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During her Union Budget speech on Wednesday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India was moving forward firmly for the 'panchamrit' and net-zero carbon emission by 2070 to usher in green industrial and economic transition.
The Finance Minister also mentioned that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a vision for "LiFE", or Lifestyle for Environment, to spur a movement of environmentally-conscious lifestyle. She said this Union Budget builds on the focus on green growth. "The recently launched National Green Hydrogen Mission, with an outlay of Rs 19,700 crore, will facilitate the transition of the economy to low carbon intensity, reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports, and make the country assume technology and market leadership in this sunrise sector," she said, adding that, "The target is to reach an annual production of 5 MMT (million tonne) by 2030."The Minister also said, "The Budget also provides Rs 35,000 crore for priority capital investments towards energy transition and net zero objectives, and energy security by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas."The Finance Minister said that to steer the economy on the sustainable development path, Battery Energy Storage Systems with a capacity of 4,000 MWH will be supported with Viability Gap Funding. She also informed that the Inter-state transmission system for evacuation and grid integration of 13 GW renewable energy from Ladakh will be constructed with an investment of Rs 20,700 crore including central support of Rs 8,300 crore. Nirmala Sitharaman announced that 500 new 'waste to wealth' plants under GOBARdhan (Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan) scheme will be established for promoting circular economy. These will include 200 compressed biogas (CBG) plants, including 75 plants in urban areas, and 300 community or cluster-based plants at a total investment of Rs 10,000 crore.She said, in due course, a 5 per cent CBG mandate will be introduced for all organisations marketing natural and biogas and for collection of bio-mass and distribution of bio-manure, appropriate fiscal support will be provided. The Finance Minister announced that over the next three years, the Centre will facilitate one crore farmers to adopt natural farming. For this, 10,000 bio-input resource centres will be set up, creating a national-level distributed micro-fertiliser and pesticide manufacturing network.The Finance Minister said that in furtherance of the vehicle scrapping policy mentioned in Budget 2021-22, she has allocated adequate funds to scrap old vehicles of the central government and states will also be supported in replacing old vehicles and ambulances. (ANI)
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