Vande Bharat Trains
The finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced the introduction of 400 new Vande Bharat trains in the Budget speech.She said that one product one railway station will be popularised and 400 new Vande Bharat trains will be introduced.Vande Bharat is a 16-coach, stylish train set with no separate locomotive. Designed and developed in the government-owned Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, its first prototype was ready by the end of 2018.Two such trains have so far been manufactured — one is currently running between Delhi and Varanasi and the other between Delhi and Katra (Jammu and Kashmir).
PM Gati Shakti Master Plan
Finance Minister also announced that the PM Gati Shakti masterplan for the road transport will be finalised in 2022-23. The Economic Survey on January 31 said the extent and quality of infrastructure determine the ability of a country to utilize its comparative advantage and enable cost competitiveness. Having said that, the survey reveals a consistent increase in the construction of National Highways/roads since 2013-14, with 13,327 kms constructed in 2020-21 as compared to 10,237 kms in 2019-20."Infrastructure is the backbone for any economy," the Economic Survey tabled in Parliament said. It said in 2021-22 (till September), 3,824 kms of the road network was constructed."There has been a consistent increase in the construction of National Highways/roads since 2013-14 with 13,327 kms of roads constructed in 2020-21 as compared to 10,237 kms in 2019-20, indicating an increase of 30.2 percent over the previous year," it further said. According to the Survey, the significant upturn in road construction in 2020-21 was due to the increase in public expenditure by 29.5 percent as compared to the previous year.A reflection of the was impetus given by the government to a critical sector that generates employment and supports infrastructure during a pandemic year. The survey also noted that road infrastructure is widely recognized as a potent means of socio-economic integration and is vital for the economic development of the country.
Ken-Betwa project
Nirmala Sitharaman indicated the Centre's renewed push for river-linking projects in India. For instance, she announced that Rs.44,605 crore had been allocated for the Ken-Betwa river linking project. Moreover, Sitharaman revealed that the Centre would extend all possible support for the implementation of 5 more river linking projects provided that the respective state governments reach a consensus on the same. "Draft DPRs for 5 river links namely- Damanganga-Pinjal, Par Tapi- Narmada, Godavari-Krishna, Krishna-Pennar, and Pennar-Cauvery have been finalised. Once a consensus has been reached among the beneficiary states, the Centre will provide support for their implementation," the Union Finance Minister added. The announcement pertaining to the Ken-Betwa project assumes significance ahead of the upcoming election in Uttar Pradesh as it is expected to boost socio-economic prosperity in the backward Bundelkhand region.
What is the Ken-Betwa project?
This project entails the transfer of water from the Ken to the Betwa River through the construction of Daudhan Dam and a canal linking the two rivers, the Lower Orr Project, Kotha Barrage -and Bina Complex Multipurpose Project. Proposed to be implemented in 8 years with state of the art technology, it is set to provide enormous benefits to the districts of Panna, Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Sagar, Damoh, Datia, Vidisha, Shivpuri and Raisen of Madhya Pradesh and Banda, Mahoba, Jhansi and Lalitpur of Uttar Pradesh. Moreover, it also has safeguards as far as environment management is concerned.
5G rollout in FY23
Nirmala Sitharaman said in her budget speech that the spectrum auction for 5G roll out will be conducted in FY23.Telecom companies have already initiated the trials for 5G services in India.Bharti Airtel has successfully conducted India's first 5G trial in the 700 MHz band in partnership with Nokia, on the outskirts of Kolkata.Earlier last year, Airtel demonstrated India's first 5G experience over a live 4G network. It also demonstrated India's first rural 5G trial as well as the first Cloud gaming experience on 5G.