Why in news?

Six months after US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff hikes, the predicted economic collapse has not materialised.

The S&P 500 is about 10% higher since “Liberation Day,” and the dollar, after dipping, has recently strengthened. Despite tariffs on almost all major trading partners, consumer prices in the US have not spiked significantly. The muted inflation response raises the key question: will tariffs trigger only a one-time price jump, or lead to prolonged inflationary pressure?

This article examines the unexpectedly modest short-term economic impact of “Trumponomics,” specifically the aggressive tariff strategy implemented by President Trump.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Tariff Magnitude and Global Reach
• US Economy’s Current Resilience Amid High Tariffs
• Signs of a Looming US Economic Slowdown
• Fiscal Concerns and Rising Treasury Yields
• High Tariffs Likely to Persist Beyond Trump

Tariff Magnitude and Global Reach

• The US has increased tariffs significantly on virtually all trading partners — 15% on economies like the EU, Japan, and South Korea, and 35–50% on countries such as Canada, Switzerland, Brazil, and India.
• With January’s average tariff at 3%, current rates could average 15–20%, a shift that is inherently inflationary even if importers or retailers absorb some of the costs.

US Economy’s Current Resilience Amid High Tariffs

• The US economy has retained stability despite higher import duties, largely because President Trump inherited a growing economy with over 2% GDP growth, near full employment, and low inflation.
• Stock markets have also been buoyed by the booming artificial intelligence sector, significantly boosting tech company earnings and market sentiment.
• Importers accelerated shipments ahead of tariff enforcement, meaning many goods currently on shelves are not yet affected by higher duties.
• Additionally, Trump’s repeated waivers and deadline extensions have delayed the full impact of tariffs.
• Warning Signs in the Labour Market
  • Despite overall resilience, labour market data shows weakness.
  • In July, non-farm payrolls rose by only 73,000, with significant downward revisions for May and June.
• Risks Ahead: Inflation and Job Losses
  • While inflation has not surged yet, higher import costs are expected to filter into prices, potentially denting consumer demand and slowing job creation.
  • The Fall-Winter/Christmas season could reveal these strains, influencing voter sentiment ahead of midterm elections.

Signs of a Looming US Economic Slowdown

• Inflationary effects are becoming evident, with major retailers like Costco and Walmart raising prices on appliances, furniture, tools, and children’s items.
• These increases indicate that higher import costs from tariffs are starting to filter through to consumers.
• US GDP grew at an annualised 3% in Q2 2025, rebounding from a 0.5% contraction in Q1.
• However, this surge was largely due to strong consumer spending on goods imported in advance of tariffs. This temporary boost raises concerns about a sharp slowdown in the coming quarters.

Fiscal Concerns and Rising Treasury Yields

• Trump’s tax bill has sparked worries about the US deficit.
• These concerns were reflected in the recent rise in Treasury yields following a weak $42 billion bond auction.
• The 10-year note yield rose to 4.22%, and the 30-year bond yield climbed to 4.813%, signalling investor apprehension.
• The US Federal Reserve faces a dual challenge: balancing the need to contain inflation without exacerbating weaknesses in the job market.
• Keeping interest rates high could stabilise prices but also risk further employment slowdown.
• With inflation expected to rise and job creation likely to taper, the Fed’s policy decisions are under intense scrutiny.

High Tariffs Likely to Persist Beyond Trump

• The latter half of 2025 is expected to be more volatile, with Trump’s unpredictable tariff policies beginning to influence long-term pricing decisions.
• In this new trade environment, companies will thrive not only through innovation or efficiency, but also by navigating the tariff framework skillfully and lobbying effectively for government concessions.
• The resulting heavy spending on lobbying will make it politically and economically challenging to dismantle these tariffs, even if a future administration desires to do so.
• Consequently, the US is likely to maintain a high-tariff trade stance well beyond Trump’s tenure.

Why in news?

The Supreme Court recently criticised the practice of returning sterilised stray dogs to their original locations under the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme, calling it “unreasonable and absurd.” This view found support among those impacted by aggressive stray dog packs.

However, experts point out that returning sterilised dogs is actually central to the ABC method’s effectiveness.

The approach aims to stabilise stray populations by ensuring sterilised dogs occupy their territories, preventing unsterilised ones from moving in and breeding, thereby gradually reducing overall numbers.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Importance of Returning Sterilised Dogs to the Streets
• Keeping Streets ‘Unproductive’ for Stray Dog Breeding
• Crisis of Capacity in Implementing SC’s Stray Dog Shelter Order
• Inadequacies in Delhi’s ABC Drive
• Irresponsible Pet Ownership and its Impact on ABC
• Feeding Strays: A Trigger for Aggression

Importance of Returning Sterilised Dogs to the Streets

• In sterilisation-based population control, females are the primary targets, as unsterilised males can still impregnate all fertile females, undermining the effort.
• Spaying females directly curbs reproduction, while neutering males can also reduce aggression — lowering human-dog conflicts.
• Effective Animal Birth Control (ABC) programmes target both sexes, aiming to sterilise at least two-thirds (ideally 70%) of the dog population within a year.
• Since sterilisation cannot happen all at once, returning sterilised dogs to their original territories prevents unsterilised newcomers from moving in and breeding.
• This territorial stability is crucial for ensuring the programme’s long-term success.

Keeping Streets ‘Unproductive’ for Stray Dog Breeding

• If sterilised dogs from certain streets are removed and not returned, those areas become vacant, attracting unsterilised dogs from nearby streets.
• With easy access to resources like garbage dumps, these newcomers breed quickly, undoing sterilisation efforts.
• Returning sterilised dogs ensures that these territories remain occupied by animals that cannot reproduce, preventing fertile dogs from moving in.
• This practice also preserves the local dogs’ social structure, reducing conflicts.
• Most importantly, in the early stages of an ABC drive, it helps secure each area’s progress step-by-step, making population control more sustainable.

Crisis of Capacity in Implementing SC’s Stray Dog Shelter Order

• The Supreme Court’s directive to build shelters and house 5,000–6,000 stray dogs within six to eight weeks has caught Delhi’s civic authorities unprepared.
• With no government-owned shelters and only around two dozen NGO-run facilities accommodating fewer than 3,000 dogs, capacity is a major hurdle.
• Housing thousands of unrelated dogs together also raises welfare concerns — stress, anxiety, and aggression can result despite standard protocols like individual cages with barriers.
• Moreover, dogs are inherently social, forming packs and hierarchies in open environments, making large-scale captivity unsuitable for their behavioural well-being.

