In news: Recently, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister highlighted Defence Industrial Corridor in UP and its consequential benefits for Bundelkhand
About UP Defence Industrial Corridor(UP DIC)
- As announced in the Union Budget of 2018-19, Defence Industrial Corridor in Uttar Pradesh is the one of the two Defence Industrial Corridors of India. Another one is in Tamil Nadu
- UP DIC is an aspirational project that intends to reduce foreign dependency of Indian Aerospace & Defence Sector.
- Aim: This Corridor aims to bring up the state as one of the largest & advanced Defence manufacturing hubs and put it on the world map
- Nodal Agency: The Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA)
- Cities covered under UP DIC: Planned across 6 nodes namely – Lucknow, Kanpur, Jhansi, Agra Aligarh, Chitrakoot, which spreads across Central, East, West region of Uttar Pradesh and along the Golden Quadrilateral connecting Delhi – Kolkata supported by networks of expressways as under:
- Yamuna Expressway
- Agra – Lucknow Expressway
- Purvanchal Expressway
- Bundelkhand Expressway
- Gorakhpur Link Expressway
- Ganga Expressway
- The state also intends to establish Common Facility Centres (CFC), Centres of Excellence (CoE) and Skill Development Centres to facilitate in providing best practices, research and development and skill development.
- Hence, the envisaged corridor not only targets the setting up of manufacturing hubs but also aims at generating employment opportunities to cater to the most populous state in the country.
Strategy of UP DIC
- Expanding the Ordnance factories in the state
- Mobilising Private investments
- Mobilising the SME ecosystem in the state
- Bridging the market gaps and connect the ancillary units in the state to meet the requirements of Defence PSUs
- Developing the export oriented manufacturing base for defence sector
Bundelkhand area
- It is a geographical and cultural region and also a mountain range in central & North India.
- The hilly region is now divided between the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, with the larger portion lying in the latter state
- As understood by the state governments of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Madhya Pradesh (MP), ‘Bundelkhand’ comprises seven districts of southern UP and six districts of northern MP:
- Jhansi, Lalitpur, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Banda, Chitrakoot districts (all in UP), and
- Datia, Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Panna, Sagar and Damoh districts (all in MP).
- The above delineation is different from boundaries suggested by proponents of a ‘greater’ or ‘cultural’ Bundelkhand, who include many more districts of MP.
Source: Indian Express
