CM Khattar Launches two Healthcare Initiatives on Haryana Diwas 2023

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, on November 1 2023, launched two healthcare initiatives - an expanded Ayushman Bharat-Chirayu Haryana Yojana and a cashless health facility for government employees, pensioners, and accredited journalists.

The initiative was launched by CM Khattar in a function held in Chandigarh on the occasion of Haryana Diwas. The chief minister also distributed the Ayushman Bharat-Chirayu Haryana scheme cards to eligible families.

Every year, November 1 is celebrated as Haryana Diwas to mark the foundation of the state of Haryana. Haryana was founded on November 1, 1966, after partitioning the former state of Punjab into Hindi-speaking Haryana and Punjabi-speaking Punjab.

Cashless Health Facility

• A cashless health facility for government employees, pensioners, and accredited journalists was launched.
• The Haryana government will offer cash health facilities  for treatment of 1340 identified diseases in select 569 empanelled hospitals in the state.
• In the first phase 894 employees from the Fisheries and Horticulture departments will be given this facility. The initial package will include cashless healthcare for 1056 disease packages in 305 empanelled hospitals. 
• According to the CM Khattar the scheme will be progressively extended to the state government departments.

Ayushman Bharat-Chirayu Haryana Yojana

The Ayushman Bharat -Chirayu Haryana Yojana was launched by CM Khattar on 21 November 2022. It was basically an extension of the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat scheme.

Here CHIRAYU stands for "Comprehensive Health Insurance of Antyodaya Units".

• Under the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat scheme about 10.74 crore poor, deprived rural families and identified occupational category of urban workers' families as per the 2011 Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC)  are provided cashless  health care facilities upto Rs 5 Lakh. However the healthcare benefit is available to eligible families having an annual income upto Rs 1.20 lakh per annum. 
• The Ayushman Bharat -Chirayu Haryana Yojana extended the same health care benefits to eligible families having annual income up to Rs 1.80 lakhs.
• This limit has been now extended to  families having Rs 3 lakhs per annum benefiting an additional 38,000 families in the state .
• The scheme now covers around 38 lakh families in Haryana. 
• The beneficiary  families can avail treatment for his family of up to Rs. 5 lakh free of cost from any Government Hospital and Empanelled Private Hospital in State.
• The  government will start issuing the cards to the newly eligible families from November 1, 2023 and it will be distributed till 31st December 2023.

Formation of Haryana

In 1965, the Government of India formed a parliamentary committee called the Shah Commission. The committee was tasked with considering the partition of Punjab, and was chaired by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Sardar Hukum Singh. 

• On May 31, 1966, the Shah Commission issued its report. The report recommended that the districts of Hisar, Mahendragarh, Gurgaon, Rohtak, and Karnal would become part of a new state called Haryana. Additionally, the tehsils of Jind (District Sangrur), Narwana (District Sangrur), Narayangarh, Ambala, and Jagadhri were also to be included in the new state. 
• Based on the recommendations of the Shah Commission, the government established the Punjab Boundary Commission in March 1966. 
• The commission was chaired by Shri Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah, a Supreme Court Judge. After demarcating the boundaries of Punjab, the Parliament passed the Punjab Reorganization Act in September 1966. 
• Finally, on November 1, 1966, the state of Haryana was formed as the seventeenth state of India after a long and difficult struggle.