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83000-km worth highway projects, including Bharatmala, get Cabinet nod

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83000-km worth highway projects, including Bharatmala, get Cabinet nod

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Union Cabinet approved highway projects worth around Rs 7 trillion on Tuesday, Bharatmala project finally approved

In a move that paves the way for a major boost to India’s surface transport infrastructure, the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday, approved a slew of highway projects, including the ambitious over 20000-km-long Bharatmala.

The projects are collectively are pegged at an estimated cost of a staggering Rs7 trillion. These highway projects are to be executed within the next five years.

Aimed at pushing economic activity and generating at least 32 crore man days across the country in the next five years, this biggest ever highway development plan to be approved by the Modi Cabinet hopes to develop and expand approximately 83,000 km of roads at an investment of Rs 6.9 lakh crore (Rs 7 trillion) by 2022. The Bharatmala highway project alone is estimated to cover a vast network of 28,400 km – connecting border areas of the country.

The focus of the plan is to improve speed of traffic flow on key corridors by providing uniform four-lane roads between two identified points. Most of these corridors will be shorter and access-controlled for faster movement of cargo vehicles.

“The new highway development programme is both building roads and improving mobility to reduce logistic cost. Better road network and rolling out of smart-tag based tolling will transform the road transport sector”, a report in the Times of India said quoting an official privy to the Cabinet’s decision.

The development comes barely few months after Union minister for surface transport Nitin Gadkari declared that the central government will soon launch the first phase of the Bharatmala project. The Cabinet’s approval can also be seen as a personal victory for Gadkari, whose performance as the Union transport minister has been applauded within the BJP circles – and also by the Prime Minister – primarily because he has managed to carry out his mandate of developing India’s roads and highway infrastructure without attracting any controversies or being embroiled in scams. It was largely due to this performance record that Gadkari was tipped for a promotion as the Union railway minister in September this year – an offer he reportedly declined because he didn’t want any additional responsibilities.

Given that the Cabinet’s approval for the mega-infrastructure plan comes close on the heels of the high-stakes Assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh – both states where the Congress and BJP are in a direct contest – it is expected that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party will use the decision as an example of their commitment to development.

The Bharatmala project – a pet plan of the BJP government – is the second largest highways project after National Highways Development Project (NHDP) that saw development of about 50,000km. Detailed project reports of the Bharatmala project have been in the process of finalisation for over two years now.

News agency PTI quoted an official privy to the decision to outline that the Cabinet’s decision also includes economic corridor developments aimed at faster movement of cargo. The government had earlier planned to develop economic corridors with a length of about 21,000km besides 14,000km of feeder routes.

The corridors included Mumbai-Cochin-Kanyakumari, Bengaluru-Mangaluru, Hyderabad-Panaji and Sambalpur-Ranchi, to name a few. A study under the proposed Bharatmala project by global consultancy firm AT Kearney had identified 44 economic corridors. The Prime Minister’s Office, earlier this year, had asked for Public Investment Board’s (PIB) clearance to the first phase of the project.

With the Indian economy still reeling under slow growth and investor sentiment being severely dented in the aftermath of demonetisation and the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax regime, it is expected that 70 per cent of the sanctioned highway projects will be implemented through government funding. According to a report in the Times of India: “about one-third of the investment will come from fuel cess, over one-fourth from market borrowing and the rest from budgetary support, private investment and auctioning of completed highways.”

National Highways Authority of India(NHAI) has already prepared detailed project reports (DPRs) for about 10,000 km of the identified network, which will help faster roll out of projects.

What, however, remains unclear at the moment is how the Modi government plans to ensure that land acquisition for this mammoth and ambitious mega-project will be executed without attracted protests and controversies.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

India News

Ramdev, Balkrishna publish bigger apology in newspapers after Supreme Court’s rap

In the apology published, Ramdev and Balkrishna said they unconditionally apologise in their individual capacity as well as on behalf of Patanjali Ayurved for the non-compliance or disobedience of directions/orders of the Supreme Court of India

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Yoga guru Ramdev and his aide Acharya Balkrishna on Wednesday published a fresh bigger apology in leading newspapers for misleading advertisements of Patanjali’s medicinal products. This time, the apology was bigger in size after the Supreme Court pulled up Patanjali’s Ramdev and Balkrishna for not prominently displaying it earlier.

