opensansad/lok-sabha-qa huggingface dataset:
Lok Sabha Question No. 4177 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-26
Subject: MoU for Vocational Training
Ministry: COAL
Asked by: Shri Jugal Kishore, Shri Bharatsinhji Shankarji Dabhi, Shri Vijay Baghel

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COAL

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO †4177 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.03.2025

## MoU for Vocational Training

†4177.

Shri Jugal Kishore: Shri Bharatsinhji Shankarji Dabhi: Shri Vijay Baghel:

Will the Minister of COAL be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  details  of  criteria  for  selection  of  400  candidates  under  the  vocational  training programme as per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) and Apparel Training and Design Centre (ATDC);
- (b) the existing mechanism of track the success of the said vocational training initiative in terms of employment and self-employment;
- (c) whether there is any plan to extend the said initiative to other coalfields of the country; and (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF COAL AND MINES (SHRI G. KISHAN REDDY)

- (a): The details of selection criteria of 400 candidates for the Vocational Training Programme under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) and Apparel Training and Design Centre (ATDC) are as under:
1. Candidate must be from within 25 KM from Project Sites.
2. Must be in the age group of 18-40 years.
3. Possesses  8th  and  12th  pass  certificate  for  Self  Employed  Tailor  and  Apparel Manufacturing Technology Course respectively.
4. Reservation  for  candidates  from  Schedule  Caste  (SC)/  Schedule  Tribe  (ST)/  Other Backward  Classes  (OBC)/  Person  with  Disability  (PwD)/  Economically  Weaker Section (EWS)/ others as per extant rules.
- (b): ATDC has Memorandum of Undertaking (MoU) with 71 leading garment exporters of India and Apparel Export Promotion Council to provide employment opportunities to trained candidates. Further, the details of trained candidates shall be maintained by ATDC and SECL for employed and self-employed trainee.
- (c) & (d): Yes. In addition to SECL, this initiative has been extended in other subsidiaries of the CIL, the details are provided as under:
- Central Coalfields Ltd. (CCL): 325 candidates has been incorporated in the Annual CSR Action Plan for the Financial Year (FY) 2025-26.
- Western Coalfields Ltd. (WCL): MoU between WCL and ATDC has been signed and for current financial year 2024-25, 210 candidates have been selected.
- Eastern  Coalfields  Ltd.  (ECL): ECL has  selected  120  unemployed  youths  for training in Rajmahal Area.

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Lok Sabha Question No. 4173 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-26
Subject: Special Trains for Mahakumbh 2025
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Tanuj Punia

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.4173

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.03.2025

## SPECIAL TRAINS FOR MAHAKUMBH 2025

†4173. SHRI TANUJ PUNIA:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

the  details  of  number  of  special  train  service  from  various  States cancelled  during  Mahakumbh  along  with  the  number  of  passengers affected due to the same?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND

## ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

Indian Railways, subject to operational feasibility, traffic justification etc., operate  Special  trains  to  cater  extra  rush  of  passengers  during  festive season, vacations, or for destinations of tourist value to facilitate tourism and pilgrimage.

In  order to cater to the needs of passengers and facilitate their journey during  Maha  Kumbh-2025,  Indian  Railways  operated  more  than  17,300 trains which included 7484 Special trains. These Special trains included 996 long distance trains.  All  these  measures  served  approximately  4.24

crore passengers.

To  cater  to the extra rush of passengers,  facilitate their periodic evacuation  and  keeping in view the safety of passengers,  it  was imperative  to  operate  more  special  trains  especially  on  the  major  snan days. Accordingly, to create additional path for these trains and keeping in view the operational exigencies, 76 long distance special trains already notified  could not be operated.

