3-Sep-2019: India announces contribution of 22 Mn USD to GFTAM for 6th replenishment cycle
Under the visionary and dynamic leadership of the Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi ji, India has announced a contribution of 22 million US Dollars to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFTAM) for the 6th replenishment cycle (2020-22), an increase of 10% over the amount contributed by us in the 5th cycle.
Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare stated that “India stands firm to its long-standing partnership with the Global Fund and its commitment to eliminate AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria”. India’s pledge for the Global Fund strongly demonstrates its strong political leadership to achieve the universal health for all and its equally strong commitment to work across borders to join hands in fighting the epidemics of these three diseases”.
India was the first implementing country to host a replenishment milestone of the Global Fund and now has become first among G20, BRICS and implementer countries to announce the pledge for the 6th Replenishment Conference, setting precedent for other donors to contribute generously for the cause. He said that we are adequately financing our efforts to accomplish our goals of TB, HIV and Malaria elimination and with our increased pledge, India has inched a step closer in this direction by stepping up the Global Fund efforts to strengthen health systems and save 16 million more lives across the globe.
Partnership between India and Global Fund: India shares a sustained partnership with the Global Fund since 2002 both as recipient and as a donor. Global Fund support with investment of US $ 2.0 billion so far has made significant contribution in attaining targets related to HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria reduction and escalating our fight against these three diseases. In the current funding cycle (2018-21), the Global Fund has allocated US$ 500 million to India. As a donor, India has contributed US$ 46.5 million so far till 2019 including US$ 20 million for the 5th Replenishment.
7-Feb-2019: ‘India Showcase Event’ of Global Fund Replenishment Preparatory Meeting
India has set an example globally by increasing its domestic financial allocations for health. India stands committed to increase its overall health allocations to 2.5% of its GDP as enunciated in the National Health Policy, 2017. Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare inaugurated the ‘India Showcase Event’ as part of the Preparatory Meeting of the Sixth Global Fund Replenishment.
This milestone meeting is in tandem with the vision of the Hon’ble Prime Minister who has given the clarion call to eliminate HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. India is prioritising resource allocations for Tuberculosis with more than 2 billion USD, being invested in the implementation of the National Strategic Plan to End TB 2017-2025. This amount is separate from the additional amount of 100 million USD, being invested for nutritional support to TB patients under the Nikshay Poshan Yojna. As resolved by the Hon’ble Prime Minister at the End TB Summit, 2018 in New Delhi, the country is galvanising all efforts to End TB by 2025, five years ahead of the SDG target.
The Health Ministry is working to ensure smooth and sustained coordination among different departments and ministries to ensure a convergence of efforts to End TB by 2025. This inter-sectoral and multi-stakeholder approach has already demonstrated positive results on TB notifications in several states.
Shri. Nadda also highlighted the initiatives and achievements of the Government in HIV/AIDS and Malaria. He stated that the country has launched the National Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI), 2017-24. By 2024, the target is to ensure that 95% of HIV positive people in the country know their status, 95% of those who know their status are on treatment and 95% of those who are on treatment experience effective viral load suppression. Steps have been taken to ensure that there is no shortage of funds, drugs and testing kits.
WHO world malaria report singled out India for its impressive gains against malaria. Among the high burden countries, only India showed a substantial decline in disease burden, with a 24% drop in cases. India is on course to meet the goal of ending malaria by 2030.
PM Jan Aarogya Yojana (PMJAY), a National Health Protection Scheme, which envisions health assurance of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year, benefiting over 50 crore people. Since the roll-out of ‘Modicare’, in merely 135 days nearly 1.1 million people have already availed of the benefits worth RS. 15 Billion under the scheme.
India has made a paradigm shift in health systems strengthening through systems level changes and there is an urgent need to continue investing in systems along with new research and innovation.
India is in a sustained partnership with the Global Fund to fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) since 2002 as recipient as well as donor. The Global Fund support has been instrumental in attaining targets related to HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria reduction and escalating the fight against these three diseases. The Global Fund raises funds in multiyear cycles known as Replenishments and is preparing for sixth voluntary replenishment conference to mobilize needed resources to scale up life-saving programs over 2020-22. A high level preparatory meeting for the sixth replenishment conference of the Global Fund is being hosted by India on 7th -8th February, 2019 in New Delhi. The preparatory meeting will set the stage for the Global Fund to launch its investment case for its sixth replenishment conference and its fund mobilization campaign.
India is the first implementing country to host a replenishment milestone, which presents an unprecedented and unique opportunity to highlight India’s role and political leadership in global health, as well as its strong commitment to achieve SDG3.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is organizing “India Showcase” to highlight India’s global footprint in the field of innovation and technology to end AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria and its increased ownership of the national response and its growing role in development.
21-Sep-2019: MNRE awards grants to four projects in second round of PACEsetter Fund programme
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy awarded Grants to the awardees of the second round of PACEsetter fund programme in a ceremony organised by the Ministry. Shri Anand Kumar, Secretary, MNRE and Mr. Kenneth Ian Juster, the U.S. Ambassador to India co-chaired the felicitation ceremony.
In the second round of awards, a total of 168 Expressions of Interest were received. Out of these, four projects were selected for award of grants. The awardees include Society for Economic and Social Studies, New Delhi, Customized Energy Solutions India Pvt. Ltd., Pune, The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi and Raghavendra Suntech Systems Pvt Ltd (RSSPL), Bengaluru.
Stressing on the importance of access to energy for all, the U.S. Ambassador said that innovation in off-grid and clean energy will improve energy access. Secretary, MNRE appreciated the impact that the awarded projects would have on the common man. He also suggested that innovation realized through such projects could be replicated in other developing countries.
Background: The PACEsetter fund was constituted by India and the USA in 2015 as a joint fund to provide early-stage grant funding to accelerate the commercialization of innovative off-grid clean energy products, systems, and business models. The mission of the PACEsetter Fund is to accelerate the commercialization of innovative off-grid clean energy access solutions by providing early-stage grant funding that would allow businesses to develop and test innovative products, business models and systems. The Fund's main purpose is to improve the viability of off-grid renewable energy businesses that sell small scale (under 1 megawatt) clean energy systems to individuals and communities without access to grid connected power or with limited/intermittent access. (less than 8 hours per day).
18-Sep-2019: Government-funded NGOs come under RTI ambit
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) “substantially” financed by the government fall within the ambit of the Right to Information Act, the Supreme Court held in a judgment.
A Bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose laid down that NGOs which receive considerable finances from the government or are essentially dependent on the government fall under the category of “public authority” defined in Section 2(h) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act of 2005.
This means that they have to disclose vital information, ranging from finances to hierarchy to decisions to functioning, to citizens who apply under RTI. An NGO, may also include societies which are neither owned or controlled by the government, but if they are significantly funded by the government, directly or indirectly, they come under the RTI Act.
The court defined “substantial” as a “large portion.” It does not necessarily have to mean a major portion or more than 50%. No hard and fast rule can be laid down in this regard. Substantial financing can be both direct or indirect.
If government gives land in a city free of cost or on heavy discount to hospitals, educational institutions or any such body, this in itself could also be substantial financing.