The Aryavarth Express
Agency(New Delhi): In the Interim Budget 2024-25, Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, emphasized the government’s commitment to comprehensive development and announced several measures for promoting green growth and renewable energy.
A key highlight of the budget is the rooftop solarization initiative, named ‘muftbijli’, which aims to enable one crore households to obtain up to 300 units of free electricity each month. This initiative is in line with the Prime Minister’s resolve expressed on the historic day of the Ram Mandir consecration in Ayodhya. The scheme is expected to bring multiple benefits, including annual savings of fifteen to eighteen thousand rupees for households through free solar electricity and the sale of surplus power to distribution companies. It also promises to boost the charging of electric vehicles, create entrepreneurship opportunities for vendors in supply and installation, and generate employment for technically skilled youth in manufacturing, installation, and maintenance.
The budget also outlined several measures to meet India’s commitment to achieving ‘net-zero’ by 2070. These include viability gap funding for harnessing the initial capacity of one gigawatt of offshore wind energy, setting up a coal gasification and liquefaction capacity of 100 MT by 2030 to reduce imports of natural gas, methanol, and ammonia, and mandated phased blending of Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) in Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) for transport and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) for domestic purposes. Additionally, financial assistance will be provided for the procurement of biomass aggregation machinery to support collection.
In terms of electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure, the government plans to expand and strengthen the e-vehicle ecosystem by supporting manufacturing and charging infrastructure. The budget includes measures to encourage the adoption of e-buses in public transport networks through a payment security mechanism.
Furthermore, the budget introduces a new scheme for bio-manufacturing and bio-foundry. This scheme aims to provide environment-friendly alternatives like biodegradable polymers, bio-plastics, bio-pharmaceuticals, and bio-agri-inputs. It seeks to transform the current consumptive manufacturing paradigm into one based on regenerative principles.