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Up to five lakh patients have benefited since October last year from QR code-enabled registration at hospital counters, which has helped reduce long queues, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.
The Ministry’s National Health Authority (NHA) under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) introduced the “scan and share” service for faster Outpatient Department (OPD) registrations in October 2022.
Since then, the service has been adopted in 365 government and private hospitals, Basant Garg, Additional CEO, NHA, explained.
The participating hospitals, both government and private, display their unique QR codes in patient-registration areas.
The patients can scan the QR code using any health application such as the ABHA app, AarogyaSetu app, EkaCare, DRiefcase, Bajaj Health or PayTM and share information such as name, age, gender, and unique health ID [ABHA number] to the Health Management Information system of the hospital.
This enables paperless registration and thereby instant token generation. The patient saves time and the health facility is able to optimise the need of resources deployed for registration.
This process also leads to the patient’s health records getting digitally linked to their Ayushman Bharat Health Account. Patients can manage and access this from their phone anytime anywhere.
Editorial
A case that scans the working of the anti-defection law (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
A five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court of India is presently hearing a set of cases popularly known as the “Maharashtra political controversy cases”.
These cases arose out of the events in June last year, when the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition (the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and Congress) lost power after an internal splintering of the Shiv Sena party.
A faction led by Eknath Shinde then joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form the new ruling coalition. The disputes between the various parties have been continuing since then, with the most recent development being an Election Commission of India (ECI) order declaring that Eknath Shinde’s faction is entitled to the party name and symbol.
While questions have been raised about whether the situation is now fait accompli, and whether the Court can “turn the clock back” if it wanted to, the judgment of this case will have consequences not merely for State politics in Maharashtra but far beyond as well. This is because the case raises certain fundamental issues about the working of India’s “anti-defection law”.
The anti-defection law was introduced into the Constitution via the Tenth Schedule, in 1985. Its purpose was to check increasingly frequent floor-crossing; lured by money, ministerial berths, threats, or a combination of the three, legislators were regularly switching party affiliations in the house (and bringing down governments with them).
The Tenth Schedule sought to put a stop to this by stipulating that if any legislator voted against the party whip, he or she would be disqualified from the house.
While on the one hand this empowered party leadership against the legislative backbench, and weakened the prospect of intra-party dissent, the Tenth Schedule viewed this as an acceptable compromise in the interests of checking unprincipled floor-crossing.
India’s R&D estimates are an incomplete picture (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
India’s research and development (R&D) expenditure-GDP ratio of 0.7% is very low when compared to major economies and is much below the world average of 1.8%.
The main reason is the low investment in R&D by the corporate sector. While the corporate sector accounts for about two-thirds of gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) in leading economies, its share in India is just 37%.
There is evidence, however, suggesting that India’s GERD data are an underestimate.
A 2022 infobrief of the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States on Foreign R&D by U.S.-based multinational corporations (MNCs) shows a spend of $9.5 billion (₹649.7 billion) on R&D in India in 2018, which increased to $9.8 billion (₹690.2 billion) in the following year.
There are MNCs from other leading countries also spending on R&D in India. But the latest Research and Development Statistics, published by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in 2020, has provided an estimate of ₹60.9 billion R&D spending in 2017-18 by foreign MNCs, which is only about 10% of what U.S. firms have reported to have spent in India on R&D.
The National Science and Technology Management Information System (NSTMIS) of the DST is the agency that compiles GERD statistics in India.
It is easier to gather the information on R&D by the government sector, the higher education sector and public sector enterprises.
The challenge lies in collecting data from the private corporate sector. There are two key factors that make the official R&D estimates grossly inadequate.
The method used for identification of R&D performing firms does not capture all the R&D performing firms. The NSTIMS relies on the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) list of recognised R&D units and the Prowess database of the Centre For Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt. Ltd. for this purpose.
The DSIR list may not have many of the actual R&D performers for two reasons: firms which consider government incentives as not attractive enough or that are sensitive about sharing critical information with the DSIR may not be inclined to register themselves with the DSIR.
Second, it may be difficult for R&D firms in services such as software and R&D services to meet the requirement of having separate infrastructure for R&D to distinguish it from their usual business. In fact, many of the R&D performing enterprises in new technology areas may come under the services category.
A study at the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development, that looked at 298 firms receiving foreign investment (2004-16) for R&D purposes, found that only 11% had been registered with DSIR.
Opinion
Does the anti-defection law need changes? (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Election Commission of India (ECI) allotted the name ‘Shiv Sena’ and the party’s Bow and Arrow symbol to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s faction, in effect recognising it as the original party founded by Balasaheb Thackeray.
The political crisis in Maharashtra began last year after a group of 40 of the 55 Sena MLAs walked out of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance under the leadership of Mr. Shinde, which caused a division in the party.
Both the Uddhav Thackeray and Shinde sides staked claim to the party name and symbol, each claiming to represent the ‘real’ Shiv Sena. The ECI said that it had based its decision on a “test of majority.”
It said the group of MLAs supporting the Shinde faction got nearly 76% of the votes polled for the 55 winning Shiv Sena candidates in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, while the Uddhav Thackeray faction got 23.5% of votes.
The crisis has thrown the spotlight once again on the anti-defection law, whose purpose is to prevent political defections. In a conversation moderated by Sonam Saigal, P.D.T. Achary and Ruchi Gupta discuss whether the law needs changes. Edited excerpts:
Before the law was enacted in 1985, the political class was anxiously trying to work out a measure to curb the regular defections that had been taking place in various parts of the country.
