Why in news?

US President Donald Trump has launched the long-awaited ‘Gold Card’ visa programme, inviting individuals and companies to invest at least $1 million. The initiative aims to attract global talent, generate significant revenue for the US Treasury, and offer a faster, more advantageous route compared to the conventional EB-5 visa system.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Trump Gold Card
• Growing Interest Among Indians in Investment-Based US Residency
• Why Experts Still Prefer EB-5?

Trump Gold Card

• The Trump Gold Card is a newly launched US visa programme offering permanent residency and a pathway to citizenship in exchange for high-value investments.
• It replaces the EB-5 visa system and is designed to draw foreign capital and skilled talent into the US.
• Who Can Apply?
  • Individuals: Must qualify for lawful permanent residency and be admissible to the US.
  • Corporations: Can sponsor foreign-born employees.
  • Families: Spouses and unmarried children under 21 may apply but must pay additional fees.
• Costs and Fees
  • Processing Fee: $15,000 per applicant or corporate sponsor (non-refundable).
  • Investment/Gift: $1 million for individual applicants; $2 million per employee for corporate sponsors
  • Additional Costs: Visa fees and medical exam charges.
• Benefits of the Gold Card
  • Grants US permanent residency through EB-1 or EB-2 categories.
  • Faster processing than traditional visa routes.
  • Eligible family members may join.
  • Offers a direct path to US citizenship.
• Key Rules and Restrictions
  • Status may be revoked for security risks or serious criminal offences.
  • Applicants from some countries may face year-long waits.
  • All recipients must pay US taxes on global income.

Growing Interest Among Indians in Investment-Based US Residency

• With long delays in employment-based Green Card processing, many Indians — especially H-1B holders and wealthy families — are turning to investment pathways for faster US residency.
• EB-5: A Favoured Route for Indian Investors
  • The EB-5 visa offers a comparatively quicker route to permanent residency.
    • Requires $800,000–$1,050,000 investment based on project type and location.
    • Must create or preserve 10 full-time US jobs.
    • Typically done through USCIS-approved regional centres, which handle over 90% of EB-5 applications.
    • Begins with a conditional Green Card, later becoming permanent.
  • This programme appeals strongly to Indian HNIs aiming to secure their children’s future in the US.
• Gold Card vs EB-5: Key Differences
  • The Trump Gold Card provides permanent residency but differs fundamentally from EB-5:
    • Gold Card requires a non-refundable $1 million (individual) or $2 million (corporate) contribution directly to the US government.
    • No specified job-creation requirement, unlike EB-5.
    • Not an investment, offering no capital return, whereas EB-5 allows potential returns.
    • Applicants must still meet EB-1A or EB-2 NIW criteria of extraordinary ability or national interest.
  • Experts note that while Gold Card may offer faster processing, it does not simplify eligibility requirements or reduce costs compared to EB-5.

Why Experts Still Prefer EB-5?

• Immigration specialists argue that:
  • EB-5 remains the fastest, most cost-effective path to US residency for many.
  • It does not require extraordinary ability, making it more accessible.
  • It helps prevent dependent children from “aging out” while awaiting EB-2 or EB-3 priority dates.
  • Unlike Gold Card, EB-5 offers predictability and potential investment returns.
• EB-5 Stability After Legal Reforms
  • The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act (RIA) 2022 extended the Regional Centre Programme to 2027.
  • Investments made before September 2026 are grandfathered, offering protection even if the programme changes later.
  • This has increased investor confidence and reduced uncertainty.
• Rising EB-5 Demand Among Indians
  • EB-5 has seen strong Indian uptake:
    • $4.1 billion invested in the first three quarters of FY2025 alone.
    • 1,050–1,150 Indian applicants post-RIA, making India the second-largest source of EB-5 submissions (20–22%).
    • Growing interest is driven by:
    • H-1B holders frustrated with long Green Card delays.
    • Wealthy families seeking secure US residency and education opportunities for their children.

Why in news?

