The Union Cabinet, on Wednesday, approved enactment of a Central legislation for declaring 101 additional inland waterways as National Waterways (NW) for navigation.

This is aimed at creating a logistic supply chain with intermodal — rail, road and waterways — connectivity. At present, the country has just five National Waterways.

The Cabinet also gave its ‘in-principle’ approval for the concept and institutional framework of Sagarmala Project to promote port-led direct and indirect development and to provide infrastructure to transport goods to and from ports quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affair (CCEA), which also met on Wednesday, approved the launch of the National Supercomputing Mission under which India will install 73 super computers all across the country, all of which would be connected by a grid, to enhance research work. The CCEA also approved the norms of the expenditure and pattern of central sharing on Central assistance to States/Union Territories under the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA).

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