Current Affair 1:

Ayushman Bharat

 

Recently, Recently, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) tabled the performance audit report on the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY). All information below has been taken from CAG’s report.

Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) was launched on 23 September 2018. The Scheme aims to provide health cover of ₹ five lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to over 10.741 crore families from the poor and vulnerable section of the population, based on the deprivation and occupational criteria of the Socio-economic Caste Census (SECC), 2011.

The aim is to improve affordability, accessibility, and quality of care for the poor and vulnerable section of the population.

Subsuming RSBY in PMJAY

Keeping in view the shortcomings of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, Cabinet approved (March 2018) the launch of Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission now known as Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY).

Now,

National Health Authority:

Similarly, State Health Authority (SHA) is the nodal agency responsible for implementation of PMJAY in the States, headed by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

As of March 2021, out of 36 States/UTs, 32 States/UTs had adopted the PMJAY. Delhi and Odisha are yet to adopt the Scheme. West Bengal withdrew (January 2019) from PMJAY.

Financing of Scheme

Funding of PMJAY is shared between the Central and State Governments with the ratio of contribution between Centre and State at 60:40 in all States, except the North-Eastern States, two Himalayan States (Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand) and Jammu and Kashmir (a Union Territory with legislature), where the sharing ratio is 90:10. For Union Territories, fully by Central Government.

Current Affair 2:

What is the splinternet?

 

The splinternet involves the breaking off -- or splintering -- of the internet into several fragmented pieces. The division of the internet can be caused by the following:

1. religion
2. politics
3. government
4. technology
5. commerce
6. national interests

Each fragment is governed by different regulations, resulting in multiple parallel internets that are not connected to one another.

This concept was introduced in 2010 by Economist Boon-Hiong Chan who discussed the ‘Balkanisation of the Internet’ and said that splinternet is gaining much more visibility than expected.

The splinternet doesn’t allow users to access any webpage that they search through domain names, the content and information accessed by the users is controlled by the government. It creates a wall which separates the internet from other geographic regions, thereby dismantling cross-border dependencies.

The most common instances are where nations have blocked sites like Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter) on immoral grounds or where they have shut down the internet in the garb of maintaining law and order or for prohibiting hate speech. Governments to filter or block content resort to technical processes like blocking IP Addresses, hunting credit records or scanning data with specific words.

The global scenario

1. There are certain countries which are strong-headed and build up mechanisms to strengthen the splinternet. For instance, China owns the great firewall, an initiative taken under the ‘Golden Shield Project’ under which some of the social media platforms and search engines are blocked.
2. Additionally, people in China cannot use Google or Yahoo to search for content and they have no US-based social media pages like Facebook.
3. Similarly, Iran is very strict about the content and has a stringent censorship regime under which it has blocked unlimited sites inclusive of YouTube, Netflix, Facebook, Tumblr etc. on the ground of being immoral.
4. The most restrictive of all places when it comes to the internet is North Korea, where only top officials have easy access to the internet.

India’s position

Many instances can be quoted from the Indian jurisdiction that hints towards the adaptation of the concept of splinternet, for instance, the internet shut down in Kashmir and areas of conflict, banning the TikTok App along with many other Chinese apps on the pretext of protecting personal data of the citizens.

To conclude:

1. Technologies like the splinternet restricts the flow of information, which is the right of every global citizen.
2. It causes impediments to accessibility by businesses that cannot advertise or commercially benefit because of the firewalls created.

How will the privacy legislations work, if compliance strategies are distorted because of fortified cyber infrastructures? How will digital assets or digital transactions, using distributed ledger technologies cope with complex regulatory legal regimes? By allowing the prevalence of splinternet we are also giving concession to the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” statement that assures the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas via any media irrespective of the geographic boundaries.

It is enough to understand the concept. Move to next article.

Current Affair 3:

Biodiversity Management Committees

 

Read three important points from Act itself.

 

The BMC consists of a chairperson, and six persons nominated by local bodies, including 1/3rd women and 18% SC/ST.

The functions of BMCs are as under:

1. Prepare, maintain and validate People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) in consultation with the local people. The BMC is to maintain a Register giving information about the details of biological resources and traditional knowledge available within the jurisdiction of BMC.
2. Advice on any matter referred to it by the State Biodiversity Board or Authority for granting approval, to maintain data about the local vaids and practitioners using the biological resources.

Current Affair 4:

National Green Tribunal

 

Learn this body:

Composition:

The chairperson shall be appointed by the central government in consultation with the chief justice of India. Judicial member & expert member shall be appointed on the recommendations of select committee as provided by the central government.

Chairperson, judicial member & expert member shall hold office for a term of 5 years but shall not be eligible for re- appointment.

Removal and suspension of Chairperson, Judicial Member and Expert Member:

Jurisdiction:

 

 

 

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