India’s capital markets are undergoing a major shift as domestic household savings replace foreign institutional investment, reducing dependence on volatile global capital.

While this strengthens market stability, the rapid rise of inexperienced retail investors poses risks. As the country pursues “Viksit Bharat 2047,” concerns remain over whether a market driven by uneven participation and modest returns can truly support inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Domestic Investors Becoming the Market’s New Anchor
• Primary Markets Surge on Domestic Capital Strength
• Unequal Wealth Distribution and Rising Risks for New Investors
• Correcting Access Asymmetry in India’s Financial System
• Strengthening Market Structures and Governance
• Data-Driven Inclusion and Targeted Policy Support

Domestic Investors Becoming the Market’s New Anchor

• Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) ownership has fallen to a 15-month low, while domestic Mutual Funds and retail investors are reaching record levels of market participation.
• SIP inflows continue to surge, and individual investors now hold nearly 19% of the equity market — the highest in over 20 years.
• This growing domestic base is stabilising markets and cushioning volatility, as reflected in the NIFTY 50’s strong performance in October.
• Policy Impact: Greater Flexibility for the RBI
  • With domestic money replacing volatile foreign capital, the Reserve Bank of India gains more policy room.
  • Record-low inflation and robust household inflows mean less pressure to defend the rupee and more scope to stimulate credit growth and balance growth–inflation objectives.
• A New Risk: Fragility Beneath the Stability
  • This policy comfort is not guaranteed. If household sentiment weakens or downturns hit vulnerable investors hardest, the very shift that stabilises markets today could trigger instability tomorrow.
  • Careful management is essential to ensure this transformation strengthens — rather than threatens — long-term resilience.

Primary Markets Surge on Domestic Capital Strength

• India’s primary markets are booming, with 71 mainboard IPOs raising over ₹1 lakh crore this fiscal year.
• Strong domestic confidence is driving record capital formation, as companies announce over ₹32 lakh crore in investments — a 39% jump from last year.
• Private sector participation now accounts for nearly 70% of these commitments, signalling robust economic momentum.
• Beneath the Boom: Concerns About Valuation and Risk
  • Despite strong growth, rising valuations raise red flags. IPOs such as Lenskart, Mamaearth and Nykaa reflect sky-high price-to-earnings ratios, prompting concerns that enthusiasm may be outpacing business fundamentals.
  • Retail investors, drawn into the excitement, risk taking on outsized exposure without fully understanding long-term implications.
• The Advice and Performance Gap in India’s Investment Landscape
  • The celebration of retail participation and mutual fund growth often overlooks the uneven quality of financial advice and unequal wealth outcomes.
  • Financial research underscores a persistent “performance problem” — most active fund managers fail to consistently outperform markets after adjusting for risk and fees.
  • This suggests that increased participation does not automatically translate into better returns, especially for less-informed investors.

Unequal Wealth Distribution and Rising Risks for New Investors

• Structural inefficiencies in India’s equity markets are deepening wealth inequality, as equity gains disproportionately accrue to higher-income groups with better financial access.
• The recent ₹2.6 lakh crore decline in household equity wealth raises alarm, especially if losses are borne by new, vulnerable investors.
• While rising retail participation is often viewed as financial democratisation, inadequate safeguards and weak financial literacy expose inexperienced investors to heightened risks.
• When market corrections inflict concentrated losses on first-time participants, long-term trust erodes, undermining both inclusive growth and overall economic demand.

Correcting Access Asymmetry in India’s Financial System

• India’s growing investor base requires more than higher savings — it demands solutions to the persistent “access asymmetry problem.”
• Protecting everyday investors means moving beyond mere disclosures to structural safeguards, including lower fees and wider adoption of passive, low-cost investment vehicles.
• With active funds holding 9% of the market versus just 1% for passive funds, reducing expense ratios and improving investor awareness of indexing are essential to addressing the broader “performance problem.”

Strengthening Market Structures and Governance

• Falling promoter holdings in the NIFTY 50 — now at a 23-year low of 40% — underscore the need to ensure that such trends reflect healthy capital raising rather than opportunistic exits.
• Enhancing corporate governance, transparency, and long-term stewardship is crucial to protecting domestic savers’ wealth and market confidence.

