Government on Thursday approved a proposal for investment of 2,430 crore rupees in nearly 200 engineering colleges under a scheme aimed at upgrading the standards of technical education institutions in the country. <br/><br/>The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, CCEA, chaired by the Prime Minister gave the go ahead to the second phase of Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme scheme which has been running since 2003 with World Bank's assistance. <br/><br/>The Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters that It envisages an investment of 2,430 crore rupees in about 200 technical educational institutions with an aim to produce higher quality and more employable engineers. <br/><br/>The project covers 127 institutions in 13 states in the first phase. In yet another decision, the CCEA approved proposal of Japan International Cooperation Agency assisted Ganga Action Plan phase two at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. It also approved implementation existing national micro irrigation schemes as national mission with an outlay of over eight thousand crores.