UPPSC 2020 Mains Essays

Specific Instructions:

(i) The question paper is divided into three Section. Write three essays in Hindi or English of Urdu language selecting one topic from each Section.

(ii) Maximum words limit of each essay is 700 words.

(iii) Each essay carries 50 marks.

literary man is as much a product of his society as his art is product of his own reaction to life. Even the greatest of artists is sometimes a conscious, sometimes an unconscious exponent of his time-spirit. The time-spirit is the total outcome, the quintessential accretion of all the political, social, religious and scientific changes of a particular age. The historical aspect of literature therefore, minor or unimportant though it may be for aesthetic purpose, cannot be totally ignored. Thus literature reflects his zeitgeist or the Time-Spirit.

What happens in a society is reflected in literary works in one form or another. The literal meaning of literature is the art of written work in different forms, such as, poetry, plays, stories, prose, fiction, etc. It may also consist of texts based on information as well as imagination. A society is a group of people related to each other through their continuous and uninterrupted relations. It is also a group of likeminded people largely governed by their own norms and values. Human society, it is observed, is characterized by the patterns of relationship between individuals who share cultures, traditions, beliefs and values, etc. If one looks at the history of society, one will find that the nature of different societies has gone through changes from the Palaeolithic period to the present age of Information Technology. The people’s living style, faiths, beliefs, cultures, etc., have never remained uniformly consistent. With the passage of time, owing to changes taking place in environment and with emergence of new technologies, we observe that the societies have not remained stubborn with regards to their

norms and values, the reflections of which can be found in different forms of literature.

No writer can escape influence of his age. Every man, according to Goethe’s statement, is the citizen of his age as well as of his country. Thus literature always expresses the thoughts and sentiments of human mind which are closely connected with and conditioned by the age. The influence of the age on the human mind is due to the fact that the latter is constantly influenced by the spirit of the age and reacts to it vividly and vigorously. The reflection of the age depends on the quality of the mind in which it is reflected. If a work of literature is to be judged by the quality of this reflection, it is apparent that it depends on the quality and nature of the reflecting mind. Literature means something that is written for refreshing and inspiring the mind. It records the thoughts and feelings of great minds. It attracts in two ways through its matter and through its manner. The matter must be such that those who read it are interested in some way. The manner must be such as will be pleasing to the reader and adds to his fund of knowledge. We live in a society. There are relations and interrelation between men who live in the society. We like to hear about our fellow men who live in society, their thoughts and feelings, their likes and dislikes. Naturally, if we have the power of language to express the feelings, we are well on the way to creating literature. In other words, the subject matter of literature is society in some form or the other. The poet expresses his feeling and we who read his poetry are interested and feel at one with him and ourselves. After all, society is this bond of fellowship between man and man through communication that the poet or writer seeks. If literature expresses social sympathies, naturally it is bound to exercise some positive influence on our mind and attitude. Society reacts to literature in a living way. An inspiring poem creates general influence on society. It rouses our feelings and enthusiasm for welfare.

Literature is only one of the many channels in which the energy of an age discharges itself; in its political movements, religious thought, philosophical speculation, art, we have the same energy overflowing into other forms of expression.

In literature, we find stories designed to portray human life and action through some characters who, by their words, action and reaction, convey certain messages for the purpose of education, information and entertainment. It is impossible to find a work of literature that excludes the attitudes, morale and values of the society, since no writer has been brought up completely unexposed to the world around him. What writers of literature do is to transport the real-life events in their society into fiction and present it to the society as a mirror with which people can look at themselves and make amends where necessary. Thus, literature is not only a reflection of the society but also serves as a corrective mirror in which members of the society can look at themselves and find the need for positive change.

The Indian Caste System is historically one of the main dimensions where people in India are socially differentiated through class, religion, region, tribe, gender, and language. Although this or other forms of differentiation exist in all human societies, it becomes a problem when one or more of these dimensions overlap each other and become the sole basis of systematic ranking and unequal access to valued resources like wealth, income, power and prestige.

