Why in news?

The Madhya Pradesh government has begun restoring Buddhist monuments linked to the Mauryan emperor Ashoka, starting with a fresh excavation at Vaishya Tekri in Ujjain.

The initiative has renewed scholarly interest in Ashoka's connection to the city and raised questions about how much the site can actually confirm historically.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• The Vaishya Tekri Stupa: Scale and Earlier Findings
• Ashoka's Years in Ujjain
• Where Ashoka Met Devi?
• The Stupa and the 'Hell'
• The Fresh Excavation: Promise and Caution

The Vaishya Tekri Stupa: Scale and Earlier Findings

• According to academic Peter Skilling's 2011 paper, Vaishya Tekri — the largest stupa at the site — measures about 350 feet at its base and 100 feet high, notably larger than the 54-foot stupa at Sanchi.
• Nearby stands a smaller structure called Kumbhar (or Kumhar) Tekri; both remain relatively undisturbed, save for a power line and pylon running through the area.
• Initial excavations by the Department of Archaeology of the erstwhile Gwalior State in 1938-39 uncovered large bricks and punch-marked coins, leading archaeologists to date the structures to the Mauryan period.
• However, historians have urged caution, noting that this excavation report is decades old and its interpretation was shaped by earlier accounts — particularly Alexander Cunningham's writings on Ashoka.
• They argue that further investigation beyond the 1938-39 findings is needed before drawing firm conclusions.

Ashoka's Years in Ujjain

• Ujjayini (modern Ujjain), located on the Sipra river (a tributary of the Chambal), was the capital of the Avanti kingdom and a major commercial centre.
• Historian Romila Thapar notes that Ujjain linked trade routes to western coastal ports like Broach and Sopara, as well as to Pataliputra — Ptolemy referred to it as "Ozene."
• Ashoka was sent to Avanti as viceroy by his father, Emperor Bindusara. Unlike his brief posting in Taxila, he is believed to have spent nearly a decade in Avanti, headquartered at Ujjain — reportedly in recognition of his earlier work at Taxila.
• Historians call Ujjain the "Greenwich of India," since Hindu astronomers calculated the prime meridian of longitude from the city.
• They suggest Ashoka arrived around 282 BCE, roughly a decade before Bindusara's death, by which time Ujjain was already an urban centre with 300 years of history along the Sipra.
• Mud fortifications first appeared around Ujjain in the 7th century BCE, and by the 6th century BCE, Avanti had emerged as a powerful independent kingdom.

Where Ashoka Met Devi?

• En route to Ujjain, Ashoka stopped at Vidisha, where he met and married Vedisadevi (Devi), daughter of a local merchant — though Thapar notes historical records do not confirm a legal marriage. The couple had two children: Mahinda and Samghamitta.
• Evidence for Ashoka's Ujjain posting includes his own edicts, issued later as emperor, which mention a prince (kumara) stationed at Ujjain.
• Experts also note that Vidisha, where Ashoka met Devi, lies directly on the route from Pataliputra to Ujjain.
• However, scholars disagree on physical evidence: while Skilling considers it plausible that Ashoka erected pillars or edicts at such an important site, they point out that no Ashokan pillars have been found in Ujjain, particularly near the stupas, and that the excavations reveal little about Ujjain's political structure during Ashoka's time.

The Stupa and the 'Hell'

• Local traditions in Sri Lanka associate Vaishya Tekri with Devi — its name reportedly deriving from her merchant (Vaishya) family background.
• In contrast, Kumhar Tekri carries a starkly different association: Chinese scholar-pilgrim Xuanzang, who visited Ujjain in the 7th century, recorded a stupa marking the site where "King Ashoka made a hellish prison."
• Thapar notes that earlier excavations at Kumhar Tekri revealed a burial-cum-cremation ground dating to the 3rd century BCE, corroborating Xuanzang's account.
• About a decade into his Ujjain viceroyalty, Ashoka returned to Pataliputra after Bindusara fell critically ill — setting the stage for his subsequent, and violent, struggle for the Mauryan throne.

The Fresh Excavation: Promise and Caution

• Scholars have welcomed the government's renewed funding for excavation, noting archaeology typically receives limited financial support.
• However, they caution that the focus should extend beyond the stupa structure itself to the broader cultural landscape — drawing a parallel with Sanchi, where the ashes of Buddhist teachers were found buried in cemeteries surrounding the stupas.
• They suggest the excavation should aim to understand how the site evolved over time, including other structures and the monks associated with it, rather than treating the stupa as an isolated monument.
• Concerns have also been raised about encroaching urbanisation, with the once-rural site now bordered by an expanding industrial zone around Ujjain.

