Over 15 crore National Digital Health IDs created under Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission
Author: BI Bureau
New Delhi: Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar on Friday informed the Lok Sabha that till January 25, 2022, 15,05,92,811 Health Ids, now known as ABHA – Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts, have been created in the country. A total of 15,016 health facilities and 8,378 doctors have been registered under the ABDM ecosystem.
The National Digital Health Mission, now known as Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, was launched on August 15, 2020 as a pilot in six Union Territories – Andaman and Nicobar, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Ladakh, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.
The pilot phase of ABDM was successfully conducted between 15th August 2020 and 27th September 2021.Three key registries of NDHM, namely, Health ID, Health Professional Registry (HPR), Health Facility Registry (HFR) and digital infrastructure for data exchange have been developed and implemented in these UTs. On 27th September 2021, the national rollout of the ABDM was announced.
ABHA numbers, earlier known as Health Ids, have been created for those beneficiaries enrolled through CoWIN platform who have provided Aadhaar as the ID proof at the vaccination site only after taking their consent through the vaccinator. The Information Technology Act 2000 along with policies and guidelines including but not limited to Health Data Management Policy, Sandbox Guidelines, etc., published by ABDM from time to time lay down the regulatory and policy framework for the regulation of ABDM.
Besides a part of the funds available at the level of hospitals, the Union Health Ministry is also supporting States and UTs in implementation and strengthening of health IT initiatives such as Hospital Management Information Systems, Telemedicine services etc. in public health facilities through National Health Mission. /BI/
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The exports of agricultural commodities from March to June 2020 shot up by 23.24 percent on-year to Rs 25,552.7 crores.
As the economy comes to a standstill amid the coronavirus-led lockdown, India’s agriculture sector has taken the baton of economic growth in its hands. The exports of agricultural commodities from March to June 2020 shot up by 23.24 percent on-year to Rs 25,552.7 crores, according to the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. The government said that self-reliant agriculture is critical for the goal of an Atmanirbhar Bharat and for this, agricultural export is extremely important as besides earning foreign exchange for the country, the exports help farmers, producers, and exporters to take advantage of the wider international market and increase their income.
The surge in exports has also resulted in increased production in the farm sector by increasing coverage area and productivity. The share of India’s agricultural exports and imports in the world agriculture trade in 2017 was 2.27 percent and 1.90 percent, respectively. Even during the difficult time of pandemic lockdown, India took care not to disturb the world food supply chain and continued to export, the government said.
Ministry of Agriculture has prepared a comprehensive action plan for the promotion of Agri trade; the twofold approach focuses on boosting Agri Export with emphasis on value addition and action plan for Import Substitution. Recently, the Agriculture sector has witnessed a series of reforms, giving more choices to the farmers to sell their produce at competitive rates.
To mention a few, the Export strategy focuses on the export promotion of fast-evolving niche markets of Wellness food/ Health-conscious food/nutraceuticals, Development of “Brand India” in campaign mode to help penetration into new foreign markets and of new products which automatically translates into higher value realization, Gulf countries have been identified as focus destination to increase the market share which is a strong market for India though presently India caters to only 10-12% share of their total imports. A product-market matrix has been made containing a list of products of strength that could be expanded in new geographies and a list of known markets which can be introduced with newer products.
At the behest of the Department of Agricultural Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, product-specific Export Promotion Forums have been created to lead Agri exports to new heights. Each Export Promotion Forum shall be having exporters of the related commodity as its members along with official members representing concerned Ministries/Departments of the Central and State Governments. Chairman APEDA shall be the chairman of each of these forums. The forums will meet at least once every two months, to discuss recommendations on issues pertaining to the export.
The recommendations of the forum will be placed in the product committee / Authority of APEDA. The Forum will keep in close contact with the concerned organization of the Ministry of Agriculture such as MIDH, Extension, NPPO, etc., DGFT, Ministry of Civil Aviation, MoFPI, etc. to further the interest of agricultural export.