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Lok Sabha Question No. 4170 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-26
Subject: Digital Connectivity in Kerala
Ministry: COMMUNICATION
Asked by: Shri Shafi Parambil, Shri Rajmohan Unnithan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4170 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26 TH  MARCH, 2025

## DIGITAL CONNECTIVITY IN KERALA

## 4170.   SHRI SHAFI PARAMBIL: SHRI RAJMOHAN UNNITHAN:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATION be pleased to state:

- (a) the current status of mobile and digital connectivity in Kerala with the number of villages covered and not covered;
- (b) the challenges, if any, faced in expanding mobile and digital infrastructure across Kerala; and

(c) the measures taken to bridge the digital divide and ensure equitable access to digital services in Kerala?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. PEMMASANI CHANDRA SEKHAR)

(a) to (c) All the 1,438 villages (as per data of Registrar General of India) in Kerala, are covered with mobile connectivity and internet connectivity.

BharatNet project is being implemented in a phased manner to provide connectivity to all the Gram Panchayats (GPs) for broadband services, such as Wi-Fi Hotspots, Fibre to the Home (FTTH) connections  etc.  Further,  the  Union  Cabinet  has  approved  Amended  BharatNet  Program  for provisioning of connectivity to all GPs in the country in ring topology including upgrading existing network and connectivity to about 3.8 Lakh non-GP villages on demand basis.

Further, some key initiatives taken by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to  bridge  the  digital  divide  and  access  to  digital  services  in  the  country  including  Kerala  are  as follows:

-  Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA): In order to improve the digital literacy rate, especially in rural India, the Government of India implemented  a  scheme  titled  'Pradhan  Mantri  Gramin  Digital  Saksharta  Abhiyan (PMGDISHA)' to usher in digital literacy in rural India by covering  6 crore rural households (one person per household) across the country. As on 31st March 2024 against 6 crore, 6.39 crore individuals were trained across the country. In the state of Kerala under the PMGDISHA scheme a total of 1,77,165 candidates were enrolled, out of which, a total of 1,18,132 candidates were trained.

-  Common Services Centres (CSCs) are offering government and business services in digital mode in rural areas through Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs). Over 800 services are being delivered through CSCs, including government services, financial services and services related to Aadhaar, various social welfare schemes, education, tele-medicine, travel bookings, utility payments. As on January, 2025 5.97 lakh CSCs are functional across the country (rural + urban), including 9,948 CSCs in Kerala.
-  In addition, citizens across the country, including Kerala, have also been enabled to access e-services under various initiatives, such as Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG), DigiLocker, National scholarship Portal, Myscheme, e-Hospital and MyGov, etc.

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Lok Sabha Question No. 4169 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-26
Subject: People Living Below Poverty Line
Ministry: PLANNING
Asked by: Shri Bhausaheb Rajaram Wakchaure

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PLANNING

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4169 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.03.2025

## PEOPLE LIVING BELOW POVERTY LINE

## †4169. SHRI BHAUSAHEB RAJARAM WAKCHAURE:

Will the Minister of PLANNING be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of people in the country especially in rural areas who have been brought above the poverty line during the last three years as on date, State and year-wise;
- (b) the estimated number of people living below the poverty line as on date;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to raise the standard of living of people living below the poverty line by formulating a scheme for them;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION; MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE

## (RAO INDERJIT SINGH)

- (a) to  (e)  In  2021,  the  Government  of  India  developed  a  comprehensive  index  known  as Multidimensional  Poverty  Index  (MPI)  to  measure  poverty  that  captures  overlapping deprivations in dimensions such as health, education and standard of living, covering 12 indicators. It measures both the share of people in poverty and the degree to which they are  deprived.  The  second  edition  of  the  index  was  released  in  2023.  As  per  the  latest National  MPI  Report,  2023  released  by  NITI  Aayog,  the  proportion  of  population  in multidimensional poverty declined from 24.85% to 14.96% between 2015-16 and 201921, indicating that about 135.5 million persons have escaped poverty during the period. The fastest decline is witnessed in the percentage of multidimensional poor in rural areas

from 32.59 % in 2015-16 to 19.28 % in 2019-21. The State/UT-wise and sector-wise details of MPI are in public domain and can be accessed at https://www.niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2021-11/National\_MPI\_India-11242021.pdf and https://www.niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2023-08/India-National-MultidimentionalPoverty-Index-2023.pdf .

