Andhra Pradesh government launched the Dr. YSR Aarogyasri scheme
Context : Andhra Pradesh state government launched the Dr. YSR Aarogyasri scheme. It was inaugurated by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at Eluru in West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh. This is the second welfare scheme that the government has launched in 2020.
Aim :
The scheme aims to provide free medical treatment to the poor. The services will be extended to each district from April 2020 onwards.
Dr. YSR Aarogyasri scheme :
- YSR Aarogyasri scheme will benefit people having an annual income of up to Rs.5 lakh and the eligible people will be given Aarogyasri cards.
- The scheme benefits the people whose treatment amount crosses Rs.1,000.
- Under the scheme, the government will distribute 1.42 crores cards with QR codes across the state.
- Free treatment will be given to cancer patients from February 2020 onwards.
- The scheme provides one Asha worker for every 350 houses. 150 super-specialty hospitals located in Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Chennai will also be included in the Aarogyasri network.
- The patients will be provided financial aid of Rs.225 per day, to a maximum of Rs.5000 per month, during the recovery or resting period after the operation.
- Around 510 medicines will be made available in government hospitals.
- Medicines with the World Health Organization (WHO) standards will be distributed from April 2020.
- The state government has also announced that it is to provide pensions ranging from Rs.3,000 to Rs.10,000 to patients depending upon their disease
- The salaries of the sanitation employees in hospitals will be increased from Rs.8,000 to Rs.16,000.
- Nearly 1056 ambulances will be made available by March and vacant posts of doctors and nurses will be filled by the end of May.
State can regulate minority institutions
Context : In an important judgement which could have bearing on running of all government-aided minority educational institutions across the country, the Supreme Court has held that such institutions cannot claim to have absolute right in deciding appointment of teachers and it can be regulated by a government to ensure excellence in imparting education.
What’s the issue :
These observations were made by the court while upholding constitutional validity of West Bengal Madrassas Service Commission Act, 2008, under which the selection and appointment of teachers in madrassas are to be decided by a commission.
It set aside Calcutta high court verdict declaring various provision of the law unconstitutional for being violative of Article 30.
Article 30 :
It says all minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
Observations made by the Supreme Court:
Good quality of education cannot be compromised in national interest irrespective of whether it is minority or majority educational institutions.
The essence of Article 30(1) is to ensure equal treatment between the majority and the minority institutions and that rules and regulations would apply equally to the majority institutions as well as to the minority institutions.
How to strike a “balance” between the two objectives of excellence in education and the preservation of the minorities’ right?
The court explains how to strike a “balance” between the two objectives of excellence in education and the preservation of the minorities’ right to run their educational institutions.
For this, the court broadly divides education into two categories – secular education and education “directly aimed at or dealing with preservation and protection of the heritage, culture, script and special characteristics of a religious or a linguistic minority.”
- When it comes to the latter, the court advocated “maximum latitude” to be given to the management to appoint teachers.
- The court reasons that only “teachers who believe in the religious ideology or in the special characteristics of the concerned minority would alone be able to imbibe in the students admitted in such educational institutions, what the minorities would like to preserve, profess and propagate.”
- However, minority institutions where the curriculum was “purely secular”, the intent must be to impart education availing the best possible teachers.
Constitutional Provisions regarding Minority Educational Institutions:
Article 30(1) recognizes linguistic and religious minorities but not those based on race, ethnicity. It recognizes the right of religious and linguistic minorities to establish and administer educational institutions, in effect recognizing the role educational institutions play in preserving distinct culture. A majority community can also establish and administer educational institution but they will not enjoy special rights under Article 30(1)(a).
Special rights enjoyed by religious minority institutions are:
- Under Art 30(1)(a), MEI enjoy right to education as a Fundamental Right. In case the property is taken over by state, due compensation to be provided to establish institutions elsewhere
- Under Article 15(5), MEIs are not considered for reservation
- Under Right to Education Act, MEI not required to provide admission to children in the age group of 6-14 years upto 25% of enrolment reserved for economically backward section of society
- In St Stephens vs Delhi University case, 1992, SC ruled that MEIs can have 50% seats reserved for minorities
- In TMA Pai & others vs State of Karnataka & others 2002 case, SC ruled that MEIs can have separate admission process which is fair, transparent and merit based. They can also separate fee structure but should not charge capitation fee.
NPCI launched the Vajra Platform for a fast and secure platform
Context : The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched the Vajra Platform to make payments fast and secure. The platform is based on blockchain technology.
Aim:
The main objective of the Vajra Platform is to provide automated clearing and settlement of payments and drastically reduce the need for manual reconciliation.
Features:
- Vajra Platform uses distributed ledger technology (DLT)
- The platform uses a permissions model in order to ensure that only approved parties are a part of the network
- Payment companies can apply and register to be a part of the network
- After getting the approval, the companies can deploy the platform using an application programming interface (API) that will be provided by NPCI.
Benefits:
The benefits of the Vajra Platform :
♦ Near real-time clearing and settlement of transactions
♦ Minimal reconciliation of transactions
♦ Improved security and reduced operational and financial risks
♦ Legitimate audit trail as DLT is incorruptible
♦ Vajra Platform will be used for Aadhaar authentication by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)
Children Excluded from Assam NRC
Context : The Supreme Court has ordered that children excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam but whose parents/guardians/caregivers are part of the final list, should not be sent to detention camps or separated from their loved ones at any cost.
The Supreme Court’s order is in response to an application which stated that the unreasonable manner in which children have been excluded from the NRC final list even when their parents are included is in direct contravention with constitutional as well as the legal safeguards.
Assam NRC :
- The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is the register containing names of Indian Citizens. The only time that an NRC was prepared was in 1951.
- After the conduct of the Census of 1951, the NRC was prepared by recording particulars of all the persons enumerated during that Census.
- The NRC in Assam is basically a list of Indian citizens living in the state. The citizens’ register sets out to identify foreign nationals in the state.
- The process to update the register began following a Supreme Court order in 2013, with the state’s nearly 33 million people having to prove that they were Indian nationals prior to 24th March, 1971.
- The updated final NRC was released on 31st August, 2019 with over 1.9 million applicants failing to make it to the list.
Related Constitutional Provisions :
- Article 15 (1) provides that the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. However, under Article 15 (3) of the Constitution, the State is allowed to make any special provision for women and children.
- Article 39(e): The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing that the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter occupations unsuited to their age or strength.
- Article 39 (f): The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment.
- Article 45: The state shall endeavour to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years.
- Article 47 directs the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health.
The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 :
- The JJ Act, 2015 provides for strengthened provisions for both children in need of care and protection and children in conflict with the law.
- The State Government shall constitute for every district, one or more Child Welfare Committees for exercising the powers and discharge the duties conferred on such Committees in relation to children in need of care and protection under this Act.