Startup India was launched by the Government of India on 16th January, 2016 to build a strong eco-system for nurturing innovation and Startups in the country to drive economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities.
In order to promote entrepreneurship in the country, the Government of India has amended the definition of a Startup. The following significant changes have been made to the definition of Startups –
Age of Startup increased: Taking into account the long gestation period by Startups to establish, an entity shall be considered as a Startup up to seven years from the date of its incorporation/ registration (from earlier 5 years). However, in the case of Startups in the Biotechnology sector, the period shall be up to ten years from the date of incorporation/ registration.
No Letter of Recommendation required: No letter of recommendation from an incubator/industry association shall be required for either recognition or tax benefits
Potential of Job and Wealth Creation: The scope of definition has been broadened to include scalability of business model with potential of employment generation or wealth creation.
National Waterways
The Union Cabinet has accorded its approval for amendment of Central Road Fund Act, 2000 to allocate 2.5% of the proceeds of Central Road Fund (CRF) for development and maintenance of National Waterways (NWs).
An allocation of 2.5% of CRF proceeds would provide approximately Rs.2000 crore per annum for the development and maintenance of NWs at existing rates of duties funding the CRF.
The National Waterways Act, 2016 for developing and maintaining the existing five NWs and new 106 NWs has been passed by Parliament and is now enforced.
The arrangement approved by the Cabinet; would make available adequate and sustainable source of funding for NWs through institutional means of CRF.
India's longest bridge
The Prime Minister, today inaugurated India's longest bridge - the 9.15 km long Dhola-Sadiya bridge, over the River Brahmaputra, in Assam.
The bridge will enhance connectivity and greatly reduce travel time between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
The Prime Minister said enhanced connectivity between the North-East and other parts of the country is a priority for the Union Government, and work has been greatly speeded up in this regard.
He said that good connectivity in the North-East will also link the region with the economy of South-East Asia.
India’s first underwater rail tunnel
Afcons Transtonnelstroy and Kolkata Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation Ltdimplementing the East West Metro have completed boring the country’s first tunnel under the Hooghly river for establishing metro link between Howrah and Kolkata.
Rachna, a giant tunnel-boring machine (TBM), was deployed to dig the underwater tunnel that runs a length of 502 metres under the river.
Afcons Transtonnelstroy is an Indo-Russian joint venture.
The project connects Howrah to the west and Salt lake to the east.
