Hindi English Translation || Editorial || More, and less: On Budget 2026 and health-care spending

More, and less: On Budget 2026 and health-care spending

The health-care component of Budget 2026 is a mixed bag

While this year’s health-care allocations (आवंटन, नियत राशि) are aggressive (आक्रामक, ज़ोरदार) in certain key sectors, it has failed expectations (अपेक्षा, उम्मीद) that Budget 2026 would be a milestone (मील का पत्थर) for increased health-care spending as a percentage of GDP (सकल घरेलू उत्पाद). The total allocation this year is over ₹1.05 lakh crore, marking an increase of about 10% over the previous year’s revised estimates (संशोधित अनुमान). However, experts have pointed out that the 2026 health budget is approximately 1.9% of the total government expenditure, and about 0.26% of GDP. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman fronted the Biopharma SHAKTI scheme (बायोफार्मा शक्ति योजना), among the projects with the single highest budgetary allocations this year. This ₹10,000 crore government initiative will transform India into a manufacturing hub (केंद्र, गतिविधि का मुख्य स्थान) for biologics (जैविक दवाएं, जैविक उत्पाद) and biosimilars (जैव-समान दवा, समरूप जैविक दवा) over the next five years, she said. A pan-country clinical state-of-the-art (अत्याधुनिक, उन्नत) trial infrastructure (बुनियादी ढांचा, आधारभूत संरचना) will also be created, through a network of 1,000 accredited (मान्यता प्राप्त, प्रमाणित) clinical trial (a research study using human subjects to evaluate biomedical or health-related outcomes) sites. No doubt, this will take care of an angle (दृष्टिकोण, पहलू) that has long been languishing (declining, weakening, dwindling, flagging, deteriorating) in India — research and development. Additionally, the government will set up three new National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) (it is the first national level institute in pharmaceutical sciences with a proclaimed objective of becoming a centre of excellence for advanced studies and research in pharmaceutical sciences. The Government of India has declared NIPER as an ‘Institute of National Importance’. It is an autonomous body set up under the aegis of Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India) and modernise seven existing units, besides (in addition to, apart from, furthermore, moreover) establishing a second NIMHANS campus in north India and two upgraded national mental health institutes. The government has set itself a target of training one lakh allied health professionals over the next five years, while another 1.5 lakh care workers will also be trained to take care of the health needs of the elderly; this is appreciable at a time when India is well on its way towards becoming a grey nation (a country with a high proportion of elderly people due to declining fertility and increasing life expectancy), with fertility (reproductiveness, productiveness) levels falling. In the area of making care affordable (reasonably priced, inexpensive, economical, within one’s means), the government has exempted (exclude) 17 cancer medicines and several treatments for rare diseases from customs and import duties, while also reducing the tax collected at source (at the place where something comes from; at the point of origin) on medical and educational remittances (payment, allowance, money) from 5% to 2%. For patients suffering from these conditions, and their families, this will no doubt lead to (cause, result in, give rise to, bring about) better affordability (the capacity to afford the cost/price of something) for treatments.

Primarily (mainly, chiefly, largely) under fire was the Union government’s stodgy (boring, dull, uninteresting) refusal to increase the allocation for health care to reach 2.5% of GDP by 2025, as committed in the National Health Policy of 2017 (the primary aim of the National Health Policy, 2017, is to inform, clarify, strengthen and prioritize the role of the Government in shaping health systems in all its dimensions- investments in health, organization of healthcare services, prevention of diseases and promotion of good health through cross sectoral actions, access to technologies, developing human resources, encouraging medical pluralism, building knowledge base, developing better financial protection strategies, strengthening regulation and health assurance). Public health (public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities through education, policy-making, and research for disease and injury prevention) activists have lambasted (criticize harshly, attack strongly, condemn) the drop (fall, decline, decrease, reduction) in funding for the National Health Mission (It was launched by the government of India in 2013 subsuming the National Rural Health Mission and National Urban Health Mission. The NHM envisages achievement of universal access to equitable, affordable & quality health care services that are accountable and responsive to people’s needs), despite the fact that (used to refer to a specific situation under consideration/discussion) funds have been consistently well utilised here. While fiscal (financial, budgetary) devolution has enabled States to invest more heavily in the health sector, there are concerns, however, that the Centre steadily reducing its share will result in patchy (irregular, uneven, inconsistent) outcomes (result, end-result, consequence, effect, after-effect), not even improvements, in the health-care sector of the country.