Defection causes destabilisation, which leads to governments falling and new governments coming up with the help of the defectors. After Rajiv Gandhi came to power with a massive majority, the government prepared the Bill.
It was brought before the House and unanimously passed. Some people thought that this measure would curb freedom of speech and affect the free exercise of opinion by the members of the legislature who are elected by the people.
But defection was recognised everywhere as an evil. There was a need to curb that evil; therefore, the law was brought in. There is a famous joke which goes, ‘Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram.’
Explainer
The past and present of Russia’s war in Ukraine (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
A year after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, there are signs of escalation everywhere. The West has recently announced the supply of more advanced weapons to Ukraine, deepening its involvement in the conflict.
In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has already reinforced Russian positions along the 1,000-km long frontline in Ukraine with hundreds of thousands of troops, announced the suspension of his country’s participation in the New Start treaty, which could trigger a nuclear arms race.
Ukraine, with the free flow of weapons from the West, hopes to arrest the Russian advances and begin its own offensive to regain lost land.
As the war is extended, risks of a direct confrontation between Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), both nuclear powers, are also on the rise.
Russia is expected to launch a new offensive in the coming days. Right now, focused fighting has been going on in some flashpoints along the frontline.
For over seven months, PMC Wagner, a private Russian security force with close ties to the Kremlin, has been fighting to take Bakhmut, a city at the cross junction of several key arteries in Donetsk, one of the four Ukrainian regions annexed by Mr. Putin in September.
Last month, Wagner took Soledar, a salt mine town in the outskirts of Bakhmut, and several settlements around the city thereafter.
As of now, Russians control all major highways into Bakhmut, except one (Chasiv Yar), which Ukrainian troops are using for reinforcement and resupply.
Russians have opened two more fronts, one in Izium, northwest of Bakhmut in Kharkiv Oblast, and the other in Vuhledar, south of Bakhmut in Donetsk.
They are also pushing the frontline in Zaporizhzhia and positional fighting is continuing in Kherson. Ukraine is trying to hold on to the territories until more weapons and trained fighters arrive from the West.
It would take a few more weeks before the main battle tanks pledged by Western countries, including Leopard 2 (German), M1 Abrams (American) and Challenger 2 (British), arrive at the battlefield.
If one looks at Russia’s declared goals and what they have achieved in the 12 months of fighting, it’s not difficult to see that they are still far from meeting those objectives.
Some say Mr. Putin wanted to take Kyiv and install a pro-Kremlin regime. Mr. Putin had said that demilitarisation and de-Nazification were his main goals.
News
At post-Budget webinar, PM underlines potential of renewable energy sources (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the potential of solar, wind and biogas energy in India was no less than any gold mine or oilfield for the country’s private sector.
Addressing a webinar, Mr. Modi said that India’s future development would be based on three pillars for green growth and energy transmission: increasing the production of renewable energy; reducing the use of fossil fuel in the economy; and moving towards a “gas-based economy”.
This approach undergirded the announcement of schemes such as ethanol blending, Pradhan Mantri KisaanUrja Suraksha Evam Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM, a scheme for solarising agriculture), incentives for solar manufacturing, rooftop solar scheme, coal gasification, and battery storage in the Budgets of the past few years.
The “green growth” webinar was the first of a series of 12 post-Budget webinars organised by the government to seek ideas and suggestions for the effective implementation of the initiatives announced in the Union Budget, 2023.
This Budget will play a key role in establishing India as a lead player in the global green energy market. That is why, today, I invite every stakeholder of the energy world to invest in India.
On India’s track record, Mr. Modi said that the country had demonstrated its capability to achieve the objectives before time when it came to renewable energy resources.
Under the National Green Hydrogen Mission, India aimed to produce five million tonnes of green hydrogen. An allocation of ₹19,000 crore had been made to incentivise the private sector in this field, he added.
He elaborated on India’s plans to efficiently harness biogas. “The Gobardhan Yojana is an important component of India’s biofuel strategy. In this Budget, the government has announced plans to set up 500 new plants under the Gobardhan Yojana,” he added.
Arts, artists are carriers of culture: Murmu at Sangeet Natak Akademi awards (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 1, Art and Culture)
Observing that culture was the real identity of a country, President DroupadiMurmu said India’s unique performing arts had kept its incredible culture alive for centuries.
“Our arts and artists are the carriers of our rich cultural heritage. Unity in diversity is the biggest feature of our cultural traditions,” the President said, while giving away the Sangeet Natak Akademi awards and fellowships for 2019, 2020 and 2021 here.
Ms. Murmu said civilisation showcased the material achievements of a nation, but intangible heritage was revealed through its culture. “In our tradition, art is a spiritual practice, a medium of the search for truth, a medium of prayer and worship, a medium of public welfare.
She said that Indians should take pride in the fact that the oldest and best definitions and traditions of art had developed in this country.
On the occasion, eight eminent personalities were given Sangeet Natak Akademi fellowships in the field of performing arts. A total of 128 artists from the field of music, dance, theatre, traditional, folk, and puppetry were given the awards.
Y. Gee. Mahendra, who won the award for best acting, said it was a recognition for Tamil theatre. A popular film actor, Mr. Mahendra said the fact that the award came for his stage performances “is a very satisfying experience.”
Dedicating the award to his theatre troupe, United Amateur Artists, his father, theatre doyen Y.G. Parthasarathy, and his guru Sivaji Ganesan, Mr. Mahendra said, “It is my 61st year on stage. I never gave up theatre for films.
It is gratifying that someone is watching the hard work being put in to keep the Tamil theatre alive. It gives me the kick to continue.