-The Indian Express A little more than a week ago, World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for launching the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), which he called an “extraordinary effort” at financial inclusion. According to the Union finance ministry, India has attained 99 per cent financial inclusion, measured as households’ access to bank accounts. Within three months of launching the PMJDY, the government entered the Guinness...
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Overhaul brakes on insurance scheme for poor -M Saraswathy
-Business Standard Sector players await government's decision on future of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana The government-sponsored Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) is set to undergo a overhaul with a proposal to have only public general insurers manage the scheme through a trust-like structure. Sources said the bids that would have been considered for new contracts have been left unopened as the stakeholders are awaiting the government's decision on its future progress. A senior public...
More »Putting the ‘universal’ in healthcare -Lant Pritchett & Gulzar Natarajan
-The Indian Express Universal health coverage (UHC) is at the heart of the government's healthcare agenda. The 12th Five Year Plan targets a long-term goal of UHC where "each individual would have assured access to a defined essential range of medicines and treatment at an affordable price, which would be entirely free for a large percentage of the population". But this year's reduced budgetary allocation raises troublesome questions about its ability...
More »Cash transfers, the lazy short cut -Mihir Shah
-The Hindu Alleviating poverty in India requires not only cash transfers but also other enabling changes Advocates of unconditional cash transfers claim that they can be both emancipatory and transformative. They argue that people are quite capable of making rational decisions. And that this kind of basic income support can improve their lives. I have no quarrel with the claim that we must trust the poor. Such suspicion is part of an elite...
More »The primary focus -K Srinath Reddy
-The Indian Express The World Universal Health Coverage Day, observed on December 12, builds on growing global momentum towards introducing universal health coverage (UHC) in national health plans and reinforces the case for including UHC as a prominent sustainable development goal to be adopted by the UN next year. India proposes to implement a programme of national health assurance, which embraces the principles of UHC. It is expected that the government...
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