New Delhi, April 8 : The on Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday approved continuation of Atal Innovation Mission till March 2023. The objectives of the Mission are to create and promote an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship across the country via interventions at school, versity, research institutions, MSME and industry levels. The Mission shall work on its intended target of creating an innovation culture and entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country. This will be done by the Mission via its various programs. The intended targets that will be achieved by the Mission are establishment of 10000 Atal Tinkering Labs, 101 Atal Incubation Centers, 50 Atal Comm ty Innovation Centers and supporting 200 startups via the Atal New India Challenges, a government release said. The total budgeted expenditure of more than Rs 2000 crore shall be incurred in the process of the establishment and supporting the beneficiaries, it said. The Mission has been set up under the NITI Aayog, in accordance with the declaration made by the Finance Minister in the 2015 Budget Speech. “Over the past years, the Mission has worked to provide an institutional mechanism to integrate innovation activities across the country. Through its programmes, it has brought innovation to lakhs of school children. The AIM supported startups have raised 2000+ Crores from the government and private equity investors and have created several thousand jobs,” a Cabinet release said. The programmes of the Mission cover 34 states and on Territories with the goal of leveraging India’s demographic dividend by inspiring greater participation in the innovation ecosystem, it added. ASU SHK1700