Data-Driven Inclusion and Targeted Policy Support

• Improving financial access requires granular, gender- and location-specific data to identify and address participation gaps.
• Bringing more women and underrepresented groups into the financial mainstream must become a core policy priority, not an afterthought.

The Path Forward: From Fund Mobilisation to Institutional Integrity

• India’s new market foundation—built increasingly on domestic savings—offers promise.
• But the next phase demands a shift from merely attracting capital to strengthening institutional integrity, deepening financial literacy, and addressing inherent asymmetries.
• Ensuring fair, inclusive, and informed participation is now a fiduciary necessity, not a peripheral goal.

Context:

• High Court judge appointments are first recommended by the Collegium — the Chief Justice of the High Court and its two senior-most judges.
• The recommendation goes to the State government, which may raise objections or request clarifications.
• However, once the Collegium reiterates its recommendation or provides the required clarifications, the State government is obliged to accept the decision.
• In this context, this article highlights the growing constitutional concerns surrounding the Madras High Court Collegium’s recent recommendations, focusing on procedural irregularities, the exclusion of a senior judge, and the urgent need for transparency and systemic reform.

Clarification Sought on Composition of the Madras High Court Collegium

• The Madras High Court Collegium recommended six district judges for elevation in November 2025.
• While the State government raised no objections regarding the candidates’ merit, it sought clarification on a procedural issue — the constitution of the Collegium itself.
• The Case of Justice Nisha Banu
  • Justice J. Nisha Banu, elevated in 2016, is the second most senior judge of the Madras High Court and thus a rightful Collegium member.
  • However, a Supreme Court Collegium recommendation dated October 14, 2025 ordered her transfer to the Kerala High Court and placed her ninth in seniority there.
  • Despite this transfer order, she has not joined the Kerala High Court and continues to serve at Madras, making her de facto a Collegium judge.

State Government’s Concern: Why Was She Excluded?

• The State questioned why Justice Nisha Banu was excluded from the Collegium consultations and why Justice M.S. Ramesh, the next senior judge, was included instead.
• It sought clarification on:
  • The legal authority behind this substitution
  • Whether any Supreme Court directive or constitutional principle justified bypassing a senior judge
  • Whether the Collegium assumed that Justice Nisha Banu was no longer part of the Madras High Court
• The Collegium did not address these concerns and instead proceeded to recommend nine more advocates for additional vacancies.

Constitutional and Procedural Implications

• The Memorandum of Procedure clearly states that the Chief Justice and the two seniormost judges of the High Court must form the Collegium for recommending appointments.
• Ignoring a senior judge raises questions about constitutional validity, institutional integrity, and adherence to established norms.
• Core Issue
  • Whether intentionally or by oversight, the non-inclusion of Justice Nisha Banu in the Madras High Court Collegium contradicts the prescribed procedure.
  • The State government is therefore entitled to a clarification, as transparency and adherence to constitutional norms lie at the heart of judicial appointments.

When Procedural Lapses Threaten Constitutional Legitimacy

• Procedural norms in judicial appointments are not trivial technicalities but the very basis of the Collegium’s constitutional legitimacy.
• Since the Collegium system is built entirely on judicial precedent, it must strictly follow established procedures to maintain credibility.
• Excluding a judge who continues to hold administrative authority, without recorded reasons, and replacing them with another judge lacking jurisdictional basis, undermines the validity of the Collegium’s decisions.
• An improperly constituted Collegium risks rendering its recommendations void, creating a constitutional crisis rooted in uncertainty over who is authorised to decide.
• These concerns intensify long-standing criticisms of the Collegium system — including opacity, alleged nepotism, inadequate representation, political influence, and limited accountability.

