Why in News?

• The Union Finance Minister recently tabled the Securities Markets Code Bill 2025 in the Lok Sabha, as announced earlier in the Union Budget 2021–22. The Bill has been referred to the Standing Committee on Finance for detailed examination.
• It seeks to consolidate, rationalise and modernise India’s securities market laws to enhance investor protection, ease of doing business, and capital mobilisation in a technology-driven financial ecosystem.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Securities Market in India
• Core Features of the Bill
• Key Challenges and Way Forward
• Conclusion

Securities Market in India:

• It is a vital part of the nation's financial system, facilitating the flow of capital from savers to those who need it for productive investments.
• It is a sophisticated, technology-driven ecosystem regulated primarily by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

Core Features of the Bill:

• Consolidation of securities laws:
  • The Bill replaces three major legislations - the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act (SCRA), 1956; the SEBI Act, 1992; and the Depositories Act, 1996.
    • SEBI Act, 1992: It established SEBI as an independent statutory body and endowed it with regulatory and enforcement authority.
    • SCRA, 1956: It provides the legal framework for the regulation of stock exchanges and contracts in securities, aiming to prevent undesirable speculation.
    • Depositories Act, 1996: It legalises the electronic (dematerialized) holding and transfer of securities, reducing the risks associated with physical certificates.
  • The objective is to eliminate overlap, duplication, and obsolete provisions and create a uniform securities law framework.
• Expanded and strengthened SEBI board:
  • Board strength increased from 9 to 15
  • Composition - Chairperson, 2 Central Government nominees, 1 RBI nominee (ex-officio), and 11 other members (minimum 5 whole-time members, up from 3).
  • The objective is institutional capacity enhancement and improved regulatory governance.
• Decriminalisation and rationalisation of offences:
  • Minor, procedural and technical violations shifted to civil penalties.
  • Criminal punishment restricted to serious offences such as insider trading and trading on material non-public information.
  • It aligns with ease of doing business and compliance burden reduction.
• Classification of contraventions:
  • Category I – Fraudulent and unfair trade practices - No criminal liability, civil penalties applicable.
  • Category II – “Market Abuse” - Serious violations affecting market integrity and public interest. May attract civil penalties and criminal liability.
• Time limitation on inspection: No inspection permitted if 8 years have elapsed since the date of contravention. It ensures legal certainty and closure.
• Conflict of interest and accountability:
  • Mandatory disclosure of direct and indirect interests, including those of family members.
  • Members must recuse themselves in case of conflict.
  • SEBI empowered to remove board members for non-compliance or conflict of interest.
  • This provision strengthens ethical governance and transparency.
• Investor protection measures:
  • Mandatory investor charter by SEBI.
  • Establishment of investor grievance redressal mechanism.
  • Direction to market intermediaries and issuers to adopt similar mechanisms.
  • It will reinforce trust and retail participation.
• Delegation and regulatory coordination:
  • SEBI is empowered to delegate registration-related functions to Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs) and Self-Regulatory Organisations (SROs).
  • Framework for inter-regulatory coordination for listing of “other regulated instruments”, interoperability across market platforms.
  • The provision supports market deepening and innovation.

Key Challenges and Way Forward:

• Opposition raised concerns over:
  • Excessive concentration of powers in SEBI, potential violation of the principle of separation of powers.
  • Government response: Issues can be examined by the Standing Committee on Finance.
• Risk of over-centralisation of regulatory authority: Clear articulation of checks and balances on SEBI’s powers.
• Ambiguity regarding subordinate legislation: Transparent and consultative framing of subordinate legislation (SEBI rules, regulations, circulars).
• Balancing: Faster adjudication with effective deterrence. Capacity building for effective enforcement under the new code.
• Ensuring accountability: While delegating powers to MIIs and SROs. Periodic review to align with evolving fintech and digital markets.

