Cabinet approves funding for railways, e-buses, digital India | Key points

Union Minister Anurag Thakur said Rs 57,613 crores will be spent on PM-eBus Sewa, and the Centre will provide Rs 20,000 crore for the scheme

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a slew of schemes, ranging from the PM-eBus Sewa for augmenting city bus operations to seven multi-tracking projects of the Indian Railways worth Rs 32,500 crore.

The decisions were passed in the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Here are the top points on announcements made during Centre's cabinet briefing:

1. The Centre announced 10,000 new electric buses across 100 cities under the PM e-bus Seva. At a briefing after the Union Cabinet meeting, Union I&B minister Anurag Thakur said that out of 169 cities, 100 cities will be chosen on a challenge method. The scheme has been allocated Rs 57,613 crore.

2. Explaining the new scheme further, Thakur said, "Out of Rs 57,613 crore, Rs 20,000 crore will be provided by the central government. The scheme will cover cities with three lakhs and above population. Under this scheme, city bus operations with 10,000 e-buses on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model will be done. This scheme will support bus operations for 10 years."

3. The cabinet also approved the Vishwakarma Yojana scheme, said Union Railways, Communications, Electronics and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw during the brief.

4. Under the PM Vishwakarma scheme, the government will promote traditional skills, including pottery, blacksmithing, construction, tailoring, and boat-building, which have been transferred through the previous generations.

5. Vishwakarma Yojana is expected to benefit three million craftsmen families. The Rs 13,000 crore scheme will enable craftsmen to get subsidised loans up to Rs 2 lakh, Vaishnaw was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

6. "There are two types of skill programme under the scheme and a stipend of Rs 500 will be given to those who are taking benefit of the scheme and to buy modern tools, Rs 15,000 in mode of support will be given. And loans up to Rs 1,00,000 to the beneficiaries of the Vishwakarma scheme," said Vaishnaw.

7. The Cabinet further approved the extension of the Digital India program with an outlay of Rs 14,903 crore, informed Vaishnaw. 'Bhashini', the national digital public platform for universal language translation, will also be introduced under the Digital India program, he added.

8. During the cabinet meeting, the Centre also decided to add nine more supercomputers to the already existing 18 systems deployed under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM), PTI quoted Vaishnaw as saying.

9. The Union Cabinet has approved seven multi-tracking projects of Indian Railways with an outlay of Rs 32,500 crore, said Vaishnaw, adding, "The government, under PM Modi, is extensively focusing on the development of the Railways."

10. During the cabinet meeting, the Centre also approved the extension of DigiLocker to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). "DigiLockercurrently is available only for individuals, and it now has more than 400 million subscribers. Soon, a new extension of DigiLocker will be launched for MSMEs," Vaishnaw said.