NATIONAL HEALTH MISSION

Some of the major initiatives under National Health Mission (NHM) are as follows:

Accredited Social Health Activists
Community Health volunteers called Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) have been engaged under the mission for establishing a link between the community and the health system. ASHA is the first port of call for any health related demands of deprived sections of the population, especially women and children, who find it difficult to access health services in rural areas. ASHA Programme is expanding across States and has particularly been successful in bringing people back to Public Health System and has increased the utilization of outpatient services, diagnostic facilities, institutional deliveries and inpatient care.

Rogi Kalyan Samiti (Patient Welfare Committee) / Hospital Management Society
The Rogi Kalyan Samiti (Patient Welfare Committee) / Hospital Management Society is a management structure that acts as a group of trustees for the hospitals to manage the affairs of the hospital. Financial assistance is provided to these Committees through untied fund to undertake activities for patient welfare.

Untied Grants to Sub-Centres
Untied Grants to Sub-Centers have been used to fund grass-root improvements in health care. Some examples include:

Improved efficacy of Auxiliary Nurse Midwifes (ANMs)[2] in the field that can now undertake better antenatal care and other health care services.
Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committees (VHSNC) have used untied grants to increase their involvement in their local communities to address the needs of poor households and children.
Health care contractors
NRHM has provided health care contractors to underserved areas, and has been involved in training to expand the skill set of doctors at strategically located facilities identified by the states. Similarly, due importance is given to capacity building of nursing staff and auxiliary workers such as ANMs. NHM also supports co-location of AYUSH services in Health facilities such as PHCs, CHCs and District Hospitals.

Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)
JSY aims to reduce maternal mortality among pregnant women by encouraging them to deliver in government health facilities. Under the scheme cash assistance is provided to eligible pregnant women for giving birth in a government health facility. Large scale demand side financing under the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) has brought poor households to public sector health facilities on a scale never witnessed before.

National Mobile Medical Units (NMMUs)
Many un-served areas have been covered through National Mobile Medical Units (NMMUs).

National Ambulance Services
Free ambulance services are provided in every nook and corner of the country connected with a toll free number and reaches within 30 minutes of the call.

Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK)
As part of recent initiatives and further moving in the direction of universal healthcare, Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakarm (JSSK) was introduced to provide free to and fro transport, free drugs, free diagnostic, free blood, free diet to pregnant women who come for delivery in public health institutions and sick infants up to one year.

Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK)
A Child Health Screening and Early Intervention Services has been launched in February 2013 to screen diseases specific to childhood, developmental delays, disabilities, birth defects and deficiencies. The initiative will cover about 27 crore children between 0–18 years of age and also provide free treatment including surgery for health problems diagnosed under this initiative.

Mother and Child Health Wings (MCH Wings)
With a focus to reduce maternal and child mortality, dedicated Mother and Child Health Wings with 100/50/30 bed capacity have been sanctioned in high case load district hospitals and CHCs which would create additional beds for mothers and children.

Free Drugs and Free Diagnostic Service
A new initiative is launched under the National Health Mission to provide Free Drugs Service and Free Diagnostic Service with a motive to lower the out of pocket expenditure on health.

District Hospital and Knowledge Center (DHKC)
As a new initiative District Hospitals are being strengthened to provide Multi-specialty health care including dialysis care, intensive cardiac care, cancer treatment, mental illness, emergency medical and trauma care etc. These hospitals would act as the knowledge support for clinical care in facilities below it through a tele-medicine center located in the district headquarters and also developed as centers for training of paramedics and nurses.

National Iron+ Initiative
The National Iron+ Initiative is an attempt to look at Iron Deficiency Anaemia in which beneficiaries will receive iron and folic acid supplementation irrespective of their Iron/Hb status. This initiative will bring together existing programmes (IFA supplementation for: pregnant and lactating women and; children in the age group of 6–60 months) and introduce new age groups.

Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY)

The Central Government today announced the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY). This is a new programme meant to provide for the welfare of areas and people affected by mining related operations, using the funds generated by District Mineral Foundations (DMFs). 

Minister of Mines and Steel Shri Narendra Singh Tomar said, “PMKKKY is a revolutionary and unprecedented scheme of its kind, which will transform the lives of people living in areas which are affected directly or indirectly by mining.” 

The objective of PMKKKY scheme will be (a) to implement various developmental and welfare projects/programs in mining affected areas that complement the existing ongoing schemes/projects of State and Central Government; (b) to minimize/mitigate the adverse impacts, during and after mining, on the environment, health and socio-economics of people in mining districts; and (c) to ensure long-term sustainable livelihoods for the affected people in mining areas. Care has been taken to include all aspects of living, to ensure substantial improvement in the quality of life. High priority areas like drinking water supply, health care, sanitation, education, skill development, women and child care, welfare of aged and disabled people, skill development and environment conservation will get at least 60 % share of the funds. For creating a supportive and conducive living environment, balance funds will be spent on making roads, bridges, railways, waterways projects, irrigation and alternative energy sources. This way, government is facilitating mainstreaming of the people from lower strata of society, tribals and forest-dwellers who have no wherewithal and are affected the most from mining activities. 

The Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015, mandated the setting up of District Mineral Foundations (DMFs) in all districts in the country affected by mining related operations. The Central Government today notified the rates of contribution payable by miners to the DMFs. In case of all mining leases executed before 12th January, 2015 (the date of coming into force of the Amendment Act) miners will have to contribute an amount equal to 30% of the royalty payable by them to the DMFs. Where mining leases are granted after 12.01.2015, the rate of contribution would be 10% of the royalty payable. Using the funds generated by this contribution, the DMFs are expected to implement the PMKKKY. 

The Central Government has issued a directive to the State Governments, under Section 20A of the MMDR Act, 1957, laying down the guidelines for implementation of PMKKKY and directing the States to incorporate the same in the rules framed by them for the DMFs. 

The DMFs have also been directed to maintain the utmost transparency in their functioning and provide periodic reports on the various projects and schemes taken up by them. 

Wiping Every Tear from Every Eye: The Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and Mobile Numbers Provide the Solution JAM

Both the Central and State Government subsidize the price of wide range of products with the expressed intention of making them affordable for the poor. Rice, wheat, pulses, sugar kerosene, LPG, naptha, water, electricity, diesel, fertilizer, iron ore, railways- these are just a few of the commodities and services that the Government subsidises.

There is always a question over how much of these benefits actually reach the poor.

Ø Price subsidies are often regressive: It means that a rich household benefits more from the subsidy than a poor household.

·Price subsidies in electricity can only benefit the (relatively wealthy) 67.2 percent of household that are electrified.
·The poorest 50 percent of household consume only 25 percent of LPG.
·Majority (51 percent) of subsidized kerosene is consumed by the non-poor and almost 15 percent of subsidized kerosene is actually consumed by relatively well-off (the richest 40 percent).
·A large fraction of price subsidies allocated to water utilities- upto 85 percent- are spent on subsidizing private taps when 60 percent of poor household get their water from public taps.
·Controlled rail prices actually provide more benefits for wealthy household than poor households.

Ø Price subsidies can distort markets in ways that ultimately hurt the poor.

·This contributes to food price inflation that disproportionately hurts poor household who tend to have uncertain income streams and lack the assets to weather economic shocks.
·High MSPs and price subsidies for water together lead to water-intensive cultivation that causes water tables to drop, which hurts farmers, especially those without irrigation.
·In order to cross subsidise low passenger fares, freight tariffs in railways are among the highest in the world. This reduces the competitiveness of Indian manufacturing and raises the cost of manufactured goods that all households, including the poor, consume.
·Benefits from fertilizer price subsidies probably accrue to the fertilizer manufacturer and richer farmer, not the intended beneficiary, the farmer.

Ø Leakages seriously undermine the effectiveness of product subsidies.
·Recent academic research on the subject of PDS leakages (kerosene, rice, wheat etc.) has found that leakages are falling through still unacceptably high.

THE POSSIBILITIES OFFERED BY CASH TRANSFERS

Recent experimental evidence documents that unconditional cash transfers- if targeted well- can boost household consumption and asset ownership, reduce food security problems for the ultra-poor and opportunities for leakage.

THE JAM NUMBER TRINITY SOLUTION

The JAM Number Trinity- Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and Mobile numbers- allows the state to offer this support to poor households in a targeted and less distortive way.

·As of December 2013 over 720 million citizens had been allocated an Aadhaar card. By December 2015 the total number of Aadhaar enrolments in the country is expected to exceed 1 billion. Linking the Aadhaar Number to an active bank account is key to implementing income transfers.
·With the introduction of Jan Dhan Yojana, the number of bank accounts is expected to increase further and offering greater opportunities to target and transfer financial resources to the poor.

Two alternative financial delivery mechanisms below:

Ø Mobile Money

·With over 900 million cell phone users and close to 600 million unique users, mobile money offers a complementary mechanism of delivering direct benefits to a large proportion of the population. And this number is increasing at a rate of 2.82 million per month.
·Aadhaar registrations include the mobile numbers of a customer, the operational bottlenecks required to connect mobile numbers with unique identification codes is also small.

Ø Post Offices

·India has the largest Postal Network in the world with over 1,55,015 Post Offices of which (89.76 percent) are in the rural areas.
·Similar to the mobile money framework, the Post Office can seamlessly fit into the Aadhaar linked benefits-transfer architecture by applying for an IFSC code which will allow post offices to start seeding Aadhaar linked accounts.

