While dolling out sops for the urban poor by approving an urban health mission, the UPA government on Wednesday also kept Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar in good humour, ordering a fresh bidding for two mega railway projects to be set up in his state.
While dolling out sops for the urban poor by approving an urban health mission, the UPA government on Wednesday also kept Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar in good humour, ordering a fresh bidding for two mega railway projects to be set up in his state.
Fearing massive electoral reverses in urban areas, the Union cabinet on Thursday approved the launching of the National Urban Health Mission worth Rs22,507 crore on the lines of the National Health Mission. This will focus on the urban primary and community health centres, and on the appointment of auxiliary nursing midwives and social health activists to take care of primary health.
The central government will provide Rs16,955 crore and the states shall foot 25% of the bill. But J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and North-Eastern states will have to bear just 10% of the costs.
The mission will be implemented in 779 cities and towns with a population of more than 50,000.
A note circulated in the cabinet said the scheme would bring down infant mortality and maternal mortality rates.
So far, the UPA government has targeted rural India through an assortment of schemes; the latest one being the direct cash transfer of subsidy to beneficiaries.
Realising that the UPA-II owes much of its existence to urban voters as it had won 115 urban seats out of a total of 201 in 2009, the government is now doling out sops for cities and town dwellers.
A dominant section within the Congress had so far made it a point to put across a view that the urban electorate, which was part of street protests, were traditionally anti-Congress.
But statistics say a different story. Of 57 seats in big cities, the UPA had won 34. An unease within the Congress is palpable on ignoring urban voters at the cost of building a rural base.
Trying to keep the Bihar CM and his party, the JD(U), happy, the Union cabinet decided to start afresh the bidding process for setting up two projects — an electric locomotive factory at Madhepura and a diesel locomotive factory at Marhowra — worth Rs3346.15 crore. Lalu Prasad Yadav, as rail minister, had announced these projects.
According to a cabinet note, these factories will roll out 800 electric locomotives of 12,000 horse power (hp) each and a mix of 1,000 diesel locomotives of 4,500 and 6,000 hp.
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