Need for Transparency and Clarification

• The Madras High Court Collegium must explain, in law and procedure, why Justice Nisha Banu was excluded and Justice M.S. Ramesh included.
• Silence threatens structural judicial integrity and fuels speculation about motive.
• A judge’s ideological or personal background cannot justify deviation from constitutional norms.
• Impartiality, consultation, and adherence to justice must guide judicial decisions. Any departure from this principle weakens public trust.

Call for Supreme Court–Led Collegium Reforms

• The situation highlights the need for long-pending reforms:
  • Clear rules on Collegium composition
  • Published reasons for decisions
  • Mandatory disclosures to enhance transparency
• The Supreme Court must revisit the system to prevent ambiguity and inconsistency.

Core Issue: Legality of the Appointment Process

• The controversy is not about the capability of the six district judges or nine advocates recommended.
• The question is whether their elevation followed Article 217 and the Memorandum of Procedure, which requires recommendations from the Chief Justice and the two seniormost High Court judges.
• If the Collegium’s constitution itself is questionable, then its recommendations also lose validity.
• This creates a constitutional conflict between the judiciary and the State government — a crisis that can only be resolved through transparency, adherence to procedure, and systemic reform.

Why in the News?

• The Supreme Court has set aside a Patna High Court order permitting an involuntary narco test in Amlesh Kumar v. State of Bihar (2025).

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Narco Analysis (Basics, Constitutional Protection, Concerns, Judicial Precedents, Ethical Principles, Implications, etc.)

Understanding Narco Analysis in Criminal Investigations

• A narco test involves administering sedatives such as Sodium Pentothal, classified under barbiturates, to suppress an individual’s inhibitions and enhance the likelihood of divulging information.
• The technique functions similarly to polygraph tests and brain mapping, aiming to extract concealed facts by reducing conscious control.
• However, despite being non-violent, narco analysis interferes with cognitive autonomy and has been a subject of constitutional scrutiny.

Constitutional Protection and Why Narco Tests Raise Concerns?

• Right Against Self-Incrimination (Article 20(3))
  • Article 20(3) protects an accused from being compelled to provide testimonial evidence against themselves.
  • Any involuntary narco test breaches this protection by forcing the individual to speak in a drug-induced state, thereby suppressing free will.
  • The Court clarified that without free, informed consent, any statement or information obtained from narco analysis is inadmissible as evidence.
• Personal Liberty and Privacy (Article 21)
  • Article 21 covers the right to life and personal liberty, which includes physical autonomy and mental privacy.
  • The judgment reiterates that forced narco testing violates the right to Privacy & Personal autonomy.

• ‘Procedure established by law’ requirement, meaning any investigative procedure must be fair, just and reasonable
• The Court linked this to the Golden Triangle of Articles 14, 19, and 21, an essential framework that safeguards constitutional liberties as established in Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978).

Judicial Precedents Governing Narco Tests

• Selvi v. State of Karnataka (2010)
  • This landmark case prohibited the involuntary administration of narco tests, polygraph tests, and brain mapping. It mandated that:
    • Consent must be free, informed, and recorded before a magistrate.
    • Medical and legal safeguards must be strictly followed.
    • Test results have no standalone evidentiary value and must be corroborated.
  • The Patna High Court order was struck down because it contradicted these binding guidelines.
• Courts have consistently held Manoj Kumar Saini v. State of MP (2023) & Vinobhai v. State of Kerala (2025).
• Both cases reaffirm that narco test results cannot directly confirm guilt; they may only aid investigations and must always be corroborated with independent evidence.

Consent and Ethical Principles in Criminal Justice

• Importance of Informed Consent
  • The Supreme Court stressed that narco tests can be conducted only when the accused requests or agrees to undergo such testing.
  • Testing at the stage of defence evidence may be permitted under Section 253 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNSS), but even then, there is no absolute right to demand the test.
• Ethical Foundations
  • The Court referenced philosophical principles of autonomy, particularly Kantian ethics, which emphasise that an act is ethical only when performed with consent. Forced narco analysis violates:
    • Human dignity
    • Bodily integrity
    • Natural justice principles
• Thus, ethical considerations reinforce the constitutional bar on involuntary tests.