Inadequacies in Delhi’s ABC Drive

• Delhi’s lack of holding capacity to meet the Supreme Court’s directive also exposes the severe shortcomings of its Animal Birth Control (ABC) program.
• With an estimated 8 lakh street dogs, effective control requires sterilising 70% — around 5.5 lakh — within a year.
• Spread over 300 working days, this means operating on 1,800 dogs daily.
• Given that each dog needs to be housed for pre- and post-operative care for four days, Delhi would require kennel space for 7,200 dogs at a time.
• In reality, the city’s total holding capacity is under 3,000, meaning the ABC program operates at only about 40% of the required scale.
• This gross shortfall explains why the drive has failed to stabilise the stray dog population.

Irresponsible Pet Ownership and its Impact on ABC

• A weak ABC drive in India is further undermined by irresponsible pet ownership.
• Without a national law mandating dog registration, and with only a few cities having poorly enforced rules, there is no systemic accountability for pet owners.
• Sterilisation and vaccination of pets are also not mandatory.
• As a result, hundreds of unwanted dogs and pups are abandoned daily, while many pet dogs are allowed to roam freely or escape, breeding with street strays.
• This constant influx fuels the stray dog population, making the so-called “Indian street dog” predominantly a mix of crossbreeds.
• Experts recommend that ABC programs should also target pedigreed pets with high breeding rates.
• Governments could encourage compliance by offering incentives for registration and sterilisation, and by imposing steep taxes on breeding pets to curb irresponsible ownership.

Feeding Strays: A Trigger for Aggression

• In urban areas, many residents feed stray dogs outside homes or workplaces, inadvertently making them territorial and aggressive.
• According to experts, true stray dogs form stable packs, are cautious of people, and are mostly active at night. In contrast, abandoned or loosely supervised pets tend to stay near human activity and have smaller roaming areas.
• These “proxy pets” are more likely to show aggression towards people who neither feed nor pet them, creating a recipe for conflict in shared public spaces.

Context:

• The 2020 second Nagorno-Karabakh conflict signalled a turning point in modern warfare, showcasing drones as central to combat operations.
• This trend was reinforced for India and Pakistan during Operation Sindoor (May 7–10), where unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) advanced beyond reconnaissance to play a decisive role in precision strikes.
• This article highlights the transformation of drone warfare from reconnaissance to decisive strike capabilities, India’s push for modernising its UAV fleet, and the strategic opportunities in the Indo-Pacific drone market amid declining U.S. dominance.

India’s Push for Drone Modernisation

• Following Operation Sindoor, India has intensified efforts to modernise its unmanned aerial capabilities.
• In 2024, it secured 31 MQ-9B Reapers from the US, including SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian variants, to boost maritime surveillance and strategic cooperation.
• However, these meet only part of India’s diverse defence needs across high-altitude, contested borders with Pakistan and China.
• The country requires high-altitude, long-range fixed-wing drones for heavy payload precision strikes, along with smaller, cost-effective systems for targeted missions.
• Currently, India operates older Israeli systems like the Harop loitering munition and Heron medium-altitude drones, which are effective but lag behind cutting-edge global models.
• Much of its fleet consists of legacy imports from before the last decade, supplemented by a few indigenous platforms, highlighting the need for broader and faster upgrades.

India’s Evolving Drone Procurement Strategy

• While India has long sourced advanced drones from the U.S., it is now rethinking this approach, favouring American components like power plants and electronic payloads over complete systems.
• The global UAV market is currently dominated by the U.S., China, Türkiye, and Israel — but American drones have faced criticism for lagging behind rivals from Russia and China.
• Reports suggest that strict adherence to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) has left the U.S. with only 8% of the export market by the end of 2023, far behind China and Türkiye, though recent reforms may expand its market share.
• In the meantime, India is addressing capability gaps through imports, joint ventures, and domestic production, heavily depending on Israel and select European suppliers.
• Given strained relations with both China and Türkiye, these countries are unlikely to be sources for critical defence technology.
• Looking ahead, India not only needs to secure its own UAV requirements but could also leverage its technological progress to become a significant fixed-wing UAV supplier for the Indo-Pacific region.

China’s Growing Influence and India’s Strategic Opportunity

• Several Indo-Pacific nations — including Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan — face persistent tensions with China, particularly over disputed maritime territories.
• For these countries, Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) is crucial to counter China’s ‘gray-zone’ tactics, such as deploying coast guard and maritime militia to assert claims, and to safeguard fisheries, energy exploration zones, and sovereignty from encroachment.
  • Gray-zone tactics refer to coercive actions taken by states or non-state actors that fall between traditional peace and open warfare.
• While Israel is unlikely to be a dependable defence supplier due to its ongoing West Asia conflict, Türkiye has emerged as a key global source of cost-effective, high-performance drones.
• However, given India’s adversarial ties with Türkiye, it is in New Delhi’s interest to limit Ankara’s influence through drone diplomacy in the region.
• Many Indo-Pacific nations share geographical and operational needs similar to India — high-altitude border surveillance and extensive maritime monitoring.
• If India develops UAV systems tailored to its own requirements, these could be exported to meet the strategic and operational needs of regional partners, enhancing India’s defence diplomacy and counterbalancing China’s growing footprint.

India’s Opportunity in the Indo-Pacific Drone Market

• The decline of U.S. dominance in the Indo-Pacific drone market has created a contested space that India could strategically occupy.
• By filling this gap, India stands to enhance both its trade and geopolitical influence while meeting its own defence requirements.
• Despite hurdles such as bureaucratic inefficiency and a public sector-heavy defence ecosystem, India can leverage its strong defence ties with Israel and the experience gained from joint ventures to strengthen its domestic UAV capabilities.
• Rather than focusing solely on complete indigenous production, India could also establish technology-sharing frameworks with like-minded Indo-Pacific nations.
• This approach would not only accelerate capability-building but also nurture trust-based partnerships in a region increasingly defined by strategic competition and polarisation.

Conclusion

• India’s ability to develop and export tailored UAVs could secure its strategic needs, counter China’s influence, and position it as a key Indo-Pacific defence partner.

Why in News?