The Indian Caste System is considered a closed system of stratification, which means that a person’s social status is obligated to which caste they were born into. There are limits on interaction and behavior with people from another social status. Caste includes three elements: repulsion, hierarchy, and hereditary specialization.

Since India’s independence from Britain in 1947, there has been considerable relaxation of rules related to the caste system. There was more sharing between members of the middle and upper castes, but those in the lowest castes continued to eat separately from the rest.

Several processes like sanskritisation, westernization, modernization, dominant caste, industrialization, urbanization and democratic decentrialisation have made consequent changes in the caste system.

In recent decades, with the spread of secular education and growing urbanisation, the influence of caste has somewhat declined, especially in cities where different castes live side-by-side and inter-caste marriages are becoming more common.

Caste system has undergone many changes due to the above processes and it has adapted to the new socio-economic condition. In urban areas, today people do not adhere to caste norms. The only aspect where caste comes is that during marriage they still become endogamous. However, as mentioned earlier, some people have adopted to inter-caste marriage and inter-religious marriages.

Relationships between castes have become more relaxed today. There is more food sharing between castes and a lot more eating done at local restaurants where caste distinctions are less likely to be made. One of the biggest changes that took place in India was occupational pursuits among men (and women later on). Earlier, most men did not veer away from their caste-linked occupations, such as blacksmithing and pottery making. Many have now taken up newer

occupations that do not relate to their caste, such as government jobs, teaching, retail and services, and machine repair. Wealth and power in the village is now less associated with caste than before, and landownership has become more diversified. Also, the idea that purity and pollution is caused by the lower castes has diminished a good amount. It has, however, only somewhat diminished in the public, whereas behind closed doors and on ceremonial occasions, purification rituals related to caste status are still observed. Endogamy is still enforced among families, but not as strict as before. A women’s status is still significantly tied to the status of the male, but education and awareness of equalization for women has widely spread throughout India. In rural areas, movement out of caste specializing occupations and access to resources is still difficult and slow for the lower castes, but in urban areas, caste is now a less significant part of daily life. Although discrimination on the basis of caste has been outlawed in India, caste has become a means for competing for access to resources and power in modern India, such as educational opportunities, new occupations, and improvement in life chances. This trend is connected to India’s preferential policies and the implementation of these policies. Implementation has been very uneven in the midst of debates and controversies over the preferential policies, but they have still had a very significant impact on many sections among the lower castes and classes. There has been an increase in representation of SCs, STs, and OBCs in elected offices and they have acquired strong local support. They have also become an important element in electoral politics and have gone on to form strong political parties in various regions. People from these disadvantaged groups have largely made their way into government jobs as well as all levels of educational institutions. Unfortunately, however, only a relatively small proportion of the lower castes have benefited from these preferential policies. Even though there is an increasing acceptance of lower-caste individuals, there is also more overt hostility and violence expressed against the lower castes and classes in many parts of India. Hostility is also expressed by the many people who support the removal of reserved government jobs and in institutions for technical education, particularly on the part of many from the traditionally higher castes who are economically disadvantaged. Individual achievements, merit, as well as economic position are also still significantly affected by caste.

Although some caste-based prejudice and ranking still existed, wealth and power was now less associated with caste. Caste became a lot less significant part of daily lives of people who lived in urban areas compared to rural areas, but its significance still varies by social class and occupation. Among urban middleclass professionals, caste is not openly discussed and is pretty insignificant, except when it comes to marital arrangements. Even then, there are adjustments made with considerations towards education, occupation, and income, as well as religion and language. Although discrimination on the basis of caste has been outlawed in India, is still exists in the community today.

The heart of India’s democratic system witnesses regular elections with the core values of fair and free elections in this dynamic scenario, it is important to have a just and unbiased electoral process with greater citizen participation. Thus, in accordance to the responsibility bestowed upon by the Constitution of India, the Election Commission of India has always remained actively involved in finding out ways through which the purity and integrity of the election process is preserved.