Conclusion

The Vaishya Tekri excavation offers a valuable opportunity to deepen understanding of Ashoka's decade-long Ujjain viceroyalty and early Buddhist history in Malwa.

Yet, as historians caution, the site's grand scale and evocative local traditions must be weighed against the limits of decades-old evidence — making a broader, landscape-level investigation essential for the fresh dig to yield historically reliable conclusions rather than reinforce old assumptions.

Why in news?

The Union government announced that India received foreign direct investment (FDI) worth ₹4,895.65 crore over the last few months from companies benefiting from recent relaxations to India's FDI rules.

These changes were designed to ease the flow of investments that had earlier been restricted under Press Note 3.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• About Press Note 3
• What Changed in March 2026?
• Impact So Far

About Press Note 3

• The Union government issued Press Note 3 in April 2020, amending India's FDI policy.
• Previously, entities from Bangladesh and Pakistan required prior government approval to invest in India.
• Press Note 3 extended this requirement to all countries sharing a land border with India — thereby covering Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan.
• While popular perception links this decision to the India-China border clashes at Galwan, the timeline contradicts this: Press Note 3 was issued in April 2020, a month before the Galwan clashes occurred in May 2020.
• The actual trigger was the COVID-19 pandemic — India and several other countries observed Chinese companies acquiring majority stakes in firms whose valuations had collapsed due to the pandemic.
• The rule aimed to prevent such opportunistic, hostile takeovers. The subsequent tightening and continuation of this restriction over the years was indeed shaped by the deteriorating India-China relationship.

What Changed in March 2026?

• In March 2026, the Centre eased the Press Note 3 restrictions.
• Under the revised norms, FDI from entities would be permitted through the automatic route — without requiring explicit government approval — provided these entities had less than 10% ownership stake held by investors based in land-bordering countries.
• This meant companies with minority, non-controlling stakes from these countries could now access the simpler automatic route for investment.
• The government justified this move by noting that substantial investment had been stalled because even companies with negligible Chinese ownership faced the same stringent approval requirements as those with majority Chinese control.
• The stated objective was to provide regulatory clarity, ease of doing business, and to facilitate FDI inflows, technology access, domestic value addition, and stronger integration with global supply chains.

Impact So Far

• As of August 10, 2026, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry reported that 29 FDI projects worth ₹4,895.65 crore had been received under the revised framework.
• These investments span diverse sectors — information technology, artificial intelligence, information and communication, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, data centres, and transport services.
• The investments originated from countries including Mauritius, the U.S., the Republic of Korea, Japan, Singapore, Luxembourg, and the Cayman Islands.
• While the announcement signals policy success, the scale remains modest — the reported investment amounts to less than 1% of India's total FDI inflows in 2025-26.
• However, given that the relaxation is barely months old, this is still an early indicator rather than a conclusive trend.

Conclusion

The Press Note 3 relaxation reflects India's calibrated approach to balancing security concerns over land-border-country investments with the need to ease compliance burdens and attract capital.

Although the reported FDI gains remain marginal relative to India's overall inflows, the diversity of source countries and sectors suggests the policy may unlock previously stalled investment over time — making sustained monitoring essential to assess its long-term impact.

Context

• India’s youth unemployment crisis extends beyond the number of young people unable to find work.
• PLFS 2025 places unemployment among 18–29-year-olds at 14.8%, rising to 29.4% among tertiary-educated youth, however, unemployment excludes those outside the labour force.
• The broader picture is reflected in the 40.1% NEET rate among tertiary-educated youth. Among tertiary-educated young women who are NEET, 74.7% are outside the labour force.

Beyond the Conventional Understanding of Unemployment

• Limits of the Unemployment Rate
  • Unemployment captures people who are not working but are actively seeking or available for work.
  • It does not include those who have stopped looking for employment or remain outside the labour force.
  • Consequently, conventional unemployment figures can understate the scale of youth economic exclusion, particularly among young women.
• From Individual to Household Unemployment
  • Youth joblessness is commonly associated with recruitment delays, examination paper leaks, inadequate employment opportunities and the demographic dividend.
  • Yet unemployment rarely affects only the individual.
  • Families often finance higher education and continue supporting unemployed graduates during their job search.
  • Therefore, the crucial question is not only how many young people are unemployed, but how long households can sustain their unemployment.

