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PM CARES FOR CHILDREN SCHEME

UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS | PM’S ADDRESS TO RELEASE BENEFITS UNDER PM CARES FOR CHILDREN SCHEME | 3RD JUNE | BUSINESS STANDARD

/ June, 2022, UPSC Daily Current Affairs

SYLLABUS SECTION: GS II (GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND INTERVENTIONS)

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Recently, PM Modi released benefits under PM Cares for children scheme who lost their parents to Covid-19.

PM CARES FOR CHILDREN SCHEME:

PM CARES for Children Scheme was launch by the Prime Minister in May 2021 for children whose parents were pass-away in Covid.

OBJECTIVES:

It aims to support children who have lost both their parents or legal guardian or adoptive parents or surviving parent to the COVID-19 pandemic during the period starting from 11th March 2020.

The objective of the Scheme is to:

  • ensure comprehensive care and protection of children in a sustained manner,
  • enable their wellbeing through health insurance,
  • empower them through education and
  • equip them for self-sufficient existence with financial support upon reaching 23 years of age.
BENEFITS UNDER THE SCHEME:
  • PM Modi transferred scholarships to the school children and handed over a passbook of PM Cares for children, and a health card under Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
  • If someone needs an education loan for professional courses or higher education, then PM-CARES will help in that too.
  • 4000 would be given every month to these children which would help meet their daily needs.
  • Children were also being given Ayushman Health Card through ‘PM Cares for Children’, from this free facility of treatment up to ₹5 lakhs will also be available.
Ayushman Bharat Programme

The Ayushman Bharat programme was launch in 2018 to address health issues at all levels – primary, secondary, and tertiary. It has two components:

  • Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), earlier known as the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS)
  • Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs)

Ayushman Bharat is an integrated approach comprising health insurance and primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare. The HWCs are focus on improving access to cheap and quality healthcare services at the primary level. PM-JAY will cover the financial protection for availing of healthcare services at the secondary and tertiary levels.

Ayushman Bharat is the largest government-funded healthcare programme in the world with over 50 crore beneficiaries. It has been classify ‘Modicare’.

 

Need for Ayushman Bharat
  • The 71st round of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) revealed many grim numbers about the country’s healthcare system.
  • About 86% of rural households and 82% of urban households do not have access to healthcare insurance.
  • Over 17% of the country’s population spend a minimum of 1/10th of their household budgets on availing health services.
  • Unexpected and serious healthcare problems often lead families to debt.
  • Over 19% and over 24% of the urban and rural households respectively meet their healthcare financial needs through borrowings.
  • To address these grave concerns, the government, under the National Health Policy 2017, launched the Ayushman Bharat programme along with its two sub-missions, PMJAY and HWCs.
  • UPSC aspirants can also get the List of Government Schemes in India at the linked article, and read in detail about the benefits of the various programmes and campaigns launched by the Government.

Read more: UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS

Source: Business Standard