Union Cabinet Approvals: 16 January 2019

Cabinet approves MoU between India and Australia on safety in Mines, Testing and Research Station

• The Union Cabinet approved signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS), Union Ministry of Labour and Employment and Department of Natural Resource Mines and Energy, Australia through the Safety in Mines, Testing and Research Station (SIMTARS).
• The MoU will help in establishing a partnership between DGMS and SIMTARS for implementation of risk based safety management system, providing training, setting up occupations safety and health academy.
• The memorandum of understanding will become operative from the date of signing and will remain in effect for three years.

Cabinet approves regularisation of Pay Scales of below Board Level Executives in four Hydro CPSEs

• The Union Cabinet approved regularization of Pay scales of below Board Level Executives in National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd. (NHPC), North East Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO), THDC India Ltd. and Satluj Jal Vidhyut Nigam Ltd. (SJVN) with effect from January 1997.
• About 5254 Executives of Hydro CPSEs enrolled before January 2007 will be benefitted by this approval.  
• It will motivate and boost the morale the Executives of Hydro CPSEs.
• The total expenditure to the tune of Rs 323 crore will be incurred for the regularisation of these pay scales.

Cabinet approves Revised Cost of Estimates (RCE) for 13 new Central Universities

• The Union Cabinet approved an expenditure of Rs 3639.32 core for the 13 new Central Universities for recurring cost and creation of necessary infrastructure for completion of the campuses.  
• The work will be completed within a period of 36 months.
• The Cabinet also gave ex-post facto approval for an amount of Rs 1474.65 crore, above the earlier Cabinet approval of Rs 3000 crore, for these Central Universities.
• The new Central Universities in the States of Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir (Two), Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu were established under Central Universities Act, 2009.  

Cabinet approves expenditure sanction for Integrated E-filing and Centralized Processing Centre 2.0 Project

• The Union Cabinet approved expenditure sanction of Rs 4,241.97 crore for Integrated E-filing & Centralised Processing Center 2.0 Project of the Income Tax Department.
• The Cabinet also approved the expenditure sanction for the consolidated cost of Rs 1,482.44 crore  of the existing CPC-ITR 1.0 project up to FY 2018-19.
• The broad objectives of this project are faster and accurate outcomes for taxpayer, first time right approach, enhancing user experience, improving taxpayer awareness, promoting voluntary tax compliance and managing outstanding demand.

Cabinet approves agreement on facilitation of visa arrangements signed between India and Maldives

• The Union Cabinet approved the Agreement on the facilitation of visa arrangements signed between India and Maldives signed in December 2018.
• The Visa Facilitation Agreement signed during the visit of Maldivian President aims to deepen people to people exchanges between the two countries, making it easier for Maldivian and India nationals to travel to each others' countries for tourism, medical treatment, education as well as business.
• The Agreement provides for 90-day visa free travel for tourism, medical and limited business purpose and also provides for easy conversion of such visa free entry to medical visa.

CCEA approves setting up of crude oil pipeline from Paradip to Numaligarh

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the project for capacity expansion of Numaligarh Refinery from 3 MMTPA (Million Metric Tonne Per Annum) to 9 MMTPA.  
• It involves setting up of crude oil pipeline from Paradip to Numaligarh and product pipeline from Numaligarh to Siliguri at a cost of Rs 22,594 crore.
• The project will be completed within a period of 48 months, after approval and receipt of statutory clearances.
• The total project cost of Rs 22,594 crore will be financed by a mix of debt, equity and Viability Gap Funding (VGF).
• The project will be supported by Viability Gap Funding of Rs 1,020 crore from the Union Government.