UPSC Essentials | Mains answer practice — GS 2 (Week 38)

QUESTION 2

Discuss the benefits and downsides of holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.

General points on the structure of the answers

Introduction

QUESTION 1: The Indian healthcare system has triumphed over obstacles that seemed insurmountable. Discuss the outcomes of the National Health Accounts Estimates for India: 2019-20.

Introduction:

— Every individual should have access to health care. The government has created and executed several health initiatives and programs in order to provide basic health services to all inhabitants.

— Over time, the Indian health system has overcome apparently insurmountable difficulties that were formerly thought to be hopeless.

Body:

You may incorporate some of the following points in the body of your answer:

National Health Accounts Estimates for India: 2019-20

Expenditure of the government

— Government spending on healthcare has been on the rise. The money spent by the government on healthcare as a percentage of GDP has increased from 1.13 per cent in FY 2015 to 1.35 per cent in FY 2020.

— The government’s share in the total money spent on healthcare in the country went up by a 12.4 percentage points between FY 2015 and FY 2020, increasing from 29 per cent to 41.4 per cent.

Out-of-Pocket Expenditure (OOPE)

— The money spent by people from their own pockets on healthcare has been going down. The report shows that 47.1 per cent of the total spending on healthcare in FY2020 came directly out of people’s pockets. But this is actually a 15.5 percentage point drop from 62.6 per cent of the spending coming out-of-pocket in FY 2015.

The majority of government expenditure was done in primary sector

— Out of the total spending by the government on healthcare in FY 2020, 55.9 per cent went to primary care, 29.6 per cent went to secondary care, and 6.4 per cent went to tertiary care. To compare, the government spent 51.3 per cent on primary care, 21.9 per cent on secondary care, and 14 per cent on tertiary care in FY 2015.

Increase in social security expenditure by the government

— There has been a consistent increase in social security expenditure by the government, which increased from 5.7% of the total spending on health in FY 2015 to 9.3% in FY 2020.

Conclusion:

— The National Health Portal intends to provide citizens, students, healthcare professionals, and researchers with a single point of access to authorized health information.

— The National Health Account (NHA) estimates for India 2019-20 is the seventh consecutive NHA estimates report prepared by NHSRC, designated as National Health Accounts Technical Secretariat (NHATS) in 2014 by the Union Health Ministry.

— The NHA estimates are prepared by using an accounting framework based on the internationally accepted standard of System of Health Accounts, 2011, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

(Source: Healthcare in India has made great progress, but challenges remain by Shailaja Chandra, What the latest National Health Account figures say about India’s healthcare sector by Anonna Dutt)

Points to Ponder

Challenges in the Healthcare Sector

Related Previous Year Questions

Appropriate local community-level healthcare intervention is a prerequisite to achieve ‘Health for All’ in India. Explain. (2018)

In order to enhance the prospects of social development, sound and adequate health care policies are needed particularly in the fields of geriatric and maternal health care. Discuss. (2020)

QUESTION 2: Discuss the benefits and downsides of holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.

Introduction:

— Over the years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pushed for the idea of simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls.

— From the first elections in 1952 until 1967, elections were held simultaneously across the country. But since the Lok Sabha and Assemblies can be dissolved before their tenures end, over time the state and national elections became misaligned.

— The government has constituted a committee headed by former president of India Ram Nath Kovind to explore the possibility of “one nation, one election”.

Body:

You may incorporate some of the following points in the body of your answer:

Advantages

— Reducing the cost of holding elections.

— Smooth operation of the government machinery.

— It will ensure continuity in central and state government policies and programmes.

— If elections are not held annually, the government does not need to entice the public with lucrative schemes or create caste and religion-based programmes.

Drawbacks

— There would also be logistical issues, requiring about twice as many electronic voting machines and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machines.

— The simultaneous polls would benefit the nationally dominant party at the cost of regional players.

— There is a chance that regional parties will be unable to effectively raise local issues.

— If elections are held in a single time frame, the results will be announced much later.

Previous Efforts

— The idea of simultaneous elections, or “One Nation, One Election”, was first formally proposed by the Election Commission of India in its 1983 report.

— The commission suggested that conducting simultaneous Lok Sabha (parliamentary) and state legislative assembly elections could reduce the frequency and associated costs of elections.

— The Law Commission of India also examined the issue and submitted several reports suggesting measures to synchronise the terms of the state legislatures with those of the Lok Sabha.

— In 2017, the Niti Aayog released a paper titled ‘Election Time Table’, discussing the feasibility of simultaneous elections. It suggested a practical roadmap for implementing the concept.

(Source: Govt forms committee on simultaneous elections: What is the idea, and the arguments around it?, Simultaneous polls past and present: What the numbers tell us by Anjishnu Das, One Nation, One Election: A blow to federalism, a challenge to implement by K C Tyagi)

Points to Ponder

Has the idea of simultaneous polls been explored before?

What are the arguments around holding simultaneous elections?

Related Previous Year Questions

Discuss the role of the Election Commission of India in the light of the evolution of the Model Code of Conduct. (2022)

In the light of recent controversy regarding the use of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), what are the challenges before the Election Commission of India to ensure the trustworthiness of elections in India? (2018)

Previous Mains Answer Practice

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 1 (Week 37)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 1 (Week 36)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 2 (Week 37)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 2 (Week 36)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 3 (Week 37)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 3 (Week 38)

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