The need for electoral reforms was increasingly felt towards the late 1960’s in India. Till then the electoral system had functioned quite satisfactorily except for few of aberrations in the form of some malpractices like rigging or violence which are rather small in number. There was one party rule at the Centre and in most of the States. But this scenario began to change after the Fourth General elections held in 1967. Regional parties and rule by coalition of parties began to emerge in the States. The emergence of alternative party governments in the State witnessed the accentuation of some of the negative traits and distortions in the political system which manifested themselves in a greater degree in electoral politics.

It is through elections that people in a democracy participate in public affairs and express their will. It is again through elections that power changes hands in a peaceful and orderly manner in a democracy and the authority of government gets clothed with legitimacy.

Elections thus not only sustain democracy but enliven it as well. Holding of free and fair election is, therefore, a sine qua non of democracy. India is both the largest and one of the most populous democracies in the world. This apart, in comparison to most of the developed democracies of the world, problems of illiteracy, poverty, etc. still continue in India as is the case with most of the developing countries. Its electorate is not only vast but also quite diverse reflecting the plurality of caste, religion, region, language, etc. of its social mosaic. Conducting periodic elections in the country by encouraging large-scale popular participation is a stupendous task.

Going by India’s record in this regard, periodic elections as a means of smooth transfer of power have been a regular and successful feature of India’s democracy in the past seventy years. Not only this, Indians have time and again reposed faith in elections as the most potent means of non-violent and peaceful protest

against all acts of omissions and commissions of Government. Elections have thus become integral to India’s democracy as elsewhere in other successful liberal democracies, the world over.

However, certain aberrations have come to the fore in the very working of the electoral system over the years. The needs to address such disturbing factors have generated a debate on electoral reforms in the country. The Election Commission which is under the Constitution is vested with the actual power of superintendence, direction and control of elections in the country, has, from time to time, come up with concrete proposals/suggestions based on objective difficulties encountered in the conduct of elections. Politicians, through the platform of parties and Parliament including its various committees constituted for the purpose, have given vent to their desire for reform. Governments have also undertaken certain redemptive measures based on the recommendations of various committees. The processes of reforms as well as the debate in this regard have almost been an on-going process.

It is an accepted fact that the electoral process in the country has developed certain shortcomings over the years which need to the corrected. But this should be done through extensive debate and discussion and in a gradual and continuous manner.

Successive Governments at the Centre have realized the importance of the issues relating to electoral reforms. Suggestions made either by the Election Commission or by the various committees on electoral reforms from time to time, have been regularly considered and also implemented While considering the proposals and suggestions of reforms of the electoral process, it has also been underlined that consensus of political parties in the country is necessary.

Government recognized that electoral reforms is a continuous process and it shall be the endeavour of all the stakeholders including Government, Election Commission of India, Law commission, etc. to implement such proposals on electoral reforms on which consensus emerges, from time to time.

olluti ollution of water usually occurs when substances discharged in it negatively modify the water. This discharge of pollutants can be direct as well as indirect. Water pollution is an appalling problem, powerful enough to lead the world on

a path of destruction. Water is a natural solvent, enabling most pollutants to dissolve in it easily and contaminate it.

The effect of water pollution is directly suffered by the organisms and vegetation that survive in water, including amphibians. On a human level, several people die each day due to the consumption of polluted and infected water.

As India grows and urbanizes, its water bodies are getting toxic. It’s estimated that around 70% of surface water in India is unfit for consumption. Every day, almost 40 million litres of wastewater enters rivers and other water bodies with only a tiny fraction adequately treated. A recent World Bank report suggests that such a release of pollution upstream lowers economic growth in downstream areas, reducing GDP growth in these regions by up to a third. To make it worse, in middle-income countries like India where water pollution is a bigger problem, the impact increases to a loss of almost half of GDP growth. Another study estimates that being downstream of polluted stretches in India is associated with a 9% reduction in agricultural revenues and a 16% drop in downstream agricultural yields.

Rapidly increasing population, rising standards of living and exponential growth of industrialisation and urbanisation have exposed water resources, in general, and rivers, in particular, to various forms of degradation. The mighty Ganga is no exception. The deterioration in the water quality impacts the people immediately. Ganga, in some stretches, particularly during lean seasons has become unfit even for bathing. The threat of global climate change, the effect of glacial melt on Ganga flow and the impacts of infrastructural projects in the upper reaches of the river, raise issues that need a comprehensive response.

