A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for the 2024 general elections in his Independence Day speech, the government on Wednesday cleared a slew of proposals including the ‘PM Vishwakarma’ scheme to provide credit to traditional craftsmen at a concessional rate and ‘PM-eBus Sewa’ to strengthen public transport in 169 cities across the country. The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Modi in Delhi.
The ‘Vishwakarma scheme’ will benefit 30 lakh craftsmen families like weavers, goldsmiths, blacksmiths, laundry workers and barbers, and is being seen as a part of the Modi government’s outreach to backward castes.
Under the e-bus scheme, 10,000 electric buses will be deployed in 169 cities on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. The Vishwakarma scheme will have a financial outlay of Rs 13,000 crore for a period of five years beginning 2023-24. Modi announced on Tuesday that the scheme will be rolled out on September 17.
The two main features of the scheme are concessional loans and skill upgrades. Credit support will be provided in two tranches. In the first tranche, a loan of up to Rs 1 lakh will be offered and another Rs 2 lakh will be given in the second tranche. The interest on the loan will be 5%.
The scheme will provide support to artisans and craftspeople in rural and urban areas across India.
In the first phase, 18 traditional trades, including carpenter, potter, barber, tailor, locksmith, blacksmith and goldsmith, will be covered. The government also seeks to give a big push to green mobility through the deployment of electric buses in city public transport. ‘PM-eBus Sewa’ is estimated to cost Rs 57,613 crore over the next 10 years.
Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said out of the Rs 57,613 crore, support of Rs 20,000 crore will be provided by the central government.
The scheme will cover cities with a population of 3 lakh and above as per the 2011 census, including all the capital cities of Union Territories, North Eastern Region and Hill States. Priority will be given to cities not having organised bus services.
There are two segments of the eBus scheme: Augmenting city bus services and Green Urban Mobility initiatives. The scheme is estimated to generate 45,000 to 55,000 direct jobs.
States/Cities shall be responsible for running the bus services and making payments to bus operators. “The central government will support these bus operations by providing subsidies to the extent specified in the proposed scheme,” according to an official statement.