The  Government  has  launched  various  schemes  to  reduce  multidimensional  poverty, which, inter alia,  include Saksham Anganwadi & POSHAN 2.0, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan  Anna  Yojana  (PMGKAY),  Pradhan  Mantri  Poshan  Shakti  Nirman  (PM POSHAN), Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan, Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar  Yojana  (Saubhagya),  PM  Ujjwala  Yojana,  Swachh  Bharat  Mission  (SBM),  Jal Jeevan  Mission  (JJM),  Pradhan  Mantri  Jan  Dhan  Yojana  (PMJDY),  Pradhan  Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), PM Vishwakarma, etc.

*****
Lok Sabha Question No. 4167 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-26
Subject: PMKKKY in Uttar Pradesh
Ministry: MINES
Asked by: Shri Arun Kumar Sagar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF MINES

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO - †4167

ANSWERED ON 26.03.2025

## PMKKKY IN UTTAR PRADESH

†4167. SHRI ARUN KUMAR SAGAR:

Will the Minister of MINES be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  works  under  Pradhan  Mantri Khanij  Kshetra  Kalyan  Yojana (PMKKKY) are going on in the country particularly in Uttar Pradesh;
- (b) if so, the details and the current status thereof particularly in Uttar Pradesh as on date; and
- (c) the details of the central funds allocated and utilized for the purpose alongwith the number of beneficiaries during each of the last three years till date, State-wise?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF COAL AND MINES (SHRI G. KISHAN REDDY)

- (a)  &  (b)  Yes,  Pradhan  Mantri  Khanij  Kshetra  Kalyan  Yojna  (PMKKKY)  guidelines were  circulated  on  16.09.2015  by  the  Union  Government  with  directions  to  State Governments  to  incorporate  the  same  into  the  rules  framed  by  them  for  District Mineral  Foundation  (DMF).  Accordingly,  23  mining  states  including  Uttar  Pradesh have incorporated the PMKKKY guidelines into the rules framed by them for DMF.

As per information received from State Government of Uttar Pradesh, till date, Rs 1,944.58 Cr. has been collected under DMFs, out of which Rs 1,058.90 Cr. has been sanctioned for 7,507 projects. A total 6,138 projects have been completed and an amount of Rs.806.71 Cr. has been spent.

- c)  DMFs  has  no  provision  for  budgetary  allocation  from  Central  Government.  The DMF is funded by statutory contributions from holders of mining lease in terms of the fixed percentage of royalty prescribed by the Central Government. The contribution made under DMF is collected by the concerned districts and all the persons affected by mining are beneficiaries under DMF as per the MMDR Act.

*****
Lok Sabha Question No. 4164 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-26
Subject: Employment Opportunities for Minorities
Ministry: MINORITY AFFAIRS
Asked by: Md. Rakibul Hussain

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4164

ANSWERED ON 26.03.2025

## EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR MINORITIES

## 4164. MD. RAKIBUL HUSSAIN:

Will the Minister of MINORITY AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- a) the efforts being made to enhance employment opportunities for minorities particularly in Government and Public Sector jobs;
- b) whether  the  Government  has  taken  any  special  measures  to  create  skill  development programmes tailored to the needs of minority communities especially in rural and remote areas; and
- c) if  so,  the details and current status of the implementation and success of schemes like the "Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana" for minority youth?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF MINORITY AFFAIRS

(SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

(a)  and  (b):  The  Pradhan  Mantri  Virasat  Ka  Samvardhan  (PM  VIKAS),  is  a  Central  Sector Schemeof the Ministry which converges five erstwhile schemes viz. 'Seekho Aur Kamao', 'Nai Manzil', 'Nai Roshni' and 'USTTAD' & 'Hamari Dharohar' and focuses on upliftment of six notified  minority  communities  through  skill  development;  entrepreneurship  and  leadership  of minority  women;  and  education  support  for  school  dropouts.  Thescheme  also  provisions  to facilitate credit linkages by connecting beneficiaries with loan programs offered by the National Minorities  Development  &  Finance  Corporation  (NMDFC).  Under  the  scheme,  skills  and education  support  would  be  provided  to  youth  of  minority  communities  that  could  earn  them suitable employment or make them suitably skilled to take up self-employment.

(c)  Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) is implementing its flagship Scheme Pradhan  Mantri  Kaushal  Vikas  Yojana  (PMKVY)  since  2015.  Under  PMKVY,  skill training is imparted through Short Term Training (STT) and Re-skilling and Up-skilling through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) to youth across the country. Under PMKVY 4.0, the focus is to empower trained candidates to choose their varied career path and they are suitably oriented for  the  same.  To  enable  the  opportunities  for  employments,  Skill  India  Digital  Hub  (SIDH) Portal has been launched as a one-stop platform that integrates skilling, education, employment, and entrepreneurship ecosystems to provide a lifelong array of services targeting a wide range of stakeholders. Details of the trained candidates are available on SIDH portal. Through Skill India Digital Hub, candidates can have access to jobs and apprenticeship opportunities. Also, On-JobTraining (OJT) has been made an inherent component of the PMKVY.

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Lok Sabha Question No. 4163 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-26
Subject: Launches by NSIL
Ministry: SPACE
Asked by: Shri Baijayant Panda

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## DEPARTMENT OF SPACE LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4163 TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2025 LAUNCHES BY NSIL

## 4163.  SHRI BAIJAYANT PANDA:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a) the total revenue generated by New Space India Limited (NSIL) since its inception in 2019;
- (b) the total number of international and Indian customer satellites successfully launched by NSIL till date;
- (c) whether  NSIL  has  taken  any  steps  towards  indigenization  of launching  vehicle  manufacturing  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof; and
- (d) whether  NSIL  plans  to  expand  its  commercial  space  business through public-private partnerships and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES & PENSIONS AND IN THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH):

****

- (a) The total revenue generated by NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), a  Government  of  India  Company  under  Department  of  Space, since inception in March 2019 is given below:
- (b) Till date, NSIL has launched 135 International customer satellites and 3 Indian Satellites on commercial basis.
- (c) Yes.  NSIL as part of its mandate to enable Indian Industries in taking up high technology space related activities, has signed a contract with M/s HAL (Lead partner of HAL and L&T consortium) for End-to-End manufacturing of 5 nos of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The 1st fully Indian Industry manufactured PSLV would be launched during 2 nd  half of 2025.
- (d) NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) has plans to expand its commercial space business through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs)  model  as  well. Towards  this,  NSIL  is  considering realizing ISRO's heavy lift launcher LVM3, under PPP partnership approach, due to its large commercial potential in Global launch service market.

| Particulars             |   FY 2019-20 (Cr.) |   FY 2020- 21 (Cr.) |   FY 2021-22 (Cr.) |   FY 2022-23 (Cr.) |   FY 2023-24 (Cr.) |   FY 2024-25 (Estima te) (Cr.) |
|-------------------------|--------------------|---------------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------------------|
| Revenue from Operations |             314.52 |              513.31 |            1674.77 |            2842.26 |            2116.12 |                        3026.09 |
| Other Income            |               7.25 |               12.4  |              57.07 |              98.16 |             279.08 |                         220    |
| Total Revenue           |             321.77 |              525.71 |            1731.84 |            2940.42 |            2395.2  |                        3246.09 |
| Total Expenditure       |             253.2  |              312.87 |            1272.69 |            2324.07 |            1591.6  |                        2003.97 |
| Profit before Tax       |              68.57 |              212.84 |             459.15 |             616.35 |             803.59 |                        1242.12 |