Conclusion:

• The Securities Markets Code Bill 2025 represents a major structural reform aimed at creating a simplified, coherent and future-ready securities regulatory framework.
• While the Bill seeks to balance market efficiency with integrity, its ultimate success will depend on robust parliamentary scrutiny, transparent rule-making, and effective institutional safeguards against regulatory overreach.

Context

• The central government’s move to replace the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) represents a fundamental attack on India’s constitutional vision of social and economic justice.
• Passed using the government’s majority in the Lok Sabha, the proposed Bill alters the very nature of MGNREGA by dismantling its rights-based and democratic framework.
• This is not a routine policy reform but a serious erosion of the Directive Principles of State Policy and a direct assault on the rural working poor, warranting scrutiny by the Standing Committee of Parliament.

Constitutional Foundations of the Right to Work

• Article 41 of the Constitution directs the State to make effective provision for securing the right to work within its economic capacity.
• During the Constituent Assembly debates, this provision emerged as a compromise between socialist members, who sought to make the right to work a fundamental right, and capitalist interests, who opposed such an obligation.
• As a result, the right to work was placed among the Directive Principles, non-justiciable but central to economic democracy.
• Dr. B.R. Ambedkar described the Directive Principles as instruments of instruction essential for economic democracy, while K.T. Shah dismissed them as pious wishes.
• Decades of unemployment and exclusion under capitalist development have shown how fragile this constitutional promise remained until political circumstances forced a shift.

MGNREGA Act

• The Act guaranteed 100 days of work per rural household, was universal, and open to all adults willing to perform manual labour.
• Crucially, it was demand-driven, responding to actual need rather than fixed bureaucratic targets.
• This structure gave MGNREGA deep democratic content. Households retained freedom to seek better employment while relying on MGNREGA as a fallback.
• Equal wages for men and women, full central funding of wages, and meaningful roles for States and panchayats strengthened its inclusive and federal character.
• It was among the first such laws in the capitalist world.

Concerns Surrounding the Proposed Viksit Bharat- G RAM G Bill 2025

• Dismantling the Core Features of MGNREGA
  • The proposed Bill under the Modi government scraps these foundational principles.
  • The demand-driven mechanism is replaced by normative financial allocations fixed by the Centre, absolving it of legal responsibility once funds are exhausted.
  • At the same time, States are burdened with 40% of costs, despite ongoing fiscal stress and denial of their fair share of tax revenues.
  • The Bill introduces extreme centralisation, transferring control over project design, implementation, and audits to the Union government.
• Undermining the Federal Structure
  • This undermines the federal structure of the Constitution and marginalises States and panchayats, which earlier had authority to design projects based on local needs.
  • A clear class bias is evident in the prohibition of work during peak agricultural seasons. With increased mechanisation, agricultural employment has shrunk sharply.
  • Evidence shows that workers opt for MGNREGA during peak seasons only when agricultural wages fall below MGNREGA rates or work is unavailable.
  • The ban weakens workers’ bargaining power, forcing them into exploitative conditions imposed by large landowners, disproportionately harming women.
• Digital Exclusion and Symbolic Politics
  • The Bill legalises Aadhaar linkage and mandatory digital attendance for eligibility and wage payments, despite widespread evidence of exclusion due to poor connectivity and technical failures.
  • These measures transform a rights-based guarantee into a bureaucratic hurdle.
  • Renaming the scheme as the Viksit Bharat–G RAM G Bill 2025 reflects symbolic politics rather than substantive reform and risks provoking widespread resistance from those whose livelihoods are threatened.

Social Realities and Agrarian Distress

• The harsh working conditions under MGNREGA highlight persistent rural distress.
• Women often lift up to 3,000 kilograms of mud per day to meet productivity norms.
• Their participation, over 50% in most States, signals not choice but the absence of better alternatives.
• The social composition of workers underscores the law’s constitutional importance. Adivasis (18%) and Scheduled Castes (19%) are vastly overrepresented relative to their population share, together forming over two-thirds of the workforce.
• Rolling back their rights constitutes an attack on constitutionally protected communities, worsened by their removal from advisory and grievance redress mechanisms in the draft law.