In the apology published, Ramdev and Balkrishna said they unconditionally apologise in their individual capacity as well as on behalf of Patanjali Ayurved for the non-compliance or disobedience of directions/orders of the Supreme Court of India. The apology said that they earnestly apologise for the mistake made in publishing their advertisements and it is their whole-hearted commitment that such mistakes will not be made again in the future.

During a hearing of the contempt proceedings related to the misleading ads case on Tuesday, the Supreme Court had asked Ramdev and Balkrishna if the size of the apology published in newspapers by Patanjali was similar to full-page advertisements for its products.

Ramdev and Balkrishna had told the Supreme Court Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah that they issued unqualified public apology in as many as 67 newspapers over the issue of misleading ads and they were willing to publish additional apologies for expressing their mistake. The duo said that the cost of the advertisements is Rs 10 lakh.

The Supreme Court bench asked why the apology had been published after one week, just ahead of the case hearing. Justice Kohli also asked if the size of the apology published was the same size as their advertisements? The court also ordered Patanjali to collate the ads and submit them before the Supreme Court bench.

The bench further added that the size of the apologies should not be enlarged and should be supplied to them.  The Supreme Court bench wanted to see the actual size. The bench added that they want to see that when they issue an ad it does not mean they have to see it by a microscope.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Rahul Gandhi clarifies on wealth survey remark, says aim is to identify injustice

Gandhi further added that everyone should look at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reaction and said that the moment he said let’s test how much injustice has been done the BJP started saying that this is an attempt to break down the country.

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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday took a U-turn on his wealth survey remark and said he only wanted to find out the amount of injustice the nation was facing. Rahul Gandhi was addressing Congress’s Social Justice Conference at Delhi’s Jawahar Bhawan where he clarified that he has not said Congress will take action yet. He said   that he was just saying that they will find out how much injustice has been done.

Gandhi further added that everyone should look at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reaction and said that the moment he said let’s test how much injustice has been done the BJP started saying that this is an attempt to break down the country. The former Congress chief said through the X-ray (wealth survey), the Congress will get to know the root cause of problem.

Gandhi said it is his life’s mission to ensure justice for the 90 % of the population against whom injustice has been done. He alleged Injustice is being done to 90 percent of Indians and the moment he called for checking this injustice, PM Modi and the BJP started attacking him. Gandhi further added that as soon as the INDIA Bloc will form its government the first thing that would be done is caste census.

On April 7, Rahul Gandhi said Congress, if voted to power, would conduct a financial and institutional survey to ascertain the distribution of wealth among the people in the country. Rahul Gandhi was addressing a public rally in Hyderabad after releasing the Congress’s manifesto where he said the survey will be conducted apart from a nationwide caste census that the party has promised if voted to power.

The former Congress chief also spoke about the Ram Mandir inauguration, and said, not a single Dalit, or a tribal was seen at the temple, or during the inauguration of the new Parliament building. He said 90% of the population understands this.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

PM Modi says Congress leaders consider themselves above Lord Ram

PM Modi slammed Congress during a rally in Chhattisgarh, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the Congress party for declining to attend the pran pratishtha ritual at the Ayodhya Ram temple on January 22 this year.

The prime minister said Congress leaders consider themselves above Lord Ram and denied invitation for Pran Pratishtha at Ram Temple, while speaking at a rally in Janjgir-Champa, Chhattisgarh. The PM question the people present at the rally that is it not a disrespect of Mata Shabri? Congress leaders inclination toward appeasement politics runs in their family.

For political appeasement, they won’t think twice about stealing the rights of Adivasis, the poor, and Dalits. Poor, young, and women are BJP’s top priorities, Modi said.

PM Modi criticized the Congress again during the rally for claiming that the BJP would alter the constitution.

The leaders of Congress recite the same old phrases whenever an election is about to happen, the PM said. He also said they claim that if the BJP wins power, it will renounce the constitution and abolish reservations. For how long will you continue selling lies?” he asked.

The prime minister continued saying that nobody can change the Constitution, even if Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar were to come and insist on it, it wouldn’t happen.

Those in the Congress threaten to break Modi’s head. Nobody can harm Modi as long as the mothers and sisters of this county stands by him. These mothers and sisters are Raksha Kavach, Modi remarked.

The prime minister further attacked the Congress after Viriato Fernandes, the party’s candidate for South Goa, asserted that Goa was forced to adopt the Indian Constitution.

Referring to his conversation with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Fernandes said he had told him, when Goa was liberated in the year 1961, the Indian Constitution was forced upon us.

The prime minister said, Congress candidate from Goa says Constitution was forced upon Goans; is this not an insult of Ambedkar and Constitution.

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