Implications for India’s Criminal Justice System

• Strengthening Rights-Based Policing
  • The ruling strengthens procedural fairness and reinforces that investigative efficiency cannot override fundamental rights.
• Balancing Victims’ Rights and Accused Rights
  • While investigation agencies seek tools to expedite probe outcomes, the judiciary has reaffirmed that constitutional morality must guide criminal justice.
• Reasserting Judicial Consistency
  • By relying on Selvi (2010) and subsequent cases, the Court reinforces stability and predictability in criminal jurisprudence, crucial for legal integrity and protection of civil liberties.

Why in News?

• Organ transplantation in India continues to face a severe gap between demand and supply.
• Recent data submitted by the Union Health Ministry in Parliament (2020–2024) highlights a growing crisis, marked by long waiting lists, state-level disparities, and the dominance of living-donor transplants over deceased organ donations.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Organ Donation in India
• Magnitude of the Crisis
• State-wise Burden of Organ Demand
• Organ Allocation Systems in India
• Challenges in India’s Organ Allocation System
• Government Steps to Boost Organ Donation in India
• Policy Response and Way Forward
• Conclusion

Organ Donation in India:

• Overview:
  • While India ranks third globally in the total number of organ transplants (over 18,900 in 2024), the country's organ donation rate remains critically low, particularly for deceased donations.
  • Though India reports 1,60,000 road traffic deaths annually, only 1,000–1,200 deceased organ donations occur per year.
  • This means, India is heavily reliant on living donors for most transplants, especially for kidneys (for which, overall 13,476 transplants performed in 2024) and liver (4,901 transplants).
• Statistics:
  • Living vs. deceased donors: In 2024, India recorded just 1,128 deceased donors compared to over 15,000 living donors. Over 700 of these deceased donors came from just six southern states.
  • Donor-per-million rate: India's donation rate is less than 1 donor per million population, far behind developed countries like Spain (~48 per million) and the US (~36 per million).
  • Supply-demand gap: With over 63,000 people needing a kidney transplant and 22,000 needing a liver, the demand for organs vastly outstrips the supply, and thousands die each year while waiting.

Magnitude of the Crisis:

• Rising deaths while waiting: 2,805 deaths between 2020–2024 while waiting for organs. Delhi accounts for nearly half (1,425 deaths), despite being the state with the highest number of transplants. Maharashtra (297) and Tamil Nadu (233) follow.
• Large and growing waiting lists: Total patients awaiting transplants are 82,285 (as of December 2025). Out of this, the majority are kidney patients (60,590), followed by liver (18,724), heart (1,695), lungs (970), and pancreas (306).

State-wise Burden of Organ Demand:

• High-burden states:
  • Maharashtra: 20,553 total (13,045 kidney).
  • Gujarat: 9,592 total (7,405 kidney; 2,019 liver).
  • Tamil Nadu: 9,166 total (6,448 kidney; 2,020 liver).
  • Delhi: 8,853 total (5,894 kidney; 2,835 liver).
• Why Delhi has the highest deaths: Though it conducts the most transplants, the majority are from living relatives, not deceased donors. Demand-surpass-supply dynamic leads to longer queues and higher mortality.

Organ Allocation Systems in India:

• State-specific criteria (fragmented system):
  • Different states follow distinct allocation methods: state-specific scoring systems (Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat); first-come, first-served (West Bengal, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Kerala) - allocation based on registration date.
• Zonal allocation (Tamil Nadu): Divided into three zones; organs circulated zone-wise, then statewide.
• Priority-based allocation (MP and Chhattisgarh): Priority to patients without a living donor or where a matched donor refuses in writing.

Challenges in India’s Organ Transplant Ecosystem:

• Heavy reliance on living donors: Creates inequity for patients without eligible relatives.
• Fragmented allocation policies: Lack of a uniform national standard leads to inconsistency and regional disparities.
• Long waiting times: Waiting periods range from months to years, influenced by: blood type compatibility, body size, health status, and organ availability.
• State capacities vary widely: Some states have advanced transplant infrastructures; others remain underdeveloped.
• High mortality among waiting patients: Nearly 3,000 deaths in five years underline systemic gaps.

