E-Paper
MP expands Ayushman coverage to those falling out of I-T bracket
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced that the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme will be extended to those not required to pay tax. He also announced the Mukhyamantri Jan Awas Yojana to provide housing for the poor. Chouhan made the announcements in his Independence Day speech in Bhopal. The Ayushman Bharat scheme currently only covers families below the poverty line. Chouhan also pledged to bring 10 social revolutions to the state, including land and housing, women empowerment, and farmer welfare.
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday said the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), the central government’s flagship health insurance scheme to provide free treatment worth ₹5 lakh each year, will also be available to those who are not required to pay tax.
Chouhan also announced the Mukhyamantri Jan Awas Yojana for the poor people left out of other government housing schemes, to ensure housing for all in the state.
Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh are due to be held later this year.
In his Independence Day speech at Lal Parade ground in Bhopal, the chief minister said: “The benefits of the Ayushman Bharat scheme will be extended. Ayushman cards will also be provided to those who do not come under the income tax bracket.”
The health insurance scheme is currently available only for BPL families.
Besides, Chouhan announced the Mukhyamantri Jan Awas Yojana for the poor who are not covered under any other government housing schemes.
“Under the Mukhyamantri Jan Awas Yojana, houses will be provided to every poor family, whose names have not been included in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (centrally-sponsored scheme) and Awas Plus app. I take a pledge today that by 2023, our government will take the state’s economy to a height of ₹45 lakh crores,” he said.
The chief minister expressed his government’s commitment to provide houses to all the people in the state.
“We have resolved that no poor person should be without a roof in the state. We have constructed 4,400,000 lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Besides, 2,200,000 more houses are to be constructed under Awas plus,” he said.
Chouhan said he will bring 10 “social revolutions” in the state.
“The social revolutions are land and housing, women empowerment, farmers’ welfare, welfare of weaker sections, skill development and employment, welfare of poor, education, and health for all, cultural rise, and good governance,” he said.
“I am taking a resolution to double the per capita income of the state, to increase the total agricultural production to 100 million metric tons, irrigation potential to reach 6,500,000 hectare, increasing energy capacity to more than 38,000 MW and network of new roads to 100,000 km,” he said.
He said nursing colleges will be established in all government medical colleges of the state.
The chief minister noted that there was a period when the state was in the ‘bimaru’ (sickly) category.
“There was a lack of amenities like roads, water and electricity. There is a huge difference between the situation at that time and now,” he said.
In 2003, the terror of dacoits ruled north Madhya Pradesh, Chouhan said, adding the government decided and eliminated them within six months.
“Earlier (under Congress government), Maoists cut the throat of a minister, but we have eliminated them, besides demolishing the network SIMI (Students’ Islamic Movement of India) in the state,” he said.
