From new cost for east-west freight corridor to 6 new IIMs, 5 things cleared by Modi government today

NEW DELHI: From approving the revised budget of the East-West freight corridor plan to setting up six new IIMs in the country, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a slew of projects. Here are some of the noteworthy proposals that were cleared:

1) Rs 81,459 crore revised estimate for East-West freight corridor

The Cabinet gave its approval for the revised cost estimate of Rs 81,459 crore for the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) Project, including land costs and financing plan. The corridor will pass through Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

The revised cost estimate comprises construction cost of Rs 73,392 crore of the Eastern and Western DFC. The land acquisition cost will be Rs 8,067 crore. This excludes the cost of the 534-km Sonnagar-Dankuni section proposed to be implemented through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) route.

2) Six new IIMs
The Cabinet gave its approval for setting up of six new Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) in the country.

These new IIMs will be located at Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Bodh Gaya (Bihar), Sirmaur (Himachal Pradesh), Nagpur (Maharashtra), Sambalpur (Odisha) and Amritsar (Punjab). These IIMs, which will begin functioning from temporary campuses, will commence their first academic session from 2015-16.

Each institute will start with an intake of 140 students in the Post Graduate Programme (PGP) courses. The annual intake may go up to 560 students each year by the end of seven years.

3) Solar boost

The Cabinet has allowed Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to apply to the Registrar of Companies for (i) converting it into a Section 3 company under the Companies Act, 2013 and (ii) renaming it as the Renewable Energy Corporation of India (RECI).

The two things will make SECI a self-sustaining and self-generating organisation, which can engage itself in owning solar power plants generating and selling power and in other segments of solar sector activities, including manufacturing of solar products and materials. The Centre has also decided to enlarge the scope of the activities of SECI to cover all renewable energy sources, with a view to provide a comprehensive and optimized solution for generation of renewable energy integrating various renewable energy sources.

4) Cooperation with Japan

The Cabinet will ink a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) between the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO), Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan.

The purpose of MoC is to establish a framework for bilateral cooperation in the field of Industrial Property (IP), with emphasis on capacity building, human resource development and awareness generation.

5) Ore boost for Japan and South Korea

The Cabinet decided to renew Long Term Agreement with Japanese and South Korean Steel Mills for supply of high grade Indian iron ore, during the three-year period from April to March 2018.

The quantities covered under the agreement will be in the range of 3.8 million tonnes to 5.5 million tonnes per year, and will be supplied primarily from the mines of the National Mineral Development Corporation ( NMDC). The contract will be executed by the Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation of India Limited ( MMTC) under the Department of Commerce.