Vaishnaw briefs Cabinet MSP, grids and Delhi traffic

Date unknown

At the September 30 Cabinet briefing, Ashwini Vaishnaw presents three decisions and takes two rounds of journalists' questions. For Rabi support prices he says the CACP's costing process maintains at least a 50% margin over production cost. The presented per-quintal MSPs are ₹2,610 for wheat, ₹2,286 for barley, ₹5,958 for gram, ₹7,390 for lentil, ₹6,613 for rapeseed/mustard and ₹7,215 for safflower, with stated cost margins of 106%, 58%, 59%, 92%, 96% and 50%. He initially projects procurement of 324 lakh tonnes and ₹90,962 crore reaching farmers; the aired table gives the same quantities. Journalists question wheat's roughly 1% and gram's 1.4% increases, rising input costs, food inflation and whether farmers actually obtain MSP procurement. He defends the cost-plus principle, says the increased costs have been included and claims the expert process balances farmers' returns and middle-class interests. He also claims sustained agricultural growth above 4% since 2014. In the final procurement answer the working Hindi and English tracks instead give 224 lakh tonnes, which he calls realistic on the basis of production and previous procurement. The two estimates remain unresolved. For PM DHARA, which a journalist also describes as Green Energy Corridor Phase III, he explains grid improvements to handle intermittent solar and wind power and carry renewable generation from places including Ladakh and Rajasthan. He describes a roughly ₹1.86-lakh-crore programme for 135 GW of renewable power, battery storage, state transmission utilities, new lines and upgrades; the aired objectives slide gives ₹1,86,405 crore and ₹54,082 crore central assistance. He characterizes 52% of installed generating capacity as renewable, cites around 270 GW of non-fossil capacity and presents targets of 500 GW by 2030 and 786 GW by 2035–36. Asked about storage, state financing, greenfield versus brownfield work and Phase II progress, he says both project types are included, storage will smooth fluctuations, load-dispatch centres will improve and MNRE, the power ministry, Power Grid, state utilities and state governments will collaborate. Component-specific guidelines are still to be prepared; the department will provide Phase II implementation details. For Delhi ITMS he describes linking signals, CCTV, adaptive timings, AI and a comprehensive control centre. He refers to 1,529 existing traffic signals and explains traffic-responsive timings and roundabout management. The aired implementation slide presents 42 corridors in three phases over 24 months, followed by five years' maintenance, a rounded ₹1,790-crore cost and C-DAC technical support. He describes joint work by MHA, Delhi Police, MeitY and Delhi's government, with oversight by the Home Secretary and police leadership. Journalists raise NCR traffic, rain failures, longstanding delays, VIP signal cycles, closure alerts, central control, APIs, national expansion and data sharing. He says the intervention improves infrastructure inside Delhi regardless of vehicles' origins, envisages redundant command centres and emphasizes signal reliability and citizen convenience. He does not provide specific answers to every delay, VIP, navigation-sharing or nationwide-rollout question. Benefits remain anticipated rather than measured ITMS outcomes. In a separately introduced aside, expressly outside the Cabinet decisions, he credits BNSS implementation with rising conviction rates, cites rates above 20% in several unspecified states and an unnamed double-murder conviction within 80 days, and predicts major social benefits. He supplies no case identity or supporting dataset. In the later ITMS answer he describes a seven-to-eight-month AI-camera pilot at New Delhi railway station, claims a 90–95% reduction in crime and mischief, and says about 700 cameras are now being installed across the station. The trial and rollout dates are unspecified. He uses the example to predict benefits for Delhi-wide safety and traffic; it is a separate railway deployment, and the claimed reduction is attributed to him.

In the retrieved September 30 briefing, Vaishnaw says about 700 AI-based cameras are being installed across New Delhi railway station after a seven-to-eight-month pilot. He claims the trial produced a 90–95% reduction in crime and mischief and uses it as an example of possible benefits from intelligent cameras in Delhi's traffic system. The account identifies the station deployment and its pilot context but gives no trial dates, rollout start date, evaluation method or independently measured results. The camera expansion is reported as underway, not completed; the reported pilot benefits remain attributed to Vaishnaw.