Aadhaar Bill

A legislation to provide statutory backing to Aadhaar for use for transferring government subsidies and benefits was introduced in Lok Sabha. Opposition protests the legislation fot it's categorised as a money bill which does not need approval of the Rajya Sabha. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the bill addresses concerns over privacy of Aadhaar data and has incorporated a clause that restricts its use as proof of citizenship. The bill will provide for “good governance, efficient, transparent, and targeted delivery of subsidies, benefits and services, the expenditure for which is incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India, to individuals residing in India through assigning of unique identity numbers to such individuals”.

Setu Bharatam

PM Modi launches ‘Setu Bharatam’ project which will build 208 rail-over bridges and rail-under bridges which aims to make all national highways free of railway crossings by 2019.  Around 1,500 bridges that are over 50 to 60 years old will be rebuild under the project. More than 50 thousand crore rupees will be spent on the project. Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Pon Radhakrishnan were also present on the occasion. “Veins give strength to our body. Similarly, infrastructure will give speed and strength to the development of India. There will be progress if we focus on building road and railway network, optical fibre network, water, grid and electricity connectivity along with electricity supply. Our government is working in that direction,” Mr. Modi said on the occasion.

He said that developing rural roads is a priority for the government and it has got huge budgetary support this year. In Budget 2016-17, Rs. 19,000 crore has been sanctioned under the Pradham Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), to connect all villages with roads, compared with Rs. 14,291 crore in the revised estimates of 2015-16.