Important cabinet decisions include E-bus Seva, Vishwakarma Scheme, and Railways Projects
On Wednesday, August 16, the cabinet gave its approval to many initiatives under the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. These included the currently active Vishwakarma Yojana. In his Independence Day speech from the walls of the famous Red Fort, the Prime Minister made announcements. Additionally, the cabinet announced the launch of the PM e-Bus Seva Scheme. There are considerable funding available to support the Digital India program as well as the expansion of Indian Railways.
The Union Cabinet’s decisions were summarized in a session by Ashiwini Vaishnaw, the railway minister, who also made a few announcements. He announced the clearance of a group of seven railroad projects valued at 325 billion rupees ($3.91 billion). These initiatives seek to improve mobility and connectivity throughout nine states.
Vaishnaw emphasized that the PM-Gati Shakti National Master Plan was directly responsible for the success of these activities. This seeks to provide a thorough foundation for multimodal connection. States like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal are included in the plan.
During the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), the resolutions were passed.
e-bus PM Seva:
The PM e-Bus Seva program has received clearance from the Union Cabinet in an effort to improve environmentally friendly transportation choices. The purpose of this is to improve urban bus operations. 169 cities will be served by a complete 10,000 electric bus fleet operating under a public-private partnership (PPP) model.
In addition, as part of the initiative’s “Green Urban Mobility Initiative,” infrastructure upgrades, including multimodal interchange facilities and the deployment of Automated Fare Collection Systems based on the NCMC in 181 cities, are on schedule.
The plan’s reach extends to cities with a population greater than 300,000, with a focus on those without a formal bus service. The initiative’s total planned cost is Rs 57,613 crore, of which the national government would provide assistance of Rs 20,000 crore.
The PM Vishwakarma Plan
The project, announced by PM Modi during his Independence Day address, intends to provide traditional artisans and skilled craftsmen with discounted loans up to a maximum of Rs 2 lakh. These individuals come from a variety of occupations, including barbers, blacksmiths, weavers, and goldsmiths.
These artisans would first be given a loan with a subsidy of Rs 1 lakh, then another loan with a subsidy of Rs 2 lakh. A 5% concessional interest rate will be applied to the prolongation of these loans.
The initiative, which will be launched with a budget of Rs 13,000 crores on September 17 in honor of Vishwakarma Jayanti, aims to empower and aid these craftsmen in their endeavors.
Seven railway projects in India
Seven multi-tracking plans put up by the Ministry of Railways have been approved by the Union Cabinet. The Central government would support these projects, which have a projected financial commitment of Rs 32,500 crores. These initiatives would have a significant influence on 39 districts spread over 9 states, including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
The main goal of these projects is to impressively add 2339 kilometers to the current Indian Railways network. Beyond extension, their attention is directed at maximizing the capacity of the existing line, optimizing train operations, reducing traffic, and improving overall travel and transit ease.
Digital India Program Expansion:
With a budget of Rs 14,903 crore, the Union Cabinet has approved the continuation of the Digital India initiative. This enlarged effort aims to teach an extra 2.65 lakh people in the field of information security and improve the capabilities of 6.25 lakh IT professionals via both upskilling and reskilling.
Bhashini, a state-of-the-art AI-powered multilingual translation tool, will be released across the 22 languages specified in Schedule VIII, and nine additional supercomputers will be added to the National Super Computer Mission.
This program’s goal to support 1,200 new entrepreneurs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities is a key component. Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) will also benefit from the government’s DigiLocker platform, which enables access to digital versions of several papers, including driver’s licenses and car registration certificates. This will be implemented as a separate app that will allow these entities’ papers to be digitally validated.
