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Centre approves 21 new textiles parks
- The new textiles parks, to be set up under public-private-partnership, will attract an overall industry investment of over Rs.9,000 crore generating employment of four lakh workers
- Scheme for the parks would be implemented within 36 months.
- The sanction of new textiles parks would catalyse significant additional investments with industry utilising the benefits under the scheme for integrated textiles parks and Technology Upgradation Funds Scheme (TUFS)
- Six of the parks would come up in Maharashtra, four in Rajasthan, two each in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, one each in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Jammu & Kashmir and West Bengal.
World Bank to provide loan for Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor
- The World Bank has decided to finance 1,130 km out of the 1,839 km length of the EDFC in three phases
- agreement covers the construction of 343 km of the section between Khurja and Kanpur, which would not only raise the axle load limit but also enable the freight trains to gain speeds upto 100 km an hour.
- The loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a maturity period of 22 years, including a seven-year grace period.
- The EDFC along with the Western DFC, when completed, will decongest the present routes allowing for faster movement of passenger trains, besides speeding up goods trains in these regions which account for the country's 50 per cent of rail freight.
- Since the DFC is expected to be operated entirely through electric locomotives, a reduction in green house gas emission is expected
