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Health System for A New India: Building Blocks

Context

• The NITI Aayog organized a dialogue on “Health System for A New India: Building Blocks”, with national and international academia, practitioners, Indian policymakers and other stakeholders of the healthcare ecosystem.

Details

• The dialogue was the first in the series of NITI Aayog’s “Development Dialogues” that aims to facilitate multisectoral conversations on India’s developmental issues, which constitute a part of the country’s 15 Year Vision document.
• The dialogue focused on strengthening and further building on the existing blocks for Health Systems for a New India and prioritized four critical health systems issues for discussion and debate.
• These included expanding resources for health through pooling existing funds; expanding the role of the government as a strategic purchaser from both public and private providers to improve quality of healthcare services; provision of equitable and integrated services; and leveraging technology as an enabler and aggregator.
• The dialogue also deliberated convergence of fragmented building blocks of financing and service provision, with each reinforcing the other, and moving from programmatic or schematic approaches to a systemsapproach to healthcare.

Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS)

• It was launched in 2003 to remove conflict diamonds from the global supply chain, Initiated by joint government, industry and civil society
• Blood diamond, also called conflict diamond, as defined by the United Nations (UN), any diamond that is mined in areas controlled by forces opposed to the legitimate, internationally recognized government of a country and that is sold to fund military action against that government

Significance

• The Kimberley Process has contributed towards peace, security and prosperity.
• It has proven to be an effective multilateral tool for conflict prevention in stemming the flow of conflict diamonds.
• The Kimberley Process has made valuable developmental impact in improving the lives of most people dependent on the trade in diamonds.

Context

• The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) Plenary 2018, was held in Brussels, Belgium, from 12th-16^th November 2018.
• EU handed over the Chairmanship of KPCS to India from 1st January, 2019.

Details

• India is the founding member of KPCS and is actively involved in KP activities to ensure that almost 99% of the diamond trade in the world is conflict free.
• India is committed to maintain KP as an efficient and effective process in order to ensure the conflict diamond free status.
• India is at the forefront in addressing the issue of differentiation between Natural Diamonds and Lab Grown Diamonds and ensure responsible business in this area.

Nine Point Agenda Suggested By India to G-20 for Action Against Fugitive Economic Offences And Asset Recovery

• Strong and active cooperation across G-20 countries to deal comprehensively and efficiently with the menace fugitive economic offenders.
• Cooperation in the legal processes such as effective freezing of the proceeds of crime; early return of the offenders and efficient repatriation of the proceeds of crime should be enhanced and streamlined.
• Joint effort by G-20 countries to form a mechanism that denies entry and safe havens to all fugitive economic offenders.
• Principles of United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNOTC), especially related to “International Cooperation” should be fully and effectively implemented.
• FATF should be called upon to assign priority and focus to establishing international co-operation that leads to timely and comprehensive exchange of information between the competent authorities and FIUs.
• FATF should be tasked to formulate a standard definition of fugitive economic offenders.
• FATF should also develop a set of commonly agreed and standardized procedures related to identification, extradition and judicial proceedings for dealing with fugitive economic offenders to provide guidance and assistance to G-20 countries, subject to their domestic law.
• Common platform should be set up for sharing experiences and best practices including successful cases of extradition, gaps in existing systems of extradition and legal assistance, etc.
• G-20 Forum should consider initiating work on locating properties of economic offenders who have a tax debt in the country of their residence for its recovery.

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