NHPS a 'jumla' announced to fool people: P Chidambaram

Former Union Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram came down heavily upon the Central government saying that the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) is a 'jumla' which has been announced to fool people.

He was speaking at an event organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata on Monday.

Referring to the announcements made in the last budget of the NDA government by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Chidambaram said it was unlikely that the government would change its course in the fifth year.

"In fact, the temptation would be to be a little more reckless. In my view, the kind of schemes that are being announced in the fifth year are rather reckless schemes. Anyone who has been in governance, knows that if you make an announcement, even to get the scheme in place will take several months. Then to get the funding in place will take a couple of more months. To get the states on board will take some more time and before you roll out the scheme you will find that the year has gone by," he said.

Talking about the NHPS, he said it was a rehash of a similar scheme by the government in the Budget 2016-17, which never materialised. "In 2016-17, it was then called the National Health Insurance Scheme where they said six crore families, 30 crore people will get coverage up to rupees 1 lakh. There was no cabinet paper, no fund allocation and the scheme quietly died in 4-5 months. This time they said 10 crore families, 50 crore people will get coverage up to Rs 5 lakh. When we asked where will the money come from, they said 'we will find the money'. It is not a treasure hunt that children play," he said. "I suspect they will make access to the scheme so difficult and the coverage so limited and unattractive that hardly anyone will access it."

Towing the lines of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee he said that the Centre has now introduced a clause that the states would come on board and bear 40 per cent of the cost of NHPS. "Why should they bear? Why should they abandon their own brand and come and get on to your own bandwagon?" he asked.

Talking about violence in Kashmir he said that an alternative approach was required to find a solution to the violence there. "Paramilitary is not the answer. Local police is the answer. Just like it was done in Punjab, in Kashmir, too, more power should be given to the local police. Putting armed forces at every 10 metre will not solve it. When I was the home minister, I had removed barricades and reduced the number of troops. As a result, the instances of violence came down," Chidambaram said.