PM Modi’s photo on vaccination certificates
Current Affairs
Recently, an Indian citizen travelling to Frankfurt was suspected of falsifying her COVID-19 certificate due to PM’s photo on the document instead of her’s.
“The woman at the desk saw the photograph on the certificate, then looked at me then back at the certificate. I could tell she was suspicious of me. She angrily asked how I could submit this vaccine certificate when the photo on the document was not mine.”-concerned citizen
Opposition
Coincidently a few weeks ago, the Union government defended keeping Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photo on the vaccination certificates. This came in response to Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP Kumar Ketkar's appeal as to why PM's face was on the vaccination certificate. Few other political parties also raise their voices defining this move by the centre as “blatantly misusing official machinery” this close to elections.
The Union Government defended displaying Prime Minister Narendra Modi's photo on the vaccination certificates a few weeks ago.
“The photograph along with the message of the prime minister in the vaccination certificates reinforces the message for creating awareness about the importance of following COVID-19 appropriate behaviour even after vaccination, in the larger public interest.” -Bharati Pawar, Union Minister of Family and Welfare
The one and only
Currently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the only leader in the world whose image is present on vaccination certificates around the world. India is also currently said to have the largest vaccination drive across the world.
Not the first time
In 2018, during the rollout for Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), as part of the Ayushman Bharat scheme, the government printed his photo on the intimation letters sent to beneficiaries of the scheme.
Helps raise awareness
The MP’s statement regarding spreading awareness with the PM's photo on the cover does in fact- make sense. To promote vaccination around the country, attaching the leader’s face to the certificate does drive the lesser informed population into vaccination.
Propaganda
As mentioned in the previous slides, India remains the only country where a political leader’s face is attached to the certificates. As the opposition parties and leaders have pointed out, this play does come out as propaganda.
Instead of crediting the health workers and scientists who have worked tirelessly for the vaccine, the PM’s photo does give him the bragging rights and “credits”. There is little to no doubt that this will come in handy in elections in the following years.
Problems to citizens
Moreover, problems have already started to surface due to this very problem. Since no other country has any photographs even of the beneficiary of the vaccine, seeing someone else’s photo elicits suspicion for authorities who arent exactly aware of how things work in India.
What do you think, is there more to the PM's face, name and slogan on the certificate?
FM’s asset monetisation plan: Road to privatisation?
Current Affairs
The Union Government on August 23 announced that it will monetize assets worth INR 6 lakh crore between 2021-22 and 2024-25 under the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) scheme, which was launched by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi. The proceeds will be used to finance the INR 110 lakh crore national infrastructure pipeline.
What is asset monetisation anyway?
Asset monetisation is the process of creating new sources of revenue for the government by unlocking the economic value of unutilised or underutilised public assets. A public asset is any property owned by a public body, tangible or intangible.
Assets still owned by government and to be returned to them after plan closure
The scheme proposes, not the sale of the assets but, better utilisation during the timeline of the monetization plan.
As per the plan, the government aims to raise INR 88,000 crore in the current fiscal, INR 1.6 lakh crore in 2022-23, INR 1.8 lakh crore in 2023-24, and INR 1.6 lakh crore in 2024-25.
Assets across 20 asset classes and 12 line ministries. Different models will be followed for monetization depending on the nature of the assets:
Operate, maintain and transfer, or
Redevelop, operate, maintain and transfer
Biggest contributors: Roads and railways
The biggest chunk of INR 1.6 lakh crore will come from monetising 26,700 km of existing operation of national highways and new roads. NHAI will take the InvIT (Infrastructure Investment Trust) route for monetising some of these assets.
As many as 400 railway stations, 90 passenger trains, 741-km Konkan Railways and 15 railway stadiums and colonies are planned to be monetised for an estimated INR 1.2 lakh crore.
Contribution of other sectors
Power: Transmission lines to be monetised to generate INR 45,200 crore;
INR 39,832 crore from 6 GW of power generation assetsTelecom: Monetising 2.86 lakh km of BharatNet fiber and 14,917 signal towers of BSNL and MTNL to generate INR 35,100 crore
Fuel: INR 29,000crore from monetising coal mines; INR 24,462 crore from monetizing natural gas pipelines
Ports: Airport monetisation will fetch INR 20,782 crore and ports another INR 12,828 crore
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