Ganga drains a basin of extraordinary variation in altitude, climate, land use, flora & fauna, social and cultural life.Ganga has been a cradle of human civilization since time immemorial. Millions depend on this great river for physical and spiritual sustenance. People have immense faith in the powers of healing and regeneration of the Ganga. It is arguably the most sacred river in the world and is deeply revered by the people of this country. The River plays a vital role in religious ceremonies and rituals.

Rainfall, subsurface flows and snow melt from glaciers are the main sources of water in river Ganga. Surface water resources of Ganga have been assessed at 525 billion cubic meter (BCM). Out of its 17 main tributaries Yamuna, Sone, Ghagra and Kosi contribute over half of the annual water yield of the Ganga. These tributaries meet the Ganga at Allahabad and further downstream. The river has a problem of low flows between the Haridwar – Allahabad stretch. December to May are the months of lean flow in the Ganga.

On an average, each square km of the Ganga basin receives a million cubic meter (MCM) of water as rainfall. 30% of this is lost as evaporation, 20% seeps to

the subsurface and the remaining 50% is available as surface runoff. The deep channel of the river bounded by high banks facilitates the passage of ground water as base flow. Annual flooding is the characteristic of all rivers in the Ganga basin. The Ganga rises during the monsoon but the high banks restrict the flood water from spreading. The flood plain is usually 0.5 to 2 km wide. This active flood plain is flooded every year. In addition to this the existing structures on the Ganga Basin also affect its discharge.

In the Ganga basin approximately 12,000 million litres per day (mld) sewage is generated, for which presently there is a treatment capacity of only around 4,000 mld. Approximately 3000 mld of sewage is discharged into the main stem of the river Ganga from the Class I & II towns located along the banks, against which treatment capacity of about 1000 mld has been created till date. The contribution of industrial pollution, volume-wise, is about 20 per cent but due to its toxic and non- biodegradable nature, this has much greater significance. The industrial pockets in the catchments of Ramganga and Kali rivers and in Kanpur city are significant sources of industrial pollution. The major contributors are tanneries in Kanpur, distilleries, paper mills and sugar mills in the Kosi, Ramganga and Kali river catchments.

residing over the 5th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog recently, it was a difficult target but achievable. It will need India to grow annually at 12% over the next 5 years. The PM clearly wants to galvanise the nation and is setting the narrative for the new government, which challenges the current signals of economic slowdown.

Achieving such an aspirational growth target calls for pulling all the economic growth levers-investment, consumption, exports, and across all the three sectors of agriculture, manufacturing and services. There is a fair amount of consensus that we have to address our inefficient factor markets as the topmost priority for India to achieve its full potential, especially the constraints imposed by our stressed financial and power markets. Without credit flow to support private investment and cheaper, abundant and good quality electricity to power growth, this GDP target will remain an aspiration.

Going forward what steps can Government take to get closer to its target, Niti Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant recently outlined these steps.

Over the last four years, the government has scrapped over 1,300 antiquated law! It has done away with a lot of archaic procedures, rules and regulations.

Through a series of reforms, India has jumped up 65 positions in The World Bank Ease of Doing Business. No other large country has been able to do this. India has jumped up 65 positions, but our challenge is that in the next two years India must reach the top 50 and in the next five years reach the top 25.

Cities account for less than 5% of the earth land mass, but they account for over 75% of the global GDP! So, Urbanization in cities is important as they are centres of economic growth. While the process of urbanization has ended across America and Europe, and matured in China, it has just begun in India. In the next 5 decades, India should see more Urbanization than what we’ve done in the last 500 years. While there will be many challenges, India needs more Urbanization to grow rapidly.

India exists in a globalized and interdependent world. Like in Japan, Korea and China, Globalization has helped large sections of population to be lifted above the poverty line. India’s share in global export is less than 2%. So, India must learn the art of size and scale, of manufacturing to size of scale and to penetrating.