• The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2025 was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to address persistent delays, maximise stakeholder value, and align the insolvency framework with international best practices.
• The IBC Amendment Bill 2025 seeks to overhaul admission procedures, introduce out-of-court resolutions, and implement group and cross-border insolvency mechanisms.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Background - IBC’s Evolution and Challenges
• Key Provisions in the IBC Amendment Bill 2025
• Significance of the IBC Amendment Bill 2025
• Conclusion

Background - IBC’s Evolution and Challenges:

• The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC): It was introduced in 2016 to provide a time-bound mechanism for rescuing and reorganising distressed companies.
• Achievements: It brought a culture of accountability, credit discipline among debtors.
• Challenges:
  • Procedural delays
  • Shortage of personnel
  • High backlog of cases
  • Steep haircuts for creditors
  • Deviations from original principles

Key Provisions in the IBC Amendment Bill 2025:

• Faster admission of insolvency cases:
  • Mandatory admission if default is proven, procedural compliance is met, and no disciplinary proceedings against the resolution professional.
  • Records from financial institutions deemed conclusive proof of default.
  • The 14-day timeline for the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to decide on admission is to be strictly enforced; delays must be recorded in writing.
• Current scenario:
• The average time taken for admission is around 434
• In 2022, the Supreme Court had held that admission within 14 days was not a mandatory provision of the IBC.
• This means that the NCLT had discretionary powers on deciding whether or not to admit the insolvency application - the Bill seeks to remove this.
• Out-of-court resolution - Creditor-Initiated Insolvency Resolution Process (CIIRP):
  • Targets genuine business failures to reduce burden on NCLT.
  • 51% creditor consent needed to initiate CIIRP.
  • Corporate debtors retain management with oversight by resolution professionals (with veto powers).
  • Timeline: The CIIRP process would be required to be concluded within 150 days. In case of failure, the normal CIIRP process can be converted to standard corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP).
• Group insolvency framework:
  • Coordinated resolution for companies in the same corporate group.
  • Aims to reduce value loss from fragmented proceedings.
  • Allows for common resolution professionals and joint committee of creditors (CoC) panels.
• Cross-border insolvency framework:
  • Facilitates recognition of Indian insolvency proceedings abroad.
  • Improves recovery of foreign assets and boosts investor confidence.
  • Aligns with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law and global best practices.
• Enhancements in liquidation process:
  • CoC empowered to supervise liquidation and replace liquidator with 66% vote.
  • The moratorium under CIRP extended to the liquidation stage.
  • Direct dissolution allowed for negligible assets.
  • Restoration of CIRP permitted once, on CoC request.
• Other notable provisions:
  • Expanded definition of resolution plan to include asset sales.
  • Restrictions on corporate applicant nominating resolution professionals.
  • Withdrawal of CIRP applications limited after key stages.
  • Avoidance transaction proceedings can continue post-resolution.
  • Removal of interim moratorium for personal guarantors.
  • Provision to prevent fraudulent transactions.
  • Clarification on priority of government dues.

Significance of the IBC Amendment Bill 2025:

• It addresses long-pending procedural bottlenecks.
• It promotes ease of doing business and investor confidence.
• It aligns India’s insolvency ecosystem with global standards.
• It encourages timely resolution and value maximisation for stakeholders.

Conclusion:

• If effectively implemented, the IBC Amendment Bill 2025 could transform India’s insolvency regime into a swift, transparent, and globally competitive framework, reducing delays and maximising asset value.
• By integrating out-of-court mechanisms, group and cross-border insolvency provisions, and stronger governance, it can position India as a trusted destination for investment and corporate restructuring in the coming decade.

Why in the News?

• The Centre is considering raising parental income limits for SC/ST scholarships from FY 2026-27 to widen access amid declining beneficiary numbers.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• SC/ST Scholarships (Introduction, Features, Proposed Reforms, Budgetary Allocation, Significance, Future Outlook, etc.)

Introduction

• The Union government is considering significant changes to the eligibility criteria for pre-matric and post-matric scholarships for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and Denotified Tribes (DNTs).
• One key proposal under discussion is the upward revision of the parental income limit, aimed at expanding access to these schemes from the financial cycle 2026-27 to 2030-31.
• The move comes amid declining beneficiary numbers and calls from Parliamentary committees to make the income criteria more inclusive.

About SC/ST Scholarships

• These scholarships are centrally sponsored schemes jointly funded by the Union and State governments in a 60:40 ratio (90:10 for the Northeastern states).
• They provide financial assistance to students from marginalised communities to support their education:

• Pre-Matric Scholarships: Typically cover Classes IX and X. For SCs, they are available from Classes I to X for children of parents engaged in “unclean or hazardous” occupations.
• Post-Matric Scholarships: Cover education beyond Class X.
• Current Eligibility: The annual parental income must not exceed Rs. 2.5 lakh.

Proposed Revisions to Income Limits

• For STs: The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is considering increasing the limit to Rs. 4.5 lakh for both pre-matric and post-matric scholarships.
• For SCs, OBCs, and DNTs: The Social Justice Ministry is discussing similar revisions.
• Parliamentary panels have suggested doubling the income ceiling for OBC scholarships and introducing pre-matric scholarships from Class V onwards for OBCs.

Budgetary Allocation and Importance

• For FY 2025-26:

• Centrally sponsored scholarships for SCs, OBCs, EBCs, and DNTs account for 66.7% of the Social Justice Ministry’s Rs. 13,611 crore budget.
• For STs, such scholarships make up 18.6% of the Tribal Affairs Ministry’s Rs. 14,925.81 crore allocation.

• These figures underline the schemes’ central role in enabling education for disadvantaged communities.

Declining Beneficiary Trends

• Government data reveals a worrying decline in scholarship beneficiaries:

• SCs: Pre-matric beneficiaries fell by 30.63% (2020-21 to 2024-25); post-matric by 4.22%.
• OBCs, EBCs, DNTs: Pre-matric beneficiaries dropped from 58.62 lakh (2021-22) to 20.25 lakh (2023-24); post-matric fell from 43.34 lakh to 38.42 lakh.
• STs: Pre-matric numbers fell by 4.63 lakh; post-matric by 3.52 lakh in the same period.

Recommendations from Parliamentary Committees

Two key Parliamentary panels have flagged the need for reforms:

• OBC Welfare Committee:
• Urged doubling the income limit for OBC pre- and post-matric scholarships.
• Recommended expanding pre-matric coverage to start from Class V.
• Panel on Tribal Affairs and Social Justice:
• Suggested revising parental income limits for ST scholarships.
• Emphasised that current limits exclude many families in need.

• Both committees stressed that scholarships are vital tools for social mobility, and overly restrictive criteria undermine their purpose.

