Budget 2024: Here's why Nirmala Sitharaman talked about Ram Lalla

Budget 2024: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the interim Budget 2024 today, February 1, where the recently inaugurated Ram Mandir in Ayodhya also found its mention. Let's discover why the Finance Minister touched upon the topic of Ram Mandir during the announcement of budget.

What did Nirmala Sitharaman say about Ram Temple in her speech?

FM Nirmala Sitharaman in her speech said one crore households will be enabled to obtain up to 300 units of free electricity each month through rooftop solarisation, while highlighting the Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana.

She added, “This scheme follows the resolve of the Prime Minister on the historic day of consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.”

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Earlier in January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana that aims to install rooftop solar panels.

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In a social media post on X, PM Modi had stated, "I have taken my first decision after returning from Ayodhya that our government will launch 'Pradhan Mantri Suryoday Yojna' with the aim to install rooftop solar systems in one crore houses." 

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Outlined below are the benefits under the ‘Rooftop solarization and muft bijli’ scheme 

1. While talking about the benefits during her speech, FM Nirmala Sitharaman stated that there will be “savings up to ₹15,000-18,000 annually for households from free solar electricity and selling the surplus to the distribution companies."
2. Under this scheme, the citizens will be able to charge their electric vehicles.
3. It will provide entrepreneurship opportunities for a large number of vendors for supply and installation.
4. It will provide employment opportunities for the youth with technical skills in manufacturing, installation, and maintenance.

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The finance minister also revealed a viability gap funding for harnessing offshore wind energy in reference to India's commitment to 'net-zero' by 2070. She said, "Viability gap funding will be provided for harnessing offshore wind energy potential for initial capacity of 1 GW." 

Let's look at India's energy generation capacity according to the Central Electricity Authority data from various renewable sources of energy, which is as follows:

1. India has a solar energy-installed generation capacity of over 73 GW
2. Wind energy-installed generation capacity around 45 GW, 
3. Large hydro energy generation capacity (over 25 MW capacity each) is 47 GW
4. Biomass power/cogen capacity about 10 GW
5. Small hydro (up to 25 MW) energy generation capacity is around 5 GW 
6. Waste-to-energy generation capacity stood at 583 MW.

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Moreover, India has set a target of generating 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030 while have 50 per cent of installed power generation capacity from non-fossil fuel sources.

(With agency inputs)