Why in news?

Draft rules issued by the Department of Atomic Energy under the SHANTI Act could give Russia a significant advantage in India's nuclear sector, particularly in the emerging field of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs).

What’s in Today’s Article?

• The Key Rule That Could Favour Russia
• What Are SMRs?
• Russia's Global SMR Lead
• Cost Advantage for Russian Reactors

The Key Rule That Could Favour Russia

• The draft SHANTI rules mandate that foreign nuclear technology imported for use in India:
  • must have its design certified or approved by the regulatory body in its country of origin, and
  • must already be operational there or in another foreign country.
• This "already operational" requirement is significant because very few global SMR designs currently meet this bar — giving an edge to countries with proven, running reactors.

What Are SMRs?

• Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are advanced nuclear reactors with about a third of the generating capacity of conventional nuclear plants, yet capable of producing substantial low-carbon electricity.
• They are particularly suited to remote regions with limited grid infrastructure and to localised industrial applications.

Russia's Global SMR Lead

• Currently, only two SMR projects are operational worldwide:
  • Russia's Akademik Lomonosov floating power unit (two 35 MWe modules), commercially operational since May 2020 — the world's northernmost nuclear power plant, based in Pevek, Russia.
  • China's HTR-PM demonstration project, grid-connected in December 2021 and commercially operational since December 2023.
• Other global SMR developers — Holtec International, Rolls-Royce SMR, NuScale's VOYGR, Westinghouse's AP300, and GE-Hitachi's BWRX-300 — remain in the design certification stage, with none yet operational.
• Under the draft SHANTI rules, this could disqualify them from entering India's market in the near term.
• Russia is the only country in the world with proven expertise in floating nuclear power solutions, having presented India with details of this technology in April 2024.

Russia's Broader Nuclear Push in India

• The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) in Tamil Nadu — India's largest nuclear power station – is a flagship India-Russia nuclear cooperation project.
  • KKNPP Units 1 and 2 (VVER-1000 reactors) were connected to the grid in 2013 and 2016 respectively.
    • A VVER-1000 is a 1,000 MWe Russian-designed pressurized water reactor (PWR) where ordinary water acts as both coolant and neutron moderator.
  • The project envisions six units with a total installed capacity of 6,000 MWe.
• Russia is pushing for serial construction of new-generation VVER-1200 reactors in India, alongside its SMR proposals.

Cost Advantage for Russian Reactors

• Light Water Reactors (LWRs) offered by French and US firms are significantly costlier than India's indigenous Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs).
• Russian reactors are only marginally more expensive than Indian PHWRs, while remaining cheaper than Western LWR alternatives:
  • Indigenous PHWRs: ~Rs 18 crore per MW-electric.
  • Russian reactors: ~Rs 34 crore per MW-electric.
• As per the World Nuclear Association, capital costs account for at least 60% of the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) from nuclear plants, making upfront cost and financing terms critical factors — an area where Russia currently holds an edge over Western competitors.

Conclusion

As India expands its nuclear ambitions through the SHANTI Act framework, the "proven and operational" technology requirement — combined with Russia's existing SMR expertise and cost competitiveness — positions Moscow favourably over Western players.

This could shape the geopolitics of India's clean energy transition, reinforcing Russia's role as a key nuclear partner even as India pursues technological diversification.

Why in news?

Parliament passed the Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2026 — introduced in Lok Sabha on August 10, 2026, and passed by both Houses within two days.

The Bill repeals the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021, and seeks to restructure tribunal governance in line with Supreme Court directions, ending a near-decade-long confrontation between the judiciary and the executive.

Tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies set up to provide swift, specialised resolution of disputes and to reduce the caseload of regular courts.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Background: A Decade of Government-Judiciary Conflict
• The Supreme Court's 2025 Verdict
• Key Provisions of the Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2026
• Does the Bill Fully Insulate Tribunals from the Executive?
• Conclusion

Background: A Decade of Government-Judiciary Conflict

• 2017: The Finance Act empowered the Centre to frame rules governing tribunal appointments and service conditions.
• 2019: In the Rojer Mathew case, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court struck down these rules for undermining judicial independence.
• 2020: When the Centre notified fresh rules, the Supreme Court suggested modifications, including a five-year tenure for members.
• 2021: Instead of accepting these suggestions, the Centre promulgated an Ordinance fixing tenure at four years, setting a minimum appointment age of 50, and requiring selection committees to give the government a panel of two names to choose from.
• After the Supreme Court struck down these provisions as arbitrary, Parliament re-enacted the same provisions through the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 — effectively overriding the Court's ruling.

The Supreme Court's 2025 Verdict

• In November 2025, a two-judge Bench struck down the 2021 Act's provisions, terming their re-enactment an "impermissible legislative override" of earlier judgments.
• The Court criticised the government for repeatedly reopening settled constitutional debates instead of implementing its rulings.
• It held that a four-year tenure was "anti-merit" and increased executive interference, jeopardising judicial independence.
• It also held that a two-name panel gave the executive undue discretion in appointments.
• The judgment reiterated the need for a National Tribunals Commission and directed the Centre to set one up within four months, while protecting certain existing appointments in the interim.
• By December 2022, chronic vacancies had left several tribunals "virtually defunct" — for instance, the National Company Law Tribunal had 24 vacancies against a sanctioned strength of 32, and the Armed Forces Tribunal had 24 vacancies against 34.

Key Provisions of the Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2026

• National Tribunals Commission
  • The Bill establishes a National Tribunals Commission to:
    • Conduct the selection process for filling tribunal vacancies.
    • Review the performance of tribunals.
    • Oversee inquiries into complaints against chairpersons or members.
    • Develop and maintain a National Tribunals Data Grid.
• Composition of the Commission
• A chairperson (a former Supreme Court judge or High Court Chief Justice), two judicial members, and two technical members with at least 25 years' experience in relevant fields.
• Term of five years or till age 70, whichever is earlier.
• The chairperson and judicial members are appointed by the central government after consultation with the Chief Justice of India.
• Selection Process for Tribunals
  • A search-cum-selection committee, headed by a Commission member, will include a retired High Court judge, a government secretary, a technical member, and experts.
  • For each vacancy, the committee will recommend one name, with one additional name on a waiting list — a significant shift from the 2021 framework's two-name panel system.
  • The government must make the appointment within three months of receiving the recommendation.
• Tenure and Removal
  • Tribunal chairpersons and members will serve five-year terms, with age limits of 70 years (chairpersons) and 67 years (members).
  • Grounds for removal include insolvency, conviction involving moral turpitude, incapacity, abuse of position, incompetence, or engaging in paid assignments outside office.

Does the Bill Fully Insulate Tribunals from the Executive?

• Not entirely. While the Bill addresses the Supreme Court's core concerns on tenure and appointment discretion, the Centre still:
  • Appoints the Commission's chairperson, members, and secretary.
  • Provides funding/grants to the Commission.
  • Retains rule-making powers over qualifications, service conditions, salaries, and removal procedures.

Conclusion

The Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2026 marks a significant course correction, aligning tribunal governance with Supreme Court mandates on tenure and merit-based appointments.

However, by retaining control over funding, rule-making, and key appointments, the Centre ensures its administrative footprint persists — meaning the underlying tension between executive oversight and judicial independence may not be fully resolved.

Context:

• The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) recently directed the non-renewal of contracts of Legal Aid Defence Counsels (LADCs) engaged by legal services institutions across India.
• The move followed representations from Bar Associations in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, which argued that LADCs were creating a “parallel criminal bar”.
• This affects advocates’ livelihoods and potentially undermines the independence of the legal profession.
• However, the issue must be assessed primarily from the perspective of access to justice, fair trial and the constitutional right to legal aid, rather than only professional competition.

What is the LADC System?

