What You Need to Know About The Gati Shakti Yojana

The Gati Shakti Yojana was announced by the PM in October 2021. The ‘Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti Plan’ was established by the Indian government in October 2021 to commemorate 75 years of progressive India and the magnificent history of its people, culture, and achievements. Mr Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, launched the Gati Shakti Master Plan, which aims to provide multi-modal connectivity to more than 1,200 industrial clusters across the country, including the two defence corridors, improve electricity transmission networks, increase railway cargo handling capacity, cargo capacity at ports, and establish mega food parks and electronics manufacturing clusters. This initiative boosted India’s infrastructure sector by leaps and bounds. 

Prior to the establishment of the Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti Scheme, there was no coordination between government departments, resulting in inconvenient situations and unnecessary spending. The scheme aimed to improve the country’s connectivity by establishing a uniform umbrella platform that would allow infrastructure projects to be planned and implemented in real time across numerous ministries and departments.

What is Pradhasn Mantri Gati Shakti Yojana?

The Gati Shakti Yojana aims to bring order to the process of infrastructure development in terms of connectivity by bringing various key stakeholders and governmental institutions together under one umbrella. The goal is to increase connectivity between key industrial clusters, increase railway cargo facilities and improve electricity transition networks. 

As quoted by the Prime Minister himself- Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti National Master Plan will lay the foundation for holistic infrastructure development. It will help local manufacturers compete globally and bring several employment opportunities to our youth.

The Gati Shakti Scheme combines several ministries’ and state governments’ infrastructure programmes, including as UDAN, Bharatmala, Sagarmala, inland waterways, dry/land ports, and economic zone clusters, such as textile clusters, pharmaceutical clusters, and defence corridors. The strategy also makes substantial use of technology, such as spatial planning tools provided by ISRO and imagery developed by Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geoinformatics (BiSAG-N).

The Gati Shakti Mission masterplan will work to achieve three basic goals: seamless multimodal connectivity to facilitate easy movement of goods and people; improved prioritisation, optimal resource utilisation, and timely capacity creation; and resolution of issues like disjointed planning, standardisation, and clearances. At the same time, it will also help provide employment opportunities to a large number of citizens. 

The Empowered Group of Secretaries is a 20-member group set up by the Indian government to oversee the formulation and execution of the Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti National Master Plan. On a trial basis, this committee will oversee infrastructure building as well as all utility services. It brings together 16 key ministries, including railways, roads, transportation, civil aviation, telecommunications, and agriculture. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) would serve as the nodal ministry for all initiatives, with a national planning group taking stock on a regular basis.

Key Objectives of Gati Shakti Yojana

The Gati Shakti Mission will operate with 6 key objectives in its vision. These objectives are as follows-

• National Highways Expansion

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has set a goal of extending national highways to 0.2 million kilometres, constructing 5,590 kilometres of four or six-lane highways along coastal areas, and connecting all state capitals in the northeast with four-lane or two-lane highways.

• Uplifting MSME Sector

The plan calls for constructing 11 industrial corridors, a defence production turnover of Rs 1.7 lakh crore (US$ 22.1 billion), and the establishment of 38 electronics manufacturing clusters and 109 pharmaceutical clusters. This initiative will greatly benefit the MSME sector by bringing basic facilities to the country’s most distant places and expanding economic prospects for inclusive growth.

• Gas Pipeline Network Construction

The government plans to expand the gas pipeline network to 34,500 kilometres by constructing a 17,000-kilometre trunk pipeline that will connect important industrial demand and supply centres.

• Cargo Capacity Expansion

The Railway Ministry aims to handle 1,600 million tonnes of cargo, decongest 51% of the rail network by building new lines, and establish two dedicated freight corridors (DFCs).

The overall cargo capacity to be handled at ports in the maritime sector is set at 1,759 million tonnes per year.

• Increasing Transmission Network Capacity

The whole power transmission network is expected to be 0.5 million circuit kilometres long, with 225 GW of renewable energy capacity.

• Doubling the Current Aviation Presence 

By 2025, the Ministry of Civil Aviation hopes to expand the existing aviation footprint by adding 220 additional airports, heliports, and water aerodromes. This will necessitate the construction of an additional 109 facilities.

Gati Shakti Infrastructure Plan Targets

• The proposal envisions roughly 200 additional airports, heliports, and water aerodromes, giving aviation a huge boost.
• By the financial year 2025 (FY25), railway cargo capacity will have increased to roughly 1,600 tonnes.
• By 2025, renewable energy capacity will be boosted to 225 GW.
• By the end of the financial year, 2022 villages will have 4G access.
• The capacity of roads will be expanded- the national highway network will soon reach 2 lakh kilometres.
• In Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, there will be 11 industrial corridors and two new defence corridors.
• 202 fishing clusters, harbours, and landing zones will be set up.
• Ease of access to electricity will be increased with a transmission network of 454,200 circuit kilometres
• Around 17,000 kilometres of gas pipes will also be completed
• There are 20 new sizable food parks.

More About the Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti Scheme

The estimated logistic supply chain expenses in India were 14 percent of GDP, according to recent research by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Logistics supply chain costs in the United States and Europe were 8–10 percent of GDP. Vietnam and Malaysia, two South Asian countries with similar cost structures to India, are believed to score better on the World Bank’s logistics performance index. With its various scheduled initiatives, the Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti Plan will help India achieve an ambitious goal set by the government for 2024-25: reducing inefficiencies in supply chains and lowering costs to 8% of GDP. These infrastructure projects may require a certain degree of political interventions and incentives from the federal government to encourage state governments to participate and cooperate.

Finally, the Gati Shakti Infrastructure Plan is expected to synchronise the activities of each department, transform the infrastructure sector, provide an integrated, seamless, and timely delivery of projects within budgeted costs, encourage private companies to partner with government projects, and boost the Indian economy.

As said by the Prime Minister himself at the time of the launch of this scheme, “We are laying a foundation for the next 25 years. This national master plan will give the power of speed to development plans of the 21st century and will help in the timely completion of these plans.” He also added that the plan is to build, deliver and leverage an integrated solution with a plug-and-play approach when it comes to world-class infrastructure. 

Brickwork Ratings, a SEBI registered credit rating agency has quoted “India’s infrastructure growth has been hampered by interministerial delays, approval delays and communication gaps between various stakeholders in the past. This has often led to slow decision-making, time and cost overruns, and thus, a lacklustre pace for infrastructure-led growth. The Gati Shakti Plan consolidates infrastructure projects in specific corridors, and will help various ministries plan projects together without getting hampered by the time-consuming approval processes.”

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