The Union Cabinet has approved the affiliation of one hundred Schools in government and private sector with Sainik School Society. The Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the proposal for launching of affiliated Sainik Schools under Sainik Schools Society, Ministry of Defence. These Schools function as an exclusive vertical which will be distinct and different from existing Sainik Schools. In the first phase, 100 affiliate partners are proposed to be drawn from States, NGOs and Private partners.
Marching ahead in tune with National Education Policy, the government has decided to provide increasing focus on value based education enabling children to develop pride in rich culture and heritage of this nation, effective leadership with character, discipline, sense of national duty and patriotism. Beginning from the academic year 2022-23 approximately five thousand students are expected to receive admission in class six in such 100 affiliated Schools. At present the existing 33 Sainik Schools have admission capacity of approximately three thousand students in class six.
Union Cabinet also approved the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation 2.0 (AMRUT 2.0) till 2025-26. The Cabinet said, providing reliable and affordable water supply and sanitation services to urban households is a national priority. The decision is a step towards AatmaNirbhar Bharat and with aim of making the cities water secure and self-sustainable through circular economy of water. This will be achieved by providing functional tap connections to all households, undertaking water source conservation, rejuvenation of water bodies and wells, recycle and re-use of treated used water and rainwater harvesting.
AMRUT Mission was launched in June 2015 to facilitate ease of living to citizens in 500 cities by providing tap connections and sewer connections. So far, more than one crore ten lakh household tap connections and 85 lakh sewer connections have been provided.
Taking forward the remarkable strides made under AMRUT, AMRUT 2.0 targets universal coverage of water supply by providing household tap connections in all four thousand 378 statutory towns. The mission targets to provide two crore 68 lakh tap connections and two crore 64 lakh sewer and septage connections to achieve the intended outcomes. The total indicative outlay for AMRUT 2.0 is two lakh 77 thousand crore rupees including central share of 76 thousand 760 crore rupees for five years from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
Union Cabinet also approved the continuation of Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) till 2025-26 with focus on sustainability of Open Defecation Free outcomes. A financial outlay of one lakh 41 thousand 600 crore rupees has been finalized for Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) 2.0. This include central share of 36 thousand 465 crore rupees for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26 which is over 2.5 times the financial outlay of around 62 thousand crore rupees in the last phase of the Mission.
Over the next five years, the focus of the mission will be on sustaining the sanitation and solid waste management outcomes achieved. This will accelerate the momentum generated, to achieve a Garbage Free Urban India. The Mission will focus on ensuring complete access to sanitation facilities to serve additional population migrating from rural to urban areas in search of employment and better opportunities over the next five years. This will be done through the construction of over three lakh 50 thousand individual, community and public toilets.