Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana

 With an eye on improving farm productivity, the government will spend Rs 50,000 crore over the next five years under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY).

Currently, 142 million hectares are used for cultivation, of which only 45 per cent farm land is under irrigation. For the current fiscal, allocation is Rs 5,300 crore. The spending this year is expected to bring an additional 6 lakh hectares under irrigation while 5 lakh hectares will benefit from drip irrigation. That apart, 1,300 watershed projects have been marked for completion.

The major objective of the PMKSY is to achieve convergence of investments in irrigation at the field level, expand cultivable area under assured irrigation (har khet ko pani), improve on-farm water use efficiency to reduce wastage of water, enhance adoption of precision-irrigation and other water-saving technologies (more crop per drop).

All structures created under the schemes will be geo-tagged.

A National Executive Committee (NEC) is to be constituted under the Chairmanship of the Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog, to oversee programme implementation, allocation of resources, inter-ministerial coordination, monitoring and performance assessment, addressing administrative issues.

A training programme, drawn up by the faculty of Indian Council for Agricultural Research institutes, the National Water Academy and the National Institute for Rural Development – besides leading practitioners and experts from the sector – will be conducted over the next three months. After this period, the officers will spend over one month in the designated district, interact with all stakeholder departments to capture the relevant data on a portal specially designed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), and prepare the outline of the district irrigation potential, including the scope for precision farming (micro-irrigation), and where necessary, with solar power back-up.

Apart from the irrigation projects, INR 200 crore from this scheme will be earmarked as Agri-Tech Infrastructure Fund (ATIF) – the corpus required to promote the National Agricultural Market (NAM). This will give farmers easy access to the markets for sale of their produce.

Soil Health Card Scheme

Soil Health Card Scheme is a scheme launched by the Government of India in February 2015. Under the scheme the government plans to issue Soil card to farmers which will carry crop-wise recommendations of nutrients and fertilizers required for the individual farms to help farmers to improve productivity through judicious use of inputs. All soil samples are be tested in various soil testing labs across the country. Thereafter the experts will analyse the strength and weaknesses (micro-nutrients deficiency) of the soil and suggest measures to deal with it. The result and suggestion will be displayed in the cards. The Government plans to issue the cards to 14 crore farmers.

An amount of 568 crores was allocated by the government for the scheme.

Ref:

1. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-07-02/news/64039148_1_water-sources-mantri-krishi-sinchai-yojana-hectares
2. http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/et-commentary/pradhan-mantri-krishi-sinchai-yojana-mere-fund-allocations-wont-serve-purpose/
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_Health_Card_Scheme
4. http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=Govt-to-launch-soil-health-card-plan-on-16022015010024
5. http://www.business-standard.com/article/government-press-release/first-training-program-on-pradhan-mantri-krishi-sinchai-yojna-for-all-115082401180_1.html

Agriculture cost_₹ 50'000 Cr Irrigation Rural

Naval Projects

Modi government has cleared the indigenous construction of seven stealth frigates and six nuclear-powered attack submarines, which together will cost well upwards of Rs 1 lakh crore.
Under the 'Project-17A' for stealth frigates, four will be constructed at Mazagon Docks in Mumbai and three in Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers in Kolkata.

Ref:

1. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Govt-approves-construction-of-7-stealth-frigates-6-nuclear-powered-submarines/articleshow/46281364.cms
2. http://thediplomat.com/2015/02/india-approves-8-billion-plan-for-nuclear-subs-stealth-frigates/

cost_₹ 100'000 Cr Defence Sea

Imprint India

President Pranab Mukherjee launched 'Imprint India', a Rs 1,000-crore project to kickstart original research in areas where the country is dependent on foreign technology. The initiative is based on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s suggestion that research done by institutions of national importance must be linked with immediate requirements of the society at large.

This novel initiative with a twofold mandate is aimed at:

(a) Developing new engineering education policy
(b) Creating a road map to pursue engineering challenges

IMPRINT FOCUS AREAS 10 key themes to be coordinated by IITs/IISc under Imprint

Health care: IIT Kharagpur   Computer science and ICT: IIT Kharagpur,   Advance materials: IIT Kanpur   Water resources and river systems: IIT Kanpur   Sustainable urban design: IIT Roorkee   Defence: IIT Madras   Manufacturing: IIT Madras   Nano-technology hardware: IIT Bombay   Environmental science & climate change:IISc   Energy security: IIT Bombay

Ref:

1. http://imprint-india.org/
2. http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/president-to-launch-imprint-india-today-115110400770_1.html

cost_₹ 1000 Cr Research

Sagar Mala

Sagar Mala was announced by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the Independence Day in 2003 with the objective of achieving rapid capacity expansion and modernisation of ports along the country's east and west coasts.  The project envisaged developing India's ports to levels comparable with the best global ports in terms of infrastructure, efficiency and quality of service, increasing the tonnage capacity, upgrading and creating ship building and ship repair facilities and increase the use of inland waterways for transportation.

