E-Paper
The Week Ahead: Farmers’ Bharat Bandh; new faces to join Congress
The government may find itself under some pressure on account of the Bharat Bandh called today by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha. It remains to be seen what response it gets, but the build-up has been quite the talked-about event across the country
It was JRR Tolkien who, while describing the ring on which one of the literary masterpieces of the 20th century, The Lord of the Rings is based, said, “One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all. and in the darkness bind them.”
The National Health ID won’t rule us all, but it is the first step to bring Indians together to manage their health records. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, September 27, will announce nationwide rollout of the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM), under which a unique digital health id will be assigned to each citizen that will contain all health records of the person.
The health ID is to standardise the process of identification of an individual across health care providers that aims to ensure that the created medical records are issued to the correct individual or accessed by health information user through appropriate consent.
The initiative that has been renamed as Pradhan Mantri Digital Health Mission (PM-DHM) essentially consists of four main building blocks: unique digital health ID, a healthcare professionals registry, health facility registry and electronic health records.
Will the national health ID be as revolutionary as Aadhaar was? We will need to wait and watch.
The opposition has been raining concerns over privacy and data control, but the government is going ahead anyway.
The government may find itself under some pressure on account of the Bharat Bandh called today by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha. It remains to be seen what response it gets, but the build-up has been quite the talked-about event across the country.
The Congress party, the mainstay of the national-level opposition will see two new faces joining the party: the firebrand student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, and Jignesh Mevani.
In Kerala, the trial against deposed Bishop Franco Mulakkal resumes in a local court in Kottayam. In the same state, the PCC office-bearers’ list will be published by this weekend. AICC general secretary Tariq Anwar arrived in the state for last-minute consultations.
In West Bengal, the only topic of discussion seems to be Bhabanipur elections on September 30. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee is contesting to retain her chief ministerial berth.
Elections to Samserganj and Jangipur seats will be also held on the same day. The counting is expected on October 3.
In Madhya Pradesh, the High Court will hear petitions of the increased reservation of OBC from 14% to 27%. The hearing will be taken place on September 30. After the state government submitted its reply on September 8, the court is likely to give a judgement on the stay order of implementation of the reservation. Bihar too will see phase two of panchayat polls starting September 29. It’s raining elections soon.
Less than a week of the current monsoon season remains. The cumulative rainfall for the 2021 June-September monsoon season up to 8:30 AM on September 25 is 841.74 mm, according to the gridded rainfall dataset of the India Meteorological Department (IMD). This is about a percent more than the average of 833.45 mm rainfall for this interval in the 1961-2010 period, which is called the Long Period Average (LPA). This is also an improvement from the 0.1% deficit on September 18. To be sure, last year, the cumulative rainfall up to September 25 was 941.3 mm, 13% more than the LPA.
In sport, the IPL heads towards the playoffs with Delhi Capitals leading the table, Sunrisers Hyderabad all but out of contention and Punjab Kings, Rajasthan Royals struggling to stay afloat.
The Asian Table Tennis Championships will begin on September 28 with controversy raging over the exclusion of India’s No 1 player Manika Batra from the squad. Meanwhile, India’s top wrestlers will head to Norway for the World Wrestling Championship which begins October 2.
