The Union government has approved health coverage to everyone who is 70 and above under the national insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a statement said the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) will benefit 4.5 crore families with six crore senior citizens. The free cover is worth Rs 5 lakh and will be on a family basis.

Congress’s Rahul Gandhi, amid a torrent of criticism over remarks that have been perceived as anti-reservation, issued a clarification today, saying his party would “take reservation beyond the limit of 50 per cent”. “Yesterday someone misrepresented my statement that I am against reservation. But let me make it clear – I am not against reservation. We will take reservation beyond the limit of 50 per cent,” he said during an interview at the National Press Club in the US.

The comment that sparked controversy was made during an interaction with the students and the faculty of Georgetown University in Washington DC yesterday.

The Congress will “think of ending reservation when India is a fair place,” he said, and added, India is not a fair place at the moment
“The elephant in the room is that 90 per cent of India — OBCs, Dalits and Adivasis don’t play the game,” Mr Gandhi had said.

“Caste census is a simple exercise to know how the lower castes, backward castes and Dalits are integrated into the system…Out of the top 200 businesses in India, there is almost no ownership of 90 per cent of the population of India. In the highest courts of the country, there is almost no participation of 90 per cent of India. In media, there is zero participation of lower castes, OBCs, Dalits,” he said.

Then, explaining the idea behind the caste census, he said, “We want to understand what their social and financial position looks like…We also want to look at the Indian institutions to have a sense of India’s participation in these institutions.”

But Mr Gandhi’s comments on this and other issues had stirred a hornet’s nest back home, with the BJP accusing him of habitually making anti-national remarks abroad. This, the party said, is a more serious issue now that he is the Leader of the Opposition.

“Rahul Gandhi’s statement lays bare the Congress’s politics of causing rifts on the lines of regionalism, religion, and linguistic differences,” said Union minister Amit Shah.

“By speaking about abolishing reservations in the country, Rahul Gandhi has once again brought the Congress’s anti-reservation face to the forefront. The thoughts that were in his mind eventually found their way out as words,” he added.

“Rahul Gandhi’s statement lays bare the Congress’s politics of causing rifts on the lines of regionalism, religion, and linguistic differences. By speaking about abolishing reservations in the country, Rahul Gandhi has once again brought the Congress’s anti-reservation face to the forefront. The thoughts that were in his mind eventually found their way out as words,” he added.