On 25 March 2015, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave the final nod to proceed with the Sagarmala Project and prepare the concept and institutional framework. It was a significant development in India’s growth story. Taking ex-PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s dream project forward, Modi has rightly identified Sagarmala as a crucial infrastructure initiative whose development has the potential to boost India’s GDP by 2%.

India is bound by sea on three sides and has a 7,516.6 km coastline, making it the 7th largest in the world. Therefore, it is only natural that Indian ports handle 90% of the export-import trade volume. But that does not tell the entire story. The railways contribute 9% to the GDP, the road sector contributes 6%, whereas the ports’ share of GDP is only 1%.

With the promise of modernising and upgrading 200-odd ports, starting with 12 major ones operated by the Centre, 12 smart cities, Coastal Economic Zones, new railway connectivity and a new legislation to nationalise 111 internal waterways for cheap transportation and granting infrastructure status to ship-building in Kochi and Kandla, Gadkari  unveiled what looked like a rather ambitious blueprint of coastline development.


Calling it “Blue revolution — Sagar Mala project” that would not just rival China’s port-land infrastructure but would be comparable to any of the first world facilities, Gadkari said, “It is the priority project of the Prime Minister.”

One of the things that could get announced shortly is the development of marinas and modern jetties across India’s coastline. That would allow luxury yachting and holiday cruises to finally take off in India in a very big way. 

The Sagarmala initiative will address challenges by focusing on three pillars of development, namely

(i) Supporting and enabling Port-led Development through appropriate policy and institutional interventions and providing for an institutional framework for ensuring inter-agency and ministries/departments/states’ collaboration for integrated development, 

(ii) Port Infrastructure Enhancement, including modernization and setting up of new ports, and 


(iii)  Efficient Evacuation to and from hinterland.”

"Inland waterways will help in saving logistics costs and boost movement of goods and passengers across the country. Besides, they will also save around Rs 10,000 crore per year while transporting coal, a crucial resource," Nitin Gadkari , Minister for Shipping, Road Transportation said. 


The waterways is a cheaper and environment friendly medium for transporting of goods, he said adding one HP moves 150 kg on road, 500 kg on rail and 4,000 kg on water besides one litre of fuel moves 24 tonne/km on road, 85 tonne/km on rail and 105 tonne/km on water. 


Parliament is expected to approve the bill to convert 111 rivers across India into National Waterways during its Winter session, 2015.

National Waterways List of Rivers:

The nine rivers of Assam — Barak, Subansiri, Brahmaputra, Gangadhar, Aai, Beki, Puthimari, Kapili and Dehing found a place in the list.

Four Rivers in Meghalaya : Jinjiram, Kynshi, Simsang, Umngot (Dawki) 

Ref:

1. http://www.mapsofindia.com/my-india/government/modis-sagarmala-initiative-for-development-of-coastal-and-port-cities
2. http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-policy-watch-sagarmala-port-of-call-2090694
3. http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/Government-Strings-Sagar-Mala-Blueprint/2015/03/27/article2732489.ece
4. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/shipping-/-transport/transporting-coal-via-waterways-can-save-rs-10000-crore-annually-nitin-gadkari/articleshow/49959544.cms

cost_₹ 70'000 Cr Port River Sea Shipping

Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY)

Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana is a rural development and cleanliness programme broadly focusing upon the development in the villages which includes social development, cultural development and spread motivation among the people on social mobilization of the village community. The programme was launched by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi on the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narayan, on October 11, 2014.

The vision of our Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is “If we have to build the nation we have to start from the villages" and he believes that "If every MP transforms villages in his/her constituency into model villages, large number of villages in the country would have seen holistic development”. 

PM has requested all Members of Parliament (MP) to develop one model village in their constituency by year 2016 and two more by 2019. Department of Rural Development has formulated guidelines of the scheme. Hon'ble Prime Minister has released the guidelines on 11'th Oct 2014 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

The goal is to develop three Adarsh Grams by March 2019, of which one would be achieved by 2016. Thereafter, five such Adarsh Grams (one per year) will be selected and developed by 2024.

