Railway budget for Karnataka jumped nearly ninefold under Modi: Ashwini Vaishnaw

Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday highlighted a sharp rise in budgetary allocation for Karnataka’s railway projects since 2014, crediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the change.

Addressing a gathering after Mr. Modi inaugurated the Yellow Line of Namma Metro here on Sunday, Mr. Vaishnaw said that Karnataka had been receiving only about ₹835 crore annually for railway works prior to 2014. “Under Mr. Modi’s leadership, this allocation has surged to ₹7,500 crore. At present, projects worth ₹54,000 crore are under way across the State,” he said.

He added that 61 railway stations in the State are being modernised under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, aimed at upgrading passenger amenities and infrastructure.

Devanahalli emerges as iPhone hub

Shifting focus to the electronics sector, Mr. Vaishnaw, who is also the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology, said that India’s electronics manufacturing output had expanded sixfold to ₹12 lakh crore during this period, while exports had risen eightfold to over ₹3 lakh crore. “A decade ago, the idea of India exporting electronics seemed far-fetched. Today, the country stands as the world’s second-largest mobile phone manufacturer, with Bengaluru’s Devanahalli emerging as a significant hub for iPhone production,” he said.

According to the Minister, the Prime Minister’s push towards ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ has yielded nationwide benefits, including Karnataka.

Bengaluru leads in AI

Highlighting initiatives to make advanced technology accessible, especially artificial intelligence (AI), Mr. Vaishnaw said the India AI Mission provides 34,000 GPUs as a shared computing resource for innovators across the country. “Bengaluru is one of the biggest users of this facility. The cost is less than one US dollar an hour, making it the world’s most affordable common compute resource,” he said.

He also pointed out to the efforts of Bengaluru-based startup Sarvam, which is developing an indigenous Large Language Model trained on extensive datasets in multiple Indian languages. This AI system, he said, is being designed to be free from biases and to reflect India’s linguistic diversity.