Cabinet Approves Integrated Transport and Logistics Authority

The correct answer is Rs 500 crore. The approval gives the Integrated Transport and Logistics Authority the task of technically appraising infrastructure projects of the Government of India costing that much or more, while financial appraisal continues through the mechanisms that already exist. The same figure also marks the monitoring duty: ITLA will track implementation of transport and infrastructure projects above that cost, provide a coordinated mechanism to resolve issues and assess their impact once they are complete. Options A and B are wrong because the threshold set by the Cabinet is higher than either amount, so smaller projects do not come to ITLA for technical appraisal. Option D is wrong because the threshold is lower than that figure; projects of that size are of course covered, but the authority begins its appraisal well below it. Candidates should remember that the same threshold governs both appraisal and monitoring.

The correct answer is the National Transport Data Repository. The Cabinet decision asks ITLA to build a unified transport data repository by obtaining relevant transport and logistics datasets from several sources, among them the GSTN e-way bill, FASTag, Vahan, GPS-based systems and urban traffic management systems, and then to carry out analytics such as freight flow and origin-destination studies for planning, monitoring and impact assessment. Option B is wrong because no freight exchange of that name forms part of this approval. Option C is wrong in this context: the decision does not name any such platform as the repository ITLA will create. Option D is wrong because no mobility grid is mentioned in the approval at all. For the examination, link the repository to its named data sources, since questions frequently ask which datasets feed it.

The correct answer is the National Logistics Policy of 2022. Among the roles listed for ITLA is to advise and assist in the review and updating of that policy, alongside capacity building, training and skilling in the logistics sector and the promotion of research and innovation in transport and logistics. Option A is wrong because the approval does not give ITLA charge of reviewing any rail plan, though railways are one of the modes covered by the master plan it will prepare. Option C is wrong for the same reason: civil aviation is a mode within the master plan, not a policy ITLA is asked to revise. Option D is wrong because no highways development policy is named in the decision. Remember that ITLA is an apex planning and appraisal body, and the master plan it writes covers roads, railways, ports and shipping, civil aviation, inland waterways, coastal shipping, urban mobility and logistics together.