Ayushman Bharat

Ayushman Bharat is a flagship national health initiative designed to achieve Universal Health Coverage through a dual structure of comprehensive primary healthcare provision via Health and Wellness Centres and secondary and tertiary hospitalisation protection via a targeted insurance mechanism.

• It shifts the national healthcare paradigm from a fragmented, supply-side subsidy approach to an integrated continuum-of-care model that addresses both preventive and curative health requirements.
• The scheme acts as a critical social security intervention by directly mitigating catastrophic out-of-pocket health expenditures that drive vulnerable households into poverty.
• It demonstrates cooperative federalism and administrative decentralisation through joint central-state funding structures, state health agency execution, and public-private empanelment models.

UPSC evaluates this initiative under GS Paper II within the framework of governance, social justice, and health sector interventions. Questions typically focus on its structural efficacy in achieving Universal Health Coverage, the systemic shift from supply-side to demand-side financing, and operational bottlenecks such as regional infrastructure imbalances. Candidates are expected to offer analytical perspectives on strengthening primary care referral linkages, federal coordination, and private sector regulatory oversight.

• Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections GS2
• Government policies and interventions GS2
• Social Sector/Services: health, education, human resources GS2

• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao
• Blue Revolution
• Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY)
• Green Revolution – Krishonnati Yojana
• Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Cooperation
• Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Marketing
• MGNREGA
• Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture
• National Food Security Mission
• National Health Mission
• National Livestock Mission
• National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture
• National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm
• National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture
• National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM)
• National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP)
• National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM)
• Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana
• PMAY
• Poshan Abhiyaan
• Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)
• Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana
• Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY)
• Price Stabilization Fund
• Rashtriya Gokul Mission
• Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan
• Skill India Mission
• Soil Health Card Scheme