PM Gati Shakti Yojana

On the eve of India’s 75^th Independence Day, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched the ambitious PM Gati Shakti Yojana- National Master Plan for multi-modal connectivity plan, an Rs. 100 lakh-crore national infrastructure master plan for developing ‘holistic infrastructure’ and gives an integrated pathway to our economy.

The scheme will subsume the Rs.110 lakh crore National Infrastructure Pipeline launched in the year 2019. It will help achieve the ambitious targets set by the government of India for 2024-25 including, the creation of more than 200 new airports, water aerodromes, and heliports, and expanding the length of the national highway network to two lakh kilometers.

PM Modi said that the People of India, Indian business, Indian industry, Indian manufacturers, and Indian farmers are at the center of Gati Shakti Yojana. Since 2014, the Modi government has been focusing on all those unfinished projects that are pending for decades since their announcement. Presently, with the whole government approach, the collective power of the government is being channeled into completing the pending projects. The Prime Minister remarked that the PM Gati Shakti Yojana would bring together the government process and various stakeholders.

What is PM Gati Shakti Yojana?

Gati Shakti envisions a digital portal, which involves the creation of a common umbrella platform with all existing and planned infrastructure initiatives of 16 infrastructure-related ministries and departments for coordinated planning and execution of the projects in an effective manner on a real-time basis. Central government departments including, Roads and Highways, Railways, Gas, Power, Petroleum, Telecom, Shipping, and Aviation, will be part of this project.

Gati Shakti is an extension of holistic governance. The yojana will give new energy to the present and future generations of India, and it would remove the obstacles in their path and shall give impetus to 21st century India.

Gati Shakti scheme is in synergy with the National Monetisation Pipeline to provide a clear framework for monetization, optimum utilization funds and give potential investors a ready list of assets to generate investor interest.

Aim:

• To ensure integrated coordination, planning, and faster implementation of infrastructure projects in the next four years, emphasizing expediting works on the ground, cutting logistics costs, and creating jobs.
• To extend 4G connectivity to all villages.
• To establish 11 industrial corridors and two new defense corridors- one in Uttar Pradesh and the other in Tamil Nadu.
• To add 17,000 km to the gas pipeline network.
• To create holistic and integrated transport connectivity in the country that would greatly support Make in India.
• To end bureaucratic entanglements and break inter-ministerial silos of departmentalism that hold up infrastructure projects i.e., problems with clearances and timely creation, disjointed planning, lack of standardization, and utilization of infrastructure capacities.
• To provide clarity on how industrial hubs of different regions in the country are linked, especially for last-mile connectivity.
• To help India become the business capital of the world.
• To integrate different modes of transport.

Focus areas:

• The project will be a source of employment opportunities for the youth in the future.
• To help raise the global profile of local manufacturers and also help them compete with their counterparts worldwide.
• To increase the possibilities of new future economic zones.
• Increase cargo handling capacity
• Reduce the turnaround time at ports to boost trade
• Avoid delays due to lack of coordination.
• To help map the existing and proposed connectivity projects.
• It needs to address macroeconomic and structural stability concerns emanating from high public expenditure.