Socio-Economic Impact of Raising Income Limits

• Raising the parental income ceiling could:

• Expand Coverage: Include more lower-middle-income families who still face financial barriers.
• Reduce Dropouts: Enable continued education beyond primary levels.
• Bridge Inequality: Help disadvantaged communities access higher education and competitive careers.
• However, it will also require higher budgetary allocations and robust monitoring to ensure genuine beneficiaries receive aid.

Future Outlook

• If approved, the revised limits will take effect in FY 2026-27, coinciding with the start of a new five-year financial planning cycle.
• The government’s challenge will be to balance inclusivity with fiscal sustainability, while ensuring the scholarships reach intended recipients without leakages.

Context

• Universities are unique institutions tasked not only with transmitting knowledge but also with generating new ideas, challenging orthodoxies, and developing independent thinking.
• This mission is possible only when scholars and students have the liberty to question, debate, and explore without fear of censorship or interference.
• The health of a university system is therefore directly tied to the extent of its intellectual autonomy.
• When this freedom is curtailed, the damage is not confined to the campus, it seeps into society, the economy, and the political system at large.

The Essential Role of Academic Freedom

• Ability to Question Existing Knowledge
  • For students, this means more than memorising information; it means developing the capacity to interrogate established truths, critique conventional wisdom, and resist undue deference to authority, whether spoken or printed.
  • For faculty, it entails the liberty to pursue research in any direction their scholarly judgement deems fruitful, free from political or bureaucratic interference.
  • Institutions themselves must also have the freedom to address economic, social, and political issues openly, thereby fulfilling their role as intellectual catalysts in public life.
• Engagement in Diverse Perspective
  • This freedom extends to inviting speakers of diverse perspectives, determining research priorities, and engaging in unorthodox or dissenting inquiry.
  • Such openness is not merely desirable; it is the precondition for knowledge to advance.
  • Fundamental research thrives in an environment rich in both liberty and resources, allowing exceptional thinkers to flourish.

The Crisis in Indian Higher Education

• In India, the reality diverges sharply from this ideal. Academic autonomy is increasingly constrained by state control over curricula, prescribed reading lists, and research funding.
• Decisions about what may or may not be taught often lie outside the hands of educators themselves, with certain texts explicitly banned from syllabi.
• In the social sciences and humanities especially, research that deviates from mainstream narratives is frequently suppressed.
• This centralisation of control extends beyond the classroom.
• Permissions for faculty to attend international conferences can be contingent upon undertakings not to engage in any activity critical of the government, even when abroad.
• Private universities are not immune; many adopt self-censorship to avoid jeopardising their relationship with political authorities.
• The net effect is a stifling of critical discourse, a weakening of research culture, and a missed opportunity for India’s universities to achieve global excellence, reflected in the absence of Nobel laureates from their ranks.

Autonomy, Accountability, and the Democratic Context

• University autonomy is not only an academic matter; it is central to the functioning of a political democracy.
• In the economic sphere, universities are engines of innovation, policy ideas, and technological progress.
• Socially, they serve as conscience-keepers, with scholars engaging the public as intellectual commentators. Politically, they contribute to government accountability through informed critique and evaluation.
• Such autonomy, however, must be paired with accountability, primarily to students and society, rather than to the government.
• Governance structures within universities must be designed to ensure transparency and responsiveness.
• While government funding of public universities is essential, it should never be interpreted as a license for political control.
• Accountability can be reinforced through mechanisms such as rankings, public performance evaluations, and independent peer review, rather than direct interference in academic affairs.

A Global Perspective on Control and Conformity

• The tension between academic freedom and government control is not unique to India.
• Democratically elected governments in countries such as Argentina, Hungary, and Türkiye have also sought to restrict university independence.
• In authoritarian regimes, from China to Russia, restrictions are far more severe, particularly in disciplines like social sciences and humanities.
• China, however, provides an intriguing contrast: despite political restrictions, its elite institutions maintain rigorous academic hiring standards and high-quality research in many fields.
• Even in the United States, long seen as a bastion of academic freedom, government actions such as the Trump administration’s cuts to research funding have raised concerns about the erosion of the country’s global academic leadership.
• The motives for such interventions are consistent across contexts: governments fear dissent, seek ideological conformity, or resent uncomfortable questions posed by independent scholars.

The Consequences of Curtailing Academic Freedom

• Suppressing academic freedom inevitably diminishes the quality of education and research.
• A culture of fear or compliance leads to intellectual stagnation, deterring both students and faculty from pursuing bold or innovative ideas.
• In the long run, the costs extend beyond universities themselves.
• An economy deprived of fresh thinking will lose its competitive edge; a society without critical voices will lose its capacity for self-reflection; and a polity without informed dissent will drift toward authoritarianism.

Conclusion

• The moral of the story is unambiguous: academic freedom is not a luxury, it is a necessity for the progress of knowledge, the vitality of democracy, and the well-being of society.
• For India, and indeed for any nation, the path forward lies in granting universities full autonomy, academic, financial, and administrative, while ensuring robust systems of accountability to the public they serve.
• Without such reforms, higher education risks becoming a sterile exercise in conformity, rather than the vibrant crucible of ideas it is meant to be.

Why in the News?

Starlink’s upcoming launch in India has renewed focus on how satellite internet works, its applications, and regulatory challenges.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Satellite Internet (Introduction, Significance, Working, Key Features, Applications, Challenges, etc.)

Introduction

• Satellite internet is emerging as a transformative solution in global connectivity, especially for remote and underserved areas.
• With Elon Musk’s Starlink set to debut in India, the country’s internet infrastructure is poised for a significant upgrade.
• Unlike traditional ground-based networks dependent on cables and towers, satellite internet can offer high-speed access in areas where physical infrastructure is unviable.
• Hence, it ensures resilience during disasters and operational continuity for both civilian and military applications.

Significance of Satellite Internet

• Ground-based broadband, while efficient in urban hubs, struggles in sparsely populated or disaster-prone regions due to high infrastructure costs and vulnerability to physical damage.
• Satellite internet overcomes these constraints by providing coverage irrespective of terrain, rapidly deploying during emergencies, and servicing mobile or remote operations such as on ships, aircraft, or oil rigs.
• This makes it not just a backup but a potential primary connectivity mode in specific scenarios.

Key Features and Dual-Use Nature

• The arrival of satellite mega-constellations like Starlink marks a new era. These networks, consisting of thousands of satellites, have applications across:

• Civilian sectors: healthcare, agriculture, transportation, education, and disaster response.
• Military sectors: secure communications, battlefield coordination, and navigation in remote conflict zones.