India cannot grow at high rates over a 3-decade period without gender parity. In India, only 26% of the women work; the worldwide average is 48%. If such a major chunk of the population is not working and we consciously don’t put women into positions of power, it will be very difficult for India to grow.

It’s not possible to grow over long periods of time without some very major structural reforms in the agriculture sector because that’s where close to 60% of India lives. You can’t keep growing on subsidies, you can’t keep going on just giving assistance to farmers without ensuring better markets, without putting technology, without contract farming and so on. Agriculture sector reforms are critical.

The challenge for India is really to grow at high rates over a 3-decade period. It’s not just about a $5 trillion economy till 2024 or a $10 trillion economy by 2030. The challenge for India is to grow at 8% to 9% per annum, year after year, for

three decades or more. Only then can we lift a very, very young population above the poverty line. India’s average age is 29, and rarely has a country not created wealth when it has such light dependency burdens. Formulating the strategies for 12% growth over the next five years becomes more complex because it comes at a time when we are seeing radical shifts taking place in the global economic and value creation paradigm.

The ambitious target of $5 trillion GDP was set prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The onslaught of COVID-19, followed by the nationwide lockdown in the first quarter of 2020, has made India’s $5 trillion GDP target surreal. Covid-19 has emerged as the biggest impediment to India’s ambition for becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2024.

Agriculture plays a pivotal role in Indian society. It’s forward linkage effects not only contribute to overall growth of the economy but can also reduce poverty and hunger by providing livelihood and food security. Although its share in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is about 18.2 per cent, agriculture and allied activities remain the major source of livelihood for about two-third of the population. If crops fail, it forces people to migrate and pushes them into the clutches of moneylenders. They are forced to sell their livestock ~ the only means of survival. The spiral of destitution sets in. Impoverished farmers, struggling with debts and failed crops, kill themselves. Agriculture is indeed the most inclusive growth sector. Mahatma Gandhi believed that India lives in villages and agriculture is the soul of the economy. He had very poignantly said in 1946, ‘To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves’.

Indian agriculture has come a long way since Independence, with chronic food scarcity giving way to self-sufficiency in grain despite a two-and-a-half fold increase in population. The Green Revolution was launched to achieve sufficiency in foodgrain. From 1967 to 1978, three major changes were made to the traditional agricultural practices. More land was brought under irrigation, double-cropping was introduced, and most importantly, new, high-yielding varieties of seeds were used along with fertilisers. Moreover, these changes were supplemented by institutional support to the farmers in terms of marketing their produce. Just before India’s Green and White Revolutions, the country’s wheat and milk production stood at about onethird of American’s output. By 2013-14, wheat and milk output were respectively 60 and 50 per cent higher than America’s.

The Green Revolution transformed the image of India from being a ‘begging bowl’ to ‘bread basket’. However, to rectify flaws and loopholes of the Green

Revolution we need to make it evergreen. Though India is now self-sufficient in many aspects of food production, it still relies on imports for crops such as pulses and oilseeds, where production has not kept pace with demand.

In the words of KR Narayanan, former President of India, ‘it can be converted into an evergreen revolution only if there is a paradigm shift in our research and development strategy, leading to a change from a purely commodity-centred approach to one based on an integrated natural resources management strategy’.

Evergreen revolution refers to productivity improvement in perpetuity without ecological and social harm. The evergreen revolution involves the integration of ecological principles in technology development and dissemination.

Dr.M.S.Swaminathan coined the term “Evergreen Revolution” to highlight the pathway of increasing production and productivity in a manner such that short and long term goals of food production are not mutually antagonistic. The logic is to produce more from less, less land, less pesticide, less water and it must be an evergreen revolution to get sustainable agriculture.

Introducing Indian farmers to innovative information and communication technologies (ICT) can enhance farm productivity. ICT initiatives can tackle key challenges in the agricultural value-chain through networking on weather alerts, the sowing period, the prices of produce. e-kranti, one of the pillars of Digital India campaign focuses on technology for farmers with real-time price information, online ordering of inputs, and payment with mobile banking.