Converting all subsidies into direct benefit transfers is therefore a laudable goal of government policy. Even as it focuses on second generation and third generation reforms in factor markets, India will then be able to complete the basic first generation of economic reforms.

INDRADHANUSH -PLAN FOR REVAMP OF PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS

Comprised of seven alphabets- ABCDEFG


A) Appointments:
The Government decided to separate the post of Chairman and Managing Director by
prescribing that in the subsequent vacancies to be filled up the CEO will get the designation
of MD & CEO and there would be another person who would be appointed as non-Executive
Chairman of PSBs. This approach is based on global best practices and as per the guidelines
in the Companies Act to ensure appropriate checks and balances. The selection process for
both these positions has been transparent and meritocratic. The entire process of selection for
MD & CEO was revamped. Private sector candidates were also allowed to apply for the
position of MD & CEO of the five top banks i.e. Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda,
Bank of India, IDBI Bank and Canara Bank. Three stage screening was done for the MD’s
position culminating into final interview by three different panels
B) Bank Board Bureau:
The announcement of the Bank Board Bureau (BBB) was made by Hon’ble Finance
Minister in his Budget Speech for the year 2015-16. The BBB will be a body of eminent
professionals and officials, which will replace the Appointments Board for appointment of
Whole-time Directors as well as non-Executive Chairman of PSBs. They will also constantly
engage with the Board of Directors of all the PSBs to formulate appropriate strategies for
their growth and development. The structure of the BBB is going to be as follows; the BBB
will comprise of a Chairman and six more members of which three will be officials and three
experts (of which two would necessarily be from the banking sector). The Search Committee
for members of the BBB would comprise of the Governor, RBI and Secretary (FS) and
Secretary (DoPT) as members. The BBB would broadly follow the selection methodology as
approved in relevant ACC guidelines. 
C) Capitalization:
As of now, the PSBs are adequately capitalized and meeting all the Basel III and RBI
norms. However, the Government of India wants to adequately capitalize all the banks to
keep a safe buffer over and above the minimum norms of Basel III. We have, therefore, 
estimated how much capital will be required this year and in the next three years till FY 2019.
If we exclude the internal profit generation which is going to be available to PSBs (based on
the estimate of average profit of the last three years), the capital requirement of extra capital
for the next four years up to FY 2019 is likely to be about Rs.1,80,000 crore. This estimate
is based on credit growth rate of 12% for the current year and 12 to 15% for the next three
years depending on the size of the bank and their growth ability. We are also presuming that
the emphasis on PSBs financing will reduce over the years by development of vibrant
corporate debt market and by greater participation of Private Sector Banks.
D) a) De-stressing PSBs
The infrastructure sector and core sector have been the major recipient of PSBs’ funding
during the past decades. But due to several factors, projects are increasingly stalled/stressed
thus leading to NPA burden on banks. In a recent review, problems causing stress in the
power, steel and road sectors were examined. It was observed that the major reasons
affecting these projects were delay in obtaining permits / approvals from various
governmental and regulatory agencies, and land acquisition, delaying Commercial Operation
Date (COD); lack of availability of fuel, both coal and gas; cancellation of coal blocks;
closure of Iron Ore mines affecting project viability; lack of transmission capacity; limited
off-take of power by Discoms given their reducing purchasing capacity; funding gap faced by
limited capacity of promoters to raise additional equity and reluctance on part of banks to
increase their exposure given the high leverage ratio; inability of banks to restructure projects
even when found viable due to regulatory constraints. In case of steel sector the prevailing
market conditions, viz. global over-capacity coupled with reduction in demand led to
substantial reduction in global prices, and softening in domestic prices added to the woes
E) Empowerment:
The Government has issued a circular that there will be no interference from Government
and Banks are encouraged to take their decision independently keeping the commercial
interest of the organisation in mind. A cleaner distinction between interference and
intervention has been made. With autonomy comes accountability, accordingly Banks have
been asked to build robust Grievances Redressal Mechanism for customers as well as staff so
that concerns of the affected are addressed effectively in time bound manner.
The Government intends to provide greater flexibility in hiring manpower to Banks. The
Government is committed to provide required professionals as NoDs to the Board so that
well-informed and well-discussed decisions are taken
F) Framework of Accountability:
(a) The present system for the measurement of bank’s performance was a system called SoI –
Statement of Intent. Based on certain criteria decided by Ministry of Finance, the banks used
to come up with their annual target figures which was discussed between the Ministry and
banks and finalized. The entire exercise took very long and sometimes the targets for banks
used to be finalized only towards the end of the year which is not a desirable thing to do. 
G) Governance Reforms:
The process of governance reforms started with “Gyan Sangam” - a conclave of PSBs
and FIs organized at the beginning of 2015 in Pune which was attended by all stake-holders
including Prime Minister, Finance Minister, MoS (Finance), Governor, RBI and CMDs of all
PSBs and FIs. There was focus group discussion on six different topics which resulted in
specific decisions on optimizing capital, digitizing processes, strengthening risk management,
improving managerial performance and financial inclusion. The decision to set up a Bank
Board Bureau which was subsequently announced in the Budget Speech of Hon’ble Finance
Minister, came out of the recommendations of Gyan Sangam. Also, at this conclave, Hon’ble
Prime Minister made a significant promise to the bankers that there would be no interference
from any Government functionary in the matter of their commercial decisions. 