• Global examples highlight its importance. Viasat enabled disaster relief during Hurricane Harvey, while Starlink has been crucial to Ukrainian defence in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
• In India, the Army has utilised satellite internet in strategic locations like the Siachen Glacier. However, its borderless nature also poses risks, as seen in cases of smuggled terminals being used by insurgent groups.

Working of Satellite Internet

• A satellite internet network comprises:

• Space Segment: Satellites in orbit, carrying communication payloads with a service life of 5-20 years.
• Ground Segment: Terminals and antennas that connect users to the satellites.

• The orbital altitude determines coverage and latency, with three main categories:

• Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) - 35,786 km altitude; large coverage but high latency; unsuitable for real-time applications. Example: Viasat’s Global Xpress.
• Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) - 2,000-35,786 km altitude; lower latency than GEO but still requiring multiple satellites for coverage. Example: O3b constellation.
• Low Earth Orbit (LEO) - below 2,000 km; very low latency and smaller, cheaper satellites, but requiring large mega-constellations for global coverage. Example: Starlink with over 7,000 satellites.

LEO Mega-Constellations and Innovations

• LEO constellations mitigate their limited coverage by using vast numbers of satellites with onboard processing capabilities.
• Optical inter-satellite links allow direct satellite-to-satellite communication, reducing dependency on ground stations and improving efficiency.
• These systems employ steerable antennas to ensure uninterrupted service as satellites move rapidly across the sky, handing off connections seamlessly between satellites.

Applications Across Sectors

• Communications: Internet access in remote regions, support for IoT networks.
• Transportation: Enhanced navigation, self-driving vehicle support, and real-time logistics.
• Disaster Management: Early warnings, emergency coordination, and resilient communication lines.
• Healthcare: Telemedicine, diagnostics, and remote monitoring.
• Agriculture: Precision farming and crop analytics.
• Defence: Secure communications, surveillance, and operational readiness in remote zones.
• Environmental Monitoring & Energy: Tracking natural resources, supporting renewable energy operations.
• Future innovations like direct-to-smartphone satellite connectivity could eliminate the need for dedicated terminals, integrating satellite capabilities directly into consumer devices.

Challenges and Strategic Importance

• While costs remain higher than terrestrial broadband (approx. $500 for hardware and $50/month for service), the benefits in remote connectivity and strategic resilience justify the investment.
• However, its dual-use nature raises regulatory and security concerns, making governance critical.
• For India, satellite internet offers the opportunity to:

• Bridge the digital divide.
• Strengthen disaster resilience.
• Enhance national security capabilities.
• Play a role in shaping the international governance of satellite networks.

Context:

• On 11 August, the Supreme Court of India (SC) ordered relocation of all street dogs in Delhi to shelters within eight weeks, following a rise in fatal attacks on infants.
• While the move addresses public safety concerns, it raises legal, constitutional, and governance issues—especially in the context of animal rights, judicial overreach, and municipal governance failure.

Background of the Case:

• Trigger: The apex court took suo motu cognisance of media reports on fatal street dog attacks.
• Concerns: Threat to infants, children, and elderly from unvaccinated street dogs.
• Historical context: Human–canine conflict has been a recurring issue in India, debated across courts and policy forums.

Key Issues with the Order:

• Violation of existing law:
  • It contradicts -
    • The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960.
    • The PCA (Animal Birth Control) Rules, 2023 - prohibit relocation, mandate scientific population control.
  • Implication: Undermines rule of law and sets a precedent for ignoring legal frameworks.
• Ignoring judicial precedent:
  • Violates the stare decisis principle (to stand by things decided).
  • The SC had already settled the matter in the Animal Welfare Board of India vs People for Elimination of Stray Troubles (2024).
  • Frequent reopening of settled issues erodes public faith in judiciary and diverts state resources from implementation.
• Violation of natural justice:
  • Principle of Audi alteram partem (hear the other side) breached.
  • Requests for impleadment by relevant parties ignored; suggestions from amicus curiae dismissed.
  • The order lacked evidence-based reasoning, scientific grounding, and feasibility assessment.
• Contradiction with fundamental duties:
  • Article 51A(g) of the Constitution: Citizens have a duty to show compassion to living creatures.
  • Threatening action against those opposing relocation undermines this constitutional duty.

Underlying Governance Failure - Failure of Local Authorities:

• Inadequate implementation of humane Animal Birth Control (ABC) and anti-rabies vaccination programmes.
• Ineffective euthanasia of confirmed rabid dogs.
• Poor solid waste management, contributing to rising stray dog numbers.

Critical Analysis of the Order:

• Judicial overreach: Court bypassed existing statutory mechanisms and municipal responsibilities.
• Short-term fix: The Court has not considered the impact of enforced dog sheltering on public health, public safety, and on the public exchequer. Relocation may worsen issues like overcrowded shelters.
• Root cause neglected: Villainising street dogs is a convenient smokescreen to hide the total failure of the state machinery (the third tier of government in particular) in performing their legal duties.

Way Forward:

• Strengthen local governance: Effective implementation of ABC Rules, 2023 and vaccination drives.
• Evidence-based judicial orders: Consider scientific studies and public health data.
• Public awareness: Promote responsible pet ownership and compassion towards animals.
• Multi-stakeholder approach: Collaboration between judiciary, executive, NGOs, and communities.
• Prevent polarisation: Avoid framing the issue as humans vs animals; focus on systemic failures.

Conclusion:

• In the future, addressing human–canine conflict will require data-driven, humane, and community-based interventions that align with constitutional duties, scientific evidence, and sustainable urban governance.
• By empowering the third tier of government and ensuring strict adherence to the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023, India can move towards a balanced approach where public safety, animal welfare, and legal integrity coexist in harmony.

Context

• On July 1, 2025, the government approved the Employment Linked Incentive (ELI) Scheme with an ambitious outlay of ₹99,446 crore, aiming to stimulate employment generation.
• While the scheme reflects a commitment to addressing India’s persistent labour market challenges, its design and focus raise critical concerns.
• In a labour market marked by deep capital-labour asymmetries, a formal–informal sector divide, and a chronic mismatch between employment opportunities and employability, the ELI risks reinforcing existing inequalities rather than resolving them.

