PIB Summary- 21st March, 2021 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain Campaign

Context: Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain campaign to be launched on the occasion of ‘World Water Day’ (22nd March).

About the Campaign

• The Campaign will be undertaken across the country, in both rural and urban areas, with the theme “catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls”.
• It will be implemented from 22nd March 2021 to 30th November 2021 – the pre-monsoon and monsoon periods in the country.
• It will be launched as a Jan Andolan to take water conservation to the grassroots level through people’s participation.
• It is intended to nudge all stakeholders to create rainwater harvesting structures suitable to the climatic conditions and subsoil strata, to ensure proper storage of rainwater.

About World Water Day

• The idea for a World Water Day was put forward in 1992, at the Rio de Janeiro United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. It was here that the March 22 date was agreed upon and finalised.
• The first World Water Day was held in 1993.
• World Water Day 2021 theme: ‘Valuing Water’

Ken Betwa River Linking

Context: The Memorandum of Understanding (MoA) between the Union Minister of Jal Shakti and the Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to implement the Ken Betwa Link Project to be signed.
In March 2021, the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh signed an agreement that nudges forward the long-stalled multi-crore, controversial project to link the Ken and the Betwa rivers.

• The Environment Ministry’s expert panel has deferred the environmental clearance to Lower Orr Dam that is a part of the phase-II of the Ken-Betwa river linking project.
• Lower Orr Dam (On the Orr River in Madhya Pradesh) project is considered to be the national project and is a part of the Ken-Betwa project.
• There is a disagreement between the two states (Uttar Pradesh and MP) over the sharing of water.

Ken Betwa (ILR) Project Details

• It is a project proposed to transfer excess water from the River Ken to the Betwa basin through the use of a concrete canal. The project aims to provide irrigation to the Bundelkhand region, which is one of the worst drought-affected areas in India.
• The beneficiary states are Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
• It will meet the irrigation purposes, drinking water, and electricity needs of 6 districts in both states.
• The proposed concrete canal would be 221 km long. It will pass through Jhansi, Banda, and Mahoba districts of UP and Chhatarpur, Panna, and Tikamgarh districts of MP.
• A tripartite Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Centre and the governments of UP and MP for the project.

Why did environmentalists protest?

Conservation activists protested the announcement of the project citing several reasons:

• Nearly 8,650 hectares of forest land including part of Panna National Park in Madhya Pradesh will be submerged if the project were to become a reality.
• It will also have an adverse impact on tiger reserves and wildlife sanctuaries in the region.

The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) had given clearance to this project with a few conditions. The clearance from the NBWL was required as the project would warrant the diversion of forest land from the core area of the Panna Tiger Reserve. The conditions set by the NBWL are:

• To compensate for the loss of tiger habitat and to complete the ban of fresh mining lease in the area, the sanctuaries of Ranipur and Rani Durgavati were to be integrated with the Panna Tiger Reserve.
• The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) would handle the landscape plan for the area with the help of the Wildlife Institute of India.

Madhya Pradesh’s Objection

Despite getting clearances from all quarters, the state government of MP had raised certain objections in 2017. The MP government had wanted to integrate three smaller projects of Phase II of the project into Phase I. The three smaller projects are the Lower Orr dam, the Bina complex, and the Kotha barrage. In 2017, the Centre had agreed to MP’s demand.

As a result of the clubbing of the two phases, the cost of the project is expected to go up. Also, the irrigated area is increased to about 9 lakh hectares, as opposed to the earlier 6.35 lakh hectares.

Ken Betwa Project Status

The project has still not taken off. With widespread opposition from conservationists and disagreements between governments, the project is still in the feasibility stage. However, with the results of the 2019 general elections giving the present government a huge mandate, the project was expected to receive a new lease of life. As of January 2020, the project again has run into trouble as environmentalists cried foul over the motives behind the interstate meeting that took place on January 31st, 2020. As of now, the project is still to begin in earnest.

Vande Bharat Mission

Context: India’s Vande Bharat mission brings back over 67.5 lakh people.

What’s in News?

In an effort to bring back its stranded citizens abroad due to the spread of the novel coronavirus and the resulting lockdown thereof, India has rolled out massive evacuation plans called ‘Vande Bharat Mission’.

