MAINS DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS
Q1. Examine the risk posed by the digital economy’s monopolistic tendencies.
GS III – Indian Economy related issues
Introduction:
Context:
- A situation known as monopoly occurs when a single vendor dominates the market and sells a singular commodity. It is an issue since the price of these things is typically far more than their true value, going against what customers want to buy.
Danger associated with these monopolies:
- Lack of Transparency: The precise usage of the data is unknown. Every product in a competitive market is transparently priced and described, allowing the market to fully understand the ramifications of each one.
- Analysing fair value is tough since people don’t know how to value their personal information. As a result, it’s challenging to determine how much is received in return for what is given.
- Anti-competitive: It works against new companies’ best interests. Despite being a public domain commodity, data is nonetheless regarded as a competing and exclusive good.
- Impacts customer preferences: There is a chance that a single company could deceive customers.
- Implications for politics: For instance, former US presidents’ tweets were blocked by Twitter, which controls the market for short message services. It displays the power that these enormous beings produce. They are in charge of how information is shared.
- Data control: A lot of information about Indian citizens is under the jurisdiction of these foreign tech behemoths. ‘Data sovereignty’ is brought up by this.
- Risk of breaches: The experiences of Wikileaks and Cambridge Analytica demonstrate that the data stored by these massive tech companies is not as secure as it is believed to be. This has significant ramifications if misused.
Remedies for such monopolies include:
- Law: By using legislation, the government can impose regulations on data in a manner that lessens the risks mentioned above.
- “Informed” Consent: In order to give meaningful consent, the processes for obtaining it need to be made simpler and more transparent.
- Data Localization: To lower risks, particularly financial risks, the government and the RBI have recently emphasised the importance of localising data. In order to solve this problem, the government has also introduced the Data Protection Bill, which requires that a copy of the data be kept in India.
- Homegrown tech giants: The government can help create our own tech giants by offering subsidies to homegrown tech start-ups through the Made in India programme.
Way Forward:
- There is therefore a dual challenge in the scenario where we are unable to control the monopolies. In order to achieve higher efficiencies, on the one hand, we must support the digital economy. However, we also need to control the digital economy. These issues are addressed in the recommendations made by the Justice BN Srikrishna committee. To create a framework for digital economy regulation as soon as possible, we must expedite the passage of the data protection bill.
Q2. Analyse how the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) has improved a number of health-related outcomes.
GS II – Government Policies and Interventions
Introduction:
- One of the biggest health insurance/assurance programmes, PMJAY offers medical coverage up to?5 lakh annually on a family floater basis per family. It is an initiative supported centrally and entirely funded by the Indian government.
The issue of health spending in India that PMJAY aims to resolve is:
- Out-of-pocket expenses: India has some of the highest levels of OOPE, which is a direct cause of the country’s high rates of catastrophic costs and poverty.
- Expensive Private Sector: In India, the private sector provides the majority of healthcare services. However, their fees are far higher than those of government hospitals for the same medical care, and higher costs do not always translate into higher quality.
An high burden of disease:
- Non-communicable disease: non-communicable diseases (NCDs) account for approximately 65% of deaths in India nowadays, with ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and stroke being the main causes.
- Communicable Diseases: India has the highest global rates of hepatitis, leprosy, and tuberculosis. However, India has a high prevalence of all major infectious diseases.
- Consequences for Poverty: A family may find themselves back in poverty if even one member suffers from a serious illness, which could destroy all of their savings.
- As a result, sufficient savings must be set aside for insurance product investments in order to prevent any unforeseen medical costs from negatively impacting a family’s financial situation.
- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) Impact: In States that executed the comprehensive programme to give healthcare access to the most vulnerable sections, it helped to improve numerous health outcomes.
- It improved early disease detection and health benefits by expanding the coverage of health insurance.
- PMJAY states have shown improved health insurance penetration, lower infant and child mortality rates, better access to and use of family planning services, and increased HIV/AIDS awareness, according to the Economic Survey of 2020–21.
- Advantages for hospitals under contract: It boosts revenue for 24,215 hospitals under contract; how much are longer treatments worth?7,490 crore (including hospital admissions of 1.55 crore).
- Encourages private investment in rural health: Patients with PMJAY health cards are more frequently admitted to hospitals that are empanelled in rural areas. They are encouraged to open hospitals in rural areas by this.
- Boosts Savings Rate: One of the most crucial factors in a nation’s ability to grow sustainably is its savings rate. Through this plan, some wealth is directed towards savings.
Restrictions in the Scheme’s Implementation: The following variables limit the Scheme’s impact:
- Reduced Geographic Reach: Just seven States—Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Karnataka—are home to more than 72% of private empanelled hospitals.
- Medical frauds: Private hospitals frequently raise the amount of bills because patients don’t question the necessity of the procedures. Sixty-three percent of PM-JAY claims and seventy-five percent of the claim value come from private hospitals.
- Unnecessary Procedures: In an effort to save money, private hospitals are more likely than public hospitals to engage in fraud and abuse as well as to release patients early after surgery. Private hospitals provide the majority of the highest-value PM-JAY packages, which include knee replacement, cataract surgery, hemodialysis, and cardiovascular procedures.
- Subpar facilities: Compared to their government counterparts, the National Health Agency’s report indicates that the infrastructure for clinical and support services is superior.
- States’ ability to create their own policies in this area is restricted. A number of state administrations have added to or established health insurance programmes with different levels of coverage. The newly established National Health Agency (NHA) has not yet received Memoranda of Understandings from Telangana, Odisha, or Delhi to carry out the programme.
Way Forward:
- It is therefore difficult to guarantee the accountability of the private sector. To make sure that the private sector isn’t needlessly driving up medical costs, the National Health Agency must rely on regular medical audits. Furthermore, ignoring public spending does not justify depending on the private sector. According to the economic survey, the National Health Policy 2017’s proposed increase in public spending from 1% to 2.5–3% of GDP could reduce the OOPE from 65% to 30% of total healthcare spending.