Economic Burden on Educated Households

• Household Investment in Education
  • Around 15.4% of Indian households have a tertiary-educated young adult aged 18–29.
  • These households generally view higher education as an investment in secure employment, upward mobility and economic security.
  • However, 20.8% of households support at least one unemployed tertiary-educated young adult, turning the expected return on education into prolonged financial dependence.
• Declining Household Consumption
  • Households with unemployed educated youth face measurable consumption pressures.
  • They spend ₹1,087 less per month overall and ₹710 less per household member than households without unemployed educated youth.
  • This demonstrates that prolonged youth unemployment can affect not only employment outcomes but also household living standards and consumption capacity.
• Weak Earning Capacity
  • The financial vulnerability of these households is further evident from their limited earning base:
    • They have only 1.5 earning members on average, compared with two in other households.
    • 14.4% have no active earning member.
    • 39.5% depend on a single earner.
    • In 62.5% of households, no member has a regular salaried job.

Prolonged Unemployment and Its Consequences

• The Duration of Job Search
  • The length of unemployment is particularly important. 58% of unemployed tertiary-educated youth have searched for work for more than one year, while 28.9% have remained unemployed for more than two years.
  • A prolonged job search can deplete savings, reduce consumption and increase dependence on family income.
• Unequal Ability to Wait
  • The capacity to wait for a suitable job is an economic privilege. Families with multiple earners may support extended job searches, while households dependent on one income face immediate financial pressure.
  • Young people from vulnerable households may therefore accept jobs below their qualifications simply to begin earning.
  • For such families, the choice is often not between a good job and a bad job, but between any job and economic insecurity.

Gender Dimension of Youth Exclusion

• The problem is particularly serious for young women. Among tertiary-educated women who are NEET, 74.7% are outside the labour force.
• This indicates that women’s exclusion is not adequately captured by unemployment statistics.
• Barriers to labour-force participation can prevent educated women from even entering the category of active jobseekers.
• It makes female labour-force participation an essential part of India’s employment debate.

Policy Challenges

• Limitations of Existing Approaches
  • Employment policy has traditionally focused on skilling, apprenticeships and hiring incentives.
  • These interventions are important, but they do not fully address the household costs of prolonged unemployment.
• Need to Reduce the Transition Period
  • Policy should pay greater attention to the duration of unemployment and the economic circumstances of households supporting young jobseekers.
  • Reducing recruitment delays, lengthy selection processes and avoidable administrative bottlenecks can shorten the transition from education to employment.
  • This would reduce both labour-market inefficiency and household financial stress.
• Creating Better Employment Pathways
  • India needs stronger pathways connecting higher education with productive employment.
  • This requires:
    • Faster and more transparent recruitment.
    • Expansion of quality employment opportunities.
    • Better alignment between education and labour-market demand.
    • Stronger apprenticeship and workplace-transition mechanisms.
    • Greater attention to women’s participation in the workforce.

Conclusion

• India’s youth unemployment crisis is fundamentally a problem of delayed economic independence, household vulnerability and unequal access to opportunities.
• Conventional unemployment rates capture only part of the challenge, while NEET figures reveal a much wider exclusion from employment, education and training.
• The demographic dividend will materialise only when India can efficiently convert its large educated youth population into productive economic participation.
• Employment policy must therefore move beyond counting unemployed individuals and recognise the families that finance prolonged job searches.

Context

• The Supreme Court’s August 20, 2026 judgment on the meaning of industry under labour law revisits the landmark Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board v. A. Rajappa (BWSSB), 1978 judgment.
• The case concerned the validity of its Triple Test for determining whether an activity qualifies as an industry under Section 2(j) of the Industrial Disputes Act (ID Act), 1947.
• However, the ID Act had already been repealed and replaced by the Industrial Relations Code (IRC), 2020, which came into force on November 21, 2025.

