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India is making dedicated efforts in order to strengthen domestic rare earth materials supply chains. The Union Budget 2026-27 made an announcement to support the mineral rich coastal states of Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to establish dedicated rare earth corridors to promote mining, processing, research and manufacturing. These Rare Earth Corridors are intended for developing a resilient and globally competitive rare earths ecosystem in India by enhancing production of the NdPr and Samarium oxides and fostering the domestic demand for production of RE magnets and at the same time facilitating establishment of industries in the value chain of Titanium and Zirconium etc., Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh told the Lok Sabha.
Currently, India Meteorological Department (IMD) prepares and updates district-wise early warnings for heavy rainfall and cyclone-related events four times a day, with forecasts valid for up to seven days. IMD generates real-time weather-related warnings and graphical products to support timely weather monitoring and dissemination of information. These warnings cover all vulnerable districts to ensure the timely dissemination of information for preparedness and mitigation. Further, these warnings are shared using multiple channels, e.g., Common Alerting Protocol (CAP), mobile Apps, websites, WhatsApp, social media, etc.
However, the warning communications with automated siren and alert infrastructure are the responsibilities of state disaster management authorities and state emergency operation centres. IMD supports the Central Water Commission by providing observed and forecasted rainfall data, Singh said.
The Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has launched the Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP), to enhance early warning and prompt response to disease outbreaks across the country. Some of the common zoonotic diseases reported under IDSP are Scrub typhus, Leptospirosis, Human Rabies, Kyasanur Forest Disease, Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever, Nipah Virus Disease, and West Nile Fever, Singh said.
The National Food Security Act, 2013, provides for coverage of up to 75 per cent of the rural population and up to 50 per cent of India’s urban population, which at Census 2011 comes to 81.35 crore (813.5 million) persons. States are undertaking cleaning up of their beneficiary database so that ineligible ration cards get deleted and better targeting of rightful beneficiaries is ensured. Thus, deletion of ineligible beneficiaries and addition of eligible beneficiaries under the Act is a continuous process and beneficiaries’ database is dynamic in nature, Minister of State for the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya told the Lok Sabha.
BharatNet project is being implemented in a phased manner to provide broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (GPs). The total number of GPs undertaken under BharatNet Phase-I and Phase-II are 2,22,341, of which 2,14,921 GPs are Service Ready.
The government has also approved the Amended BharatNet Program on August 4, 2023, through which Optical Fiber Connectivity is to be provided to approximately 2.64 lakh (264,000) GPs and approximately 3.8 lakh (380,000) non-GP villages on demand basis, Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar told the Lok Sabha.
The government has formulated the Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernization Program (V-VMP) or Vehicle Scrapping Policy for creation of an ecosystem to phase out unfit and polluting vehicles in an environment friendly manner. The government has notified the Motor Vehicles (Registration and Functions of Vehicle Scrapping Facility) Rules, 2021. These rules provide for creation of formal scrapping ecosystem in the country. As on March 10, 2026, 134 Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facilities (RVSFs) are operational across 22 states / Union territories of the country. These facilities contribute to formalising the vehicle scrapping ecosystem in the country, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Jairam Gadkari told the Rajya Sabha.
In compliance with the point no. 6 (Develop a network of universities to work on disaster-related issues) of the Prime Minister’s 10-point agenda on Disaster Risk Reduction, the government has established India Universities and Institution Network Disaster Risk Reduction (IUINDRR) under the aegis of National Institute of Disaster Management. It is a network of universities and institutions undertaking education and research in the fields related to disaster risk reduction. As of now 352 universities & institutions are the members of network (IUINDRR), Minister of State in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs Nityanand Rai told the Rajya Sabha.