According to the ICAR in the Dry Areas, drylands produce half the country’s cereals, 77 per cent of its oilseeds and 85 per cent of its pulses. Implementation of new and efficient irrigation methods, better watershed management and maintenance of vegetation cover in catchment areas and development of droughttolerant crop varieties is required to optimise water utilisation. More steps to promote ‘lab to land’ agriculture to increase farm productivity through developing good forward and backward linkages is the need of the hour.

With increase in population, there is dire need to increase the food grain production at a rapid pace. The challenges lie in producing more and more in less and less resources. Only increased productivity which is ecologically sustainable can ensure higher production of food grains. Food security involves increase in food grain production and distribution which is accessible and affordable. Stagnation of food grain production is the biggest concern of recent time. Evergreen revolution is the need of the hour.

In a more recent development, NITI Aayog unveiled a three-year roadmap (2017-20) intended to take farm growth to new heights. The roadmap for the next three years lists initiatives for the growth of farm sector and for ensuring that farmers’ income doubles by 2022.

The new initiatives include use of cutting-edge technology to increase farm productivity, promotion of climate-resilient indigenous breeds of cows and

buffaloes, launch of a nationwide programme to harvest the advantages of space technology in agriculture and allied sectors, promotion of deep sea fishing setting up of seed production and processing units at “panchayat’ level, increase of cropping intensity by 1 million hectares per year through the utilization of rice fallow areas for pulses and oil-seeds, and consolidation of online trading and inter-market transactions, among others.

India is trying to manage the fallout from the first major border skirmish, it would do well to assess its broader political and economic impact on the regional situation. Both China and India, with their growing ambitions are bumping up against each other not only along their 2,100-mile border, but also have been competing with each other for power on many fronts across South increasingly Asia. Over the years China has emerged both as an economic and a military powerhouse. It has a trade surplus with most of the countries in Asia including India.

There is a long and complex history of border tension between China and India and the problems in the region. These problems, dating back to the war in 1962, have deepened since the Doklam border crisis in 2017. Both countries consider the construction activities on the un-demarcated boundary line as illegal. India is building over 60 strategic roads along the LAC, expected to complete in 2022. China is also undertaking similar activities on its side.

China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) and Maritime Silk Road (MSR), though promoted as economic initiatives have strategic undertone. On the maritime front, China is extending its influence across the Indo-Pacific region. China’s deepening relation with South Asian countries, poses significant challenge to India’s position in the region. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also provides China an opportunity to expand its India’s neighbourhood as for instance in the case of CPEC which has brought the Chinese presence close to Indian border, whether in the Pakistan Administered Kashmir or in the Sir Creek area. Chinese naval bases in Gwadar and Djibouti, in the Indian Ocean and the appearance of Chinese submarines in the Bay of Bengal and Sri Lanka are seen as Chinese intentions to build a network of military and commercial facilities to encircle India.

It’s more than an accident of geography that India shares her borders with all other South Asian nations. No other South Asian countries, except Afghanistan and Pakistan, share a border with any other South Asian nation.

This is our asset and the value of this asset is determined by our neighbours and our investment in the relationship with them.

Soon after being elected as India’s Prime Minister in 2014, Narendra Modi had invited his counterparts from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka- members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to his inauguration. It was a grand gesture of public diplomacy, as no previous prime minister had done so. Modi used the occasion to announce his “neighbourhood first” initiative, a new focus on prioritizing relations with SAARC member states. Modi’s initial moves had indicated his commitment to this new policy.

At the start of his first term, Modi had devoted a considerable amount of time, attention, and energy to regional foreign-policy issues. In June 2014, for his first foreign visit as prime minister he had gone to Bhutan. He visited Nepal twice in 2014 and, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2015. However, notwithstanding this very promising start for regional relations, New Delhi’s relations with its neighbours has worsened across the board.