Background to the Reference

• In BWSSB, the Supreme Court adopted a broad interpretation of industry based on a Triple Test involving systematic activity, employer-employee cooperation and production or distribution of goods or services.
• In State of U.P. v. Jai Bir Singh (2005), a five-judge Bench questioned BWSSB and referred it for reconsideration. A seven-judge Bench subsequently referred the matter to a nine-judge Bench in 2017.
• The nine-judge Bench framed questions concerning the correctness of BWSSB, the 1982 amendment, the IRC, government welfare activities and sovereign functions.
• Yet, with the repeal of the ID Act, the Reference had arguably become academic and otiose.

A Judgment on a Repealed Law

• Several judges recognised the difficulty of deciding an issue concerning a repealed statute.
• Justice D. Datta and Justice U. Bhuyan held that the Reference required no answer.
• Justice B.V. Nagarathna described the exercise as unnecessary and academic, while Justice P.S. Narasimha noted that repeal had made the determination unnecessary.
• This raises an important principle of judicial restraint. Courts generally decide live controversies rather than provide abstract interpretations of laws that no longer operate.
• The IRC is an independent legislative enactment and must be interpreted according to its own language, structure and purpose.
• Since Section 2(p) of the IRC was not directly before the Court, its interpretation should be left to an appropriate future case.

The Hypothetical Reformulation of BWSSB

• The Chief Justice, writing for four judges, nevertheless proposed a hypothetical reformulation of the Triple Test.
• It would not apply to pending disputes, which remain governed by BWSSB, and cannot govern future cases under the repealed ID Act.
• The opinion also stated that BWSSB should not become the sheet anchor for interpreting the IRC.
• This creates a tension: while declining to interpret the IRC directly, the Court indicated how an important precedent should not be used in interpreting it.
• Justice Nagarathna adopted a more restrained position, holding that BWSSB’s relevance to the IRC should be determined through a comparison of the actual statutory provisions in a concrete case.

Why BWSSB Became Controversial?

• The deeper controversy concerns the perceived pro-worker character of BWSSB.
• Jai Bir Singh criticised its worker-oriented approach for allegedly overlooking employers' interests. Similar concerns appear in the present judgment through references to freeing labour law from the perceived burden of BWSSB.
• However, employer and worker do not generally possess equal bargaining power. Labour law exists precisely because contractual freedom cannot eliminate structural inequality.
• Justice Bagchi’s observation that a workman seldom negotiates as an equal captures this reality.

Labour Rights and the Meaning of ‘Industry’

• The ID Act sought to maintain industrial peace, provide minimum labour protections and establish mechanisms for resolving industrial disputes.
• Consequently, the definition of industry was not merely technical. It determined who received statutory protection and access to legal remedies.
• A restrictive definition could exclude workers from the very framework designed to protect them.
• BWSSB’s broad approach therefore sought to ensure that workers were not denied protection merely because their employment did not fit a narrow conception of industry.

Constitutional Social Justice and Labour Reform

• The Constitution places social and economic justice at the heart of governance.
• Article 42 of the Indian Constitution requires the State to secure just and humane working conditions, while Article 23 protects against forced labour and exploitation.
• The unequal relationship between capital and labour remains relevant amid privatisation, contractualisation, informal employment and ease-of-doing-business reforms.
• Labour reform must therefore balance economic flexibility with worker dignity and fair working conditions.
• Economic liberty without bargaining equality can enable private domination. Labour protections are consequently not merely pro-worker; they are safeguards against structural inequality.

The Industrial Relations Code and the Way Forward

• The IRC must ultimately be interpreted through its own text, scheme and purpose.
• Earlier BWSSB jurisprudence cannot simply be erased, but its relevance must be assessed carefully in future litigation.
• The crucial question is whether the new framework promotes industrial peace and effective dispute resolution without creating exclusionary gaps in worker protection.

Conclusion

• The 2026 judgment raises important questions about judicial restraint, statutory repeal and labour justice.
• Once the ID Act was repealed, there was a strong basis for leaving Section 2(j) questions unanswered.
• Future courts should interpret the IRC through its own statutory language while remaining conscious of the constitutional commitment to social justice.
• India’s labour reforms must therefore seek a balance between economic growth, industrial flexibility, worker dignity, social justice and meaningful legal remedies.

Context:

• Self-enumeration for Census 2027 began on August 17 in snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, ahead of the wider population enumeration.
• The exercise is significant because Census data forms the foundation for public policy, welfare allocation and evidence-based governance.
• However, concerns have been raised over the disability question in the forthcoming Census.
• Despite improvements in the revised questionnaire, limited categorisation of disabilities could lead to substantial undercounting and misclassification, weakening the evidence base for disability-related policies. 

