Delhi Metro to get 3 new corridors:13 stations to come up in 3 years; RK Ashram Marg–Indraprastha section to have 8 stations

A meeting of the Union Cabinet was held in Delhi on Wednesday. Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed that ₹12015 crore has been approved for the expansion of the Delhi Metro. Now, the metro route spread across Delhi-NCR will exceed 400 km. 13 new stations will be built in Phase 5 of the Delhi Metro. Prior to this, a cabinet meeting was also held on December 13. Vaishnaw informed that for the first time, the census in the country will be conducted digitally in 2027. The central government approved ₹11,718.24 crore for this in a cabinet meeting on Friday. According to this, the government will spend approximately ₹97 on the census of one person. Actually, India’s population was approximately 121 crore in the 2011 census. If this is taken as the base, then the cost to count 1 person will be approximately ₹97 (₹11,718.24 crore / 121 crore population). If the estimated population is considered to be 150 crore, then the cost per person will be ₹78. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed that 30 lakh employees will complete the digital census. This will be done using CaaS software. Its design has been made keeping data security in mind. The census will be conducted in two phases. Phase-1 (April-September 2026) will involve listing and counting of houses. Phase-2 (February 2027) will involve counting the population. Also Read | Indore Airport master plan targets Simhastha 2028 surge Cabinet approves Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill
The Union Cabinet has also approved the bill related to creating a single regulator for higher education in the country. This will replace institutions like UGC, AICTE, and NCTE. The new institution will be named ‘Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan’ (Developed India Education Supervision). The bill may be introduced in Parliament soon. The proposed law was earlier the Higher Education Commission of India Bill. It is being established under the new National Education Policy, 2020. Currently, UGC is the regulatory body for non-technical higher education, AICTE for technical education, and NCTE for teacher education. The new institution will replace them. Medical and law colleges will remain outside the purview of the new institution. It will have 3 responsibilities: regulation, accreditation, and determination of professional standards. It will not currently have the right to funding. NEP-2020 states, ‘The regulatory system needs to be completely reformed to revive and enable higher education to flourish.’ MSP fixed for Copra Additionally, the Cabinet has approved the CoalSETU window. Under this, it aims to ensure auctioning of coal linkages for various industrial uses and exports, proper access, and optimal utilisation of resources. The government has approved the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for copra for the 2026 season. The MSP for Fair Average Quality milling copra for the 2026 season has been fixed at ₹12,027 per quintal and for ball copra at ₹12,500 per quintal. For the 2026 season, the MSP has been increased by ₹445 per quintal for milling copra (dried coconut kernel) and by ₹400 per quintal for ball copra compared to the previous season. The government had increased the MSP for milling copra and ball copra for the 2014 marketing season from ₹5,250 per quintal and ₹5,500 per quintal, respectively. Bill to rename MGNREGA approved According to sources from news agency PTI, the Union Cabinet on Friday approved a bill to rename the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and increase the number of working days. According to sources, the name of this scheme will now be ‘Pujya Bapu Gramin Rozgar Yojana’ and the number of working days under it will be increased from the current 100 days to 125 days. Also Read | No pets, sealed liquor allowed in Bhopal Metro FDI in Insurance Sector will be 100% The central government has passed a bill to increase the limit of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the insurance sector to 100%. Previously, it was 74%. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet approved the Insurance Amendment Bill on Thursday. Now, foreign companies will be able to fully own Indian insurance firms. The bill will be introduced in the Winter Session, which ends on December 19. Key points of Census 2027… The app used for the census has a pre-coded dropdown menu. The answers are set. Information will be recorded in it. Data entered in the app will go directly to the backend system. This eliminates the need for manual compilation later. The app has Intelligent Character Recognition technology that can read handwritten or incomplete sentences. Decisions of the last 4 cabinet meetings… November 26: Pune Metro to be expanded, ₹7280 crore scheme for Permanent Magnet Industry A meeting of the Union Cabinet was held on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Four projects have been approved in it. Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed that the Pune Metro will be expanded with ₹9858 crore. Meanwhile, a scheme worth ₹7280 crore has been introduced to promote the industry that manufactures rare-earth permanent magnets. These magnets are essential for making electric vehicles (EVs), defence, aerospace, and electronic goods. ​