• It is a Central Sector Scheme that provides an institutional model of public defence aimed at providing competent and dedicated legal representation to accused persons who cannot afford private lawyers.
• Officially launched by the NALSA, it aims to provide legal aid with regard to criminal cases only under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.
• Unlike the traditional system, where individual private advocates are empanelled for legal-aid work, LADCs function within a more structured framework with -
  • Dedicated defence lawyers;
  • Institutional supervision and accountability;
  • Greater continuity in handling cases;
  • Focus on criminal defence, including bail, remand, trials and appeals.
• The system seeks to make legal aid a meaningful component of the right to a fair trial, rather than merely a formal entitlement.

Is LADC Really Threatening Private Criminal Practice?

• Available data suggests otherwise. According to the NALSA dashboard, 4,86,354 cases were assigned to LADCs during 2025-26, including 1,88,878 bail cases.
• In contrast, the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) indicates that around 24.68 lakh criminal cases were instituted in a single month, translating roughly into 2.96 crore cases annually.
• LADC-assigned cases therefore constitute only about 1.6% of annual criminal cases instituted.
• This raises an important question: Can such a limited share realistically constitute a major threat to private criminal practice?
• The concern also overlooks the possibility that a stronger public defence system could raise professional standards across the criminal justice system rather than undermine private lawyers.

Why LADCs Have Gained Importance?

• The popularity of LADCs is partly attributed to their dedicated approach.
• Many undertake - Prompt appearances during production and remand hearings; timely filing of applications and petitions; challenges to violations of procedural safeguards; and protection of the accused’s legal and constitutional rights.
• By comparison, the traditional assigned-counsel model has faced criticism over missed hearings, delayed applications and inadequate engagement, besides concerns regarding state-paid fees.
• Thus, instead of viewing competent legal aid as competition, the legal profession could treat it as an opportunity for professional introspection and improvement.

The Problem with the Interim Alternative:

• The proposed/interim arrangement of assigning legal-aid cases to young lawyers raises another concern: experience matters in criminal defence.
• Effective defence requires expertise in case preparation and evidence assessment; bail and remand proceedings; cross-examination; trial strategy; criminal procedure; and navigating the wider criminal justice system.
• While young advocates need opportunities to develop, economically vulnerable accused persons should not become a testing ground for inexperienced lawyers.
• Legal aid must guarantee quality representation, not merely representation.

Need for Evidence-Based Reform:

• The strongest argument against abruptly discontinuing or stalling the LADC system is the absence of a comprehensive national assessment of its performance.
• Before dismantling or substantially altering a statutory scheme, authorities should examine -
  • Its impact on quality of legal representation;
  • Case outcomes and procedural compliance;
  • Client satisfaction and accessibility;
  • Effectiveness of institutional supervision;
  • Impact on pending criminal cases;
  • Whether LADCs complement or genuinely displace private legal practice.
• Article 39A of the Constitution directs the State to ensure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on the basis of equal opportunity and provides free legal aid.
• The Supreme Court has also recognised free legal aid as integral to a fair procedure under Article 21.

Way Forward:

• The debate should not be framed as LADCs versus private lawyers.
• The central question is whether India can guarantee effective, competent and accountable criminal defence to every accused, irrespective of economic status.
• NALSA should undertake an independent national performance evaluation before making structural changes.
• The system can be improved through professional standards, training, performance audits and clear accountability mechanisms.

Conclusion:

• The LADC experiment represents an important shift from nominal legal aid to institutionalised public defence.
• If dedicated lawyers, institutional oversight and accountability have improved the quality of representation, the appropriate response is to strengthen and refine the model, not dismantle it without evidence.
• A mature justice system must balance the legitimate interests of the legal profession with the more fundamental constitutional commitment to access to justice, equality before law and the accused’s right to a fair trial.

Why in the News?

• A recent analysis examines the prolonged decline in corporate investment as a share of GDP in India and argues that weak demand expectations, profitability and differences in access to credit across firms are more important than simply reducing interest rates or corporate taxes.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Corporate Investment (Background, Trend, Factors Determining Investment, Why Firm Size Matters, etc.)