• The government is expected to operate 64 flights within a span of 7 days to bring home thousands of Indian nationals.

Details

• India will operate 10 flights to the UAE, seven flights each to the US and the UK, five flights to Saudi Arabia, five flights to Singapore and two flights to Qatar to repatriate Indian nationals.
• During this period, India will also operate seven flights each to Malaysia and Bangladesh, five flights each to Kuwait and Philippines, two flights each to Oman and Bahrain.

Ayushman Bharat

Context: The target of operationalizing 70,000 Ayushman Bharat – Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) achieved ahead of time.

Details

• The Ayushman Bharat – Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWC) was launched in April 2018.
• By December 2022, 1,50,000 Sub-Health Centres and Primary Health Centres in urban and rural areas were targeted to be transformed to AB-HWCs and deliver comprehensive primary health care that includes preventive and health promotion at the community level with a continuum of care and which is universal, free and close to the community in rural and urban areas, with a focus also on wellness.
• The planned target of operationalizing 70,000 Ayushman Bharat – Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs) by 31st March 2021 has been realised ahead of time.
• This is an important milestone towards achieving Universal Primary Healthcare.

Ayushman Bharat Programme

The Ayushman Bharat programme was launched in 2018 to address health issues at all levels – primary, secondary, and tertiary. It has two components:

• Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), earlier known as the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS)
• Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs)

Ayushman Bharat is an integrated approach comprising health insurance and primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare. The HWCs are aimed at improving access to cheap and quality healthcare services at the primary level. PM-JAY will cover the financial protection for availing healthcare services at the secondary and tertiary levels.
Ayushman Bharat is the largest government-funded healthcare programme in the world with over 50 crore beneficiaries. It has been dubbed ‘Modicare’.

Need for Ayushman Bharat

• The 71st round of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) revealed many grim numbers about the country’s healthcare system.
  • About 86% of rural households and 82% of urban households do not have access to healthcare insurance.
  • Over 17% of the country’s population spend a minimum of 1/10th of their household budgets on availing health services.
  • Unexpected and serious healthcare problems often lead families to debt.
  • Over 19% and over 24% of the urban and rural households respectively meet their healthcare financial needs through borrowings.
• To address these grave concerns, the government, under the National Health Policy 2017, launched the Ayushman Bharat programme along with its two sub-missions, PMJAY and HWCs.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY)

PMJAY is one of India’s most ambitious health sector schemes.

• It was launched as the National Health Protection Mission and renamed later.
• It is the largest government-funded health insurance scheme in the world.
• The scheme offers eligible families an insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakh per annum per family.
• This amount is intended to cover all secondary and most tertiary care expenditures incurred.
• There is no cap on family size and age under the scheme, to ensure that nobody is left behind.
• The cover will include pre and post-hospitalization expenses. It will also cover all pre-existing conditions.
  • 3 days of pre-hospitalization and 15 days of post-hospitalization like medicines and diagnostics are covered.
• Components of treatment covered under the scheme:
  • Medical examination, consultation, and treatment
  • Medical consumables and medicines
  • Intensive and non-intensive care services
  • Medical implant services
  • Lab and diagnostic investigations
  • Complications arising out of treatment
  • Accommodation benefits and food services
• The beneficiary will also receive a defined transport allowance per hospital.
• The beneficiaries can take cashless treatment from any empanelled hospital anywhere in the country. This includes both public and private hospitals. By default, all government hospitals in the states that are implementing the scheme will be empanelled.

PM-JAY Eligibility Criteria
PM-JAY is an entitlement-based scheme. The eligible families are fixed based on the deprivation criterion in the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) database.
The detailed categories in both urban and rural areas are given below:

