The government on Thursday decided to distribute fortified rice under all schemes, extend by another year a key scheme meant to promote innovation and allow surrender of coal blocks by firms without penalty.
The union cabinet extended the term for Atal Innovation Mission by a year to 2023 in its meeting on Thursday, people aware of the development told Mint.
The government also allowed state utilities to surrender coal blocks without financial cost.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has also decided to include fortified rice in all government schemes.
These decisions are expected to be formally announced on Friday.
In order to improve the nutritional deficiencies, CCEA has also approved a proposal to distribute fortified rice under all government schemes. The government is expected to set aside ₹2,700 crore per year on the scheme.
Rice fortification is a process of adding micronutrients like iron, folic acid and vitamin B12, is an effective, preventive and cost-efficient complementary strategy to address the nutrition problem within a short period.
Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) had started in 2016 with an aim to promote a culture of innovation. So far under the scheme, 68 Atal incubation centres have been set up and over 2,200 startups have been supported. With funds available for more time, the mission is expected to support more innovation from start ups.
In a decision which may come as a major relief for coal mining companies, the CCEA has decided to allow coal block allottees to surrender mines that they are not in a position to develop without imposition of financial penalty requiring forfeiture of bank guarantees.
Such surrender is allowed even now but only for partially explored blocks and not after fully exploring a coal mine. The changes will open one time window for such surrender. The move is expected to benefit more than 50 in operational mines of which over 40 belong to PSUs.
According to the Coal Ministry’s agenda for 2021-22, the scheme to return coal blocks by allottees which are not in a position to develop the block due to technical reasons would bring ease of doing business.
An email sent to the spokesperson for the government late on Thursday evening remained unanswered till press time.
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