Under the scheme, 

• Narendra Modi has adopted Jayapur village from his constituency Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
• Sonia Gandhi adopted Udwa village in her constituency Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh.
• Rahul Gandhi adopted Deeh village in his constituency Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.
• V. K. Singh adopted Mirpur Hindu in his constituency Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.
• Ahmed Patel adopted Vandari village in Rajpipada, Gujarat.
• Sachin Tendulkar adopted Puttamraju vari Kandriga(P.R.Kandriga) a village near Gudur in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh.
• Harish Dwivedi adopted Amodha Khas village in Basti district, Uttar Pradesh.

23 June 2015:

Union Rural Development Minister Choudhary Birender Singh on Tuesday said 679 villages have been adopted under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) in its first year.

"All 16 MPs from Chhattisgarh (11 Lok Sabha and 5 Rajya Sabha) have adopted villages under the scheme," he said.

Almost 86 per cent of the MPs have adopted villages in their concerned areas while as many as 108 MPs are yet to adopt villages.

Ref:

1. http://saanjhi.gov.in/
2. http://pib.nic.in/archieve/others/2014/oct/d2014101101.pdf
3. http://www.yamunanagar.nic.in/ynr/dwd/SAG.pdf
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpe9dTQ57W0
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sansad_Adarsh_Gram_Yojana
6. http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-679-villages-adopted-under-sansad-adarsh-gram-yojana-rural-development-minister-choudhary-birender-singh-2098316

Rural

Gold Monetization Scheme and Gold Sovereign Bond Scheme

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the first ever 'India gold coin' bearing Ashok Chakra and other three gold related schemes on Thursday.

The other two are Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS) and Gold Sovereign Bond Scheme.

The gold monetisation scheme is to encourage households and others to bring out their gold from lockers and the convert them into a deposit scheme that will generate them a modest tax-free income. The scheme allows households to bring their gold, especially jewellery that lies locked up in safes at home and banks, to be purity tested, melted and deposited at purity testing centres and in lieu take a certificate with details of gold deposited that can be used to open a fixed deposit-like gold saving account with a bank.

Some of the gold received under the scheme would be loaned to jewellers, thereby reducing the need to import gold to meet the demand for jewellery.

India has only traces of gold deposits, and there is almost no mining of gold that takes place in the country. So, India is highly dependent on imports. Gold is the second largest item of import by value. In 2014-15, India imported gold worth $34 billion.

Indian households held more than 22,000 tonnes of gold, a World Gold Council and FICCI study in December 2014 estimated. India has official gold reserves of 557 tones vs US 8100 tones but India's population has about 20,000 tones. India's temple gold, estimated at about 3,000 tonnes, more than two thirds of the gold held in the U.S bullion depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky, to help tackle India's chronic trade imbalance.

In 2014-15, for instance, India exported goods worth $310 billion, but imported goods worth $448 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $138 billion. If the import of gold had been much lower than $34 billion, the trade deficit too would have been narrower.

Ref: 

1. http://profit.ndtv.com/news/your-money/article-pm-to-launch-india-gold-coin-other-schemes-on-november-5-1239734
2. http://www.dailyo.in/business/modi-government-gold-monetisation-import-ministry-of-finance/story/1/3838.html
3. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3032750/Indias-rich-temples-open-gold-vaults-PM-Modi.html

Banking Finance

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana

 Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank is a new institution being set up by Government of India for development and refinancing activities relating to micro units. It was announced by the Hon’ble Finance Minister while presenting the Union Budget for FY 2016. 

 The primary purpose of PM Narendra Modi’s Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana will be providing refinance for lending to micro businesses/units (medium and small entrepreneurs).

Under the scheme, Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana three categories of interventions has been named which includes

1. Shishu :- Loan upto ₹50000 (US$750)
2. Kishore :- Loan ranging from ₹50000 (US$750) to ₹5 lakh (US$7,500)
3. Tarun :- Loan above ₹5 lakh (US$7,500) and below ₹10 lakh (US$15,000)

Businesses/entrepreneurs/units covered would include proprietorship/partnership firms running as small manufacturing units, shopkeepers, fruits/vegetable sellers, hair cutting saloon, beauty parlours, transporters, truck operators, hawkers, co-operatives or body of individuals, food service units, repair shops, machine operators, small industries, artisans, food processors, self help groups, professionals and service providers etc. in rural and urban areas with financing requirements up to Rs 10 lakh.