Corporate Investment in India

• Corporate investment refers to expenditure by businesses on productive assets such as factories, machinery, equipment, technology and other forms of fixed capital.
• It is an important driver of economic growth because it expands productive capacity, creates employment and can improve productivity.
• A recently conducted study examines corporate investment through the lens of manufacturing firms and asks why private investment has remained subdued despite measures such as corporate tax cuts and a relatively low-interest-rate environment.

Trend in Corporate Investment

• According to the analysis, corporate investment as a share of GDP experienced a major increase in 2004, rising from 6.5% to 10.3% in a single year. It subsequently increased during India's high-growth period.
• Investment declined during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) but later began recovering. This revival continued until demonetisation in 2016, after which corporate investment entered a prolonged decline.
• The study highlights that the decline after demonetisation is particularly significant because, unlike the Global Financial Crisis, which originated from an external global shock, demonetisation was a domestic policy shock.
• The analysis also notes that investment had already begun declining before the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that the pandemic alone cannot explain the prolonged weakness.

What Determines Corporate Investment?

• There are three major factors influencing a firm's decision to invest in a new factory or other productive assets.
• Expected Profitability
  • A firm will invest when it expects the additional productive capacity to generate sufficient profits.
  • Economies of scale mean that larger factories and equipment can often generate higher profit rates than smaller investments. However, every firm also faces a limit to how much it can sell.
  • Once productive capacity exceeds potential demand, additional investment may remain underutilised.
  • Therefore, investment depends not simply on whether a firm can build a factory, but on whether it expects sufficient future demand and profitability from that factory.
• Confidence in Future Returns
  • Investment involves a long time horizon. A factory may operate for decades, meaning firms must form expectations about future demand, profits and government policy.
  • The study uses Keynes's concept of "animal spirits" to describe this confidence.
  • When businesses are optimistic, expected profitability increases and firms are more willing to invest. When businesses become pessimistic, their expected profitability falls, reducing investment.
  • The authors argue that demonetisation affected investment not only by reducing immediate profitability but also by weakening confidence in future economic and policy conditions.
• Cost of Credit
  • Interest rates matter in two ways.
  • First, a firm compares the expected profitability of an investment with the return it could obtain by simply holding interest-bearing assets.
  • Investment therefore becomes attractive when expected profitability exceeds the relevant market interest rate.
  • Second, firms that need to borrow to finance investment face a direct cost of credit.
  • However, the importance of interest rates differs according to firm size.

Why Firm Size Matters?

• The analysis distinguishes between small, medium and large firms because their investment constraints are different.
• The authors compiled a balanced panel dataset of listed manufacturing firms between 2000 and 2024 using the Prowess database and categorised firms into three size groups.
• The analysis finds a clear asymmetry:

• Smaller firms: Lower profitability and higher interest costs.
• Larger firms: Higher profitability and lower interest costs.

• This difference has important implications for investment policy.
• Smaller Firms Are More Credit-Constrained
  • Smaller firms generally have less internal capital. Consequently, they need to depend more heavily on external borrowing to finance investment.
  • As borrowing increases, the cost of credit can rise because lenders perceive greater risk. This reflects what economist Michal Kalecki described through the principle of increasing risk.
  • Therefore, even when a small and large firm have access to similar technology, the smaller firm may face a significantly higher financing constraint.
• Large Firms Are More Demand-Constrained
  • Large firms typically possess greater internal capital and therefore face less severe financing constraints.
  • However, they may already have sufficient productive capacity relative to the market they can serve. Their investment is therefore constrained more by demand and expected sales than by the availability of credit.
  • This produces an important asymmetry:
    • Small firms are more likely to be constrained by finance, while large firms are more likely to be constrained by demand.

Why Lower Interest Rates May Not Be Enough?