Government Steps to Boost Organ Donation in India:

• Institutional reforms:
  • The Indian government has taken several steps to improve organ donation rates through the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO).
  • These include establishing the National Organ Transplant Programme (NOTP) to provide financial support for infrastructure and setting up regional and state bodies (ROTTOs and SOTTOs).
• Legal reforms: In 2023, the government removed the upper age limit for deceased donor registration and the state domicile requirement.
• Digital initiatives: Include a unique NOTTO-ID system to monitor transplants.

Policy Response and Way Forward:

• Move toward uniform allocation: The NOTTO is working on:
  • A standardized national allocation model
  • Essential and optional variables for registration
  • Ensuring equitable and transparent organ distribution
  • Reducing regional disparities and improving fairness
• Nationwide awareness campaigns: To strengthen deceased organ donation, streamline declaration of brain death, incentivize hospitals to improve organ retrieval rates.
• Expanding transplant infrastructure: Increasing dedicated transplant centres, enhancing human resource training, and ensuring last-mile cold-chain logistics for organ transport.
• Digital integration: Real-time, nationwide waitlist and organ availability system. Mandatory online reporting by all hospitals.
• Ethical safeguards: Monitoring to prevent organ trafficking. Oversight mechanisms for living donor consent.

Conclusion:

• India’s organ transplant ecosystem is at a critical juncture, with over 82,000 patients waiting and nearly 3,000 deaths in the last five years.
• The need for systemic reform is urgent - to make the organ transplant system equitable, transparent, and efficient.
• Addressing these gaps is vital to fulfilling the constitutional mandate of the Right to Life (Article 21) and ensuring accessible, affordable healthcare for all.

Context

• Education is a constitutionally guaranteed right in India. Article 21A ensures free and compulsory education for children aged six to 14, while the NEP 2020 extends this vision to cover ages three to 18.
• Despite these commitments, schooling continues to impose a substantial financial burden on families, as shown by recent national data.
• Therefore, it is important to analyse enrolment patterns, educational expenditure, and the growth of private coaching to assess the widening gap between constitutional promises and the reality faced by households.

Enrolment Patterns: The Growing Shift to Private Schools

• Government schools still enrol 55.9% of students nationally, yet private unaided schools account for a significant 31.9% of enrolments.
• This shift is far more prominent in urban areas, where 51.4% of students attend private institutions compared to 24.3% in rural regions.
• The gender gap remains small, with 34% of boys and 29.5% of girls enrolled in private schools.
• Across all levels of schooling, urban private enrolment is consistently higher, reaching 62.9% at the pre-primary stage and declining to 42.3% at higher secondary.
• Compared with previous NSS data, private school enrolment has risen across both rural and urban India, particularly at the primary and middle levels.
• This upward trend reflects increasing parental preference for private institutions, driven by perceptions of better quality.

Educational Expenditure: The Financial Burden on Households

• Despite official guarantees of free education, many government school students still incur costs. 25.3% of rural and 34.7% of urban government school students report paying course fees.
• In private schools, the figure is almost universal, with around 98% of students paying fees.
• The fee gap between government and private schools is stark. In rural government schools, annual fees range from ₹823 to ₹7,308, while in rural private schools they range from ₹17,988 to ₹33,567.
• Urban households face even higher private school fees, from ₹26,188 at pre-primary to ₹49,075 at higher secondary.
• When converted into monthly terms, private schooling represents a heavy burden: rural families spend ₹1,499–₹2,797 per month, while urban families spend ₹2,182–₹4,089.
• These costs align with the monthly consumption of the poorest 5% to the third income decile, indicating that private schooling consumes a disproportionate share of household budgets.
• This challenges the notion that basic education in India is effectively free.

