-The Hindu The Union Ministry of Labour has done well to raise the salary cap for availing Employees' State Insurance (ESI) to Rs.25,000. While the move is expected to expand coverage to an additional five million workers and their dependents, this is still small comfort in a country where barely three per cent of the workforce enjoys any social protection. The evolution of ESI has been characterised by an accent...
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Efficacy of government health cover scheme Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana under scanner -Vikas Dhoot
-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The government is having a rethink about the efficacy of its flagship Health insurance scheme, the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), which has earned a lot of critical acclaim from the likes of the World Bank, Harvard University and global think tanks. The scheme offers healthcare benefits worth Rs 30,000 per year to a poor household that can be accessed at empanelled private and public hospitals across...
More »Suspend Aadhaar, it is leading India to a surveillance state -R Ramakumar
-Deccan Herald One important feature of Aadhaar is its immense potential to violate privacy and civil liberty of the people. This is one of the main issues highlighted by the petitioners in the Supreme Court. Aadhaar envisages a centralised database of Indian residents. At present, the data on each individual is available only in separate "silos" and it is near impossible to link a person's information in one silo to that in...
More »Don’t have health cover? Pay up to 60% more -Pradeep Thakur
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In a dramatic reversal of the trend that existed just three years ago, big corporate hospitals today charge Health insurance card holders much less than those paying in cash for the same procedures. Those paying out of their pockets are now billed anywhere between 25% and 60% more than those with cashless Health insurance schemes. TOI did a comparative study of the amounts charged from the...
More »How Chhattisgarh managed to achieve and look beyond roti, kapda and makaan-Raman Singh
-The Economic Times I have often been asked how Chhattisgarh manages the contradictory pulls of sound fiscal health and welfare schemes. How did we manage to roll out food and nutrition security to not just the most needy among us but to almost the entire population of a state that has had a history of malnutrition and neglect, without jeopardising Chhattisgarh's finances? As finance minister for the last eight years, I have...
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