The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi has approved the following proposals on 29th August 2023:
i.Decrease of LPG prices by Rs. 200 per cylinder.
ii.Rs 50 Lakh grant for startups to promote Technical Textiles.
iii.Adopts Resolution Hailing Soft-Landing of Chandrayaan-3.
Central Govt approves reduction of LPG prices by Rs 200 per cylinder
Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs(CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the price reduction of 14.2 kg LPG (Liquefied petroleum gas) cylinder by Rs.200 per cylinder for all consumer across the country with effective from August 30,2023.
- This will also be applicable to Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), which means, PMUY beneficiaries will now get a total subsidy of Rs 400 per 14.2kg-LPG cylinder.
Note: The prices for non-subsidized domestic per 14.2kg LPG cylinder currently stand at Rs 1,103 in Delhi; Rs 1,129 in Kolkata, West Bengal (WB); Rs 1,102.50 Mumbai, Maharashtra, and Rs 1,118.50 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu (TN).
Key Points:
i.The decision will ease the financial burden on citizens and promote the welfare of households.There are more than 31 crore domestic LPG consumers in India including 9.6 Cr PMUY beneficiary families
ii.The central Government will provide 75 lakh new LPG connections for free under PMUY.
- New connections under the subsidy scheme will be completely free.
iii.The total expenditure for PMUY is Rs 6,100 crore for the FY2022-23 and Rs 7,680 crore for FY2023-24. The LPG subsidy allocation for FY2023-24 is expected to be revised upwards.
About PM Ujjwala Scheme
Nodal Ministry : Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas
AIM: To provide LPG connections to women from BPL households.
Launch Date & Place : 1st May, 2016 at Ballia, UP
Ujjwala 2.0 :-
Launch Date: 10th August,2021
Launched at : Mahoba, UP
Ministry of Textiles approves Rs 50 lakh grant for startups to promote Technical Textiles, gives nod to 26 engineering institutes
The Ministry of Textiles has approved the Startup Guidelines for Technical Textiles – Grant for Research and Entrepreneurship across Aspiring Innovators in Technical Textiles (GREAT).
- The information for the same was provided by Rajeev Saxena, Joint Secretary Textiles, Ministry of Textiles, during a press conference in New Delhi, Delhi on the important developments in the National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM).
i.This initiative offers grant-in-aid of up to INR 50 Lakhs over a span of 18 months.
- To be eligible for the grant, startups must not have been operating for more than five years.
ii.The program’s goals are to increase exports and generate high-value jobs.
iii. Ministry offers an additional 10% of the total grant to incubators (organisation or institutions support startups in their early stage business),whereas incubates(startups or individuals in the incubator program) are required to make a minimum investment of 10% of the funding in two equal instalments.
Highlights:
i.The guidelines foster the development of Technical Textiles startups, aiding conversion from prototypes to products and commercialization.
ii.GREAT emphasizes areas like Agro-textiles, Medical-textiles, Smart Textiles, Bio-degradable textiles, High-performance materials, and Indigenous Machinery, employing technologies like AI (Artificial Intelligence), IoT (Internet of Things), and 3D/4D printing, among others.
Other Approvals by the Ministry of Textiles:
i.The Ministry also approved 26 institutes to upgrade their lab facilities and train trainers in the application areas of technical textiles. These institutes will contribute to the development and introduction of technical textile courses/ papers in the key departments/specializations and introduce new degree programme in technical textiles.
- Rs 151.02 Crores has been approved for this project, where, 15 applications valuing Rs 105.55 Crores are from Public Institutes and 11 applications valuing Rs 45.47 Crores are from Private Institutes.
- It will support upgrading existing courses across various technical textile domains, including specialty fibers, geotextiles, smart textiles, among others.
ii.The Ministry will also reopen the Academic Institutes Guidelines for Technical Textiles Education (Round II) under National Technical Textiles Mission(NTTM) with broader criteria, including institutes with National Board of Accreditation (NBA) scores above 750, National Assessment Accreditation Council (NAAC) rating A+/3.26 or higher, and top 200 National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranked institutes as eligible private ones.
- These guidelines have received initial approval and aim to incorporate new courses by the 2025-26 academic year.
iii.On the quality and regulation aspect of technical textiles, the Ministry notified two QCOs (Quality Control Orders) for 31 technical textile products including 19 geotextiles and 12 protective textiles, which will come into effect from October 7, 2023.
About National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM)
The mission aims to position India as a global leader in Technical Textiles with 4 components: i.Research, Innovation and Development. ii. Promotion and Market Development. iii. Export Promotion. iv. Education, Training, Skill Development
Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Textiles.
Implementation: For a period of four years , starting from FY 2020-21 till FY 2023-24.
About Ministry of Textiles:
Union Minister – Shri Piyush Goyal (Rajya Sabha Constituency – Maharashtra)
Minister of State (MoS) – Smt. Darshana V Jardosh
Union Cabinet adopts Resolution Hailing Soft-Landing of Chandrayaan-3
The Union Cabinet adopted a resolution hailing the soft-landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar surface, highlighting that the mission’s achievement signifies not only Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) success but also India’s advancement and global stature.
- Through this resolution Cabinet congratulated ISRO on its efforts, and thanked scientists for making India, the first country to land near the Moon’s South Pole.
- The Cabinet also welcomed the decision to celebrate August 23 as the National Space Day.
- Two points on the moon were named as Tiranga Point (footprint of Chandrayaan-2) and ShivShakti Point (Chandrayaan-3’s landing spot).
- Chandrayaan-1: Launched in 2008 by former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Chandrayaan-2: Launched in 2019.
Chandrayaan-3: Launched in July 2023. - Chandrayaan-4/LUPEX: it is expected to launch by or after 2026. Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX), a planned collaboration with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
About Chandrayaan 3:
On August 23, 2023, India accomplished the successful landing of its Chandrayaan-3 mission on the lunar surface, becoming the fourth nation to achieve this feat, following the United States, Russia, and China.
Launcher: LVM3(Launch Vehicle Mark-3)
Launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota,,
Budget – Rupees 615 crores
Project Director : P Veeramuthuvel
Recent Related News:
i.The Union Cabinet, approved the Draft of Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill, 2022 which frames out the rights and duties of the citizen (Digital Nagrik) and the obligations to use collected data lawfully of the data fiduciary (entities that collect personal data).
ii.Union Cabinet approved amendments to the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) MMDR Act of 1957, for the commercial mining of 6 critical minerals: lithium, titanium, beryllium, zirconium, niobium and tantalum.
About Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO):
Chairman– Sreedhara Panicker Somanath
Headquarters– Bengaluru, Karnataka
Establishment– 1969