****
Lok Sabha Question No. 4157 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-26
Subject: PM-WANI Scheme
Ministry: COMMUNICATION
Asked by: Dr. Ganapathy Rajkumar P

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4157 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26 TH  MARCH, 2025

## PM-WANI SCHEME

## 4157.   DR. GANAPATHY RAJKUMAR P:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATION be pleased to state:

(a) the details of service providers and Public Data Offices(PDO) existed in the country under PM-Wani scheme;

(b) whether the PDOA (PDO Aggregator) has been facing problems in procuring hardware for PDOs and there  by bringing to a standstill in the Wi-Fi business; and

(c) if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  steps  taken  to  improve  the  supply  of  hardware  for  the business?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. PEMMASANI CHANDRA SEKHAR)

(a) The  Prime  Minister's  Wi-Fi  Access  Network  Interface  (PM-WANI)  framework  aims  to accelerate proliferation of internet services by setting up public Wi-Fi Hotspots in the country with the objective of building digital India and consequential benefits thereon.

Under the PM-WANI framework, Public Data Offices (PDOs) establish, operate and maintain WANI  compliant  Wi-Fi  Hotspots  based  on  their  techno-commercial  considerations  and  deliver internet services to subscribers. PDOs need to partner with a Public Data Office Aggregator (PDOA) to deliver internet services.

The total number of PM-WANI Wi-Fi hotspots installed in the country, as on 20.03.2025, are 2,78,439.

(b) & (c) PM-WANI compliant Wi-Fi hardware is easily available in the market. As per the information furnished by Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), PM-WANI compliant WiFi hardware is also supplied by C-DOT through its transfer of technology (ToT) partners.

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Lok Sabha Question No. 4155 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-26
Subject: Revenue earned/losses incurred by Railways
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Smt. Manju Sharma

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4155

TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.03.2025

## REVENUE EARNED/LOSSES INCURRED BY RAILWAYS

†4155. SMT. MANJU SHARMA:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the revenue earned/losses incurred by the Railways during the last three years including current year, year-wise;
- (b) whether the Railways has assessed the major loss-making areas/ sectors in this regard;
- (c) is so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether any target has been fixed by the railways to increase the revenue; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION &  BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a) to  (e)  Details  of  Indian  Railways'  earning  and  expenditure  during last three years are as under :

| Financial Year (FY)   | Revenue Receipts (₹ in crore)   | Revenue Expenditure (₹ in crore)   |
|-----------------------|---------------------------------|------------------------------------|
| 2022-23               | 2,40,177                        | 2,37,660                           |
| 2023-24               | 2,56,093                        | 2,52,834                           |
| 2024-25 (RE)          | 2,79,000                        | 2,77,659                           |

Contd..2/-

Major expenditure is done on Staff cost, Pension, energy consumption etc.

Indian Railways strive to provide affordable services to all strata of the society. The cost of passenger services and subsidy given on passenger services on IR during the year 2023-24 is as under:

| Cost of transportation of 1 passenger for 1 Km   | ₹ 1.38                    |
|--------------------------------------------------|---------------------------|
| Price of ticket for 1 Km                         | ₹ 0.73                    |
| Subsidy on ticket                                | ₹ 0.65 (47%)              |
| Total subsidy for passenger services             | ₹ 60,466 Cr (provisional) |

On  account  of  Social  Service  Obligations,  IR  operates  trains  on uneconomic branch lines, strategic lines, transportation of essential commodities etc.

With  a  view  to  offer  better  services  and  to  enhance  passenger earnings,  various  initiatives  have  been  taken  which  includes augmentation of on-board capacity, introduction of new trains like Vande  Bharat,  Amrit  Bharat,  Namo  Bharat  rapid  rail  etc.  with better amenities and facilities.

*****