New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government marked 100 days in office of its third consecutive term on Tuesday, coinciding with the PM’s 74th birthday. The first Cabinet meeting after the government completed its 100 days in office in the third term was held, where a slew of key Cabinet decisions were taken and approvals given to several schemes.
During the meeting, the Union Cabinet gave its nod to the development of Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM), Union Minister Ashwani Vaishnav said. The mission will be an important step towards the vision of the government to explore and study the Venus. Under the mission, the Department of Space is envisaged to orbit a scientific spacecraft in the orbit of Venus for better understanding of the planet’s surface and subsurface, and atmospheric processes. The total fund granted for the VOM is Rs 1,236 crore out of which Rs 824 crore will be spent on the spacecraft.
He added that the Cabinet also greenlighted the development of first module of Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS-1). It also approved to carry out missions to demonstrate a number of technologies for building and operating BAS. Additional requirements to meet the ongoing Gaganyaan Programme were also approved.
To take off the burden of farmers’ shoulders, the Cabinet cleared the proposal for fixing the Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) rates for RABI Season, 2024 on Phosphatic and Potassic (P&K) fertilisers. The budgetary requirement for Rabi season 2024 would be around Rs 24,475.53 crore. It also gave its consent to continue Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA) schemes to give good prices to farmers and check volatility of prices in essential commodities for consumers. The total outlay will be Rs 35,000 crore during 15th Finance Commission Cycle upto 2025-26.
Keeping the youth in mind, approval was given to a plan to establish Indian Institute for Immersive Creators on the lines of IITs, IIMs. The move aims to hone skill and create jobs for five crore youth, the minister added.
The Cabinet also approved a proposal to set up the National Centre of Excellence (NCoE) for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR) on lines of the IITs and IIMs to anchor the animation ecosystem in the country, he said.
The Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan, which has a total outlay of Rs 79,156 crore was also approved. It will improve the socio-economic condition of tribal communities. The scheme will cover around 63,000 villages and benefit over 5 crore tribal people.