Center to Operate 10,000 E-Buses, Cover 3L+ in 100 Cities, Provide ₹1L Loan to Employees
On August 16, Wednesday, the Cabinet approved the Vishwakarma Yojana. It will aid small workers in the country by providing skills through loans. The government will invest ₹13,000 crore in this scheme within 5 years. The objective of the Vishwakarma Yojana is to empower artisans, goldsmiths, blacksmiths, laundry workers, barbers, and more.
Additionally, PM Approves Operation of 10,000 Buses for E-Bus Service. Cabinet decisions informed by Central Ministers Ashwini Vaishnav and Anurag Thakur.
The Vishwakarma Yojana will provide new skills, tools, credit support, and market support:
Under the scheme, two types of skill training will be provided:
Basic and Advanced. During training, a daily stipend of ₹500 will be given.
The government will provide assistance of ₹15,000 for purchasing modern tools.
Loans up to ₹1 lakh will be provided, with a maximum interest rate of 5%.
After one lakh repayments, the next batch will get loans up to ₹2 lakh.
Support such as branding and online market access will be offered.
For the first time, traditional businesses have been included in the scheme.
PM E-Bus Service Gets Approval, 10,000 New Electric Buses to be Added Central Minister Anurag Thakur announced that the PM E-Bus Service scheme will incur a cost of ₹57,613 crore. Out of this, ₹20,000 crore will be contributed by the central government and the remaining by state governments. Under this initiative, around 10,000 new electric buses will be introduced across the country.
The Central Minister revealed that the buses will operate on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. This scheme will cover 169 cities with a population of 3 lakh or more. It is expected to create employment opportunities for 45,000-55,000 people.
Approval for ₹32,500 Crore, 7 Rail Projects The Cabinet has granted approval for seven projects under the Railway Ministry, with an estimated cost of approximately ₹32,500 crore. Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnav revealed that these projects will extend the current railway network by 2,339 kilometers.
These new rail projects will cover 35 districts in new states – Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Telangana.
Expansion of Digital India Program Approved The Cabinet has also approved the expansion of the Digital India program, with a budget of ₹14,903 crore. Ashwini Vaishnav stated that Digital India has improved IT professionals’ skill levels. He further mentioned that this project will help reskill and upgrade 5.25 lakh IT professionals and provide IT training to 2.65 lakh individuals.
For the National Super Computing Mission, 18 supercomputers are set to be deployed. New supercomputers will be added to the existing network.
