Tag: scheme

Ayushman Bharat: Modi govt hasn’t released a single paisa to Bihar under the scheme

Source: nationalheraldindia.com

After slashing the budget for as many as 18 welfare schemes funded by the Central government, it has come to the fore that the Modi government has not released fund to the Bihar government under the Ayushman Bharat-PM Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) in this financial year.

A source privy to the development told National Herald that the Centre has not released a single paisa to the BJP backed Nitish Kumar government in this financial year.

Although the obvious reason for not allocating a single paisa under the scheme is being cited as the “worst performance” of the state, health experts and leaders of Opposition parties believe responsibility for the implementation of the scheme lies with the ruling party.

“They cannot blame others for the poor performance of the state as BJP-JDU government has been at the helm for several years. They cannot escape the responsibility,” said a whistleblower and an expert who was involved in the formulation of the policies for Ayushman Bharat.

We tried to contact JD(U) spokespersons for their response but they either refused to comment or evaded the question saying, “It is an issue related with the governance”.

We were referred to talk to the Bihar health minister Mangal Pandey. But when we tried to reach out to the minister, we were told that “he is busy and he will get back to us as and when he gets time.”

“Health minister himself has admitted that his ministry has no expertise in carrying out such schemes. ‬‪It shows the apathy and lack of seriousness on part of the NDA government. The dysfunctional and broken healthcare system in Bihar is a glaring example of how Nitish Kumar led NDA government failed people of Bihar,” said Sanjay Yadav,” an RJD leader and political advisor to Tejashwi Yadav.

It is important to mention here that out of ₹1,699 crore released by the Centre under AB-PMJAY this year to various states, Bihar got no grant despite having over one crore intended beneficiary families.

According to the data released by the health ministry, Bihar registered just around 156,000 hospital admissions under the scheme since its launch about 17 months ago, and only about 40 lakh individual e-cards have been issued in Bihar so far.

“Three large states (Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar) which account for 30% of the beneficiary population are implementing the scheme for the first time and hence their demand is still picking up,” the Union Health Ministry told Parliament last week.

Experts believe that the poor performance of UP and Bihar has had a sharp impact on the scheme, whose allocation in the revised budget of 2019-20 has been halved to ₹ 3,200 crore from an initial allocation of ₹ 6,400 crore.

According to the government’s own submission, just ₹100 crores have been allocated to the BJP-ruled UP so far owing to its poor performance. Even out of the revised allocation of ₹3,200 crores, the Centre has been able to spend only ₹1,699 crore which is just over half of the total allocation.


PM Modi to launch farmers’ pension scheme in Ranchi on Sept 12

Source: avenuemail.in

Ranchi, Sep 10 (IANS) Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would launch three national level and two state level schemes from here on September 12.

“The Prime Minister will launch three national and two state level schemes here on September 12. The first scheme is Kisan Mandhan Yojna, under which farmers will get Rs 3,000 pension; the second is laying the foundation stone for 462 Eklavya schools exclusively for quality education; the third is a pension scheme for small shopkeepers,” the Chief Minister said in a press conference here on Tuesday.

Das said that under the farmer’s scheme, more than one lakh farmers have been registered in the state. As per the available data, Jharkhand is fifth largest state in terms of farmers pension registration. Farmers between the age of 18 and 40 years will get the benefits of the pension scheme after turning 60, Das said.

“Similarly, small shopkeepers between the age of 18 and 40 years will be eligible to get pension after turning 60. The small shopkeepers registered with the government will get Rs 3,000 pension per month. Of the 462 Eklavya schools, 69 will be set up in Jharkhand for providing quality education to the tribal children.

“The Prime Minister will also inaugurate the two state level schemes. First, the inauguration of the state Assembly building and the second is a multi-modal terminal at Sahebganj,” said the Chief Minister.

Jharkhand is set to get it’s own Assembly building, which has been constructed on a 39-acre land costing Rs 465 crore. It will have a sitting capacity of 162 legislators.

Modi will also lay the foundation stone for the new Secretariat which will be constructed at a cost of Rs 1,238 crore on 68 acres of land.

The Prime Minister will also dedicate to the nation India’s second riverine multi-modal terminal in Sahibganj built at a cost of Rs 290 crore in a record time of about two years.

Modi had himself laid the foundation stone for the IWAI’s Sahibganj multi-modal terminal (MMT) in April, 2017. It is the second of the three multi-modal terminals being constructed on river Ganga under the Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP). In November 2018, the Prime Minister had inaugurated the MMT at Varanasi.

The MMT at Sahibganj will open up the industries of Jharkhand and Bihar to the global market and provide Indo-Nepal cargo connectivity through waterways route.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar bats for the girl child

Source: indiatoday.in

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has a clear message to those who get happy only when a son is born in the family. “Beti Paida hone par bhi khush hoyiye (Be happy also when a daughter is born in the family). The government is here to take care,” he said.

Indeed, Nitish Kumar is willing to walk the talk. “The government will provide a grant of Rs 2,000 at the birth a girl child in the family. Another Rs 1,000 would be provided once the girl’s Aadhaar registration is done. It will be followed by another incentive of Rs 2,000 after completion of all immunisation procedures of the girl. This is in accordance with Mukhya Mantri Kanya Utthan Yojana (Chief minister’s scheme for development of girls),” said the Chief Minister.

The scheme, a brainchild of Nitish Kumar, is applicable to all irrespective of caste, family income or religion. In addition to this, the girls clearing intermediate examination (+2) and who are not married would get a one-time incentive of Rs 10,000 from the government.

Another Rs 10,000 will be provided as incentive to a girl if she acquires a graduation degree. Nitish Kumar’s total package announced for a girl child in Bihar is Rs 25,000. This is in addition to the raise in the government’s allotments for uniforms, cycles and sanitary napkins.

Though Nitish Kumar’s government has already approved the proposals in an earlier Cabinet decision, the Chief Minister once again drove the message across recently on the occasion of Independence Day celebrations.

Although the Chief Minister did not mention the falling sex ratio of Bihar, it is surely a cause of concern for the state. The jarring irony is that while Bihar has highest birth rate (26.4 for state against India’s average of 16.8 in urban regions to 21.8 in rural regions), the state has a declining sex ratio. Bihar’s sex ratio has gone down from 910 per 1000 males in 2011, to 900 now.

It is even worse in urban Bihar where only 865 girls are per 1,000 males. Proportionately speaking, Bihar has fewer girls than what it had a decade ago. It leads to another shocking observation: more girls are allowed to born in villages, and not in cities of Bihar, where ironically, the educated and elites stay.

Re 1 stamp duty scheme misused, Jharkhand loses Rs 1.07 crore

Source: newindianexpress.com

RANCHI: The Jharkhand government has suffered a loss of Rs 1.07 crore due to widespread misuse of a scheme that allows registration of property worth Rs 50 lakh by women at only Re 1 stamp duty.

Launched by the state’s Raghubar Das government in June 2017, the scheme made registration of immovable property worth Rs 50 lakh in the name of women free of stamp duty save for a token amount of Re 1. For property above Rs 50 lakh, women had to pay Rs 50 lakh as registry charges.

The stamp fee was waived only if the property was registered in the name of women.

“So far, 1,52,521 women have benefitted from the Re 1 registry scheme,” Jharkhand Land and Revenue Minister Amar Bawari told reporters on Tuesday.

“But the scheme, which aimed to empower the women in the state, has also been misused. Till now 238 cases have come to our notice where women have benefitted from the scheme more than once. The state government has suffered a loss of Rs 1.07 crore. We have recovered Rs 27.90 lakh from the violators and process is on to recover more,” Bawari added.