Disability Question - An Apparent Improvement:

• The Census questionnaire contains 40 questions, with Question 13 dealing with disability.
• It first asks whether a person has a disability and, if yes, permits selection of up to three categories from nine options.
• These are seeing, hearing, speech, mobility, intellectual disability, mental illness, acid attack, chronic neurological disease, and blood disorder.
• The inclusion of blood disorder and replacement of the outdated term “mental retardation” with intellectual disability are welcome changes.
• However, the improvement is limited because the classification does not adequately reflect the broader legal framework governing disability in India.

The Gap with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016:

• The RPwD Act, 2016 expanded recognised disabilities from 7 to 21 categories.
• These include autism spectrum disorder, specific learning disabilities, cerebral palsy, dwarfism, muscular dystrophy, thalassemia, haemophilia and sickle cell disease, among others.
• Yet several of these conditions do not appear separately in the Census questionnaire.

Why This Matters?

• The absence of distinct categories can produce misclassification and undercounting.
• For instance, autism may be recorded as intellectual disability because assessment boards or enumerators lack the capacity to distinguish the two.
• Reproducing such broad categorisation at the national level could distort the actual prevalence of particular disabilities and affect the delivery of appropriate services.
• The Census has also removed two useful provisions present in the 2011 exercise: “Any other disability”, and “Multiple disability”.
• Although respondents can select up to three disabilities in the new questionnaire, it remains unclear how multiple disabilities will ultimately be recorded and whether this could lead to duplication or distorted estimates.
• The 2011 Census explicitly provided for multiple disabilities and an “any other” category to improve coverage.

Flawed Classification:

• The new classification is also conceptually inconsistent. Acid attack is listed as an independent category, although under the RPwD framework it falls within the broader domain of locomotor disability.
• Placing a specific condition alongside broad categories such as mobility raises questions about the principles used to construct the classification.
• A Census questionnaire should ideally follow a consistent, legally aligned and mutually coherent taxonomy.

Why UDID and NSS Cannot Fill the Gap:

• It may be argued that the Unique Disability ID (UDID) database can compensate for gaps in Census data.
• However, UDID registration does not cover the entire disabled population and depends on access to certification procedures, healthcare facilities and transportation—conditions often absent in remote areas.
• Similarly, National Sample Survey (NSS) exercises can provide prevalence estimates but cannot substitute for a complete population count.
• Thus, neither database can adequately replace Census-based disaggregated data.

The Biggest Challenge - Remote and Inaccessible Regions:

• The concern is particularly acute in the very regions where enumeration is difficult.
• Enumerators may lack adequate guidance on -
  • What constitutes a chronic neurological condition;
  • How to sensitively ask about mental illness;
  • How to identify intellectual disability without clinical training; and
  • How to distinguish overlapping disabilities.
• In remote and snow-bound areas, specialist healthcare and formal diagnostic infrastructure are often scarce.
• Consequently, the Census risks becoming “backward among the backwards”—producing the weakest disability data precisely in areas where reliable information is most difficult to obtain.

Data Determines Policy:

• Disaggregated disability data is essential for determining budgetary allocations, healthcare infrastructure, educational interventions, social security and district-level welfare programmes.
• The problem becomes particularly evident with the broad category of blood disorders.
• Thalassemia, haemophilia and sickle cell disease have very different treatment requirements -
  • Thalassemia → regular transfusion and iron chelation;
  • Haemophilia → factor concentrates and appropriate storage/cold-chain facilities;
  • Sickle cell disease → medicines such as hydroxyurea and crisis-management protocols.
• Combining these conditions into a single Census category prevents policymakers from determining their individual burden and evaluating disease-specific programmes.
• It also limits understanding of hereditary and carrier burdens, which is important for prevention and early intervention.
• Similarly, the complete absence of specific learning disabilities can undermine education planning, despite the importance of early diagnosis, remediation and geographically targeted interventions.

Way Forward:

• The disability question should be aligned with the RPwD Act, 2016 and India's broader commitment to inclusive development.
• Three immediate reforms are important -
  • Expand or restructure categories to reflect the 21 recognised disabilities under the RPwD Act.
  • At minimum, restore a structured “Other—Please Specify” provision and the multiple-disability category.
  • Provide comprehensive enumerator training and standardised guidance for identifying and recording disabilities sensitively and accurately.

