IS THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CENTRALLY SPONSORED SCHEMES AFFECTED BY A DIVERGING LOCAL ENGINE? A CASE STUDY OF THE PRADHAN MANTRI JAN AROGYA YOJNA

In the past few years, significant media coverage in India has been given to the double engine hypothesis: the hypothesis that a common ruling party between the centre and the state favours economic growth through increased efficiency in the execution of central policies. This claim has formed a key promise in election campaigns too. The claim has been the subject of debate: while to some, it is logically coherent, to others it is simplistic and ignores nuances local needs (Kumar, 2019) (Leivon& Deb, 2022) (Tewari, 2025). An example of a recent, and important, central scheme is the Ayushmaan Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (henceforth referred to as the AB-PMJAY or PMJAY scheme) (National Health Authority of India, 2025). Health insurance policies such as this present an ideal case study. Theseare political big-tickets whose execution is highly dependent on higher-level funding allocation and approvals, as well as on-the-ground outreach and execution.The author came across this issue based on interviews of volunteers who help senior citizens register for the scheme. A large number ofthose volunteers independently pointed to the single engine challenge: they claimed that citizens from a state whose government was from a different party than the ruling party at the center, faced various bureaucratic hurdles that directly or indirectly undermined the central governments promises of universally accessible health insurance (source: survey performed by author).