The Union Cabinet today approved the Pharmaceuticals Purchase Policy (PPP) for five years. The renewal of PPP aims at ensuring optimum utilization of the installed capacity of Pharma Central Public Sector Enterprises. The policy in respect of 103 medicines will be valid for five years from the date of issue of orders by Department of Pharmaceuticals.

The Cabinet also gave its approval for declaring airports at Bhubaneswar in Odisha and Imphal in Manipur as International airports. The declaration will offer improved connectivity, wider choice of services at competitive cost to the air travellers besides boosting international tourism.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has reduced the minimum export price of wheat by 40 dollars to 260 dollars per tonne. The CCEA also approved the launching of a new Integrated Processing Development Scheme with a total cost of 500 crore rupees during the 12th Plan. Under it four to six brown field projects and three to five green field projects would be established addressing the environmental issues faced by Textile Processing Units.

The CCEA approved development of four-laning of Sangrur-Punjab and Haryana border section of the National Highway-71. It also approved the development of four laning of Aurangabad-Yedeshi section of National Highway-211 in Maharashtra.