South Asia remains a very poorly integrated region in economic terms. In economic terms, intraregional trade is less than 2% of GDP, compared to over 20% for East Asia. Regional institutions such as BIMSTEC and SAARC, could be vehicles for Indian influence in setting regional standards for trade, investment, and other forms of cooperation. Unfortunately, these have failed to be effective. In complete disregard of its own earlier promises and in a manner that could hurt India’s national interest in the longer run, Modi’s government has also been reducing the already limited amount of aid and loans to the neighbouring states. In 2017, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs had noted that, “There has been a sizeable reduction in aid and loans to countries in our immediate neighbourhood such as Maldives, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Committee contend that the quantum of aid to a country under this head is viewed as a reflection of India’s diplomatic engagements with its immediate and extended neighbourhood.” China has very deep pockets, and has used state-backed financing, marketed in recent years as the Belt and Road Initiative, to offer the types of large-scale infrastructure projects that these countries are crying out for, and that India simply does not have the resources to match.

he woes to an as from the extent of contraction in Q1 F2021. However, the current business situation is constantly evolving. The latest and high-frequency data suggests that the economy is gradually recovering after the unlock. Supply-side activities are resuming, with every phase of the economic unlock being designed to limit economic disruptions. The initial pent-up demand has also aided in the economic rebound as seen in the months following the unlock. Many factors would have to be considered to determine if this rapid rebound is sustainable going forward,

COVID-19 has taken the world by storm. The rapid spread and increase in the number of cases has led the world to look at alternate ways of living and operating both professionally and personally. While the pharma industry is working relentlessly towards developing a vaccine, a definite answer might not be in the offing in the near future. The worldwide spread of the virus has raised numerous questions in the past couple of months, with the biggest being ‘Are we prepared?’

Every crisis is an opportunity to think and innovate. Policymakers can use this opportunity to increase capital spending and enhance productivity. They can also look at building and monetising assets to generate revenue. One way to increase capital spending is boosting India’s physical and social infrastructure to compete with global peers, and spending on healthcare. This step will generate employment for low-skilled employees, improve private-sector performance, and increase activity amongst small and medium-sized enterprises. As a result, the demand in the economy will go up.

COVID-19 has made every country realize the need for a robust and agile healthcare system that can adapt to the changing situations in a time sensitive manner. The healthcare system needs to focus heavily on quality research and development which will form the building block for a new innovative healthcare system.

In this context India could play a major role. India is the largest provider of generic drugs and also supplies over 50 percent of global demand for various vaccines. However, when it comes to innovation in the pharmaceutical sector, India still has a long journey to take. The lack of innovation and development becomes another bottleneck, when it comes to earning value from the volume (India ranks 3rd worldwide for production by volume, and a distant 10th in terms of value as the patents of the drugs lies elsewhere).

During this outbreak, we have witnessed that the pace of containment is equally important to effective medical help. We have to be farsighted while innovating our healthcare system. Honorable Prime Minister’s urge to be self-reliant and the Make in India initiative brings forward plethora of opportunities for both the government and the pharma industry. To create a robust machinery, it is critical of have a Public Private Partnership that focuses on putting patients first.

A key learning from COVID-19 outbreak has been the need for widespread awareness about diseases, so people are acquainted with the symptoms and also how to safeguard themselves from falling prey to such viruses. To a large extent, the lockdown led with awareness and education has played a key role in containing the virus spread in India. The pharma industry thrives on patients and thus, diseases and therapy area awareness and education should become a priority for the overall healthcare ecosystem.

During this time, we have also noticed that there have been constant conversations around developing infrastructure, increasing the capacity of the healthcare professionals, investing in quality research and development. The requirement is to upgrade our healthcare facilities manifolds to address the challenges of immediate medical attention for those in need.

Developing healthcare professionals, frontline care givers and medical support staff will also aid the healthcare system. There is a need to increase the number of seats in medical colleges and create training programs for caregivers and support staff. This will ease the human shortage in the system manifolds.

Over the months, the pace of innovation not only in business models, but also in drug development has gathered momentum. In last few weeks, India gave hope to the world of not just containing Covid-19, but working on the vaccine sooner than later. The share of manpower, intellect and bandwidth for research and development, all together make India one of the most promising contenders to develop drugs, equipment and working models to cap the bridges in the entire healthcare ecosystem.

