Four sweeping decisions — spanning farm income, floating solar, grassroots sport, and deep-sea oil — cleared the Union Cabinet on Friday, 31 July 2026, as Union Power and Housing Minister Manohar Lal Khattar detailed the approvals in a post on X, underscoring the breadth of what Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet had greenlit in a single sitting.

PM-KISAN Extended to 2031 With ₹3.15 Lakh Crore Lifeline

The headline welfare decision is the extension of the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme through 2030-31, backed by a financial outlay of ₹3.15 lakh crore. Launched in February 2019, the scheme delivers ₹6,000 per year in three equal instalments directly into the bank accounts of landholding farmer families — a direct-benefit transfer designed to shore up household incomes without intermediaries. The fresh extension locks in that support for another five years, signalling that the government sees no near-term exit from the programme.

₹5,070 Crore Floating Solar Push Under PM Surya Sarovar

On clean energy, the cabinet approved the Pradhan Mantri Surya Sarovar Yojana with an outlay of ₹5,070 crore. The scheme targets 5,000 MW of floating solar capacity paired with a minimum of 10,000 MWh of energy storage — a combination that addresses both generation and the grid-reliability problem that intermittent renewables create. Floating solar, deployed on reservoirs and water bodies, also reduces evaporation losses, making it a dual-use infrastructure play. The move fits India's broader push to hit its clean energy targets while making the grid more resilient.

Khelo India Gets ₹36,441 Crore Boost, Eyes 2030 Commonwealth Games

Sport got a significant allocation too. The Khelo India programme — first launched in 2017 to identify grassroots talent and build state-level infrastructure — has been extended and expanded for 2026-27 through 2030-31 with an outlay of ₹36,441 crore, alongside increased support to national sports federations. The timing is deliberate: India's bid to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games requires demonstrable investment in athlete pipelines and venues. The cabinet's approval effectively puts financial muscle behind that aspiration, with an eye on future Olympic and Paralympic hosting ambitions as well.

'Samudra Manthan' Bets ₹84,084 Crore on Offshore Oil and Gas

The single largest outlay of the day belongs to the National Offshore Exploration Scheme — 'Samudra Manthan' — approved at ₹84,084 crore through 2030-31. India's offshore sedimentary basins hold significant untapped hydrocarbon potential, and successive exploration licensing frameworks — from the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP, 1999) to the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP, 2016) — have tried to accelerate that development. Samudra Manthan represents the next escalation: a concentrated, time-bound push to raise domestic oil and gas output, reduce import dependence, and strengthen energy security. The name itself — evoking the mythological churning of the ocean — signals the scale of ambition.

Taken together, the four approvals represent a combined public commitment of over ₹1.28 lakh crore across welfare, renewables, sport, and fossil-fuel security — a portfolio that reflects the government's simultaneous bets on transition and continuity in India's energy and development story. Parliamentary approval of supplementary demands for these outlays, and the first tender rounds under the floating solar and offshore schemes, will be the next tests of whether the ambition translates into execution.