'PM Swasthya Suraksha Nidhi' a single non-lapsable reserve fund

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked BJP MPs to actively participate in the year long celebrations of 75th Independence Day. Modi was addressing BJP parliamentary party meeting  in Parliament House complex on Wednesday.Party MPs lauded the leadership of Prime Minister Modi in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic and bringing the economy back on track. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi who briefed the media  after the meeting, said, BJP President, JP Nadda said the party’s victory in the recent  elections shows people's faith in the leadership of  Modi.

-The Union Cabinet has approved the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Nidhi (PMSSN) as a single non-lapsable reserve fund for share of Health from the proceeds of Health and Education Cess levied under Finance Act, 2007. The major benefit of PMSSN will be enhanced access to universal and  affordable health care through availability of earmarked resources, while ensuring that the amount does not lapse at the end of financial year. The accruals into the PMSSN will be utilized for the flagship schemes of the Ministry of Health and  Family Welfare namely- Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, Ayushman Bharat - Health and Wellness Centres, National Health Mission and Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana. Besides, it also includes, emergency and disaster preparedness and responses during health emergencies and any future programme and scheme that targets to achieve progress towards Sustainable Development Goals and the targets set out in the National Health Policy 2017. The administration and maintenance of the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Nidhi is entrusted to the Health Ministry and in any financial year, the expenditure on such schemes would be initially incurred from the PMSSN and thereafter from Gross Budgetary Support.
 -The Centre has released Revenue Deficit Grant of over Rs. 6,194 crore to 14 States on Wednesday. With the release of this installment, a total amount of Rs. 74,340 crore has been released to eligible States as Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant in the current financial year. According to the Ministry of Finance, with this, 100 percent of the amount recommended by the Finance Commission for this Grant in this year has been released.The eligibility of States to receive this grant and the quantum of grant was decided by the Commission based on the gap between assessment of revenue and expenditure of the State after taking into account the assessed devolution for the financial year 2020-21.The States which have been recommended Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant by the Fifteenth Finance Commission are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

-Wi-Fi based Internet Facility has been provided at 5957 railway stations in the country till now. RailTel has submitted a proposal to Department of Telecommunications for leveraging its network in rural India and its collaborative broadband services model to provide PM Wani enabled community Wi-Fi services. In a written reply in Lok Sabha Wednesday, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said, RailTel has high capacity backbone like 10 Giga bits per second at Railway stations where OFC has been commissioned. He said, Implementation time will be based on acceptance of proposal & its terms & conditions by Department of Telecommunications.

-In Jharkhand, seven matches were played on the inaugural day of the 11th Hockey India Sub-Junior Nationals Women’s Championship on Wednesday at Simdega district in Jharkhand. Delhi team defeated West Bengal 6-0 in the first match. Karnataka beat Jammu Kashmir 9-0 while Haryana defeated Rajasthan team by a big margin of 30-0. Jharkhand team defeated Gujarat by 17-0 while Odisha beat Chhattisgarh 6-1. Andhra Pradesh team got a walkover due to the absence of Telangana team and the Tamil Nadu team also got a walkover as the Mizoram team could not arrive.Earlier, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren inaugurated the eight-day long Women’s Championship by dragging a flick with the hockey-stick.On the occasion he said that Simdega has been a nursery of many international and national hockey players for the country and hosting a national level championship in the district is a proud moment for the state and its people.Simdega will also host the Hockey India Junior Nationals Championship in the month of April this year.