1. Families with only 1 room with kutcha roof and walls.
2. Families with no adult members between the ages of 16 and 59.
3. Households headed by females with no male adult members between the ages of 16 and 59.
4. Families with disabled members and no adult able-bodied members.
5. SC/ST households.
6. Landless households that derive a major chunk of their income from manual casual labour.
7. Rural area families with anyone of the following:
   • Households with no shelter
   • Destitutes
   • Living on alms
   • Manual scavenging
   • Primitive tribal groups
   • Legally released bonded labourer
8. In the urban areas, 11 occupational categories are eligible for the scheme:
   • Beggar/Ragpicker/Domestic worker
   • Street vendor/hawker/cobbler/Other service provider working on the streets
   • Construction worker/Plumber/Mason/Labourer
   • Painter/Welder/Security guard
   • Coolie and other head-load worker
   • Sweeper/sanitation worker
   • Mali/home-based worker
   • Artisan/handicrafts worker/Tailor 
   • Transport worker/driver/conductor/helper to driver and conductor/Cart puller/rikshaw puller
   • Shop worker/assistant/Peon in small establishment/Helper/delivery assistant/Attendant/waiter
   • Electrician/Mechanic/assembler/repair worker/Washerman/Chowkidar
9. According to the data in the SECC 2011, certain beneficiaries are excluded. They include households with a motorized vehicle, fishing boat, that pay income tax/professional tax, with a refrigerator, landline phone, an earning member who earns more than Rs.10000 per month, owns land above a certain limit, government servants, etc.

PM-JAY Benefits
PM-JAY is a visionary scheme that aims at the fulfilment of the concept of Universal Health Coverage (UHC). It offers many benefits, which are discussed below.

• It will reduce medical expenditure for many families, which is currently, mostly out-of-the-pocket expense. Eligible families can avail of quality medical services without getting into debt.
• The insurance cover provided by this scheme includes items that are generally excluded from standard medi-claims (for example, pre-existing conditions, internal congenital diseases, and mental health conditions).
• The scheme requires hospitals to maintain a certain minimum standard.
• Insurers and third-party administrators will have access to the large new market that opens up because of the scheme.
• The scheme has the potential to initiate wide reforms in India’s healthcare system.
• After one year of the scheme’s beginning, beneficiary families are said to have saved over Rs.13000 crores.
• Over 60% of the treatments have been done by private hospitals. The private sector has played an active role in this scheme and they have also benefitted from it. In many tier II and III cities, private hospitals have observed increased footfall. 
• Economically weaker sections of society can have access to quality healthcare services without financial hardships.
• The scheme has also resulted in the creation of more jobs. In 2018, it generated more than 50000 jobs. This number is expected to increase as the government is planning to build 1.5 lakh HWCs by 2022.
  • 90% of the jobs are in the health sector and the remaining in allied sectors like insurance.
• The scheme is supported by a robust IT framework.
  • IT supports beneficiary identification, maintaining treatment records, processes claims, addresses grievances, etc.
  • There is fraud detection, prevention, and control system at both the central and state levels, which is critical for preventing fraud.

PM-JAY Criticisms
There are certain criticisms and challenges in the implementation of PM-JAY. They are briefly described below.

• There has been a criticism that while the allocation of funds for PM-JAY has increased exponentially, the fund for the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has gone up only by 2%. So, the scheme has been eating into the funds for NRHM.
• Under this scheme, the private sector has been given a large role in offering primary health care to the people. This has been protested by many people in various states, as regulation of the private sector is marginal.
• There is a shortfall of healthcare professionals and personnel needed to implement a vast scheme as this.
• There is also a problem of infrastructure as many primary healthcare centres run without even the basic facilities such as electricity, regular water supply, etc.
• The scheme excludes those economically weaker sections that fall under the organized sector and have no access to health insurance.

Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs)
HWCs are being created by converting the existing primary health centres and subcentres. They provide comprehensive primary health care (CPHC) including a child and maternal health services, non-communicable diseases, and also diagnostic services, and free essential drugs.

Services offered by HWCs:

• Care in pregnancy and child-birth.
• Neonatal and infant health care services.
• Childhood and adolescent health care services.
• Family planning, Contraceptive services and other Reproductive Health Care services.
• Management of Communicable diseases including National Health Programmes.
• Management of Common Communicable Diseases and Outpatient care for acute simple illnesses and minor ailments.
• Screening, Prevention, Control and Management of Non-Communicable diseases.
• Care for Common Ophthalmic and ENT problems.
• Basic Oral health care.
• Elderly and Palliative health care services.
• Emergency Medical Services.
• Screening and Basic management of Mental health ailments.

HWCs are important because they offer CPHC that is critical to enhancing health outcomes. Primary healthcare plays a vital role in preventing many disease conditions. Providing CPHC decreases morbidity and mortality at a lower cost and greatly reduces the requirement for secondary and tertiary care.