Private Coaching: An Additional Layer of Inequality

• Private coaching has become widespread, with 25.5% of rural and 30.7% of urban students relying on it.
• The proportion rises sharply at higher levels of education, reaching 36.7% in rural and 40.2% in urban secondary schooling.
• Coaching costs add another burden. Urban students spend an average of ₹13,026 annually on tuition, almost double the rural average of ₹7,066. At the higher secondary stage, expenditures rise to ₹22,394 in urban and ₹13,803 in rural
• The demand for coaching is driven by higher household income, better parental education, and urban residence.
• It is particularly common among students in private schools, where teachers are often underpaid and underqualified, compelling families to seek external academic support.
• Coaching has also become a symbol of academic prestige, deepening inequalities between socio-economic groups.

Implications for Equity and the Public Education System

• The rise in private schooling and coaching has significant implications for educational equity.
• Families with limited means face difficult choices, often stretching their finances to provide what they perceive as better educational opportunities.
• Declining enrolment in government schools further weakens these institutions by reducing demand and resource support.
• Private coaching amplifies learning disparities. Students from wealthier households gain academic advantages that poorer students cannot afford, widening long-term socio-economic gaps.
• Strengthening public school quality is therefore critical to reducing reliance on both private schools and tutoring.

The Path Forward: Strengthening Publicly Funded Schools

• Achieving the NEP 2020 vision of universal and equitable education requires a revitalised public education system.
• Improved infrastructure, better-trained teachers, and strengthened classroom processes can help rebuild public confidence.
• High-quality government schools would reduce the need for costly private schooling and limit dependence on coaching.
• Research links school quality directly to reduced reliance on private tuition, indicating that systemic improvements in government schools can create more equal learning conditions for all students.
• Investment in teacher development, foundational learning, and early education is essential for inclusive progress.

Conclusion

• Schooling in India remains financially demanding, despite constitutional guarantees of free education.
• Rising private school enrolment, high fees, and the normalisation of private coaching impose heavy burdens on households and reinforce educational inequality.
• Strengthening public schools is essential to ensuring that education remains a right rather than a privilege, and to creating a system that is both equitable and accessible for all children.

About Swasthya Portal:

• It is a one-stop solution presenting the health and nutrition status of the tribal population of India.
• It was developed under the central sector scheme “Tribal Research Information Education Communication and Events (TRI ECE)” of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
• The portal is hosted on the National Informatics Centre (NIC) Server and is maintained by the Centre of Excellence for Knowledge Management for Health and Nutrition, established by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
• It provides information and data as well as curates innovative practices, research briefs, case studies, and best practices collected from different parts of India to facilitate the exchange of evidence, expertise, and experiences.
• It has a dashboard, knowledge repository, partner segment, Sickle Cell Diseases (SCD) support corner.
  • The dashboard presents data curated from multiple sources for the high-priority tribal districts.
• Information available on Swasthya will provide insights to all stakeholders working with the tribal population of India in the areas of health and nutrition.

Key Facts about Tribal Research Information Education Communication and Events (TRI ECE):

• It is a Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
• Under the scheme, financial support is provided to the research organizations, reputed organizations, research institutes, and universities where expertise exists and which have already made a mark by carrying out pioneering research in their respective field.
• The purpose of the scheme is to create replicable models in areas of education, health, livelihood, digital governance, etc.

About SAMPANN Portal:

• System for Accounting and Management of Pension (SAMPANN), is a Comprehensive Pension Management System (CPMS).
• It is an initiative undertaken by the Controller General of Communication Accounts (CGCA), Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications.
• It is an online pension processing and payment system for Department of Telecommunications pensioners.
• It brings the pension processing, sanctioning, authorisation, and payment units under a common platform.
• It provides direct credit of pension into the bank accounts of pensioners.
• The system has helped the Department in faster settlement of pension cases, improved reconciliation/auditing, and ease of accounting.
• Features:
  • Direct disbursement of pension on a timely basis without intermediaries.
  • Single window system for complete pension process.
  • Online grievance management for the pensioners, reducing paperwork.
  • Tracking of pension status from home encourages transparency and accountability.
  • Faster processing of arrears and revision of pension.