Covid-19 presented a phenomenal opportunity for us to live life at a healthy pace with increased focus on hygiene and immunity. This virus has taught us lessons to remember for future. In the times to come, these learnings will become founding stones for drafting guidelines to empower the healthcare system.

Ayushman Bharat is National Health Protection Scheme, which will cover over A crore poor (approximately 50 crore benefician providing coverage upto 5 lakh rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization. Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission will subsume the on-going centrally sponsored schemes – Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and the Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS).

The programme is part of the Indian government’s National Health Policy. It was launched in September 2018 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. That ministry later established the National Health Authority as an organization to administer the program. It is a centrally sponsored scheme and is jointly funded by both the federal government and the states. By offering services to 50 crore (500 million) people it is the world’s largest government sponsored healthcare program. The program is a poverty alleviation programme as its users are people with low income in India.

> Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission will have a defined benefit cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year.

> Benefits of the scheme are portable across the country and a beneficiary covered under the scheme will be allowed to take cashless benefits from any public/private empanelled hospitals across the country.

> Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission will be an entitlement based scheme with entitlement decided on the basis of deprivation criteria in the SECC database.

> The beneficiaries can avail benefits in both public and empanelled private facilities.

> To control costs, the payments for treatment will be done on package rate (to be defined by the Government in advance) basis.

> One of the core principles of Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission is to co-operative federalism and flexibility to states.

> For giving policy directions and fostering coordination between Centre and States, it is proposed to set up Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission Council (AB-NHPMC) at apex level Chaired by Union Health and Family Welfare Minister.

> States would need to have State Health Agency (SHA) to implement the scheme.

> To ensure that the funds reach SHA on time, the transfer of funds from Central Government through Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission to State Health Agencies may be done through an escrow accOSSE directly.

> In partnership with NITI Aayog, a robust, modular, scalable and interoperable IT platform will be made operational which will entail a paperless, cashless transaction.

At the national level to manage, an Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission Agency (AB-NHPMA) would be put in place. States/ UTs would be advised to implement the scheme by a dedicated entity called State Health Agency (SHA). They can either use an existing Trust/ Society/ Not for Profit Company/ State Nodal Agency (SNA) or set up a new entity to implement the scheme.

States/ UTS can decide to implement the scheme through an insurance company or directly through the Trust/ Society or use an integrated model.

> Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission will have major impact on reduction of Out of Pocket (OOP) expenditure on ground of

> Increased benefit cover to nearly 40% of the population, (the poorest & the vulnerable)

> Covering almost all secondary and many tertiary hospitalizations. (except a negative list)

> Coverage of 5 lakh for each family, (no restriction of family size)

> This will lead to increased access to quality health and medication. In addition, the unmet needs of the population which remained hidden due to lack of financial resources will be catered to. This will lead to timely treatments, improvements in health outcomes, patient satisfaction, improvement

productivity and efficiency, job creation thus leading to improvement in quality of life.

The expenditure incurred in premium payment will be shared between Central and State Governments in specified ratio as per Ministry of Finance guidelines in vogue. The total expenditure will depend on actual market determined premium paid in States/UTs where Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission will be implemented through insurance companies. In States/ UTs where the scheme will be implemented in Trust/ Society mode, the central share of funds will be provided based on actual expenditure or premium ceiling (whichever is lower) in the pre-determined ratio.

Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission will target about 10.74 crore poor, deprived rural families and identified occupational category of urban workers’ families as per the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data covering both rural and urban. The scheme is designed to be dynamic and aspirational and it would take into account any future changes in the exclusion/ inclusion/ deprivation/ occupational criteria in the SECC data.

When Ayushman Bharat Yojana began there were questions of how to reconcile its plans with other existing health development recommendations, such as from NITI Aayog. A major challenge of implementing a national health care scheme would be starting with infrastructure in need of evelopment to be part of a modern national system. While Ayushman Bharat Yojana seeks to provide excellent healthcare, India still has some basic healthcare challenges including relatively few doctors, more cases of infectious disease, and a national budget with a comparatively low central government investment in health care.

• Follow on Facebook page – Click Here
• Google News join in – Click Here