All that was discussed in the House through the day
As per the Indian Council of Medical Research-India Diabetes (ICMR INDIAB) study published in 2023, there are 101 million diabetes patients in the country, Satya Pal Singh Baghel, minister of state in the Union ministry of health and family welfare, told the Rajya Sabha
No such information is available regarding the number of deaths in the country due to water pollution, Baghel told the Rajya Sabha.
Central Pollution Control Boardin association with Pollution Control Boards / Committees in different states and Union territories (UTs) monitor the water quality of rivers and other water bodies across the country through a network of monitoring stations under the National Water Quality Monitoring Programme.
Based on water quality monitoring results, pollution assessment of rivers has been carried out by CPCB from time to time, the minister said.
The total health expenditure (THE) increased 35.71 per cent in the period 2014-15 to 2019-20 whereas government health expenditure has increased 94.03 per cent during 2014-15 to 2019-20, Baghel told the Rajya Sabha.
During the same period, out-of-pocket expenditure as percentage of THE has declined from 62.6 per cent to 47.1per cent.
As per the Global TB Report 2023, published by the World Health Organization, the estimated number of drug resistant tuberculosis cases in India has reduced by 21 per cent to 110,000 in 2022 from 140,000 in 2015, Bharati Pravin Pawar, minister of state in the Union ministry of health and family welfare told the Rajya Sabha.
The government has scaled up the availability of molecular diagnostic facilities, so there has been an increase in the proportion of TB patients being screened for the presence of drug resistance.
Currently, tobacco products attract goods and services tax (GST) at the highest rate of 28 per cent, Pankaj Chaudhary, minister of state in the Union ministry of finance, told the Rajya Sabha.
In addition, specified tobacco products also attract basic excise duty, National Contingent Calamity Duty (NCCD) and GST Compensation Cess. In Union Budget 2023-24, the rate of NCCD levied as a duty of excise was increased on specified cigarettes by about 16 per cent.
There is no slow-down observed in the sale of electric vehicles in the country, Krishan Pal Gurjar, minister of state for Union ministry of heavy industries, told the Lok Sabha. As per the e-vahan portal (of Union ministry of road transport and highways), a total 819,223 electric vehicles were registered in the country till December 15, 2023.
The share of agriculture in the total gross value added (GVA) of economy has declined from 35 per cent in 1990-91 to 15 per cent in 2022-23, Arjun Munda, Union minister of agriculture and farmers welfare, told the Lok Sabha.
The decline is brought out not by the decline in agricultural GVA but a rapid expansion in industrial and service sector GVA. In terms of growth, agriculture and allied sector have registered an average annual growth of 4 per cent during the last five years, the minister said.
As far as global experience is concerned, the share of agriculture in the world’s gross domestic product has also declined over the decades and stands at about 4 per cent in recent years, he added.
So far, 235.8 million soil health cards have been distributed to farmers. Now, these schemes have been merged as soil health and fertility component of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, Munda told the Lok Sabha.
The guidelines for implementation of various activities have been issued to the farmers from time to time regarding the health of the soil under the scheme.
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