ProMASS News Bureau: Mar 23, 2016:
The Cabinet today approved implementation of rural housing scheme of Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana(PMAY) for construction of pucca houses to all homeless and households living in dilapidated houses. Under the scheme, one crore houses will be built in next three years. The scheme would be implemented in rural areas throughout the country except Delhi and Chandigarh. The cost would be shared between Centre and States. It is part of government’s effort to provide housing for all by 2022. Under the scheme, Rs 1.2 lakh financial assistance will be given per unit in plain areas and Rs 1.3 lakh in hilly and difficult areas.
Construction of one crore proposed houses will cost Rs 81,975 crore . Identification of beneficiaries for the assistance will be done on the basis of Socio Economic and Caste Census data. Funds will be transferred directly to the account of the beneficiary. It will run parallel to the the existing Indira Awaas Yojana. No doubt, the new scheme will be a substantial augmentation of housing effort in rural areas .
The cabinet also cleared additional 6% Dearness Allowance for serving government employees and Dearness Relief for pensioners from 1st January this year. Briefing media in New Delhi this evening, Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the decision will benefit lakhs of serving employees and pensioners.
The cabinet also gave its nod to Ashgabat Agreement, to build an international transport and transit corridor between Central Asia and Persian Gulf. It has also approved procurement of launch services and realization of ground segment for GSAT-11. It will cost Rs 1117 crore, and enable early deployment of satellite to augment Ku-band capacity for various services like VSATS, and broadband.
The Cabinet also gave its approval to 1 thousand 500 million dollar project of World Bank Support to Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin). Cabinet also gave its nod for six venues for FIFA Under-17 World Cup to be held in India in 2017. The venue are JLN Stadium, New Delhi, D.Y. Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai, JLN Stadium, Kochi, Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata, JLN Stadium, Fatorda, Goa and I.G. Stadium Guwahati. It also gave its approval for extending the tenure of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis beyond 31st March 2016 for three years. Cabinet also gave its approval to Revised Cost Estimate of Rs 4,021 crore for the ongoing 720 Mega Watt Mangadechhu Hydroelectric Project in Bhutan. The cabinet also gave its ex post facto approval to the Letter of Intent signed last month between the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship of India and the National Qualifications Authority of the United Arab Emirates.
It will strengthen relations between the two countries and pave the way for bilateral cooperation on skill development.
In an another decision, the Cabinet gave its ex-post facto approval for a MoU between India and the UAE to mobilise long term investment into the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund. It has also approved MoU between India and Lithuania for cooperation in the field of agriculture. Meanwhile, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, CCEA has cleared doubling of Kiul-Gaya Railway line of 124 kilometres costing Rs 1354.22 crore. The project will be completed by 2019-2020. CCEA has also approved doubling of the Ranchi (Hatia) Railway line of 158.5 kilometres to be completed within next six year. The project will cost Rs 1921.94 crore. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given its approval for extension of time period of the Scheme Special Industry Initiative for J&K Udaan till 2019-20. Initially the time period of Udaan was upto 2015-16.
The Cabinet also approved fixation of Nutrient Based Subsidy rates for Phosphatic and Potassic fertlizers for the year 2016-17, due to decreasing trend in international prices of finished fertilizers and raw materials.
