Context

• The Union Budget speech by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday highlighted the government’s continuous efforts to push for digitisation in the country. Also the Finance Minister listed ‘Green Growth’ as one of the seven priorities of her Budget.

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Push for digitisation in the country: key highlights

• Digital Public Infrastructure for Agriculture: It will be an open source, open standard and interoperable public good. The platform will offer inclusive, farmer-centric solutions through relevant information services for crop planning and health, improved access to farm inputs, credit, and insurance, help for crop estimation, market intelligence, and support for the growth of the agri-tech industry and start-ups.
• National Digital Library for Children and Adolescents: This will be established for facilitating the availability of quality books in different languages, genres and at different levels. The government will also try to inculcate a culture of reading by collaborating with NGOs, which will provide age-appropriate reading material to everyone.
• Centres of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence: There is a proposal for setting up three centres of excellence for Artificial Intelligence in top educational institutions. These centres, in partnership with leading players in the industry, will conduct interdisciplinary research and develop cutting-edge applications and scalable problem solutions in the areas of agriculture, health, and sustainable cities.
• National Data Governance Policy: Government will formulate a data governance policy to enable access to anonymised data for innovation and research by start-ups and academia.
• 5G Services: A hundred labs will be established in engineering institutions for developing applications using 5G services to realise a new range of opportunities, business models, and employment potential.
• E-Courts: Government will roll out phase three of the E-Courts project to ensure the efficient administration of justice.
• Bharat Shared Repository of Inscriptions (Bharat SHRI): A digital epigraphy museum will be established and one lakh ancient inscriptions will be digitised in the first stage.
• Skill India Digital Platform: The digital ecosystem for skilling will be further expanded by launching a unified Skill India Digital platform for enabling demand-based formal skilling, linking with employers including MSMEs and facilitating access to entrepreneurship schemes.

Elements of the Budget’s Green Growth push

• Green Hydrogen Mission: The recently launched National Green Hydrogen Mission, with an outlay of Rs 19,700 crores, will facilitate 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. India aims to reach a target of an annual production of 5 MMT of green hydrogen by 2030.
• Energy Transition: The Budget has provided Rs 35,000 crore for priority capital investments towards energy transition and net zero objectives, and energy security by Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.
• Energy Storage Projects: To steer the economy on the sustainable development path, Battery Energy Storage Systems with capacity of 4,000 MWH will be supported with Viability Gap Funding. A detailed framework for Pumped Storage Projects will also be formulated.
• Renewable Energy Evacuation: The Inter-state transmission system for evacuation and grid integration of 13 GW renewable energy from Ladakh will be constructed.
• Green Credit Programme: For encouraging behavioural change, a Green Credit Programme will be notified under the Environment (Protection) Act. This will incentivize environmentally sustainable and responsive actions by companies, individuals and local bodies, and help mobilize additional resources for such activities.
• PM-PRANAM: A new PM Programme for Restoration, Awareness, Nourishment and Amelioration of Mother Earth will be launched to incentivize States and Union Territories to promote alternative fertilizers and balanced use of chemical fertilizers.
• GOBARdhan (Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan) scheme: 500 new waste to wealth plants under GOBARdhan scheme will be established for promoting circular economy.
• Bhartiya Prakritik Kheti Bio-Input Resource Centres: Proposal to facilitate over the next three years 1 crore farmers to adopt natural farming. For this, 10,000 Bio-Input Resource Centres will be set-up, creating a national-level distributed micro-fertilizer and pesticide manufacturing network.
• MISHTI: Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes, MISHTI, will be taken up for mangrove plantation along the coastline and on salt pan lands, wherever feasible, through convergence between MGNREGS, CAMPA Fund and other sources.
• Amrit Dharohar: The government will promote their unique conservation values through Amrit Dharohar, a scheme that will be implemented over the next three years to encourage optimal use of wetlands, and enhance bio-diversity, carbon stock, eco-tourism opportunities and income generation for local communities.
• Coastal Shipping: Coastal shipping will be promoted as the energy efficient and lower cost mode of transport, both for passengers and freight, through PPP mode with viability gap funding.
• Vehicle Replacement: Replacing old polluting vehicles is an important part of greening our economy. In furtherance of the vehicle scrapping policy states will also be supported in replacing old vehicles and ambulances.

Conclusion

• The Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman outlines the government’s push for digitization and green growth in India. Key highlights suggests that the budget lays the foundation for a more digitally connected and environmentally sustainable India.

Mains question

Q. Recently Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented Union Budget 2023. many suggests that the budget lays the foundation for a more digitally connected and environmentally sustainable India. Discuss.

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