Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (BNCAP)

The government is planning a new car assessment programme (NCAP) in India, to be called the Bharat NCAP or BNCAP.

What is Bharat NCAP?

Bharat NCAP is a new car safety assessment programme which proposes a mechanism of awarding ‘Star Ratings’ to automobiles based upon their performance in crash tests.

BNCAP standard is aligned with global benchmarks and it is beyond minimum regulatory requirements.

The proposed Bharat NCAP assessment will allocate Star Ratings from 1 to 5 stars.

The testing of vehicles for this programme will be carried out at testing agencies, with the necessary infrastructure.

Its implementation

BNCAP will be rolled out from April 1, 2023.

It will be applicable on type-approved motor vehicles of category M1 with gross vehicle weight less than 3.5 tonnes, manufactured or imported in the country.

M1 category motor vehicles are used for the carriage of passengers, comprising eight seats, in addition to driver’s seat.

Significance of Bharat NCAP

BNCAP rating will provide consumers an indication of the level of protection offered to occupants by evaluating the vehicle in the areas of:

Adult occupant protection

Child occupant protection

Safety assist technologies

It will serve as a consumer-centric platform, allowing customers to opt for safer cars based upon their Star-Ratings.

It will also promote a healthy competition among original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in India to manufacture safer vehicles.

It will ensure structural and passenger safety in cars, along with increasing the export-worthiness of Indian automobiles.

It will prove to be a critical instrument in making our automobile industry Aatmanirbhar.

Why does India need to crash-test vehicles?

Indian vehicles have historically not been crash-tested in the country.

Despite being home to only 1% of the world’s vehicles, India shoulders 11% of the global road crash fatality burden.

What about existing testing standards?

India’s Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR) mandate a safety and performance assessment, including a basic conformity crash test by agencies like the ARAI and ICAT when vehicles go in for type approvals.

However, this does not involve a crash test rating.

Many international automakers have been found to sell products in India which score much lower on safety and structural performance parameters.

This is done to reduce costs in the price-sensitive Indian market.

However, safety is moving up nowadays the list of key purchase criteria in India as well.

How will a homegrown NCAP help?

Global NCAP (GNCAP) crash tests for many best-selling Indian vehicles have dismal ratings, many of them rated zero in a bias.

The government hopes that by facilitating these tests by in-house agencies, more automakers will voluntarily undergo safety assessments and build vehicles that hold up to global standards.

How will it compare with GNCAP?

The government wants the two tests to be in congruence with each other.

It intends to design the BNCAP to resemble the GNCAP, the global gold standard, as closely as possible, including the speed for crash testing at 64kmph.

Central Motor Vehicle rules encompass standards with respect to pedestrian protection and seat belt reminders among others and will be retained in the testing under the BNCAP.

The government hopes the move will increase the export-worthiness of Indian automobiles.

What is PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM)?

The ISRO has launched three Singaporean satellites in precise orbit through the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module or ‘POEM’.

What is POEM?

The POEM is a platform that will help perform in-orbit experiments using the final, and otherwise discarded, stage of ISRO’s workhorse rocket, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

The PSLV is a four-stage rocket where the first three spent stages fall back into the ocean, and the final stage (PS4) — after launching the satellite into orbit — ends up as space junk.

However, in PSLV-C53 mission, the spent final stage will be utilised as a “stabilised platform” to perform experiments.

POEM is carrying six payloads, including two from Indian space start-ups Digantara and Dhruva Space.

Features of POEM

POEM has a dedicated Navigation Guidance and Control (NGC) system for attitude stabilisation, which stands for controlling the orientation of any aerospace vehicle within permitted limits.

The NGC will act as the platform’s brain to stabilize it with specified accuracy.

POEM will derive its power from solar panels mounted around the PS4 tank, and a Li-Ion battery.

It will navigate using four sun sensors, a magnetometer, gyros & NavIC.

It carries dedicated control thrusters using Helium gas storage. It is enabled with a telecomm and feature.

Has ISRO repurposed and used PS4 rocket junk earlier?

The Indian space agency first demonstrated the capability of using PSLV-C44 as an orbital platform in 2019.

It injected Microsat-R and Kalamsat-V2 satellites into their designated orbits.

The fourth stage in that mission was kept alive as an orbital platform for space-based experiments.

While in that mission, the fourth stage had Li-Ion batteries, solar panels are an addition this time.

The latest repurposing and upgrade of the fourth stage of the PSLV rocket involves the stabilization of the orbital platform.

UAPA necessary to act against terrorists: Minister

A Union Minister has said it was necessary to have certain laws like the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) so that action could be taken against terrorists and those who “behead other people”.

Unlawful (Activities) Prevention Act (UAPA)

The UAPA is aimed at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.

Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India

It is an upgrade on the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act TADA, which was allowed to lapse in 1995 and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) was repealed in 2004.

It was originally passed in 1967 under the then Congress government led by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Till 2004, “unlawful” activities referred to actions related to secession and cession of territory. Following the 2004 amendment, “terrorist act” was added to the list of offences.

Major feature: Designation of Terrorists

The Centre had amended UAPA, 1967, in August 2019 to include the provision of designating an individual as a terrorist.

Before this amendment, only organisations could be designated as terrorist outfits.

Section 15 of the UAPA defines a “terrorist act” as any act committed with intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, security, economic security, or sovereignty of India or with intent to strike terror or likely to strike terror in the people or any section of the people in India or in any foreign country.

The original Act dealt with “unlawful” acts related to secession; anti-terror provisions were introduced in 2004.

Who makes such designation?

The UAPA (after 2019 amendment)seeks to empower the central government to designate an individual a “terrorist” if they are found committing, preparing for, promoting, or involved in an act of terror.

A similar provision already exists in Part 4 and 6 of the legislation for organizations that can be designated as a “terrorist organisations”.

How individuals are declared terrorists?

The central government may designate an individual as a terrorist through a notification in the official gazette, and add his name to the schedule supplemented to the UAPA Bill.

The government is not required to give an individual an opportunity to be heard before such a designation.

At present, in line with the legal presumption of an individual being innocent until proven guilty, an individual who is convicted in a terror case is legally referred to as a terrorist.

While those suspected of being involved in terrorist activities are referred to as terror accused.

What happens when an individual is declared a terrorist?

The designation of an individual as a global terrorist by the United Nations is associated with sanctions including travel bans, freezing of assets and an embargo against procuring arms.

The UAPA, however, does not provide any such detail.

It also does not require the filing of cases or arresting individuals while designating them as terrorists.

Removing the terrorist tag

The UAPA gives the central government the power to remove a name from the schedule when an individual makes an application.

The procedure for such an application and the process of decision-making will is decided by the central government.

If an application filed by an individual declared a terrorist is rejected by the government, the UAPA gives him the right to seek a review within one month after the application is rejected.

The central government will set up the review committee consisting of a chairperson (a retired or sitting judge of a High Court) and three other members.

The review committee is empowered to order the government to delete the name of the individual from the schedule that lists “terrorists” if it considers the order to be flawed.

Apart from these two avenues, the individual can also move the courts to challenge the government’s order.