Courtesy: The Hindu

Important Word List With Meaning

1.allocation (noun)

Hindi Meaning - आवंटन, नियत राशि
English Meaning - allotment, granting, distribution, doling out, budgeting, earmarking, setting aside (especially of money that is given to a particular purpose).

2.aggressive (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - आक्रामक, ज़ोरदार
English Meaning - assertive, forceful, competitive, vigorous, insistent, dynamic.

3.expectation (noun)

Hindi Meaning - अपेक्षा, उम्मीद
English Meaning - prediction, estimation, calculation, reckoning, forecast.

4.milestone (noun)

Hindi Meaning - मील का पत्थर
English Meaning - a very significant stage or event in the development of something or someone.

5.Gross domestic product (GDP) (noun)

Hindi Meaning - सकल घरेलू उत्पाद
English Meaning - a measure of economic activity in a country. It is the total value of a country’s annual output of goods and service.

6.Budget Estimates (BE) (noun)

Hindi Meaning - बजट अनुमान
English Meaning - Amount of money allocated in the Budget to any ministry or scheme for the coming financial year.

7.Revised Estimates (RE) (noun)

Hindi Meaning - संशोधित अनुमान
English Meaning - Revised Estimates are mid-year review of possible expenditure, taking into account the rest of expenditure, New Services and New instrument of Services etc.

8.angle (noun)

Hindi Meaning - दृष्टिकोण, पहलू
English Meaning - perspective, point of view, viewpoint.

9.Biopharma SHAKTI scheme (noun)

Hindi Meaning - बायोफार्मा शक्ति योजना
English Meaning - It is aimed at making India a global biopharma manufacturing hub with an allocation of ₹10,000 crore over the next five years.

10.hub (noun)

Hindi Meaning - केंद्र, गतिविधि का मुख्य स्थान
English Meaning - centre of activity / focal point / core.

11.biologics (noun)

Hindi Meaning - जैविक दवाएं, जैविक उत्पाद
English Meaning - biological medicines/drugs; they contain active substances from a biological source, such as living cells or organisms (human, animals and microorganisms such as bacteria or yeast) and are often produced by cutting-edge technology.

12.biosimilar (noun)

Hindi Meaning - जैव-समान दवा, समरूप जैविक दवा
English Meaning - it is a biologic drug that is highly similar to a biologic drug that was already authorized for sale. There are no expected clinically meaningful differences in efficacy and safety between a biosimilar and the biologic drug that was already authorized for sale (known as the reference biologic drug).

13.state-of-the-art (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - अत्याधुनिक, उन्नत
English Meaning - advanced, cutting-edge, innovational, pioneering, pathbreaking.

14.infrastructure (noun)

Hindi Meaning - बुनियादी ढांचा, आधारभूत संरचना
English Meaning - the basic physical or organizational structure or framework that a country or organization needs in order to function properly. For a whole nation, it includes all the physical systems such as buildings, roads & railways networks, utilities, etc.

15.accredited (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - मान्यता प्राप्त, प्रमाणित
English Meaning - officially recognized or authorized.

16.government/public expenditure (noun)

English Meaning - government spending; state spending.

17.mixed bag (noun)

English Meaning - collection of diverse elements (win, victory & defeat, loss).

18.pan- (combining form/prefix)

English Meaning - all-inclusive; of everything, all.

19.front (verb)

English Meaning - present.

20.clinical trial (noun)

English Meaning - a research study using human subjects to evaluate biomedical or health-related outcomes.

