Bihar Affairs
Experts say radical policy rejig only way to robust health infrastructure in Bihar
There was a time when people from neighbouring Nepal and Bhutan used to come to thePatna Medical CollegeandHospital(PMCH) for treatment, but now even people from humble backgrounds think twice before getting their loved ones admitted despite the improvement in the over the years.
Though the government hospitals, which form barely 30% of the Health facilities in the state, are at the forefront of the fight against the Covid-19 virus yet the pandemic has exposedBihar’s creaky healthcare infrastructure.
In a state where the rural Population has an estimated Rs7000-8000 per capita income, even the poor have to spend around Rs2,000 on health while <a href="https://exam.pscnotes.com/Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture contributes around 18% to the GDP.”
The health expenditure in Bihar increased from 4.35% of the total expenditure in 2016-17 to 6.08% in 2021-22 while its share in GSDP increased from 1.3% to 1.75% during the same period.
In general, per capita, health expenditure in Bihar is Rs 1,078 crore while total expenditure on Health sector has gone up to Rs13,265 crore in 2021-22 against Rs 5,493 in 2016-17.
National and International Affairs
Nine states, UTs yet to adopt gender budgeting
Even though the government adoptedgender budgetingin 2005-06 as a strategy to advance gender mainstreaming, nine states andUnion Territories Goa, , Haryana, Chandigarh, Meghalaya, Ladakh, Mizoram, Puducherry and Sikkim are yet to adopt it. So far, 27 states UTs and 37 central ministries and departments have adopted <a href="https://exam.pscnotes.com/gender-BUDGETING“>Gender Budgeting.
The Gender Budget Statement (GBS) is a reporting mechanism to assess budgets which are being allocated for Women and girls by different ministries and departments. Data shared by women and child development minister Smriti Irani in a written response to a question in Lok Sabha showed that for 2021-22, Rs 1,53,326 crore has been allocated for women and girls by 43 ministries, departments and UTs.
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has approved a grant of Rs 200,000 for V Tejaswini Bai of Karnataka, who won the Arjuna Award in 2011 and was a member of the womens Kabaddi team, that won gold medal games at the Asian Olympic Games in 2014 and 2014 respectively. The Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay National Welfare Fund for Sportspersons (PDUNWFS) has approved financial assistance.
States look to meet Har Ghar Jal target ahead of national goal
As the Centres flagship programme to provide tap water connections to all rural households in the country has entered its third year of implementation, states and Union Territories (UTs) have started rolling out their annual planning exercise with objective to meet their respective targets ahead of the national goal of 2024.
Funds will be released by the Jal Shakti ministry to the states/UTs as per their approved plans under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) that aims to provide tap connections to all rural households in the country by 2024.
In addition to Rs 50,000 crore budgetary allocation for the JJM, there is also assured fund of Rs 26,940 crore available under the 15th grant for water and sanitation.