Employer-Centric Design and Labour Market Mismatch

• At its core, the ELI Scheme adopts an employer-centric approach, providing fiscal incentives to employers, particularly in the manufacturing sector, to create jobs.
• However, this strategy overlooks the structural issue of skill mismatch.
• The Economic Survey 2024–25 reveals that only 8.25% of graduates secure jobs aligned with their qualifications, while over half are underemployed in semi-skilled or elementary roles.
• Wage data further highlights the disparity: nearly 46% of graduates in low-skill jobs earn less than ₹1 lakh per annum, while only 4.2% in specialised positions reach ₹4–8 lakh.
• With merely 4.9% of Indian youth receiving formal vocational training, industry demand and workforce preparedness remain deeply misaligned.
• In this context, subsidising employers to hire an under-skilled workforce does little to enhance productivity or worker well-being.
• Instead, it risks strengthening employers’ bargaining power, widening wage gaps, and perpetuating a cycle of low-skill, low-wage employment.

Concerns Surrounding Employment Linked Incentive

• Exclusion of the Informal Sector
  • The scheme’s reliance on Employee’s Provident Fund Organisation registration effectively limits its benefits to the formal sector, thereby excluding 90% of the workforce employed informally.
  • This exclusion not only sidelines workers without social security and formal contracts but also entrenches a dual labour market, one where the state invests heavily in the formal sector while leaving the informal sector unsupported.
  • Such a policy orientation channels public resources towards enterprises already better positioned, marginalising low-wage, unregistered workers who absorb most new labour market entrants.
• Risks of Disguised Unemployment and Sectoral Bias
  • Without safeguards, the ELI Scheme could inadvertently normalise disguised unemployment, situations where individuals appear employed but contribute minimally to output, common in agriculture and informal services.
  • Employers might also reclassify existing jobs as new employment to claim subsidies, undermining the policy’s intent.
• Marginalisation of Women and Youth
  • Moreover, the scheme’s emphasis on manufacturing reflects an outdated assumption about its job-creating potential.
  • Manufacturing now accounts for less than 13% of total employment, with agriculture and services together employing nearly 70% of the workforce.
  • Rising automation and capital intensity have reduced manufacturing’s employment elasticity, making it an increasingly limited avenue for large-scale job creation.
  • This sectoral bias risks further marginalising women, rural youth, and informal workers, many of whom find employment in low-skill services or agriculture.

The Path Forward: Towards a More Equitable Employment Strategy

• While the ELI Scheme signals political will to tackle unemployment, its current design risks deepening structural inequalities.
• A more effective approach would integrate robust skill development and education reforms, ensuring that low-skilled workers can meet industry needs and access better-quality jobs.
• Policy emphasis should shift from short-term headcount increases to long-term strategies that sustain employment, enhance productivity, and strengthen labour rights.

Conclusion

• True employment generation must extend beyond wage subsidies to employers.
• It requires addressing the roots of underemployment: inadequate skilling infrastructure, weak social security coverage, and sectoral imbalances in job creation.
• An equitable and sustainable employment strategy must recognise the realities of India’s diverse labour market, ensuring that both formal and informal workers can share in the gains of economic growth.

Why in news?

The Rajya Sabha passed the National Sports Governance Bill, 2025, a day after its clearance in the Lok Sabha.

Opposition leaders criticised the legislation, calling it an “extreme centralisation of sports administration”. They highlight that the bill grants the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) most favoured treatment by keeping it outside the scope of national laws like the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The Bill specifies that only sports bodies receiving direct financial assistance from the government are deemed “public authorities” under the RTI Act. Since the BCCI does not get such funding, it will remain excluded.

Over the years, the BCCI has resisted inclusion under the RTI despite recommendations from the Supreme Court, the Law Commission of India, and the Central Information Commission to bring it under the transparency law.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• RTI Exemption for BCCI in National Sports Governance Bill
• BCCI’s Stance and RTI Debate
• Implications of Bringing BCCI Under RTI

RTI Exemption for BCCI in National Sports Governance Bill

• The National Sports Governance Bill seeks to recognise and regulate national sports bodies, aligning them with Olympic and Paralympic Charters and global best practices to improve transparency, accountability, and international collaboration opportunities.
• Initially, Clause 15(2) of the Bill defined a recognised sports organisation as a “public authority” under the RTI Act, making its operations — including team selection and contract awards — open to public scrutiny.
• This broad definition would have included the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
• However, a later amendment narrowed the definition to only cover organisations receiving government grants or financial assistance, and even then, solely regarding the utilisation of those funds.
• This change excluded the BCCI — which does not take direct government funding — from RTI obligations, despite cricket’s impending inclusion in the Olympics and calls for greater transparency in the sport’s administration.

BCCI’s Stance and RTI Debate

• BCCI maintains that it is a private, autonomous body registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975, and not a “public authority” under the RTI Act.
• It does not receive direct government funding, and is not classified as a sports federation under the Union Sports Ministry.
• Judicial and Commission Recommendations
  • Multiple judicial and quasi-judicial bodies have challenged BCCI’s stance.
  • The Law Commission of India’s 275th Report (2018) recommended classifying the BCCI as a public authority.
  • It cited indirect financial benefits such as tax exemptions exceeding ₹2,100 crore (1997–2007) and subsidised land allotments by state governments.
• Supreme Court Observations
  • In 2015, the Supreme Court observed that BCCI performs “public functions” — including selecting India’s national teams, using national symbols, and monopolising cricket with government concurrence.
  • The Justice R.M. Lodha Committee called BCCI’s functioning a “closed door and back-room affair” and urged legislative inclusion under the RTI Act.
• CIC’s Landmark Order and Legal Challenge
  • In 2018, the Central Information Commission declared BCCI a “public authority” and directed it to create an RTI query mechanism.
  • The BCCI challenged this order in the Madras High Court, which stayed its implementation, leaving the matter unresolved.

Implications of Bringing BCCI Under RTI

• If the BCCI were brought under the RTI Act, citizens could request comprehensive information about its operations — from team selection criteria and broadcasting contract details to infrastructure tenders, official appointments, and meeting minutes.
• This transparency would compel the board to justify decisions to the public, rather than only to its internal members.
• The Supreme Court, in its 2015 ruling, clarified that while BCCI is not a state body, it is subject to writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution because it performs public functions.
• This empowers High Courts to intervene when the board’s actions are arbitrary or against public interest.

Why in news?

US President Donald Trump has extended his trade truce with China until November 10, 2025, delaying the imposition of a 145% tariff on Chinese goods and maintaining it at 30% as per a previous order.

This pause follows Beijing’s countermeasures, which included initially imposing a 125% tariff on US imports (later reduced to 10%) and restricting exports of rare-earth metals crucial for US industries like automotive, aerospace, defence, and semiconductors.