21.languishing (adjective)

English Meaning - declining, weakening, dwindling, flagging, deteriorating.

22.National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) (noun)

English Meaning - it is the first national level institute in pharmaceutical sciences with a proclaimed objective of becoming a centre of excellence for advanced studies and research in pharmaceutical sciences. The Government of India has declared NIPER as an ‘Institute of National Importance’. It is an autonomous body set up under the aegis of Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India

23.besides (preposition/adverb)

English Meaning - in addition to, apart from, furthermore, moreover.

24.establish (verb)

English Meaning - set up, found, create, institute.

25.National Institute for Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) (noun)

English Meaning - National institute of mental health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru is a world-renowned centre of excellence in the realm of mental health and neurosciences.

26.allied health professionals (AHPs) (noun)

English Meaning - a diverse group of health care workers who provide necessary services to patients in addition to services provided by physicians/doctors and nurses. Allied health professionals comprises nearly 60% of the heath care workforce. People working in these roles may perform diverse responsibilities from laboratory testing, interact with patients, provide emergency medicine, or administrative work.

27.on one’s way (phrase)

English Meaning - about to happen, approaching, nearing, proceeding, en route.

28.grey nation (noun phrase)

English Meaning - a country with a high proportion of elderly people due to declining fertility and increasing life expectancy.

29.total fertility rate (TFR) (noun)

English Meaning - the average number of children a woman would give birth to during her lifetime if she were to pass through her childbearing years (15-49 years) experiencing the present day age-specific fertility rates.

30.fertility (noun)

English Meaning - reproductiveness, productiveness.

31.affordable (adjective)

English Meaning - reasonably priced, inexpensive, economical, within one’s means.

32.exempt (verb)

English Meaning - exclude.

33.at source (phrase)

English Meaning - at the place where something comes from; at the point of origin.

34.remittance (noun)

English Meaning - payment, allowance, money.

35.lead to (verb)

English Meaning - cause, result in, give rise to, bring about.

36.affordability (noun)

English Meaning - the capacity to afford the cost/price of something.

37.primarily (adverb)

English Meaning - mainly, chiefly, largely

38.under fire (phrase)

English Meaning - strongly criticized, attacked verbally

39.stodgy (adjective)

English Meaning - boring, dull, uninteresting.

40.National Health Policy (NHP) 2017 (noun)

English Meaning - the primary aim of the National Health Policy, 2017, is to inform, clarify, strengthen and prioritize the role of the Government in shaping health systems in all its dimensions- investments in health, organization of healthcare services, prevention of diseases and promotion of good health through cross sectoral actions, access to technologies, developing human resources, encouraging medical pluralism, building knowledge base, developing better financial protection strategies, strengthening regulation and health assurance.

41.public health (noun)

English Meaning - public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities through education, policy-making, and research for disease and injury prevention.

42.activist (noun)

English Meaning - a person who supports a political change or cause; (or societal change/cause).

43.lambast (verb)

English Meaning - criticize harshly, attack strongly, condemn.

44.drop (noun)

English Meaning - fall, decline, decrease, reduction.

45.National Health Mission (NHM) (noun)

English Meaning - It was launched by the government of India in 2013 subsuming the National Rural Health Mission and National Urban Health Mission. The NHM envisages achievement of universal access to equitable, affordable & quality health care services that are accountable and responsive to people’s needs.

46.the fact that (phrase)

English Meaning - used to refer to a specific situation under consideration/discussion.

47.fiscal (adjective)

English Meaning - financial, budgetary.

48.devolution (noun)

English Meaning - decentralization, delegation, distribution.

49.fiscal devolution/fiscal decentralization (noun)

English Meaning - it is the transfer of expenditure and revenue responsibilities from higher levels of the government (the Union Government in the case of India) to lower levels of the government (the state and the Local Governments [LGs] in the case of India).

50.patchy (adjective)

English Meaning - irregular, uneven, inconsistent.

51.outcome (noun)

English Meaning - result, end-result, consequence, effect, after-effect.