• The study argues that this distinction helps explain why conventional cost-side measures have not produced a strong investment response.
• India reduced the corporate tax rate from 30% to 22% in 2018, while the Reserve Bank of India also maintained a relatively low-interest-rate environment for a period.
• Yet corporate investment did not experience a corresponding revival.
• The study argues that reducing interest rates may not substantially increase investment among smaller firms because their fundamental constraint may be access to credit and insufficient internal capital, rather than simply the headline interest rate.
• For large firms, lower interest rates may have an even smaller effect because these firms are primarily constrained by market demand rather than financing costs.
• Similarly, tax cuts may increase post-tax profitability but may not induce investment if firms do not expect sufficient demand for additional output.

What Could Revive Corporate Investment?

• The analysis argues that policies should focus on shifting the profitability curve outward rather than relying primarily on cost-side interventions.
• The proposed mechanism is stronger autonomous government expenditure.
• Government expenditure can create additional demand for goods and services. Higher demand can improve firms' expectations regarding future sales and profitability, encouraging both small and large firms to invest.
• Such expenditure can therefore influence investment through the demand channel, rather than merely reducing the cost of financing.

Conclusion

• The prolonged weakness of corporate investment in India cannot be explained by interest rates alone.
• The analysis highlights a fundamental difference between firms: smaller firms face greater financing constraints, while larger firms are more constrained by demand.
• This means that policies such as lower interest rates or corporate tax cuts may have limited effects when businesses lack confidence in future demand.
• The authors therefore argue that stronger demand creation through government expenditure could play a more important role in reviving private investment and generating employment.

Context

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the nature of work, creating uncertainty about the skills required in the near future.
• The crucial challenge is not merely adapting technology but preparing young people for AI-driven changes in employment.
• As automation increasingly performs routine cognitive and physical tasks, India must shift from an education system focused on accumulating information to one that develops expertise, judgement, adaptability and continuous learning.

The AI-Driven Overhaul of Work

• Intelligent agents can make even sophisticated tasks routine, reducing the demand for large numbers of employees while increasing the importance of human oversight and specialised expertise.
• The transformation will extend to manufacturing and sectors where India has significant strengths.
• In pharmaceuticals, AI is reshaping molecule screening and formulation, while robotics and machine vision can undertake synthesis and quality control.
• Vaccine development can benefit from AI-assisted antigen design and immune-response prediction.
• Automated bioreactors, fill-finish systems and AI-managed logistics can further make production faster, cleaner and more precise.
• Consequently, companies may prosper while their workforce structures change dramatically.
• Entry-level jobs are particularly vulnerable, as many tasks traditionally assigned to inexperienced workers can be automated.

The Limits of the Traditional Education Model

• Earlier technological revolutions were addressed largely by expanding education, from basic literacy and schooling to higher and professional education.
• The assumption was that workers needed to acquire increasingly large amounts of knowledge before entering employment.
• AI challenges this model. When information can be retrieved and processed instantly, memorising ever-growing quantities of information becomes less valuable.
• What matters increasingly is knowing what requires deep understanding, what can be retrieved when necessary, and how to learn unfamiliar concepts quickly.
• Therefore, simply adding more subjects, content and qualifications will not prepare students for an unpredictable labour market.
• Education must move from knowledge accumulation to knowledge application. 

Transforming the Purpose of Education

• Education must teach selectively while creating greater opportunities for learning and application. This does not mean lowering standards.
• Instead, academic rigour must focus on selection, synthesis, judgement, problem-solving and
• Students should regularly confront problems whose answers are not available in textbooks or syllabi.
• They should learn to identify what they need to know, locate reliable knowledge, evaluate alternatives and apply information intelligently.
• Such an approach can strengthen capabilities that remain difficult to automate, including critical thinking, contextual understanding, ethical judgement, creativity and adaptability.

