Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday said that the Centre has approved free 75 lakh LPG connections under Ujjwala Yojana in the next 3 years till 2026 and the E-courts mission mode project phase 3 worth Rs 7,210 crores.
"Two decisions were taken today... The first decision is that more 75 Lakh LPG connections would be given free of cost in the next 3 years till 2026... This is an extension of Ujjwala Yojana," Thakur said.
He added the second decision was regarding the E-courts mission mode project phase 3.
"Rs 7,210 crores has been approved for E-courts mission mode today. The goal is to establish online and paperless courts...This will make the judicial system more transparent...For paperless courts, e-filing and e-payment systems would be made universal...Cloud storage would be made to store the data. In all court complexes, 4,400 e-service centres would be established," the union minister said.
The decision to provide 75 Lakh LPG connections may have electoral implications in the election season as three key states - Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh - and Lok Sabha elections are approaching. Recently, the Centre had slashed the prices of an LGP cylinder by Rs 200 in an attempt to give relief to people amid inflation.
CJI on paperless courtrooms
Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud in July said the first five courtrooms of the Supreme Court have become WiFi-enabled in a significant step towards the digitisation of the top court.
The court has made facility available to all lawyers, litigants, mediapersons, and other stakeholders visiting the premises.
The step was taken as part of the e-initiatives and the facility can be availed by logging in to "SCI WiFi".
"We have made courts 1 to 5 WiFi-enabled. The bar rooms are WiFi-enabled as well. All courtrooms will now be like that -- no books and papers -- which is not to say that we will not rely on books and papers at all," the CJI said at the outset of the day's proceedings in the refurbished courtroom.
"Please give me feedback whether everything is working well," Justice Chandrachud said.
A Constitution Bench hearing in September last year had witnessed the intent and commitment of the apex court to work towards paperless functioning.
The top court is also working on software to provide e-pass facility to the advocates and litigants to access courtrooms.
Earlier also, the top court had taken various steps towards digitisation of various judicial processes, they included "launch of e-SCR (online free case records), advocate appearance portal, online RTI portal, implementation of e-office module in the Registry.
(With agencies inputs)
Also read: Airbus hands over first C-295 aircraft to Indian Air Force in Spain's Seville