Starvation of Funds and Manufactured Failure

• Since 2014, MGNREGA has been systematically underfunded, even as corporate tax concessions and write-offs have expanded.
• Worker participation has risen to over 7.7 crore, yet expenditure has stagnated below 0.2% of GDP.
• In 2024–25, nearly one crore workers were denied work, wage arrears ran into thousands of crores, and households received less than 50 days of work on average.
• Promises of 125 days of work in the new Bill appear cynical and hollow.

Conclusion

• MGNREGA remains an indispensable lifeline for India’s rural poor amid agrarian distress and unemployment.
• The proposed Bill dismantles its rights-based, democratic, and federal foundations, bulldozing the Directive Principles of the Constitution and undermining the vision of economic democracy.
• Strengthening, not weakening, the right to work is the true constitutional mandate, and the proposed replacement fails that test decisively.

About Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF):

• It is a central sector scheme under the Prime Minister’s “Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan” stimulus package.
• It is aimed at boosting investments in animal husbandry infrastructure.
• Implementing Agency: Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying.
• Objectives:
  • To expand milk and meat processing capacity and help small rural producers connect with organised markets.
  • To ensure that livestock farmers get better prices for their milk, meat, and other animal products.
  • To make good-quality milk and meat products that can be easily available for people across the country.
  • To meet the growing demand for protein-rich food and help reduce malnutrition, especially among children.
  • To encourage entrepreneurship and create more job opportunities in the livestock sector.
  • To promote exports and increase the export contribution in the milk and meat sector.
  • To make available quality concentrated animals feed.
• The scheme will incentivize investments for
  • Dairy processing and value addition infrastructure.
  • Meat processing and value addition infrastructure.
  • Animal Feed Plant.
  • Breed multiplication farm.
  • Animal Waste to Wealth Management (Agri-waste management).
  • Veterinary vaccine and drug production
• The eligible beneficiaries under the Scheme would be:
  • Farmer Producer Organization (FPO)
  • Private companies
  • Individual entrepreneurs
  • Section 8 companies
  • Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)
•  Benefits

• The beneficiaries are to contribute a minimum of 10% margin money as investment. The balance 90% would be the loan component to be made available by scheduled banks.
• The Government of India will provide 3% interest subvention to eligible beneficiaries.
• From the Credit Guarantee Fund, Credit guarantee would be provided to those sanctioned projects which are covered under MSME-defined ceilings.
  • Credit Guarantee Fund: Set up and managed by NABARD.

About BharatNet Project:

• It is an ambitious project of the Government of India aimed at providing broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country.
• It is one of the biggest rural telecom projects in the world.
• The primary objective is to provide unrestricted access to broadband connectivity to all the telecom service providers.
  • This enables access providers like mobile operators, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Cable TV operators, and content providers to launch various services such as e-health, e-education, and e-governance in rural and remote India.
• The project is being executed by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), namely Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL), which was incorporated in 2012 under Indian Companies Act 1956.
• The Telecom Commission approved implementation of the project in three phases. While the Phase I was completed in 2017, Phase II and Phase III are ongoing.

What is the Amended BharatNet Program (ABP)?

• The ABP is a design improvement aiming for:
  • Optical Fibre (OF) connectivity to 2.64 lakh GPs in ring topology (a network design where connected devices form a circular data channel)
  • OF connectivity to the remaining non-GP villages on demand.
• It includes features like IP-MPLS (Internet Protocol Multi-Protocol Label Switching) network with routers at Blocks and GPs, operation and maintenance for 10 years, power backup, and Remote Fibre Monitoring System (RFMS).

About Battle of Adwa:

• It was fought by the Ethiopian Empire, which was then known as Abyssinia, and Italy in 1896, near Adwa, Ethiopia, as the concluding battle of the First Italo-Ethiopian War (1895–1896).
• The conflict stemmed from Italy's ambitions to establish an empire in Africa, which was part of the broader "scramble for Africa" among European powers.
• This battle saw the Ethiopian Empire, led by Emperor Menelik II, successfully defeat an invading Italian force.
• It led to the decisive victory for the Ethiopians and securing their sovereignty.
• The victory had further significance for being the first crushing defeat of a European power by African forces during the colonial era.