Conclusion:

• The Census is conducted only once in a decade. If disability categories are inadequately designed, the resulting errors can influence budgets, welfare programmes, healthcare planning and educational interventions for years.
• The objective should not merely be to count persons with disabilities, but to count them accurately, identify their diverse needs and make them visible in public policy.

Why in the News?

• Recent data show that around 9.2 crore young Indians are neither in education, employment nor training, a figure the falling unemployment rate does not capture.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Youth Unemployment (Official Data, Problems, NEET Youth, Scale of the Problem, Importance, etc.)

The Official Picture

• The government has often cited the Unemployment Rate (UER) to suggest India is doing well on jobs.
• The UER measures the number of unemployed people as a share of the total labour force, those currently working or actively looking for work.
• By this measure, the trend looks positive. Data from the Periodic Labour Force Surveys (PLFS) shows the UER falling steadily from 6.1% in 2017-18, a 45-year high, to just 3.1% in 2025, for those aged 15 and above.
• However, relying only on this headline figure obscures three significant problems.

Problem One: Youth Unemployment Remains High

• Unemployment among young Indians aged 15 to 29 is far higher than the overall rate.
• It fell from almost 18% in 2017-18 to around 10% in 2022-23, but has since stayed stuck at that level.
• More troubling is that unemployment rises with educational attainment. Graduates aged 25 face the highest unemployment rate, close to 40%.
• This means roughly four out of every ten graduates aged 25 who are looking for work fail to find it.
• Analysis in the State of Working India (SWI) 2026 report by researchers at Azim Premji University found that unemployment among young Indians with education up to graduation or more was actually higher in 2023 than in 1983.
• Educated unemployment is not new in India, but the situation appears to be worsening over time.

Problem Two: The Quality of Jobs Created

• India's workforce has undoubtedly expanded. The total number of people employed rose from 43.3 crore in 2017-18 to around 61 crore by December 2025. But a closer look at where these jobs came from raises concerns.
• The SWI 2026 report found that between 2021-22 and 2023-24, India's employed population grew from 49 crore to 57.2 crore. Employment rates rose from 71% to 74% for men and from 26% to 34% for women.
• However, of the 8.3 crore jobs added in this period, 4 crore were in agriculture, with women accounting for a large share at 3.8 crore.
• Agriculture is typically low-productivity, low-paying work, and a shift towards it is generally a sign of distress rather than progress.
• The pattern is similar for women's employment overall. The number of women in the workforce rose sharply from 9.4 crore in 2017-18 to 18.6 crore in 2023-24.
• But the report notes that the number of women in own-account self-employment has increased nearly fourfold since 2017, while self-employment earnings for women and salaried earnings for both men and women have largely stagnated.
• More people are working, in other words, but not necessarily earning more.

Problem Three: The UER Understates the Problem

• In a developing economy like India, using the unemployment rate to assess labour market stress can be deeply misleading.
• The UER counts only those who are willing to work and actively searching for a job. In India, however, many people who could work do not register in surveys as looking for work.
• They are therefore counted outside the labour force altogether, and never appear in the unemployment figure.
• As one of the SWI report's authors explains, this happens particularly with women. Regardless of their education, even after completing graduation, many are not recorded as looking for work, and thus fall out of the labour force entirely.
• If these individuals were counted as unemployed, they would enter the labour force and the unemployment rate would be considerably higher.
• The UER is therefore best understood as the lowest possible estimate of people not being mobilised into the workforce.
• Beyond it lies a large pool of people outside the labour force, either discouraged workers who have given up searching, or those kept out by social norms, most often women.

The Better Measure: NEET

• A different metric captures this reality more accurately: NEET, or Not in Employment, Education, or Training.
• The logic behind NEET is straightforward. Those pursuing education cannot reasonably be expected to be working. NEET therefore measures how many people are in none of these three categories, not studying, not training, and not working.
• As the SWI report describes it, NEET is a comprehensive measure of labour under-utilisation that excludes those in education or training. It includes not just the unemployed, but also those of working age who are neither in education nor in training nor in employment.

The Scale of the Problem

• According to official PLFS data released in March this year, 25% of Indian youth were classified as NEET.
• Applying this proportion to current population figures produces a striking number.
• Based on Ministry of Health and Family Welfare projections, India's youth population in 2026 stands at 36.8 crore, the largest youth population in the world.
• At 25%, this means roughly 9.2 crore young Indians are currently neither in education, nor skilling, nor any form of employment. That is a figure almost equal to the entire population of Iran.

