Modicare is a fine idea, but where’s the money?
was to be implemented in a federal-state paradigm, then were the states consulted before the announcement? Were they taken on board? States like Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu run their own medical insurance schemes. Are they and other states willing to give up their own schemes for a partnership with the Centre? If a Centre-state partnership was the template of the scheme, why was there no mention of it in the Budget speech?
Herein lies the problem with this government. Usually, when something as ambitious as this is conceived, there are intense consultations within the government and with other stakeholders. Approvals are taken, if required at the level of the Union Cabinet also, funds are earmarked and then a budgetary announcement is made. A classic example being the loan waiver scheme for farmers by the UPA government in 2008 that was announced by the then finance minister in his Budget speech. The Budget provided for the `60,000 odd crore that were required to implement the announcement.
This is not something unusual. This is the standard template of government functioning that is followed across the country and even the better part of the world. However, all these traditions and conventions have been consigned to oblivion by the current dispensation.
Take the case of demonetisation that was announced on November 8, 2016, by the Prime Minister — a decision that in a span of couple of hours rendered 86 per cent of the legal tender redundant, plunged the nation into economic chaos, made every individual virtually penurious for his own money. Even two and a half years later it is not known whether the Cabinet approved the decision ex-facto or gave only post-facto clearance? Whether there was any substantive consultations within the government on the three benchmarks enumerated by the Prime Minister in his grandiloquent pronouncement to the nation, namely that it would unearth black money, proscribe fake currency or contain the financing of terror outlets? It took the Reserve Bank of India many months after repeated prodding to reveal how much of the demonetised currency was deposited back in the banks.
Finally when the figures came in, they told a very amusing tale that 98.96 per cent of the scrapped currency was re-deposited in the banks by the people of India. Therein also, the RBI, rather than being up-front about the single most painful economic measure, chose to bury the data in its annual report. Even then the bank chose to caveat its response in the following verbology “subject to future corrections based on verification process when completed”, the estimated value of the banned notes it “received” was `15.28 lakh crore. This compared with the `15.44 lakh crore of the banned notes that were in circulation as of November 8.
The government is now trying to spread a canard that the Opposition is envious and therefore critical about the health insurance initiative. Nothing could be further from the truth. The only thing that the Opposition wants is that this “jumlaisation” of governance must cease forthwith. If you announce a measure, fund it properly. Walk the talk. The writer is a lawyer and a former Union minister. The views expressed are personal. Twitter handle @manishtewari
If the proposed health insurance plan was to be implemented in a federal-state paradigm, then were the states consulted before the announcement? Were they taken on board?