Bridging Education and Real-World Practice

• The most effective way to develop expertise is apprenticeship, learning directly from experienced practitioners while solving genuine problems.
• Although one-to-one apprenticeship cannot be offered universally, higher education can create institutional alternatives.
• The four-year undergraduate structure under the National Education Policy provides an opportunity through its research-oriented final year.
• However, residual coursework can limit meaningful practical exposure.
• Universities should allow essential coursework to be completed online while enabling students to spend substantial periods embedded in industry, university laboratories or national research institutions.
• Working alongside experienced professionals would expose students to uncertainty, experimentation and problems without predetermined solutions.
• Such experience would teach students not simply what is known, but how to acquire and apply knowledge when the required answer is unavailable.

The Need for a New Learning Culture

• The challenge is cultural as well as institutional. Students must become comfortable with uncertainty and continuous learning.
• Education should ask not only whether students know the correct answer but whether they can identify problems, acquire relevant knowledge, evaluate evidence and make sound decisions.
• Degrees alone may become insufficient if graduates lack practical competence. Learning by doing can provide both domain expertise and confidence to navigate unfamiliar situations.

The Way Forward

• India's education system should prioritise:
  • Reducing unnecessary curricular overload while strengthening foundational and conceptual knowledge.
  • Expanding experiential learning through apprenticeships, internships, research and industry collaboration.
  • Introducing problems beyond the syllabus to develop independent thinking and adaptability.
  • Building AI literacy so students understand both AI's capabilities and limitations.
  • Promoting lifelong learning to enable workers to continuously acquire new skills.
• The objective should be to produce graduates capable of learning, adapting and exercising judgement throughout their careers, rather than merely possessing predetermined information.

Conclusion

• India must combine foundational knowledge with practical experience, research, apprenticeship and continuous learning.
• The aim should not be to compete with machines in storing information or performing predictable tasks, but to develop individuals capable of asking meaningful questions, exercising judgement, acquiring new knowledge and solving unfamiliar problems.
• In an AI-driven economy, the ability to learn, unlearn and adapt may become the most valuable qualification of all.

Context

• The transition from MGNREGA to the VB-G RAM G was presented as an effort to strengthen rural employment and livelihood security.
• However, its initial implementation has produced a sharp decline in employment generation.
• The crisis raises serious concerns about policy preparedness, administrative capacity, implementation mechanisms, and livelihood security.
• Instead of expanding employment as anticipated, the new system has begun with an unprecedented contraction in work opportunities.

The Scale of the Employment Crisis

• Sharp Decline in July Employment
  • Employment generation under VB-G RAM G in July 2026 was initially estimated to have fallen by around 50% compared with July 2025.
  • Even revised estimates suggest a decline of more than 40%, making the setback exceptionally severe.
• Collapse During the First Four Months
  • The crisis is not limited to July. During April-July, MGNREGA traditionally generated nearly half of its annual employment.
  • While the corresponding periods of 2024-25 and 2025-26 produced 128 crore and 119 crore person-days, respectively, only 70 crore person-days were generated under MGNREGA and VB-G RAM G in 2026-27.
  • This represents a decline of approximately 43%, demonstrating that the problem is structural rather than a temporary monthly fluctuation.
• 

Why the Official Explanation Falls Short?

• The State Suspension Argument
  • The Ministry of Rural Development attributed part of the July decline to temporary suspension of VB-G RAM G in some States under Section 6 of the Act.
  • However, these States account for only a limited share of overall employment.
• A Deeper and Earlier Crisis
  • The decline remains substantial even when these States are excluded. More importantly, employment had already fallen sharply during April-June.
  • The July figures therefore represent a continuation of an existing crisis rather than an isolated consequence of State-level suspensions.

Administrative Problems in the Transition

• A Delayed Implementation
  • The replacement of MGNREGA was announced for April 1, 2026, but the new system was not ready.
  • The necessary Rules had not been finalised, forcing MGNREGA to continue amid considerable uncertainty.
• Last-Minute Rule-Making
  • Draft VB-G RAM G Rules were released only on May 22, while final Rules began emerging at the end of June.
  • Wage rates were notified on June 30, just one day before the programme was officially scheduled to replace MGNREGA.
  • This sequence reveals a serious gap between policy announcement and administrative preparedness.

