4.5 crore families to be benefitted under Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY)
FinTech BizNews Service
Mumbai, September 11, 2024: The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the health coverage to all the senior citizens aged 70 years and above irrespective of income under the flagship scheme Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY).
This aims to benefit approximately 4.5 Crore families with six (6) crore senior citizens with 5 Lakh rupees free health insurance cover on a family basis.
With this approval, all senior citizens of the age 70 years and above irrespective of their socio- economic status would be eligible to avail the benefits of AB PM-JAY. The eligible senior citizens would be issued a new distinct card under AB PM-JAY. The senior citizens of the age 70 years and above belonging to families already covered under AB PM-JAY will get an additional top-up cover upto ₹5 lakh per year for themselves (which they do not have to share with the other members of the family who are below the age of 70 years). All other senior citizens of the age 70 years and above will get a cover upto ₹5 lakh per year on a family basis. Senior citizens of the age 70 years and above who are already availing benefits of other public health insurance schemes such as Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), Ayushman Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) may either choose their existing scheme or opt for AB PMJAY. It has been clarified that senior citizens of 70 years and above who are under private health insurance policies or Employees’ State Insurance scheme will be eligible to avail benefits under AB PM-JAY.
AB PM-JAY is the world’s largest publicly funded health assurance scheme which provides health cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to 55 crore individuals corresponding to 12.34 crore families. All members of the eligible families irrespective of age are covered under the scheme. The scheme has covered 7.37 Crore hospital admissions including 49 percent women beneficiaries. The public has benefited to the extent of over Rs. 1 Lakh crore under the scheme.
The expansion of cover to senior citizens of the age of 70 years and above was earlier announced by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in April 2024.
The AB PM-JAY scheme has witnessed continuous expansion of the beneficiary base. Initially, 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families comprising the bottom 40% of India’s population were covered under the scheme. Later, the Government of India, in January 2022 revised the beneficiary base under AB PM-JAY from 10.74 crore to 12 crore families considering India’s decadal population growth of 11.7 % over 2011 population. The scheme was further expanded to cover 37 lakh ASHAs/AWWs/AWHs working across the country and their families for free healthcare benefits. Taking the mission ahead, AB PM-JAY would now provide free healthcare coverage of Rs 5 lakh to all citizens of the age-group of 70 years and above across the country.
Enabling Infrastructure for Hydro Electric Projects: Rs12461 Cr To Be Spent From FY 2024-25 To FY 2031-32
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Power for modification of the scheme of budgetary support for the cost of Enabling Infrastructure for Hydro Electric Projects (HEP) with a total outlay of Rs12461 crore. The scheme would be implemented from FY 2024-25 to FY 2031-32.
The Government of India has been taking several policy initiatives to address the issues impeding Hydro Power development, viz., remote locations, hilly areas, lack of infrastructure etc. To promote the hydro power sector and to make it more viable, the Cabinet in March, 2019, approved measures, namely declaring large hydro power projects as Renewable Energy sources, Hydro Power Purchase Obligations (HPOs), tariff rationalization measures through escalating tariff, budgetary support for flood moderation in storage HEP and budgetary support for the cost of enabling infrastructure, i.e., construction of roads and bridges.
For the faster development of Hydro Electric Projects and improvement of infrastructure in the remote project locations, the following modifications have been made in the earlier scheme:
a) To widen the ambit of the Budgetary Support for cost of Enabling Infrastructure by including four more items apart from construction of roads and bridges i.e., the cost incurred for the construction of: (i) transmission line from power house to the nearest pooling point including upgradation of pooling substation of State /Central Transmission Utility (ii) ropeways (iii) railway siding, and (iv) communication infrastructure. The strengthening of existing roads/bridges leading to the project will also be eligible for central assistance under this scheme.
b) The scheme has a total outlay of Rs.12,461 crore for cumulative generation capacity of about 31350 MW to be implemented from FY 2024-25 to FY 2031-32.
c) The scheme will be applicable to all Hydro Power Projects of more than 25 MW capacity including the private sector projects which have been allotted on a transparent basis. This scheme will also be applicable to all Pumped Storage Projects (PSPs) including Captive/Merchant PSPs, provided that the project has been allotted on a transparent basis. A cumulative PSP capacity of about 15,000 MW would be supported under the scheme.
