The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a slew of measures to boost electric vehicles (excluding cars), rural connectivity, and hydropower generation, besides extending the Ayushman Bharat scheme to around 6 crore senior citizens over the age of 70 years. All these measures will cost over ₹1.02 lakh crore.

Commenting on the expansion of health coverage, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “We are committed to ensuring accessible, affordable, and top-quality healthcare for every Indian. In this context, the Cabinet today has decided to further expand the ambit of Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY to provide health coverage for all citizens above 70 years.” This scheme will ensure dignity, care, and security to 6 crore citizens, he added.

PM E-DRIVE

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said a new scheme, PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE), has been approved to promote electric vehicles in India. “This will exclude cars, but It will cover 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers, ambulances (hybrid), trucks, and E-buses,” he said. Furthermore, there will be 100 per cent support for 88,500 sites to facilitate charging infrastructure. Additionally, there will be support for testing and standardisation facilities.

The scheme will have an outlay of ₹10,900 crore for a period of 2 years. A new feature of e-vouchers has been added. At the time of purchase of the EV, the scheme portal will generate an Aadhaar-authenticated e-Voucher for the buyer. A link to download the e- voucher shall be sent to the registered mobile number of the buyer. This e-voucher will be signed by the buyer and submitted to the dealer to avail of demand incentives under the scheme.

Thereafter, the e-Voucher will also be signed by the dealer and uploaded on the PM E-DRIVE portal. The signed e-voucher will be sent to the buyer and dealer via SMS. The signed e-voucher will be essential for the OEM to claim reimbursement of demand incentives under the scheme, an official statement said.

PM Gram Sadak Yojana

The Cabinet approved a new phase of PMGSY with an outlay of ₹70,125 crore. Vaishnaw said that 62,500 km of roads will be built to connect 25,000 unconnected habitations. With this, all habitations with a population of 500 or less in North Eastern States and Left-Wing Extremism affected areas will have road connectivity. Forty crore human-days of employment will be generated, he said.

Hydropower

A new scheme to enable infrastructure such as roads, bridges, transmission lines, ropeways, railway sidings, and communication infrastructure has been approved to facilitate the generation of hydropower. “This will have an outlay of ₹12,461 crore and will be applicable to all projects, including pumped storage,” the Minister said, adding that assistance of ₹1 crore/MW for projects with a capacity of 200 MW capacity will be provided.

Another scheme, ‘Mission Mausam’, has been approved to create a more weather-ready and climate-smart Bharat, with an outlay of ₹2,000 crore over two years.

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