion cubic metres of gas in the next 20 years," the Minister added.
Pradhan said oil companies bringing in investment and new technology in exploration would be granted a 50 per cent reduction in cess, while such companies in gas would get a discount in royalty of 75 per cent.
The policy will be applicable to all contractual regimes and nomination fields.
"The policy is expected to facilitate induction of new, innovative and cutting-edge technology and forging technological collaboration to improve the productivity of existing fields," he said.
The policy, with a sunset clause, will be effective for 10 years from the date of its notification.
However, the fiscal incentives will be available for a period of 120 months from the date of commencement of production in such projects, the government said.
"In case of improved recovery projects, the incentives will be available from the date of achievement of the prescribed benchmark. Defined timelines have been prescribed to complete the various processes under the policy," it added.
Commenting on the development, Vedanta Ltd Chief Executive (Oil and Gas) Sudhir Mathur said in a statement that the move would spur the growth of the domestic oil and gas industry.
"This policy will attract much-needed investments, and usher in a wave of best-in-class technologies to improve India's hydrocarbons recovery," he said.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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