The government will unveil its “plan of action” to boost the economy in the Union Budget to be presented on February 1, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Wednesday, asserting that India’s economic fundamentals remain very strong.

Responding to a question about the downward revision of India’s growth rate by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he said at that the economy is on the path of “revival” and nobody should have a pessimistic view about it.  He was addressing a press conference after the Union Cabinet met in New Delhi today.

Cabinet decisions

The Union Cabinet also approved the Revised Cost Estimates (RCE) of over Rs 4,371 crore for establishment of permanent campuses of new National Institutes of Technology (NITs) till 2022. “Cabinet has approved the Revised Cost Estimates (RCE) for establishment of permanent campuses of new National Institutes of Technology (NITs) at a total cost of Rs 4371.90 crore for the period till 2021-22,” Javadekar said.

“NITs were established in the year 2009 and started functioning from academic year 2010-2011 in their respective temporary campus with very limited space and infrastructure. These NITs will be fully functional from their respective permanent campuses by March 31, 2022,” he added.

The Cabinet also approved a model pact with foreign countries for the recognition of seafarers’ competency certificates.  This will pave the way for the mutual recognition of maritime education and training of seafarers by the countries involved. “The Cabinet has approved a model MoU with foreign countries for unilateral/bilateral recognition of Certificates of Competency of seafarers,” a government official said.

The government cleared the way for a pact between India and Brazil for cooperation in the field of geology and mineral resources.

The Cabinet, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “has given its approval for the Memorandum of Understanding to be signed between Geological Survey of India (GSI), Ministry of Mines of the Republic of India and Geological Survey of Brazil - CPRM, Ministry of Mines and Energy of the Federative Republic of Brazil on ‘cooperation in field of geology and mineral resources’,” the Mines Ministry said in a statement.

The pact will provide an institutional mechanism between both the nations for cooperation in field of geology and mineral resources, the statement said.