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Rajasthan became the first state to pass in Assembly the Right to Health Bill, which gives every resident of the state the right to avail free Out Patient Department (OPD) services and In Patient Department (IPD) services at all public health facilities. Also, similar healthcare services will be provided free of cost at select private facilities.
The Bill was passed despite protests by the Opposition BJP, which wanted to bring in certain changes to the provisions, as well as an agitation by a section of doctors, who have been demanding withdrawal of the legislation.
According to the Bill, free healthcare services, including consultation, drugs, diagnostics, emergency transport, procedure and emergency care, will be provided at all public health institutions and select private facilities subject to conditions specified in the rules, which will be formulated now.
Also, all residents will be entitled to emergency treatment and care for accidental emergency without prepayment of any fee or charges.
Importantly, in a case of medico-legal nature, no public or private hospital can delay treatment merely on the grounds of receiving police clearance.
The legislation also says that “after emergency care, stabilisation and transfer of patient, if patient does not pay requisite charges, the healthcare provider shall be entitled to receive requisite fee and charges or proper reimbursement from the state government”.
Govt & Politics
India, US can work together on emerging tech: Pentagon official (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
India and the US can work together on several emerging technologies, including intelligence surveillance reconnaissance (ISR), jet engine, artificial intelligence, and space, a top Pentagon official said.
At a briefing here, Frank Kendall, US Secretary for Air Force, told journalists that the US and India are finalising an air information-sharing agreement as part of growing defence cooperation between the two countries, adding that they are working towards signing certain clauses of the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) signed in 2020.
BECA was one of the three foundation agreements signed between India and the United States, along with the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), and the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) signed in 2016 and 2018, respectively.
He, however, did not share further details on the contours of the agreement. He also refused to comment on a news report which said that the US had shared intelligence with India which helped contain Chinese incursions at the borders.
Earlier in the day, Kendall had met the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and had meetings with the team of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and the Ministry of Defence among others, which he termed “very positive.”
Ideas Page
The new global disorder (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
Visiting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s ambition to elevate the Indo-Pacific partnership with India and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow this week to consolidate the Eurasian alliance with the Russian leader Vladimir Putin are two elements of the unfolding geopolitical churn.
Beyond the great power realignment, there is also a recalibration of relations among major middle powers. Last week, to the west of India, we saw the unveiling of a thaw between the two long-time rivals — Iran and Saudi Arabia — at a ceremony in Beijing.
Less noticed in India was an even more consequential development to the east — the first summit in nearly twelve years between the leaders of two major global economies and neighbours — South Korea and Japan.
If the Saudi-Iran entente was widely hailed as a diplomatic triumph for Beijing and a setback for Washington, ending the prolonged political chill between Seoul and Tokyo is being hailed as a major diplomatic win for the US and a big loss for China, which had been teasing South Korea away from the US and Japan in recent years.
The US has made other gains on China’s periphery. It has managed to win the confidence of the new Philippines president Bongbong Marcos.
The Philippines is an old treaty ally of the US that was drifting towards China under Marcos’s immediate predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte.
Explained
Rule 357 (Page no. 20)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
Facing the heat for his recent critical remarks on the state of Indian democracy, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has once again approached Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, seeking permission to respond to “totally baseless and unfair charges” made against him by senior Ministers in the Lok Sabha.
According to the news outlet, while making the request, Rahul cited one of the rules of procedure and conduct of business in the lower house of the Parliament and also pointed out that the same rule has been invoked previously by a former BJP Union Minister.
I am seeking this permission under the conventions of Parliamentary practice, the constitutionally embedded rules of natural justice and Rule 357 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha.
In the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha, under the section ‘Rules to be observed by the members’, there is rule 357 for ‘personal explanation’.
It states, “A member may, with the permission of the Speaker, make a personal explanation although there is no question before the House, but in this case no debatable matter may be brought forward, and no debate shall arise.”
Active volcano found on Venus: What a new study says, significance (Page no. 20)
(GS Paper 3, Space)
A new analysis of archival radar images taken around three decades ago has found direct geological evidence of recent volcanic activity on the surface of Venus, also known as Earth’s twin, for the first time.
Researchers have observed a volcanic vent changing its shape and getting bigger in size in around eight months, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said.
The new findings are described in a study, ‘Surface changes observed on a Venusian volcano during the Magellan mission’, published in the journal Science last week.
The research has been carried out by Robert Herrick of the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks (USA), and Scott Hensley of Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology (USA).
For years, scientists have known that numerous volcanoes cover Venus but there wasn’t any evidence up till now to show if any one of them is still active.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Herrick said, “Everyone knew that Venus would have future eruptions. However, how often eruptions occur was not known, and speculations ranged from Earth-like at several times a year, to thousands of years between eruptions.
We now know that Venus is likely close to Earth-like, although extrapolating from a data set of one is always dangerous.