PIB – 24 September 2021

 AYUSHMAN BHARAT (PMJAY)

Focus: GS II- Health

 Why in News?

The Prime Minister has lauded the Ayushman Bharat PMJAY – the world’s largest healthcare scheme on completion of three years.

 Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY)

• Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) is the flagship scheme of the Union government as a part of the Indian government’s National Health Policy.
• AB-PMJAY provides a health cover of up to Rs. 5 lakh a family a year, for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization, to India’s bottom 40% poor and vulnerable population.
• The programme was launched in September, 2018.
• AB-PMJAY is under the aegis of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• The PM Jan Arogya Yojana beneficiaries get an e-card that can be used to avail services at an empanelled hospital, public or private, anywhere in the country, with which they can walk into a hospital and obtain cashless treatment.
• The scheme has certain pre-conditions by which it picks who can avail of the health cover benefit. While in the rural areas the list is mostly categorized on lack of housing, meagre income and other deprivations, the urban list of PMJAY beneficiaries is drawn up on the basis of occupation.

 Key Features of AB-PMJAY

• PM-JAY is a health assurance scheme that covers 10.74 crores households across India or approximately 50 crore Indians.
• It provides a cover of 5 lakh per family per year for medical treatment in empanelled hospitals, both public and private.
• It provides cashless and paperless service to its beneficiaries at the point of service, i.e., the hospital.
• E-cards are provided to the eligible beneficiaries based on the deprivation and occupational criteria of Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011 (SECC 2011).
• There is no restriction on family size, age or gender.
• All previous medical conditions are covered under the scheme.
• It covers 3 days of hospitalisation and 15 days of post hospitalisation, including diagnostic care and expenses on medicines.
• The scheme is portable and a beneficiary can avail medical treatment at any PM-JAY empanelled hospital outside their state and anywhere in the country.
• The Central government has decided to provide free testing and treatment of Coronavirus under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana.

BIJOYA SANSKRITIK MAHOTSAV

Focus: GS III- Defence, Facts for prelims

Why in News?

Indian army will organise “Bijoya sanskritik mahotsav” at Kolkata from 26 to 29 December.

Details:

• 16 December 2021 will mark 50 years of the liberation of Bangladesh and India’s victory over Pakistan in the 1971 Indo-Pak War.
• To commemorate this landmark event in India’s history, Swarnim Vijay Varsh celebrations are being organised throughout the Country.
• A cultural event titled “Bijoya Sanskritik Mahotsav” aimed at showcasing the cultural linkages between India and Bangladesh during the war is being organised by the Eastern Command of Indian Army at Kolkata from 26 to 29 September 2021.
• Various cultural programs to include film screening, theatre plays, musical concerts and band performances are planned over five days at Rabindra Sadan and Nandan Convention Centre, Kolkata. Events of “Bijoya Sanskritik Mahotsav” will bring to fore the various tales of valor of Indian Army soldiers and Mukti Jodhas in the various historical battles fought by these brave hearts in the 1971 war of liberation. 

NATIONAL MISSION FOR CLEAN GANGA

Focus: GS III- Environment

Why in News?

MoS Jal Shakti Chairs Meeting Of Empowered Task Force For Ensuring Better Coordination & Convergence in Holistic Rejuvenation of Ganga River

About National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG)

• National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) was registered as a society on under the Societies Registration Act 1860.
• The government had set up the Clean Ganga Fund in 2014 – Using the funded money to finance NMCG (National Mission for Clean Ganga 2011), cleaning the river, setting up Waste Treatment Plants, Conservation of river biodiversity and related R&D projects.
• NMCG is the implementation wing of National Council for Rejuvenation, Protection and Management of River Ganga (referred as National Ganga Council NGC).

The NMCG now has the status of an Authority and its key focus would be maintaining required ecological flows in the Ganga, abate pollution through planning, financing and execution of programmes including that of –

1. Augmentation of Sewerage Infrastructure
2. Catchment Area Treatment
3. Protection of Floodplains
4. Creating Public Awareness

The Union Cabinet has recently approved changes allowing the National Mission for Clean Ganga to fine those responsible for polluting the river, which was vested solely with the Central Pollution Control Board earlier. The power to fine the polluters is derived from the Environment Protection Act.

• It has a two-tier management structure and comprises of Governing Council and Executive Committee, both of the tiers are headed by the Director General (DG), NMCG.
• Similar to structure at national level, State Programme Management Groups (SPMGs) acts as implementing arm of State Ganga Committees. This structure attempts to bring all stakeholders on one platform to take a holistic approach towards the task of Ganga cleaning and rejuvenation.

Need for Ganga Rejuvenation

• The Ganga Basin provides over one-third of India’s surface water, includes the country’s largest irrigated area, and is key to India’s water and food security.
• Over 40 percent of India’s GDP is generated in the densely populated Basin.
• But the Ganga river is today is facing pressures from human and economic activity that impact its water quality and flows.
• Over 80 per cent of the pollution load in the Ganga comes from untreated domestic wastewater from towns and cities along the river and its tributaries.