The products initially being launched are as under:

Sector/activity specific schemes, such as schemes for business activities in Land Transport, Community, Social & Personal Services, Food Product and Textile Product sectors. Schemes would similarly be added for other sectors / activities.
1. Micro Credit Scheme (MCS)
2. Refinance Scheme for Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) / Scheduled Co-operative Banks
3. Mahila Uddyami Scheme
4. Business Loan for Traders & Shopkeepers
5. Missing Middle Credit Scheme – Equipment Finance for Micro Units

MUDRA Bank will have a corpus of Rs 20,000 crore, and credit guarantee corpus of Rs 3,000 crore.

Ref:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pradhan_Mantri_Mudra_Yojana
2. http://www.financialexpress.com/article/industry/banking-finance/pradhan-mantri-mudra-yojana-3-offerings-and-5-products-launched-by-narendra-modi/144770/
3. http://profit.ndtv.com/news/budget/article-prime-minister-to-launch-rs-20-000-cr-mudra-bank-on-april-8-749642

Banking cost_₹ 20'000 Cr Finance

Minimum Government Maximum Governance

The concept of “Minimum Government Maximum Governance” captures what was perhaps the most alluring slogan of the BJP’s election campaign. Prime Minister Modi has projected himself as a leader who is determined to dramatically improve the effectiveness of the country’s governance mechanisms.

I believe government has no business to do business. The focus should be on Minimum Government but Maximum Governance.

- Narendra Modi

The idea of minimum government and maximum governance is an appealing one as it implies that government will be efficient, and that a smaller bureaucracy with more skilled people will be better than a larger one. 

After promising a “small yet efficient government,” prime minister Narendra Modi has unveiled a council of ministers that isn’t much smaller than what his predecessor Manmohan Singh had in 2004.


Modi Govt dismantled the 12th Five-Year Plan, the nine Empowered groups of ministers (EGoMs) and the Twenty-one groups of Ministers (GoMs) to enable faster decision making.

Implemented PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance And Timely Implementation) : Prime Minister holds a monthly review meeting where in he interacts with the Government of India Secretaries, and Chief Secretaries through Video-conferencing enabled by data and geo-informatics visuals to review project progress and push forward stalled projects.

Ref:

1. http://www.brookings.in/minimum-government-maximum-governance/
2. https://pragati.nic.in/
3. http://www.narendramodi.in/pm-launches-pragati-a-multi-purpose-multi-modal-platform-for-pro-active-governance-and-timely-implementation-7346

Governance

Aadhaar - Unique Identification Card for All

 Objective Aadhaar project is to collect the biometric and demographic data of residents, store them in a centralised database, and issue a 12-digit unique identity number called Aadhaar to each resident. It is considered the world's largest national identification number project. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to ensure “universal coverage” under Aadhaar by Dec 2015. 

Under the Aadhaar-based direct benefit transfer (DBT) for LPG, or Pahal Scheme, so far 142.5 million beneficiaries have received Rs.25,795.93 crore in their bank accounts since the scheme was relaunched in November 2014. The government expects to save Rs.15,000 crore in leakages in LPG subsidy every year.

In a move led by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), BJP-ruled States, including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Haryana, have petitioned the Supreme Court to allow Aadhaar to be used for all government welfare schemes.

Simultaneously, the Election Commission of India and a phalanx of banking and economic regulators — the Reserve Bank of India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority of India – have also filed similar clarification/modification applications in the apex court.


Modi government has made it compulsory for any budding entrepreneur to submit her or his Aadhaar number in order to register a new business. 

Aadhaar was originally started by previous government of Dr. Manmohan Singh and faced several legal issues and a change in govt which made its future at stake. New government showed renewed interest in Aadhaar and is trying for an earlier completion of the project.

Ref:

1. http://www.livemint.com/Politics/9n945jW14A93TRD2YfHuKJ/NDA-govt-goes-all-out-for-Aadhaar.html
2. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/modi-govt-gives-aadhaar-one-more-push/article7720761.ece
3. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/modi-government-makes-aadhaar-number-compulsory-for-budding-entrepreneurs-to-register-new-business/articleshow/49460183.cms

cost_₹ 2039 Cr Finance Unique ID

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) - Rural Roads Development Program

This was on ongoing project from previous government. Modi Government reduced the deadline for completion of rural connectivity through all- weather roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana by three years from 2022 to 2019 and increased annual allocation to the states by Rs 5,000 crore. 

