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On February 14, 2024, the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) released scheme guidelines for the execution of pilot projects utilising green hydrogen in the transport sector, as part of the National Green Hydrogen Mission, Shripad Yesso Naik, Union minister of state for new & renewable energy and power told the Rajya Sabha.
The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) was appointed as the Implementing Agency for this scheme, the minister stated. Following the recommendations of ARAI and the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, MNRE has approved five pilot projects, which include a total of 37 vehicles (buses and trucks) and nine hydrogen refuelling stations, he informed.
These vehicles will run on 10 different routes across the country, namely Greater Noida–Delhi–Agra, Bhubaneshwar–Konark–Puri, Ahmedabad–Vadodara–Surat, Sahibabad–Faridabad–Delhi, Pune–Mumbai, Jamshedpur–Kalinga Nagar, Thiruvananthapuram–Kochi, Kochi–Edappally, Jamnagar–Ahmedabad and NH-16 Visakhapatnam–Bayyavaram, Naik said.
The total financial support for the selected pilot projects is Rs 208 crore from the Government of India, he added.
During 2024-25 (from April, 2024 to February, 2025), a total of 24.10 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity has been added, which includes 20.75 GW solar power, 2.70 GW wind power, 0.51 GW bio-power and 0.14 GW hydro power, Naik told the Rajya Sabha.
The budgetary allocation (revised estimates) for the renewable energy schemes / programmes of the Union Ministry of New & Renewable Energy during 2024-25 is Rs 16,868 crore, he added.
Paediatric tuberculosis (TB) cases during 2022 and 2023 in India was estimated at 326,000 and 311,000 respectively, Anupriya Patel, Union minister of state for health and family welfare, told the Rajya Sabha.
Country-wise paediatric (0-14 years) TB incidence estimates for the world is available only for the year 2022 and year 2023 in the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s Global TB Report published in 2023 and 2024 respectively, the minister noted.
The share of out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) in total health expenditure decreased from 62.6 per cent in 2014-15 to 39.4 per cent in 2021-22, said Prataprao Jadhav, Union minister of state for health and family welfare, told the Rajya Sabha. He was citing the National Health Account Estimates.
Per capita OOPE on health in 2021-22 was Rs 2,600. In 2014-15, it was Rs 2,394, the minister shared.
There is an inverse relationship between the government health expenditure (GHE) and OOPE, he highlighted. GHE has increased from 29 per cent to 48 per cent, while OOPE has declined from 62.6 per cent to 39.4 per cent between 2014-15 and 2021-22, Jadhav said.
The Department of Land Resources (DoLR) is implementing the Watershed Development Component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (WDC-PMKSY) for the development of rainfed and degraded lands in the country, Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, Union minister of state for rural development, told the Lok Sabha.
Under WDC-PMKSY 1.0 (projects sanctioned during 2009-10 to 2014-15), 765,000 water harvesting structures were created / rejuvenated (between 2014-15 and 2021-22), including 152,000 in Rajasthan, Pemmasani shared. The period of WDC-PMKSY 1.0 projects was over on March 31, 2022, he added.
Government of India approved continuation of programme as WDC-PMKSY 2.0 for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26, with a physical target of 4.95 million hectares and financial outlay of Rs 8,134 crore, as the central share, the minister informed.
Under WDC-PMKSY 2.0, DoLR has till date sanctioned 1,150 projects to two states / UTs, covering an area of 5.02 million ha at a total cost of Rs 12,303.33 crore (central share: Rs 8,022.69 crore) to 28 states and two UTs (J&K and Ladakh), he noted. This includes 149 projects covering an area of 751,000 ha sanctioned to Rajasthan, Pemmasani added.
The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, through the Central Integrated Pest Management Centre in Goa and the State Agriculture Department, conducts regular surveys to monitor pest and disease infestations in coconut and arecanut plantations in South Goa, according to Ramnath Thakur, Union minister of state for agriculture and farmers welfare, in his address to the Lok Sabha. They have found low levels of red palm weevil, rhinoceros beetle and bud rot diseases in these plantations, he informed.
The Coconut Development Board offers technical and financial support to coconut farmers in Goa, assisting 83 projects aimed at developing pest and disease management technology, in collaboration with the Central Plantation Crop Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and State Agricultural Universities under the Technology Mission on Coconut scheme, the minister shared.
Over the past five years, Rs 2.65 crore have been allocated for various field-oriented development schemes in Goa, he added.
For the financial year 2024-25, a budget allocation of Rs 86,000 crore has been designated for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), marking the highest allocation for the scheme at the budget estimate (BE) stage since its inception, Kamlesh Paswan, Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development, informed the Lok Sabha.
In the financial year 2025-26, the government has maintained this allocation at Rs 86,000 crore to ensure ongoing support for rural employment, the minister shared.