NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, DEC 24
The BJP-led NDA government headed by Prime Minister Naranedra Modi has sanctioned Rs 8,500-crore for National Population Register (NPR), for the update to be carried out between April-September 2020 in all states and UTs except Assam where the NRC has already been carried out.
This is a significant development from the Union Cabinet which approved it on Tuesday, a first step to carry out a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise amid protest from various political parties and state governments.
Opposition leaders West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerji, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi VIjayan have stayed all NPR-related work in their states.
In Assam NRC was carried out but 19 lakh people, mostly Hindus, were left off the NRC list there, triggering protests by leaders of the ruling BJP.
NPR will detect the ‘usual residents’ of the country defined as a person who has stayed in an area for six months or more, or someone who intends to stay in that area for six months or more. Once the list is published identifying the “usual residents” it becomes basis to carry out a pan-India NRC.
NPR data was first collected in 2010 when UPA-2 was in power; however, it was first updated in 2015, during first term of Modi government, by way of door-to-door surveys. Digitisation of the updated data seems to have been completed.
Railway Board restructured
The Cabinet has also approved restructuring of the Railway Board by downsizing its strength from eight to five including the chairperson, and merging its different cadres into a single Railway Management System. Indian Railways will now have only one cadre — Indian Railway Service, instead of current eight services for various departments including Engineering, Traffic, Mechanical and Electrical.
Restructured Railway Board will end departmentalism, no seniority will be compromised. Railway board will no longer be organised on departmental lines, and replaced with leaner structure organised on functional lines. The board will be headed by Chairman Railway Board (CRB) who will be the CEO with 4 members and some independent members.
Cabinet approves organisational restructuring of Indian Railways. Existing eight Group A services of the Railways will be reorganised into a Central Service called Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS), said the the union minister Piyush Goyal.
NPR is a population registrar and not a citizen’s registrar, says Prakash Jawadekar
NPR is a population registrar and not a citizens’ registrar, said Javadekar. NPR was done by the UPA in 2010 also and we are repeating it in 2020.
Funds sanctioned for new projects
Funds to the tune of Rs. 627.40 crore have been approved for 10 projects sanctioned during 2018-19 in Swadesh Darshan Scheme. Additional Rs. 1854.67 crore during 2019-20 for sanctioning of new projects.
The Cabinet has approved the creation of a chief of defence staff (CDS), who will be the single-point military adviser to the government.
Cabinet has also approved promulgation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019
Rs. 4000-crore approved for Atal Tunnel
The cabinet has approved Rs. 4,000 crore for Atal tunnel which is under construction from Manali to Leh. Javadekar said work is 80% complete now.
Rs. 6000-crore for ATAL JAL
Cabinet has approved Atal Bhujal Yojana (ATAL JAL) with total outlay of Rs. 6000 crore to be implemented over a period of 5 years in identified areas in Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
The Cabinet has approved the Atal Bhujal Yojana, a Rs. 6,000 crore scheme for sustainable management of ground water resources.
