Rafale deal
France (over Rafale deal). How he came to know about that?
“Though I do not have any proof of this jugalbandi, but this creates suspicion in mind… There is definitely something ... a statement comes (from Hollande), then it is contradicted. But he (Gandhi) predicted this to happen 20 days in advance,” he said.
Jaitley added that there is no question of scrapping the Rafale jet fighter deal as it is meant to meet the needs of the country’s defence forces.
“Koi prashna nahi uthta. Ye fauz ki avashaktya hai. Ye desh mei ana chahiye, aur ye ayega. (no question of scrapping the deal. These (jet fighters) are needed by the defence forces. They should come and they will come),” he said when asked whether the government could cancel the deal in view of the forthcoming general elections in 2019.
Earlier in a Facebook post titled ‘A Questionable Statement Which Circumstances & Facts Demolish’, Jaitley wrote: “The former French President’s first statement rhymes with Rahul hand chief minister, Raghubar Das said, “The state had three medical colleges in 67 years. But in three-and-a-half years, work for five more has started.”
However, with 31 states and Union territories already being on board, and formally signing the mandatory memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the central government, the implementation is being done in a phased manner.
According to the National Health Agency (NHA), which is the central implementing agency for the scheme, 31 have joined so far, and two more (Punjab and Kerala) are in the process of signing the MoU.
The three states that have still been reluctant about joining the scheme are Odisha, Delhi and Telangana because they want to implement their own state healthcare programmes instead of the Central government scheme. The Centre and the NHA, however, maintain that it is just a matter of time before they also join.
The beneficiaries of the scheme have been selected on the basis of the socio-economic caste census-2011 (SECS-2011) data, and the government has decided to also extend the scheme to those families that were availing of the government’s earlier Rashtrya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY).
An estimated ₹12,000 crore will be spent under the Ayushman Bharat mission, with 60% being borne by the Centre and 40% by the states. Another component of the Ayushman Bharat scheme is launching 15 million health and wellness centres across the country. Modi launched 10 such wellness centres in the state of Jharkhand during the launch.
“Our aim is to screen people older than 30 for non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and cancers of oral cavity, breast and cervix at the primary level. It will be door-todoor screening and will also include screening for TB and Leprosy,” said Union health minister JP Nadda, who has described the scheme as a big step towards universal health cover.
Experts, however, see it as a rebranding of the earlier government health insurance schemes.
“The insurance covers only hospitalisation and related expenses. It doesn’t cover out patient care. Studies show only 4.4% people in India need hospitalisation,” said Dr Sakthivel Sel-