The Hindu Editorial : Courting The Rankings

Title: Courting the rankings

(India needs a granular road map to improve its reputation for ‘enforcing contracts)

• India’s rank in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business global ranking = 100 (out of 190 Economies)

Index is based on the average of 10 sub-indices which are: starting a business; dealing with construction permits; getting electricity connections; registering property; getting credit; protecting minority investors; paying taxes; trading across borders; enforcing contracts; and resolving insolvency.

Enforcing contracts = 164

• “Enforcing contracts” is directly dependent on a country’s ability to provide an effective dispute resolution system.

• The report says that it takes an average of 1,445 days (or nearly four years) to enforce a contract in India.

Forum for resolution

Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act. When the implementation of an Act is left to State governments, there is generally a hiatus in enforcement.

• The purpose behind the Act is to provide a forum with upgraded infrastructure to resolve a certain class of disputes, classified as “commercial disputes” in the Act, in a time-bound and effective manner.

• The legislation also requires establishment of appropriate infrastructure and manpower training on a constant basis.

Five aspects that relate to the working of the Act require immediate consideration.

- While the Act contemplates the “appointment” of commercial court judges in districts, in most States the government there has merely vested the presiding district judge with powers to act as a commercial court.

- Whenever presiding officers are appointed to commercial courts, it must be ensured that they have experience in dealing with commercial disputes.

- The respective State governments must, in consultation with the High Courts, establish necessary infrastructural facilities to run these courts.

- The State government is to establish facilities providing for the training of judges who may be appointed to these courts.

- Statistical data regarding the functioning of these courts are to be displayed on the website of the respective High Courts.

Topic: Making health insurance work.

- (The National Health Protection Scheme is disconnected from primary care. It also needs to be scaled up)

- The NHPS

- The scheme will provide cost coverage, up to ₹5 lakh annually, to a poor family for hospitalisation in an empanelled public or private hospital. The precursor of the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS), the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), provided limited coverage of only ₹30,000, usually for secondary care.

- Though it improved access to health care, it did not reduce out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE), catastrophic health expenditure or health payment-induced poverty.

- If primary health services are not strong enough to reduce the need for advanced care and act as efficient gatekeepers, there is great danger of an overloaded NHPS disproportionately draining resources from the health budget.

- The scheme operates around the insurance principle of ‘risk pooling’.

- NHPS will need more than the ₹2,000 crore presently allocated. As the scheme starts in October 2018, the funding will cover the few months before the next Budget. It is expected to require ₹5,000-6,000 crore to get it going in the first year and ₹10,000-12,000 crore annually as it scales up. It will draw additional resources from the Health and Education Cess and also depend on funding from States to boost the Central allocation.

What will states do?

• State governments have the main responsibility of health service delivery and also need to bear the major share of the public expenditure on health. The National Health Policy (NHP) asks the States to raise their allocation for health to over 8% of the total State budget by 2020, requiring many States to double their health spending.

The NHPS needs a buy-in from the States, which have to contribute 40% of the funding. Even with the low cost coverage of the RSBY, several States opted out. Some decided to fund their own State-specific health insurance programmes, with distinctive political branding. Will they agree to merge their programmes with the NHPS, with co-branding? Will other States, who will also contribute 40% to the NHPS, demand similar co-branding?

State: Mizoram

• Who is the Chief Minister of Mizoram?

Lal Thanhawla

• Who is the Governor of Mizoram?

Nirbhay Sharma

• When did Mizoram become a state?

In 1972 it became a centrally administered union territory under the name of Mizoram, and in 1987 it achieved statehood.

• Which is the capital of Mizoram?

Aizawl

• Which article in Indian constitution is a special provision for Mizoram?

Article 371G

• What is the State Bird of Mizoram?

Hume’s Bartailed pheaasant(Vavu)

• What is the State Animal of Mizoram?

Serow

• What does Mizoram mean?

Land of Mizos

• How was Mizo Hills District formerly known?

Lushai hills districts

• Important Rivers in Mizoram?

Rivers in Mizoram are Chimtuipui River (also known as Kaladan (or Koldoyne) ), Tlawng, Tutis, Tuirial and Tuivawl

Famous Dance in Mizoram

Cheraw dance = "Bamboo Dance"

The names of all their festivals have the term ‘kut’ in the end, which means ‘festival’. Apart from these there are some regional festivals of Mizoram which include Mim Kut, Pawl Kut, Chapar Kut and Thalfavang Kut.

Vocabulary words: