Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman listed various measures focusing on environmental protection and curbing issues like air pollution, waste water, and garbage
disposal, in the Union Budget 2021-22 on Monday. 

Sitharaman on Monday announced the launch of Jal Jeevan Mission across all
local bodies over five years, allocating Rs 2.87 lakh crore. The mission is
aimed at universal water supply in all 4,378 urban local bodies, with 2.86
crore household tap connections and liquid waste management in 500 AMRUT
cities.

Speaking on ‘Swach
Bharat, Swasth Bharat’, the Finance Minister allocated Rs 1,41, 768 crore
that will focus on wastewater treatment, segregation of garbage, reduction in
air pollution, controlling waste generation from factories, and bioremediation
from dump sites.

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To tackle the
burgeoning problem of air pollution, Rs 2,217 crore has been allocated for 42
urban centres with a million plus population.

The finance minister announced a voluntary
vehicle scrapping policy under which old and unfit vehicles will be phased out.
Vehicles will undergo fitness tests in automated fitness centres after 20 years
for personal vehicles and after 15 years for commercial vehicles. Environment-friendly
vehicles will be promoted.

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The finance minster
allocated Rs 1,000 crore to the Solar Energy Corporation of India and Rs 1,500
crore to Renewable Energy Development Agency, in a bid to promote the use of
renewable sources of energy.

Sitharaman also announced the launch of Comprehensive National Hydrogen Energy Mission, which will focus on generating hydrogen from green
power sources.

The finance minister raised the duty on solar inverters from 5% to 20%, and solar lanterns from 5%
to 15%. She also launched a waste manufacturing plant for solar cells.