Why This Matters?

• The combination of high youth unemployment and an enormous absolute NEET population helps explain the growing youth unrest in the country.
• What makes it more striking is the context. These figures coexist with government satisfaction over the pace of economic growth based on GDP figures, a period some have described as a "goldilocks" phase for the Indian economy.
• The disconnect is the core issue. Headline growth and a falling unemployment rate can both look healthy while a very large share of young people remain entirely disconnected from productive activity.

About Vishwamitri River:

• It is a small non-perennial river located in Gujarat.
• Course:
  • It originates from the western and southern slopes of the Pavagadh hills in eastern Gujarat.
  • The river flows westward, through Gujarat’s third-largest city, Vadodara, after which it meets the two tributaries of Dhadar and Jambuva before draining into the Arabian Sea via the Gulf of Khambhat.
• It flows between the Mahi and Narmada rivers.
• The highly meandering, sinuous river has a unique ecosystem bearing a plethora of beautiful ravines right from its beginning till its end.
• Porcupines, the common Indian civet, the jungle cat, cobras, pythons, the checkered keelback, and the Bengal monitor are some of the species found in the ravines on the banks of this river.
• Vishwamitri is also where the protected and vulnerable species of the Indian crocodile (Crocodylus palustris), also known as the mugger, resides.
• Historically, the river has been central to Vadodara’s development, with human settlements along its banks dating back to 1000 B.C.
• This river system includes the Sayaji Sarovar on the Vishwamitri River near Ajwa, and the Dev Dam on the Dhadhar Branch.

About Ribociclib:

• It is an anticancer medicine used in combination with other medicines to treat certain types of breast cancer.
• It belongs to a group of drugs called CDK 4/6 (cyclin-dependent kinase) inhibitors.
• These drugs block the action of kinase, which is a protein that helps cells to grow and divide. This stops the growth and spread of cancer.
• It is a treatment for breast cancer that has:
  • spread to another part of the body (advanced or metastatic breast cancer)
  • spread to the area and structures surrounding the breast, such as nearby lymph nodes, muscle, and skin, but not to other parts of the body (locally advanced breast cancer)
• Ribociclib is always given alongside a hormone therapy drug to treat breast cancer.
• Since the growth of normal cells may also be affected by the medicine, other unwanted effects will also occur. Some of these may be serious and must be reported to your doctor.

About Guruvayur Temple:

• Guruvayur Temple, also known as the Dwarka of the South, is a Hindu temple located in the small town of Guruvayur, in the Thrissur District of Kerala.
• It is dedicated to Guruvayurappan, a beloved form of Lord Vishnu worshipped as Baby Krishna.
• History:
  • It is ascertained that the main presiding deity is 5,000 years old.
  • In fact, the word ‘’Kuruvayur’’ has been mentioned in the Tamil literature called ‘’Kokasandesam’’ in the 14^th century CE.
  • References to Kuruvayur have also been made in the 16th century C.E.
  • However, the earliest recorded history of the Guruvayur temple can be traced back to the 17^th century C.E.
  • The present structure was rebuilt in the year 1638 C.E.
  • In 1716 AD, the Dutch plundered and set fire to the temple. It was rebuilt in 1747 AD.
  • In terms of devotees every day, it is the fourth biggest shrine in India.
• Features:
  • It is renowned for its traditional Kerala style of temple architecture, characterized by its gabled roof, wooden carvings, and intricate sculptures.
  • Structures like the Nalambalam (temple structure surrounding the sanctum sanctorum), Balikkal (sacrificial stone), and Deepastambam (pillar of lights) are situated on the temple premises.
  • The wall of the sanctum sanctorum is decked with ancient 17th-century murals.
  • Another famous sight here is the Dwajasthamba. It is a flagstaff, around 70 feet tall, fully covered with gold.
  • The Thulabharam is one of the most popular offerings at Guruvayur Temple. In this ritual, devotees are weighed against jaggery, coconuts, sugar, or bananas on a giant set of scales. This quantity is then given to the Lord as an offering.
  • The temple is also noted for being home to a large population of captive male Asian elephants.
  • The Punnathur Kotta elephant sanctuary is very close to the temple.