-The Hindu NITI Aayog member says national health scheme will aim to keep cheaters out Mumbai: To curb illegal mass surgeries, policy makers working on the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) are planning to restrict surgical procedures like hysterectomies and appendectomies to public sector hospitals. Dr Vinod Paul, member, NITI Aayog, said on Saturday that such procedures could also be dropped from the scheme. “Procedures like these can be misused. We have...

-TheWire.in Surjit Bhalla, who draws on CMIE’s database and EPFO data, notes that job creation in 2017 was likely 15 million. New Delhi: The head of the Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy (CMIE) has accused economist Surjit Bhalla, who is a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC), of distorting and “dishonestly presenting” its nationwide employment survey to claim that India created 15 million jobs in 2017. The CMIE does...

-The Indian Express The decision puts to an end a long-drawn disagreement between Maneka and NITI Aayog, with the former batting for packaged nutrients and the latter wanting to substitute food with cash given to beneficiaries through direct benefit transfer. The National Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges has rejected Woman and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi’s longstanding, much-debated proposal to provide packaged nutrients to replace the existing take-home rations across 14 lakh-odd...

-The Hindu NITI Aayog CEO says he did not say they were dragging down India’s growth Facing criticism over his comment that eastern States such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, where the BJP is in power, are keeping India backward, Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog, on Tuesday issued a clarification on Twitter. “These States are backward on human development indicators because of legacy issues. This government’s...

-The Economic Times New Delhi: The government is planning to rope in domain experts from within and outside the country to ensure a smooth rollout and monitoring of ‘Ayushman Bharat’, its ambitious health insurance scheme for the poor. NITI Aayog, the government’s premier think tank, will come out with guidelines for setting up the project monitoring unit (PMU) for Ayushman Bharat, also known as National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS), an official told...