China has also leveraged its agricultural imports, drastically reducing purchases of US farm produce — from $13.1 billion in January–June 2024 to $6.4 billion in the same period of 2025, continuing a multi-year decline from a peak of $40.7 billion in 2022.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Background to the Extension
• Key Trade Issues
• China’s Agricultural Import Leverage in US-China Trade Dispute
• India–US Agricultural Trade Surges Amid US–China Decline

Background to the Extension

• The United States and China have agreed to prolong their trade truce for another 90 days, just hours before mutual tariff hikes were set to take effect.
• This pause kept US tariffs on Chinese imports at 30%, while China maintained a 10% duty on US goods.
• Earlier in the year, both sides had threatened triple-digit tariffs, with Washington planning levies up to 145% and Beijing up to 125%, before scaling back during May talks in Geneva.
• Objectives of the Extension
  • According to the White House, the delay allows more time to address trade imbalances, unfair trade practices, and national security issues.
  • The US cited a $300 billion trade deficit with China in 2024.
  • Negotiations will focus on increasing market access for US exporters, lifting trade restrictions, and stabilising the global semiconductor supply chain.

Key Trade Issues

• Ongoing discussions cover access to China’s rare earths, purchases of Russian oil, and US technology export curbs.
• Recently, Trump allowed companies like AMD and Nvidia to resume certain chip sales to China in exchange for 15% of revenues — a move criticised as a “shakedown.”
• Additionally, the US is pressing for TikTok’s separation from Chinese parent ByteDance, a step opposed by Beijing.

China’s Agricultural Import Leverage in US-China Trade Dispute

• China has strategically slashed its agricultural imports from the US, especially soyabeans, which fell to just $2.5 billion in January–June 2025 from $17.9 billion in 2022.
• Other US exports hit include corn, barley, cotton, beef, pork, poultry, tree nuts, and forest products.
• As the world’s top importer of key agri-commodities, China now sources much of its soyabean, barley, and corn from Brazil, Argentina, Canada, and others, bypassing US suppliers.
• This shift impacts American farmers across the “corn belt” and livestock producers in states like Texas, Oklahoma, and California.
• Alongside its dominance in rare-earth elements, China’s buying power in the global agri-market is a potent tool to pressure the US administration into maintaining trade talks and avoiding tariff escalation.

India–US Agricultural Trade Surges Amid US–China Decline

• While US farm exports to China plunged 51.3% in January–June 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, shipments to India rose by 49.1%.
• Bilateral agricultural trade between India and the US is thriving, with US exports to India expected to exceed $3.5 billion and Indian exports to the US likely to top $7.5 billion this year.
• India has overtaken China as the largest market for US tree nuts, importing over $1.1 billion worth in 2024 and $759.6 million in just the first half of 2025.
• The US also holds a 35% share in India’s seafood exports, especially frozen shrimps and prawns worth $1.9 billion in 2024–25.
• Despite this robust exchange, the Trump administration has doubled tariffs on Indian imports to 50% from August 27, including a 25% penalty for purchasing Russian oil — a move not applied to China despite similar purchases.

Context:

• Organ transplantation is a landmark medical achievement and the most effective treatment for terminal organ failure.
• However, India faces a severe shortage of donor organs, leading to over 500,000 preventable deaths annually.
• Despite an increase in transplants from 4,990 in 2013 to 18,378 in 2023, only 1,099 involved deceased donors.
• With an organ donation rate of just 0.8 per million people—far below Spain and the US (over 45 per million)—the gap between demand and supply remains critical, making many lives needlessly lost.
• This article highlights the urgent need to address India’s severe organ shortage by dispelling persistent myths, improving public trust, and implementing robust policies to boost donation rates.

Dispelling Myths to Encourage Organ Donation

• A major barrier to organ donation in India is the persistence of myths and fears among families of the deceased.
• Many believe that organ retrieval disfigures the body, making proper funeral rites impossible, or that it violates religious traditions.
• In truth, organ removal is performed respectfully, preserving the donor’s appearance for final ceremonies, and all major faiths regard it as a compassionate act aligned with spiritual values.
• Another false fear is that doctors may hastily declare brain death to obtain organs.
• The reality is that brain death certification is governed by the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994, which mandates a strict, transparent, and legally binding process.
  • This involves multiple expert confirmations, clinical assessments at set intervals, and thorough documentation, ensuring ethical conduct and eliminating bias.
• Public education and awareness are essential to overcome these misconceptions and increase donation rates.

Breaking Age and Health Myths Around Organ Donation

• A common misconception is that only young accident victims can be organ donors.
• In reality, many organs and tissues—including kidneys, liver segments, lungs, corneas, bone, skin, and heart valves—can be donated by older individuals or those who die of natural causes.
• To address such myths, sustained awareness efforts are vital. Television, social media campaigns, and stories of real donor families and recipients can make the message relatable.
• Community workshops, led by trained counsellors, can directly tackle concerns about funeral rites, medical eligibility, and donation protocols.
• Integrating organ donation education into school and college curricula can instil a culture of giving early on, while peer-led programs can enhance empathy and understanding.
• Health-care professionals must also play a proactive role—through regular training—to initiate sensitive, informed conversations with families.
• Dedicated transplant coordination teams, such as those at Apollo Hospitals, provide compassionate guidance, ensuring families can make well-informed decisions.

Building Public Trust to Bridge the Organ Donation Gap

• Bridging India’s vast gap between organ demand and supply requires sustained national commitment, strong policy measures, and community involvement.
• One promising approach is the presumed consent model—successfully adopted in countries like Spain and Croatia—where every adult is considered a donor unless they opt out.
• For such a system to succeed, robust family support structures, transparent procedures, and grievance redress mechanisms must be in place to ensure ethical oversight and public trust.

Conclusion

• Organ donation is more than a medical intervention; it is a profound humanitarian act and a legacy of compassion.
• On World Organ Donation Day (August 13), the call is for every adult to register as a donor and every family to honour that choice.
• By dispelling myths, ensuring policy reforms, and fostering a culture of shared responsibility, India can work toward a future where no life is lost for want of an organ.

Why in news?

The Supreme Court has directed Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, and Ghaziabad authorities to urgently round up and shift stray dogs to shelters, stressing the need to protect children from rabies attacks.

The Bench emphasised that safety must outweigh sentiments and citizens should feel confident moving freely without fear of dog bites.