The government has also decided to increase the annual allocation of the Central release for PMGSY works during year 2015-16 by Rs 5,000 crore and with this the total Central allocation to states would now be Rs 15,100 crore.

PMGSY was launched in year 2000 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with the objective to provide single all-weather road connectivity to all eligible unconnected rural habitations. 

cost_₹ 15'100 Cr Road Rural

Delhi Roads De-congestion Project

The Central Govt allotted Rs. 3,250 crore for de-congesting and developing Delhi.

1. Out of the total amount, Rs 1,500 crore would be given to Delhi government for decongestion of roads by addressing different choking points 
    
2. NDMC would be given Rs 85 crore to complete balance work of construction of Grade Separator at Rani Jhansi Road (flyover from St Stephen's Hospital to Filmistan) which will reduce travel time from Karol Bagh to north Delhi from the present one hour to just 10 minutes
    
3. A sum of Rs 615 crore for construction of rail-under- bridge (RUB) at Holambi of 1 km and rail-over-bridge (ROB) of 1.4 km at Mundka on Urban Eastern Road-II. 

4. Rs 400 crore for construction of ROB of 860 m at Narela on Urban Eastern Road-I
for decongesting Outer Ring Road.
    
5. Rs 300 crore for making a tunnel near Bhagya Vihar and Rs 350 crore for Dwarka Expressway from Urban Eastern Road-II to Northern Peripheral Road for decongesting Outer Ring Road and NH-8 respectively.

Ref:

1. http://post.jagran.com/central-government-allocates-rs-3250-crore-for-decongestion-development-work-in-delhi-1448253397
2. http://wap.business-standard.com/article/politics/rare-bonhomie-between-delhi-govt-and-centre-as-former-gets-financial-boost-115112300904_1.html

cost_₹ 3'250 Cr Highways Road

One Rank One Pension (OROP) for Veterans

One Rank One Pension (OROP) is the demand for "same pension, for same rank, for same length of service, irrespective of the date of retirement from Indian Military Service.

On 5 September 2015 the Modi Government, following 83 days of public protest, announced, unilaterally, the implementation the 'OROP Scheme' for the Armed Forces. The order to implement OROP was issued two months later on On 7 November 2015.

The issue of OROP was pending with several governments for decades. This is considered as a key achievement of Modi and an indicator of his ability to take tough decisions and clear logjams.

Ref: 

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Rank,_One_Pension

cost_₹ 8'000 Cr Defence Welfare

Housing for all by 2022

Citing the existing housing shortage of 2 crore units, the Prime Minister said that India is completing 75 years of independence in 2022, and by then, it is our responsibility to provide a house for everyone.

The mission is to provide 6 lakh houses through the Ministries of Urban Development and Rural Development. 

Housing for all by 2022 includes all those initiatives taken on housing so far including Rajiv Awas Yojana and Rajiv Rinn Yojana. Apart from housing, the project also aims at slum redevelopment. To implement the scheme, land will be pooled and given to private real estate developers. This time the government is ready to allow the developers to generate revenue by using a portion of that land for commercial purposes. Also the government is ready to fund the developers in case of unviable projects in the form of viability gap funding.

What is essential to achieve this is a fast-tracked approval process, financial empowerment of the low-income categories to enable them to purchase a house in such areas - and unlocking land for creating affordable housing.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley proposed an allocation of Rs 14,200 crore in the 2015-16 budget to fund the government’s flagship program to provide housing for all by 2022.
Of this, while Rs 4,175 crore will be spent for building two crore houses in urban areas, another Rs 10,025 crore will be used to construct four crore houses in rural areas.

“A roof for each family in India. The call given for Housing for All by 2022 would require Team India to complete two crore houses in urban areas and four crore houses in rural areas,” Jaitley said.

The urban leg of the programme will be implemented by the housing and urban poverty alleviation ministry.

Four categories of urban poor will be targeted through the scheme — these include slum dwellers, urban poor not living in slums, prospective migrants and the homeless.

The ministry has proposed rehabilitating slum dwellers in newly-constructed houses of up to 30 square metres. Private developers would be roped in for building these houses.

For rural housing, Jaitley has proposed an outlay of Rs 10,025 crore. Out of this, Rs 1,003 crore has been earmarked for the Northeast region and Sikkim.

Under the program, assistance will be provided for the construction of dwelling units and for the upgradation of existing unserviceable kachha houses for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and non-SC/ST rural families living below the poverty line.

