A total of 59 Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) cases have been reported on the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) portal and two deaths have been reported due to co-morbidities, Prataprao Jadhav, minister of state in the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare told the Rajya Sabha.
The investment in wind energy sector is on increasing trend, with an estimated investment of Rs 7,770 crore, Rs 15,925 crore and Rs 22,771 crore during FY 2021-22, FY 2022-23 and FY 2023-24 respectively (considering estimated cost of installed wind power project @ Rs 7 crore per MW), Shripad Yesso Naik, minister of state for new & renewable energy and power told the Rajya Sabha.
The PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana (PMSG: MBY) has been launched with an aim to increase the share of solar rooftop capacity in the country and empower residential households to generate their own electricity.
The scheme targets to achieve rooftop solar installations in 10 million households in the residential sector by FY 2026-27 with an outlay of Rs 75,021 crore. These households will be able to generate most of their electricity need over the next 25 years, which is the expected life of solar modules, Naik told the Rajya Sabha.
The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is not implementing any special scheme at the moment to develop various cities of India as ‘Solar Cities’. However, the ministry has requested all states /Union territories to select at least one city to be developed as a ‘solar city’.
The Government of Jharkhand has identified Giridih city to be developed as solar city. The state has planned a total solar capacity addition of 41 MW for the Giridih solar city through installation of rooftop solar, ground mounted solar and solar street lights. Jharkhand has reported installation of aggregated capacity of 10.14 MW rooftop solar in the residential sector and installation of 10,500 solar street lights under the Giridih solar city programme, Naik told the Rajya Sabha.
The production of vegetables in India has increased by 21.4 per cent over the last decade from 169.48 Million Metric Tonne in 2014-15 to 205.80 Million Metric Tonne in 2023-24 (3rd Advance Estimates), Ram Nath Thakur, minister of state for agriculture and farmers welfare told the Lok Sabha.
The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation conducted a Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) of Agricultural Households during NSS 77th round (January-December 2019) with reference to the agricultural year July 2018- June 2019 in India’s rural areas.
As per available inputs, the estimated average monthly income per agriculture household as given in the NSS 77th round (2018-19) is Rs 10,218, Thakur told the Lok Sabha.
A total 1,321 buses have been delivered to Delhi by the government as on January 27, 2025, under the FAME scheme to promote electric buses, Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma, minister of state for heavy industries told the Lok Sabha.
There will not be any new allotment of buses for subsidy as the FAME-II scheme has ended on March 31, 2024.
However, the PM E-DRIVE scheme of the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MoHI) launched on October 1 last year has allocated Rs 4,391 crore for the procurement of 14,028 electric buses (e-buses) by state transport undertakings (STUs) and public transport agencies, primarily of nine cities with over four million population, i.e. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Surat, Bengaluru, Pune, and Hyderabad, Varma added.
The MoHI implemented the Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme (EMPS) 2024, with an outlay of Rs 778.00 crore, for a period of six (06) months, from January 1, 2024 to September 30, 2024, to reduce India’s dependency on fossil fuels and lowers carbon emissions through faster adoption of electric two wheeler (e2W) and three wheeler (e-3W).
Further, EMPS-2024 has been subsumed in ‘PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) Scheme’ notified on September 29, 2024, to provide further impetus to the green mobility & development of EV Manufacturing eco-system in the country.
The scheme is being implemented on a pan-India basis, including rural and underserved areas. It has an outlay of Rs10,900 crore, including the outlay of EMPS-2024, Varma told the Lok Sabha.
Various state governments/UTs, reported the damages caused due to hydro-meteorological disasters during the year 2024-25.
As on January 27, 2025, a total 2,936 human lives have been lost, 61,826 cattle killed, 363,381 houses damaged and 1.424 million hectares of crop areas affected due to hydro-meteorological disasters in the country, Nityanand Rai, minister of state in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs told the Lok Sabha.