About Kavach System

• Kavach is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system designed to enhance railway operational safety.
• It has been developed by the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) under Indian Railways (IR) in collaboration with Medha Servo Drives Pvt Ltd, HBL Power Systems Ltd, and Kernex Microsystems.
• Kavach is a highly complex digital safety ecosystem consisting of five major integrated components, including continuous Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) laid along tracks and telecom towers for uninterrupted communication.
• The system uses a combination of electronic devices and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) installed in locomotives, signalling systems, and railway tracks, which communicate using ultra-high radio frequencies.
• Based on pre-programmed safety logic, Kavach can alert loco pilots, automatically apply brakes, and prevent unsafe train movements.

About ICGS Sarthak:

• It is the fourth in the series of five Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) being built by Goa Shipyard for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG).
  • These OPVs are multi-mission platforms capable of undertaking concurrent operations.
• The ship is propelled by diesel engines designed to attain a high speed.
• The ship is fitted with state-of-the-art equipment machinery, sensors, and weapons and has an Integrated Bridge System, and Integrated Machinery Control System.
  • That enables it to function as a command platform and undertake mandated Coast Guard charter of duties, including search and rescue, combating maritime crimes, and preserving and protecting the marine environment.
• It will be based at Porbandar, Gujrat, and operate on India’s western seaboard under the operational and administrative control of the commander, Coast Guard Region.

About Annatto:

• It is a natural food colouring and flavoring agent obtained from the seeds of the achiote tree (Bixa orellana), native to the tropical regions of the Americas.
• About 70% of natural food colors come from annatto.
• It adds a yellow-orange color to foods like cheese, butter, yogurt, sausage, smoked fish, ice cream, and baked goods.
  • The bold color comes from carotenoids, which are plant pigments that are found in the coating of the seed.
• It is most often ground up into a powder or paste form for use.
• Its color can also be extracted from the seed and then added to foods as a dye.
• Some also use annatto to boost the flavor of certain dishes.
• It has a mild, peppery flavor when used in large amounts as well as a nutty and floral scent.
• It is safe for most people when used in normal food amounts. However, it might cause allergic reactions in some sensitive people.
• Benefits:
  • It has been linked to various benefits, including reduced inflammation, improved eye and heart health, and anticancer properties.
  • It is rich in several key antimicrobial compounds, which can limit the growth of bacteria, fungi, and parasites.
  • It is rich in antioxidants, or compounds that help neutralize the effects of harmful free radicals that can build up and cause damage to cells.
  • It is high in tocotrienol, a form of vitamin E that some studies show could help with keeping bones strong and healthy.
  • Annatto seeds are sometimes also ground up and applied topically to help enhance the health of your skin.

What are Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)?

• Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) are a large family of synthetic chemicals, widely known as “Forever Chemicals” due to their extreme environmental persistence.
• PFAS are extensively used in non-stick cookware, water-resistant clothing, food packaging, cosmetics, firefighting foams, metal coatings, and industrial lubricants.
• The carbon–fluorine (C–F) bond, one of the strongest covalent bonds in chemistry, makes PFAS highly resistant to degradation, leading to widespread groundwater contamination, especially near military, industrial, and municipal sites.

What is Carbon-Based PFAS Remediation?

• Carbon-based PFAS remediation is a novel in-situ groundwater treatment approach, the field study published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.
• The study evaluated a specially engineered ultra-fine carbon material, known as Colloidal Carbon Product (CCP), designed to adsorb and immobilise PFAS in groundwater.
• The technology uses a “push–pull” testing method, where CCP is injected underground to form an in-situ permeable treatment zone, and groundwater is later extracted to measure PFAS reduction.
• Unlike surface treatment methods, this approach is non-invasive, subsurface-based, and suitable for long-term remediation.