COMMENTS

Thanks a lot for posting this.  I will go through some of the parts especially chapters III, IV, V , X and XIII over the next few days.

Srivathsa

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Thanks Sanjay for sharing the info.

We should be read the draft bill and sned inputs  to below maiid and follow up with the to include whcih is correct thing and which have failed in present form due to lack of so any loose ends.

rtsbill2014-morth@nic.in

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There is a lot of stuff in this draft. At first glance it looks like a "catch all" for everything to do with road transport, not necessarily just road safety. So, I figured I would take a peel the onion type of approach to wrap my mind around this beast and consequently I plan to make multiple posts to present my understanding of the bill and the possible act.

As we know there are other laws and policies already in place governing road transport and safety. Just to give one example, the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 purportedly covers many of the aspects of road transportation and safety that the 2014 bill/act goes into. This document is available here:

https://olps.punjabtransport.org/Central%20Motor%20Vehcile%20Act%201988.pdf

There is also a 2007 document called "The Report of the Committee on Road Safety and Traffic Management" which includes the 2007 version of the "National Road Safety and Traffic Management Bill". It is unclear what happened to this bill. This document can be seen here:

http://www.infrastructure.gov.in/pdf/Road_Safety.pdf

I have not done a thorough search to find other acts/policies/documents that are part of the entire gamut of road transportation and safety. So, it would appear that all these pieces of legislation and policies will get subsumed by this "mega act".

So, I would summarize this latest bill as a "mother of all bills" which incorporates all aspects of road transport and safety into a single document. If enacted, the act could trigger the setting up a "Mother Of All Bureacracies" if not managed carefully.

There are sections of this bill that apparently do not have anything to do with road safety. For example, Chapter VI describes a National Road Transport and Multimodal Coordination Authority  while Chapter VIII prescribes a Public Goods Transport and National Freight Policy which will presumably make interstate commerce easier. So, I see these as elements of the bill that were shoehorned in to meet the Big Chief's "Make in India" mission and to make India globally more competitive. What we see here may be an exemplar of the "business first" posture of the new government.

There is also a recommendation to set up another authority (didn't I say something about MOAB?!) called the Infrastructure and Multimodal Facilitation Authority. I am sure it is clearly differentiated from the National Road Transport and Multimodal Coordination Authority but the devil as they say is in the details. I hope these two authorities don't step on each others toes. I am sure there is a provision for a higher authority to resolve any disputes that may arise between various minor authorities.

So, where is the meat with respect to road safety? Chapter X is devoted to road safery and traffic management and provides for enactment of safety rules. Chapter XIII describes a National Highway Traffic Regulation and Protection Force (thankfully, this is just a Force not an Authority) provides for enforcement of rules and Chapter XIV describes offences and commensurate penalties. I am yet to find out what is new here that we don't already have.

My apologies for getting carried away -- heavily influenced by the 303-page bill, what I intended as a mere preamble to my analysis of the bill took on a flavor of the bill.

VVR

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The first impression formed upon reading this draft bill is that it is multiple bills concatenated into one. There is also an indication of centralization of power which does not bode well for effective implementation as well as buy in from the states. As VVR mentions above, there are several authorities and forces being set up by the bill. The report of the committee on road safety in 2009 timeframe -see link provided by VVR above, has strongly influenced the draft and is prerequisite reading to understand things better.

So there is talk of seeing up a Vehicle Regulation and Road Safety Authority. According to the aforementioned 2009 report, there are similar agencies in US, UK, Sweden, Australia etc. There is also state road safety authorities planned, to be setup and funded by the states! It somehow reminds me of the pollution control boards. We all know how well that setup works.

This vehicle regulation and road safety authority oversees a Unified Driver Licensing System, a Unified Vehicle Registration System, and basically, according to the bill, removes all situations adverse to road safety. The National Road Transport and Multimodal Coordination Authority, both at center and state cover public passenger transport, public goods transport and National Freight Policy. The rest of the bill talks about an Infra and Multi Modal Facilitation Authority, Road Safety & Traffic Management, Insurance, Claims Tribunal etc. As well as a dedicated National Highway Traffic Regulation & Protection Force.

Now with all this, 305 pages appears rather inadequate. Questions that appear really open include how these new agencies will be effective. How will they map and work with each other. What is suitable funding level and how will the be adequately funded? Will this new setup adequately eliminate the corruption and lack of enforcement that lead to the problems faced, at least substantially. What is the existing framework that is being replaced etc.

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For those too lazy to read the entire bill or are too busy flying at 35,000 feet above ground, there is an executive summary:

http://morth.nic.in/writereaddata/linkimages/Road%20Transport%20and%20Safety%20Bill%202014%20Draft-0068086402.pdf

Of course, we will have to read the bill in its entirety to see if there is any connection between the stuff in it and the exec summary.

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