d) The projects whose Letter of Award of first major package is issued upto 30.06.2028 would be considered under this scheme.
e) The limit of Budgetary Support for the cost of Enabling Infrastructure has been rationalized to Rs.1.0 crore/MW for projects up to 200 MW and Rs.200 crore plus Rs.0.75 crore per MW exceeding 200 MW, for projects above 200 MW. For exceptional cases the limit of budgetary support may go upto Rs.1.5 Crore/MW provided sufficient justification exists.
f) The Budgetary Support for cost of Enabling Infrastructure will be provided after appraisal of the cost of Enabling Infrastructure by the DIB/PIB and approval of the Competent Authority as per extant guidelines.
Benefits:
This revised scheme would help in faster development of hydro electric projects, improve infrastructure in the remote and hilly project locations and would provide large number of direct employment to the local people along with indirect employment / entrepreneurial opportunities through transportation, tourism, small-scale business. It would encourage fresh investments into hydro power sector and incentivize timely completion of new projects.
'Mission Mausam' Will Create A More Weather-Ready And Climate-Smart Bharat With An Outlay Of Rs2,000 Crore Over Two Years
The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved ‘Mission Mausam' today with an outlay of Rs.2,000 crore over two years.
Mission Mausam, to be chiefly implemented by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, is envisaged to be a multi-faceted and transformative initiative to tremendously boost India's weather and climate-related science, research, and services. It will help to better equip stakeholders, including citizens and last-mile users, in tackling extreme weather events and the impacts of climate change. The ambitious program will help broaden capacity and resilience across communities, sectors, and ecosystems in the long run.
As part of the Mission Mausam, India will exponentially expound research and development, and capacity in atmospheric sciences, especially weather surveillance, modelling, forecasting, and management. By integrating advanced observation systems, high-performance computing, and cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, Mission Mausam will set a new benchmark for predicting weather with high precision.
The mission's focus will include improving observations and understanding for providing highly accurate and timely weather and climate information across temporal and spatial scales, including monsoon forecasts, alerts for air quality, extreme weather events and cyclones, weather interventions for managing fog, hail, and rain, etc., capacity building and generating awareness. Critical elements of Mission Mausam will include the deployment of next-generation radars and satellite systems with advanced sensors and high-performance supercomputers, the development of improved Earth system models and a GIS-based automated Decision Support System for real-time data dissemination.
Mission Mausam will directly benefit numerous sectors, such as agriculture, disaster management, defence, environment, aviation, water resources, power, tourism, shipping, transport, energy, and health. It would also enhance data-driven decision making in areas such as urban planning, road and rail transport, offshore operations, and environmental monitoring.
Three institutes of the Ministry of Earth Sciences: the India Meteorological Department, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, and the National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting will primarily implement Mission Mausam. These institutions will be supported by other MoES institutions (Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, and National Institute of Ocean Technology), along with collaborating national and international Institutes, Academia and Industries, furthering India's leadership in weather and climate sciences and services.
PMGSY-IV during FY 2024-25 to 2028-29 With Total outlay of Rs.70,125 crore
The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, today approved the proposal of the Department of Rural Development for “Implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana - IV (PMGSY-IV) during FY 2024-25 to 2028-29”.
The financial assistance is to be provided for the construction of 62,500 Kms road for providing new connectivity to eligible 25,000 unconnected habitations and construction/upgradation of bridges on the new connectivity roads. Total outlay of this scheme will be Rs. 70,125 crore.
Details of the Scheme:
The details of the approval given by the Cabinet are as follows:
i. Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana -IV is launched for financial year 2024-25 to 2028-29. Total outlay of this scheme is Rs. 70,125 crore (Central Share of Rs. 49,087.50 crore and Sate Share of Rs. 21,037.50 crore).
ii. Under this scheme 25,000 unconnected habitations of population size 500+ in plains, 250+ in NE & Hill Sates/UTs, special category areas (Tribal Schedule V, Aspirational Districts/Blocks, Desert areas) and 100+ in LWE affected districts, as per Census 2011 will be covered.
iii. Under this scheme 62,500 Km of all-weather roads will be provided to unconnected habitations. Construction of required bridges along the alignment of the all-weather road will also be provided.
Benefits:
