The FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles) scheme relates to:
Correct answer: (D) Electric vehicles.
The FAME India scheme relates to electric and hybrid vehicles, promoting their faster adoption and manufacturing in India.
Explanation
FAME stands for Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles. The PIB release places it within the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020, which provides the roadmap for faster adoption of electric vehicles and their manufacturing in India. Under that plan, the Ministry of Heavy Industries formulated FAME India in 2015 to promote electric and hybrid vehicles. This is why the scheme is not a general energy programme: its policy target is the vehicle ecosystem, including market development, demand support, domestic technology, manufacturing of zero-emission and hybrid vehicles, and charging infrastructure. Phase I began on 1 April 2015, while FAME-II ran from 2019 to 31 March 2024 for eligible vehicle sales.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Nuclear energy is outside the scope of FAME, which the PIB release links specifically to electric and hybrid vehicle adoption and manufacturing.
- (B) Fossil fuels are the opposite policy direction here, because FAME supports electric and hybrid vehicles rather than fuel-based vehicle promotion.
- (C) Biomass energy concerns a separate energy domain, while FAME is framed around electric mobility and the xEV manufacturing ecosystem.
Concept
This tests the Science and Technology syllabus area on government schemes for clean mobility and transport technology. It recurs in RAS because schemes such as FAME connect technology policy, manufacturing, emissions reduction and current-affairs governance.