Ground-Level Impact on Rural Workers

• Disruption of Public Employment
  • The April-June period is especially important because it coincides with a slack agricultural season in many parts of India.
  • Yet, in several districts, officials reportedly hesitated to open new works, while employment opportunities disappeared altogether in some areas.
• Uneven but Severe State-Level Decline
  • Although employment declined across all major States, the intensity varied.
  • In ten of nineteen major States, the decline ranged between 60% and 85%.
  • Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand witnessed particularly severe disruptions.
  • For poor rural households, the disappearance of employment can directly undermine income security, consumption and food security.

The Paradox of Higher Funding and Lower Employment

• Increased Financial Allocation
  • The Union Budget allocated ₹95,692 crore to VB-G RAM G for 2026-27.
  • Including State contributions, the total resources were expected to reach approximately ₹1.5 lakh crore, around 70% higher than MGNREGA expenditure in 2025-26.
• Why Has Employment Fallen?
  • A larger budget should ordinarily have supported greater employment generation, particularly when real wages remained broadly unchanged.
  • The opposite outcome points towards weaknesses in institutional capacity, programme administration and implementation.
  • Financial allocation alone cannot guarantee employment unless funds are effectively converted into actual public works and timely wage payments.

Emerging Challenges

• Digital and Technological Barriers
  • The proposed use of facial recognition at worksites could create difficulties for workers in areas affected by poor connectivity, technological limitations or inadequate digital infrastructure.
• Centre-State Cost Sharing
  • The requirement of Centre-State cost sharing may also create financial and administrative complications.
  • Differences in State capacity could lead to uneven implementation and further restrict employment opportunities in poorer regions.

The Road Ahead

• It is still too early to make a definitive judgement on VB-G RAM G.
• Administrative systems may stabilise and employment generation may recover in the coming months. However, the initial performance is deeply concerning.
• The immediate priorities should be to ensure uninterrupted availability of work, strengthen administrative preparedness, simplify implementation, protect timely wage payments and remove technological barriers that could exclude vulnerable workers.

Conclusion

• The transition from MGNREGA to VB-G RAM G demonstrates the dangers of undertaking a major policy transformation without adequate administrative preparation.
• Despite higher budgetary allocations, rural employment has experienced a dramatic decline during the programme’s initial months.
• The success of VB-G RAM G should not be measured merely by its budget or institutional design.
• Its real test is whether rural workers can obtain employment when they need it and receive their wages on time.
• Restoring this basic employment guarantee is essential for protecting rural livelihoods, income security and social protection in India.

About Medak Fort:

• It is a historic hill fort located in Medak town, Telangana.
• The fort was built during the 12th century under the reign of the Kakatiya ruler, Pratapa Rudra, and it was initially called ‘MethukuDurgam’ in Telugu.
• It served as a command post for the Kakatiyas and later for the Qutub Shahis.
• Features:
  • It has three main entrances, namely the “Prathama Dwaram”, the “SimhaDwaram” and the “GajaDwaram”.
  • The main entrance features the double-headed “Gandabherundam”, the emblem of Vijayanagara Empire built by the great ruler Srikrishna Devaraya.
  • The fort also has a 17th-century mosque on its premises built by the Qutub Shahis, as well as granaries.

About Lake Powell:

• It is a huge man-made lake located on the Colorado River and stretches across parts of Utah and Arizona in the United States.
• The lake was created by building the Glen Canyon Dam, which flooded Glen Canyon.
• It's the second-largest reservoir in the United States by volume (second only to Lake Mead).
• It is an oligotrophic reservoir, which means that nutrient concentrations and algal production are generally low. This often results in very clear-water conditions.
• The lake is also a major recreation area, known for magnificent sandstone canyons and rock formations.