Digital Health Mission welcome

Prime Minister's use the vantage point of the Independence Day rostrum in the Red Fort to look at the achievements of the past, to make promises and to announce plans for the future. No Prime Minister has sought to remember lapses and failures and remind the nation of them, as it would not be deemed proper for the occasion, but would speak of the challenges that the nation has to face. No one would also be seen to have no promises to make. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also, in a long address on Saturday, recounted many achievements from the past, and most of them happened after 2014 when his government came to power. He reiterated many ideas and themes that his government has adopted as national policies, though the validity, correctness and practicality of some of them may be debatable. He laid much emphasis on atmanirbharta, but its nature, scope and implications are still not clear. Self-reliance as a national policy is not new and is desirable, but it has to be nuanced in the present context. There may even be a contradiction in the way the Make in India and the Make for World policies are being proposed.

The most important scheme announced by the Prime Minister was about rolling out a National Digital Health Mission which would create a unique health account for every citizen for hassle-free access to healthcare facilities. The proposal is appropriate when a public health exigency has come to the fore, but it should be ensured that there are no issues related to violation of privacy, exclusion and surveillance involved in the scheme when it is implemented. Ensuring health means much more than preparing a card, and putting in place the human and physical infrastructure for healthcare is the real challenge. A Rs 100 lakh crore infrastructure package, which had been announced earlier, was mentioned again, along with a time-bound plan to link all villages through a cyber optic network. These are ambitious projects and will certainly be useful when they are implemented. He also mentioned other matters like the New Education Policy, the Ayodhya temple and the development of Covid vaccines. He praised the health workers, and the country will join him in the praise.

Some claims and statements made by the Prime Minister were ambiguous or presented only a part of the situation he sought to present. He said that from "LoC to LAC’’ our soldiers had given a fitting response to challenges to the country’s sovereignty, but did not make clear what the present position in the eastern Ladakh border is. It was stated that elections will be held in Kashmir but the claims made about the state will call for verification.