MISSION INDRADHANUSH

It aims to immunize all children against seven vaccine preventable diseases namely diphtheria, whooping cough (Pertussis), tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B by 2020
Ministry will be technically supported by WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International and other donor partners. Mass media, interpersonal communication, and sturdy mechanisms of monitoring and evaluating the scheme are crucial components of Mission Indradhanush
The ultimate goal of Mission Indradhanush is to ensure full immunization with all available vaccines for childrenup to two years and pregnant women.
The Mission is strategically designed to achieving high quality routine immunization coverage while contributing to strengthening health systems that can be sustained over years to come. In the last few years, India’s full immunization coverage has increased only by 1% per year. The Mission has been launched to accelerate the process of immunization and achieve full immunization coverage for all children in the country.

The Government has identified 201 high focus districts across 28 states in the country that have the highest number of partially immunized and unimmunized children.

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Mission Indradhanush will target these districts through intensive efforts and special immunization drives to improve the routine immunization coverage in the country.
1st phase update

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phase 2 from oct 7 2015

INDIA NEWBORN ACTION PLAN(INAP)

•Builds on existing commitments under the National Health Mission and 'Call to Action' for Child
Survival and Development
• Aligns with the Global Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP); defines commitments based on specific contextual needs of the country
•Aims at attaining Single Digit Neonatal Mortality Rate by 2030, five years ahead of the global plan
•Emphasizes strengthened surveillance mechanism for tracking stillbirths
•Focuses on ending preventable newborn deaths, improving quality of care and care beyond survival
• Prioritizes those babies that are born too soon, too small, or sick—as they account for majority of all newborn deaths
•Aspires towards ensuring equitable progress for girls and boys, rural and urban, rich and poor, and between districts and states
•Identifies major guiding principles under the overarching principle of Integration: Equity, Gender,
Quality of Care, Convergence, Accountability, and Partnerships
•Defines six pillars of interventions: Pre-conception and antenatal care; Care during labour and child birth; Immediate newborn care; Care of healthy newborn; Care of small and sick newborn; and Care beyond newborn survival
•Serves as a framework for states/districts to develop their own action plan with measurable
indicators. 
Goal 1: Ending Preventable Newborn Deaths to achieve “Single Digit NMR” by 2030,
with all the states to individually achieve this target by 2035
Goal 2: Ending Preventable Stillbirths to achieve “Single Digit SBR” by 2030, with
all the states to individually achieve this target by 2035

HERITAGE CITY DEVELOPMENT AND AUGMENTATION YOJANA (HRIDAY)

Rejuvenating the soul of urban India
*Aim of bringing together urban planning, economic growth and heritage conservation in an inclusive manner to preserve the heritage character of each Heritage City.
*The Scheme shall support development of core heritage infrastructure projects including revitalization of linked urban infrastructure for heritage assets such as monuments, Ghats, temples etc. along with reviving certainintangible assets. These initiatives shall include development of sanitation facilities, roads, public transportation & parking, citizen services, information kiosks etc.
*With a duration of 27 months (completing in March 2017) and a total outlay of INR 500 Crores, the Scheme is set to be implemented in 12 identified Cities namely, Ajmer, Amaravati,(Andhra Pradesh), Amritsar, Badami, Dwarka, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi, Velankanni and Warangal

The objectives of the scheme are:

*Planning, development and implementation of heritage-sensitive infrastructure

*Service Delivery and infrastructure provisioning in the core areas of the historic city

*Preserve and revitalise heritage wherein tourists can connect directly with city’s unique character

*Develop and document a heritage asset inventory of cities – natural, cultural, living and built heritage as a basis for urban planning, growth, service provision and delivery

*Implementation and enhancement of basic services delivery with focus on sanitation services like public conveniences, toilets, water taps, street lights, with use of latest technologies in improving tourist facilities/amenities.

*Local capacity enhancement for inclusive heritage-based industry

*HRIDAY is a central sector scheme*