Industrial oxygen: DPIIT further relaxes norms for mandatory diversion

From June 1 onwards, the government had temporarily permitted the resumption of oxygen supply for industrial use by key manufacturing sectors, pursuant to certain fixed limits. On June 8, the DPIIT further relaxed those targets allowing more oxygen for industrial use.

Subhayan Chakraborty

June 09, 2021 / 13:23 IST

Late in May, the Home Ministry reviewed the DPIIT's request to again reopen industrial oxygen supply to key industries. [Representative image: Reuters]

The government has further relaxed the norms guiding the mandatory diversion of industrial oxygen for medical use, now allowing upto 41.8 percent of oxygen produced in the country to be allowed for industrial use.

According to an order dated 8 June, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) allowed manufacturers and suppliers to now supply revised quantities of oxygen for industrial use. As the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic slowly subside and medical oxygen demand follows suit, the government is slowly allowing more oxygen to be used for industrial purposes.

Currently, the government limits the amount of oxygen that can be used for industrial purposes for all producing units. This is based on their geographical location, production capacity and demand for both medical and industrial oxygen in the sector.

All producing units are grouped into the five regions of the country, namely North, West, Central, East and South and the limit of oxygen allowed for industrial purposes varies among them.

The latest order shows that 61 percent of oxygen production capacity in the North region is allowed for industrial use, the highest in the country. This is followed by 51.5 percent of East region, 50 percent of Central region and 49 percent of West region. Only 8 percent of oxygen production capacity in the South region is allowed to be used for industrial purposes, owing to the relatively higher incidence of cases persisting in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

Show