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Over six years since the Centre’s flagship health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) was launched in 2018, two-thirds of the total money spent under the scheme each year went to private hospitals across the country.
This came from 2.95 crore patients — 54% of all beneficiaries till December 2023, an investigation of official records and data obtained under the Right to Information.
The scheme is jointly funded by the Centre and the states in the ratio 60:40 (90:10 in the case of North-East and hilly states). Government hospitals account for 58% of all facilities empanelled.
In a country where the private sector anyway accounts for more hospitalisation cases — 60% in urban areas and 52% in rural areas — this trend affirms that for a big section of the population that was dipping into its savings for treatment in private hospitals, the Ayushman Bharat scheme has significantly reduced their out-of-pocket healthcare spending. The government’s own data suggests that average medical expenditure in private hospitals is 6-8 times that in government hospitals.
Govt & Politics
2 IAF fighter squadrons, 2 static units get president’s standards and colours (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
President Droupadi Murmu Friday awarded the prestigious President’s Standard to No. 45 Squadron and No. 221 Squadron, and the President’s Colours to 11 Base Repair Depot (BRD) and 509 Signal Unit (SU) of the IAF in a ceremony at IAF station, Hindan.
President’s Standard and Colours are the highest honour awarded to any military unit. This is the first time in the history of the IAF that four units have been awarded the President’s Standard and Colours together in a single ceremony. In her address, Murmu commended the units for their services to the nation.
Highlighting the courage, commitment and sacrifices of the IAF during war and peacetime operations in India and overseas, she underlined the IAF’s contributions in the ongoing space programmes of the country and the Gaganyaan mission. She also congratulated the women personnel of the IAF.
The President was given an aerial salute by three Mi-171V helicopters. Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, Chief of the Air Staff and senior IAF officers were present.
The President’s Standards were received by Group Captain M Surendran, Commanding Officer of 45 Squadron and Group Captain Shubhankan, Commanding Officer of 221 Squadron.
Economy
India poised to sign trade agreement with four nation EFTA bloc tomorrow (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
India and the four-nation European Free Trade Association (EFTA) grouping — comprising Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland — are poised to sign a trade deal on March 10.
The Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) is among three free-trade agreements (FTAs) India is pushing to finalise this month, before the Model Code of Conduct, that bars major policy announcements after the release of general election dates, kicks in.
The two other deals are with Oman and the UK.
While the Oman deal is in advanced stages with legal scrutiny underway, the much anticipated India-UK FTA is also being taken up at the highest level, with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) reviewing the deal late last month.
According to a PTI report, UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch has said that an India-UK FTA “is possible” before the Indian elections, but that the UK does not want to use that as a “deadline”.
Editorial
Change in the valley (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
Stock taking about Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) is usually done post terror-related incidents. However, when a popular leader, that too the Prime Minister of the country, visits such a region after an interval, there is an opportunity to do a more balanced examination and reflect on where we stand in a region seriously affected by externally sponsored “proxy war” for 35 years.
There have been many dimensions to J&K over this period. To best understand them, the political, military, social, economic, and most importantly, the psychological domains need examination; we can also add diplomatic to the mix because much depends on external perceptions.
Of these, the psychological domain remains the most important. In 1989, when Pakistan launched its long-drawn plan of wresting J&K by triggering internal turmoil, aided by external support, the ground had been well prepared.
The Army’s security-related deployment was hardly sufficient to prevent the frequent trans-LoC movement of the people who had already declared J&K a part of Pakistan.
Opinion
Filling in the diet chart (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Judiciary)
The recently released Household Consumer Expenditure Survey (HCES) data for 2022-23 by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme implementation points to a shift in the food consumption pattern of Indian households.
The survey covered a sample of 2,61,746 households (1,55,014 rural and 1,06,732 urban) and was spread over 8,723 villages and 6,115 urban blocks.
The household consumption basket consisted of three major categories — food items, consumables and durable goods. Information was collected through three separate questionnaires for each category.
In addition, a questionnaire seeking information on household characteristics and demographic features was also used. Imputed values were obtained for homegrown or home-produced items and also for food items consumed free of cost through social welfare programmes such as rice, wheat, jowar, bajra, maize, ragi, barley, small millets, pulses, gram, salt, sugar and edible oil.
Explained
India’s Rs 10,000 cr AI mission (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
India has made the first move to address a key shortcoming it currently has in unlocking opportunities around generative artificial intelligence (AI) — that of computing hardware.
The Union Cabinet approved the IndiaAI Mission with an outlay of Rs 10,372 crore for the next five years, under which the government will allocate funds towards subsidising private companies looking to set up AI computing capacity in the country, among other things.
While still a blueprint, the approval could spur investments in this sector — with private companies setting up data centres in the country, and allowing startups access so they can test and build their generative AI models.
This is a benefit that startups such as Perplexity AI in the United States have enjoyed for some time now, since they can tap into the computing capacity offered by companies like Nvidia.
Computing capacity, or compute, is among the most important elements of building a large AI system, apart from algorithmic innovation and data sets.
It is also one of the most difficult elements to procure for smaller businesses looking to train and build such AI systems, given the high costs.
Why scientists coted down proposal to declare start of Anthropocene (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
From the peak of Mount Everest to the depths of the Mariana Trench, the evidence of human activity is unmissable — and possibly indelible.
Yet, a committee of 18 scientists have voted down a proposal to declare the start of the Anthropocene, or the “Human Epoch”, in geologic time.
Geoscientists, or scientists who study the Earth, use the geologic time scale (GTS) to measure the history of the planet.
The GTS (since the formation of Earth, roughly 4.54 billion years ago) is divided, in descending order of duration, into aeons, eras, periods, epochs, and ages.