The recently inaugurated Ram temple in Ayodhya was mentioned in finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Interim Budget speech in Parliament on Thursday, February 1.

While highlighting the Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana, Nirmala Sitharaman in her interim Budget speech said through rooftop solarisation, one crore households will be enabled to obtain up to 300 units of free electricity each month. “This scheme follows the resolve of the Prime Minister on the historic day of consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya,” Sitharaman added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana with the target of installing rooftop solar earlier in January.

“I have taken my first decision after returning from Ayodhya that our government will launch ‘Pradhan Mantri Suryoday Yojna’ with the aim to install rooftop solar systems in one crore houses,” Modi had said on X.

Benefits under the scheme

Talking about the benefits, Sitharaman informed the House that there will be “savings up to ₹15,000-18,000 annually for households from free solar electricity and selling the surplus to the distribution companies”.

Under the scheme, people will be able to charge their electric vehicles; it will give entrepreneurship opportunities for a large number of vendors for supply and installation and employment opportunities for the youth with technical skills in manufacturing, installation, and maintenance.

Talking about India’s commitment to ‘net-zero’ by 2070, she announced a viability gap funding for harnessing offshore wind energy.

“Viability gap funding will be provided for harnessing offshore wind energy potential for initial capacity of 1 GW,” the minister said.