Ref:  http://www.hindustantimes.com/business/rs-14-200-cr-allotted-to-housing-for-all-programme/story-Cy4DKSj6D9XUui2kyjYnRP.html

cost_₹ 14'200 Cr Housing Real Estate

Rafale fighter aircraft for Air Force

 India is planning to buy 36 "ready-to-fly" French-made Rafale fighter jets to modernise country's aging warplane fleet. Deal is still under negotiation. Airforce  combat jet fleet, is depleting fast and Rafale jets are much anticipated replacement.

The original plan was for 126 MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft), out of which 18 were to be imported, while 108 were to be manufactured by HAL. Now this plan has been dropped.

During his visit to France last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had conveyed to the French government that in view of the critical operational necessity for Multirole Combat Aircraft for Indian Air Force, the Indian government wanted to acquire (36) Rafale jets in fly-away condition as quickly as possible.

India and France are set to sign the deal for 36 Rafale fighter aircraft on the eve of French President François Hollande’s visit to India for the 2016 Republic Day celebrations.

Air force cost_US$ 9 Billion Defence Fighter

National Optical Fibre Network

The government has laid optic fibre cable (OFC) in 23,604 gram panchayats till July 2015 to provide high speed broadband connectivity under the BharatNet project.

The target was to roll out the network across 50,000 village panchayats by March 31, 2015. As part of the project, all the 2.5 lakh panchayats will be connected by the end of 2016.

A Department of Telecom official said after the current government took over last year, the pace of work has increased over 30 times.

"When this government took over last year, 250 km of OFC was laid which has been increased to 54,352 km. As of July 2015, OFC laying in 23,604 gram panchayats has been completed," the official said.

The national optical fibre network (NOFN) project was conceived in 2011 and deadline to connect all panchayats was fixed by the end of 2013 which was then deferred to September 2015 by the UPA government.

Communication cost_₹ 20'000 Cr Internet

Dedicated Freight Corridor and Railway Modernization

The ambitious Rs 81,459 cr worth 'Dedicated Freight Corridor' (DFC) project, meant for faster goods movement, will be completed by 2019.

The corridors would be utilizing the latest technology in rail transportation enabling average speed of freight trains to be raised from 25 kmph to 80 kmph and then 100 kmph. The corridors would use high horse power engines for haulage and specially designed wagons

The Railway Research and Development Organisation (RRDO) had developed capacity to design and make in the country itself with the specialized high capacity and high speed wagons for use on these corridors

Proposed investments	Cost (in Rs crore)
Network decongestion (including dedicated freight corridors, electrification, doubling)	1,99,320
Network expansion (including electrification)	1,93,000
Safety (track renewal, bridges, signalling and telecom)	1,27,000
Rolling stock (locomotives, coaches, wagons)	1,02,000
Station redevelopment and logistic parks	1,00,000
High speed rail and elevated corridor	65,000
National projects (North Eastern and Kashmir connectivity projects)	39,000
Passenger amenities	12,500
Information technology and research	5,000
Other projects	13,200

Building Locomotives for Railway Modernization

US major General Electric and French giant Alstom have bagged $5.6 billion ( Rs 37,000 crore) worth of contract from the Indian Railways to build locomotives in Bihar. The projects, closely monitored by the PMO, involve manufacturing of 1000 diesel locomotives and 800 electric locomotives over next 11 years and is worth about Rs.40,000 crore.

A joint venture company between Ministry of Railways and GE Global Sourcing India Pvt. Ltd will now be incorporated, which shall construct and run the diesel locomotive factory (DLF), Marhowra. Ministry of Railways will hold 26% equity in the JV company.

France's Alstom has been picked to supply 800 electric locomotives and will also build an electric locomotive factory in Madhepura, Bihar for $3 billion.

GE will also work on an assured off-take model of 100 locomotives per annum for 10 years and the basic cost of 1000 freight locomotives will be about Rs 14,656 crore.

The government plans to invest $137 billion to modernize the railways by 2020.

Diamond Quadrilateral

The Diamond Quadrilateral is a project of the Indian railways to establish high speed rail network in India. This quadrilateral will connect the four metro cities in India, i.e. Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

Ref :

1.  http://qz.com/351413/narendra-modi-plans-to-spend-rs8-5-lakh-crore-to-rebuild-indias-railways-by-2019/
2. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ge-alstom-bags-56-billion-contract-from-railways-to-build-locomotives-in-bihar/article7865665.ece
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Quadrilateral

cost_₹ 850'000 Cr Frieght Railway Train