GoI to launch Purvodaya to accelerate Eastern India Development

On January 10, 2020, the Ministry of Steel announced that it will launch “Purvodaya”, a world class steel hub. The hub aims at an accelerated development programme of eastern states. The Ministry will be joined by CII (Confederation of India Industries) in the implementation of “Purvodaya”.

Highlights

The initiative aims at developing the eastern states through an integrated steel hub. The steel hub will create 2.5 million jobs in the region. It will create world-class logistics and infrastructure. This will also help in achieving India’s steel policy target of 300 MT by 2030.

The Steel Hub

The Steel Hub will develop steel clusters in the region. It will transfer the utilities and logistics infrastructure into socio-economic landscape. So far, 12 major steel zone has been identified under the initiative in the region.

Why Eastern States?

The 5 Eastern states namely West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Northern Andhra Pradesh are extremely rich in coking coal, bauxite and dolomite reserves. The region also has major ports such as Haldia, Paradip, Kolkata and Vizag. Therefore, setting up a steel hub in the region will help India achieve its 5 trillion-dollar economy target fast.

The region also has potential to add 75% of country’s incremental steel capacity.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2020