-The Indian Express In the Union Budget 2018-19, an initial corpus of Rs 2,000 crore was provided for the NHPS that aims to provide medical cover of Rs 5 lakh to over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families. New Delhi: TO decide the specifics of the proposed National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS), the Centre has decided to call a meeting of state health secretaries shortly. Details of the scheme’s implementation — touted...
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Rajasthan govt waives loans of up to Rs 50,000
-The Times of India JAIPUR: Close on the heels of BJP’s rout in parliamentary and assembly bypolls earlier this month, Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje on Monday announced a waiver for farm loans up to Rs 50,000 taken by small and marginal farmers. The waiver was part of the last budget of her government’s term. The sop to woo agitating farmers ahead of the assembly polls, scheduled for the end of...
More »Loan waiver to bonus payments, poll-bound states target farmers -Deep Mukherjee & Milind Ghatwai
-The Indian Express While Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara seeks to recover from the recent disastrous bypoll where the BJP lost two Lok Sabha seats and an assembly seat to the Congress, MP’s three-time CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan aims to mitigate three-time anti-incumbency. From crop loan and land revenue waivers to bonus payments and free crop storage, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh announced a slew of sops Monday targeting farmers and rural voters...
More »Hardly a gamechanger -Subrata Mukherjee & Subhanil Chowdhury
-The Hindu Neither the Budget nor the National Health Policy 2017 shows a clear health sector road map The National Health Protection Scheme announced in this year’s Budget has generated a lot of debate. The government has committed itself to “providing coverage up to ?5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation” for 10 crore poor families, with approximately 50 crore people as beneficiaries. As only ?2,000 crore...
More »Why the fuss about fiscal deficit? -Aarati Krishnan
-The Hindu The answer lies in the fragile state of the Centre’s finances, and its control over interest, pension and subsidy expenses To any layman watching India’s annual Budget jamboree, the entire exercise must seem very puzzling. After the Finance Minister has read out a long list of giveaways to farmers, small businesses, low-income earners and senior citizens in his speech, none of the beneficiaries seems entirely happy with their gifts. Commentators, after...
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