The Gujarat government's Information Department stands embarrassed for first having added a column on caste in the 'MAA Amrutam Cards' for journalists and then withdrawing it in haste following a campaign by Ashutosh Pandiya of Gujarati News Service (GNS). The Mukhyamanti Amrutum Yojna (MAA) is an initiative of the state government's health and family welfare department. In the state budget session 2017, it was announced that the scheme would be extended to accredited journalists also. But the addition of a caste column in the application form took state journalists by surprise who were made to wonder whether they could avail of the health scheme on the basis of their accreditation or cast.