What is the primary objective of the new scheme announced during the Interim Budget 2024-25 to strengthen deep tech for the defence sector?

Solution

Finance Minister Nirmal Sitharaman announced the development of three major ‘Railway economic corridors programmes’ during her Interim Budget 2024-21025 speech in Lok Sabha. The government would implement three railway corridor program -- energy, mineral and cement corridor; port connectivity corridors; and high traffic density corridors. The projects have been identified under the PM Gati Shakti for enabling multi-modal connectivity. A new scheme will be launched to strengthen deep tech for the defence sector. The government will promote public and private investment in post-harvesting agriculture activities. The application of nano DAP on various crops will be expanded in agri-climatic zones. Three major railway corridors, including for cement, will be constructed, and 40,000 normal railway bogies will be converted to Vande Bharat standard. The Indian government will spend a record 11.11 trillion rupees on infrastructure creation in 2024/25, to ensure India remains one of the world's fastest growing major economies. The allocation for capital expenditure for the financial year starting April 1 is 11.1% higher than the capex for the current fiscal year.  FM Nirmala Sitharaman also announced India government's provision of ₹750 billion corpus for 50-year loans to states for boosting their capital investments for next fiscal year.