While the order offers relief to many, experts note that without making pet owners accountable, the problem may persist, as stray dog issues in India are largely linked to irresponsible pet ownership.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• India’s Stray and Pet Dog Population: Scale, Risks, and Industry Growth
• Why India’s Stray Dog Control Efforts Have Failed
• How Irresponsible Pet Ownership Fuels India’s Stray Dog Crisis
• Feeding Strays Without Ownership Worsens Aggression and Attacks
• Key Highlights of the Judgement

India’s Stray and Pet Dog Population: Scale, Risks, and Industry Growth

• India has over 60 million stray dogs, many succumbing to disease and accidents.
• Dog bites occur every 10 seconds, totaling 3 million annually, with around 5,000 fatalities.
• Rabies alone kills at least two people every three hours.
• Strays also pose environmental hazards, discharging 15,000 tonnes of feces and 8 million gallons of urine on roads and fields daily.
• In contrast, the pet dog population stood at 30 million in 2024, growing 10-15% annually alongside the expanding dog food market.
• The Rs 300 crore pet dog industry is set to double by 2030, with rising demand for luxury services like dog hotels, grooming parlours, and pet insurance from firms like Bajaj Allianz and Future Generali.

Why India’s Stray Dog Control Efforts Have Failed?

• India’s past attempts to tackle stray dogs—through killing by electrocution, poisoning, shooting, or clubbing—proved ineffective, as partial elimination only reduced competition and spurred breeding.
• Since 1992, sterilisation under the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001 has been the preferred method.
  • Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023 replaced the earlier 2001 rules.
• However, without sterilising at least two-thirds of the canine population within 6–12 months, the effort fails.
• With limited NGO capacity, cities rarely meet this target, and even when achieved, stray numbers may still rise due to abundant food sources.

How Irresponsible Pet Ownership Fuels India’s Stray Dog Crisis?

• With no national law mandating pet registration, sterilisation, or vaccination, many owners abandon unwanted dogs or let them breed with strays.
• This uncontrolled breeding adds significantly to the stray population, turning most “Indian street dogs” into crossbreeds.
• Experts suggest targeting pedigreed pets in Animal Birth Control (ABC) drives, offering incentives for registration and sterilisation, and imposing heavy taxes on breeding pets.

Feeding Strays Without Ownership Worsens Aggression and Attacks

• The growing trend of feeding stray dogs without adopting them makes them territorial and aggressive, often leading to attacks on non-feeders.
• Abandoned pets or proxy-fed dogs behave more aggressively than true strays, worsening public safety risks.
• Experts link this behaviour to irresponsible pet ownership and stray feeding, urging accountability for both pet owners and neighbourhood feeders.
• The Supreme Court has warned that anyone obstructing its stray dog removal orders will face legal action and may extend accountability to feeders in upcoming hearings.

Key Highlights of the Judgement

• Mandatory Capture & Detention: Strays to be picked up from all areas, prioritising vulnerable localities; resistance will invite contempt of court.
• Infrastructure & Personnel: Authorities must set up shelters/pounds for at least 5,000 dogs within 6–8 weeks, with adequate staff.
• Sterilisation & Immunisation: All captured dogs to be sterilised and vaccinated.
• Permanent Confinement: Strict CCTV surveillance of shelters; no dog to be released — violation will attract stern action.
• Public Safety Focus: Emphasis on protecting infants and children from rabies; no sentiments to interfere with public safety.
• Rapid Response Mechanism: Helpline to be created; all dog bite incidents must be acted upon within four hours of reporting.
• Victim Support: Authorities to ensure immediate medical assistance and maintain data on anti-rabies vaccine availability and usage.

Why in news?

Recently, the Supreme Court admitted Alphabet Inc.’s appeal against an NCLAT judgment that partly upheld Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) findings of Google abusing its dominance in the Android ecosystem through anti-competitive practices.

The Court also admitted related petitions from the CCI and Alliance Digital India Foundation (ADIF), a coalition of Indian startups opposing Big Tech dominance.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• CCI’s Case Against Google
• Google’s Defence Against CCI’s Findings
• High Stakes in the Android Antitrust Battle
• Supreme Court Verdict to Shape India’s Digital Market Future

CCI’s Case Against Google

• The CCI began investigating Google in 2020.
• This was after getting complaints from app developers and industry groups alleging that the company was exploiting its dominance in the Android ecosystem to promote its own services and curb fair competition.
• By 2022, the CCI concluded that Google engaged in several anti-competitive actions:
  • Mandatory Google Play Billing System (GPBS): Developers selling in-app content on the Play Store were compelled to use GPBS, paying commissions of 15–30%, instead of integrating their own billing systems.
  • Preferential Treatment to YouTube: Google exempted YouTube from these billing requirements, granting it a cost advantage over competitors.
  • Bundling of Google Apps: Smartphone makers were required to pre-install Google apps (Search, Chrome, YouTube, etc.) to access the Play Store, limiting consumer choice and stifling innovation from alternative service providers.
• Penalties and Directives
  • The CCI fined Google ₹936.44 crore and directed it to:
    • Decouple GPBS from Play Store access.
    • Ensure transparency in billing data.
    • Refrain from using billing data to unfairly advantage its own services.

Google’s Defence Against CCI’s Findings

• Google dismissed the CCI’s conclusions, stating its practices aimed to improve user experience, ensure security, and sustain the Android ecosystem.
• It emphasised that Android is open-source and free for manufacturers, and OEMs can license the core platform without installing Google’s proprietary apps if they forgo Play Store access.
• Pre-installing Google apps, it argued, was for efficiency and convenience, without restricting users from downloading alternatives.
• Regarding billing, Google claimed the Google Play Billing System (GPBS) ensured safe transactions, reduced fraud, and offered developers global infrastructure, distribution reach, and regular security updates.
• Commission fees, it said, were industry-standard. The exemption of certain in-house services from GPBS was presented as a reflection of different business models, not anti-competitive behaviour.
• Google also highlighted that leading Indian apps like PhonePe, Paytm, and Hotstar had thrived on Android, indicating a competitive market.

NCLAT’s Partial Ruling in Google’s Appeal

• In March, the NCLAT partly upheld the CCI’s 2022 order, agreeing that Google’s mandatory billing policy and bundling of apps constituted abuse of dominance.
• However, it reduced the penalty from ₹936.44 crore to ₹216.69 crore, calling the original fine disproportionate.
• The tribunal also struck down some behavioural remedies for being over-broad or lacking sufficient evidence.
• Following a review in May 2025, the NCLAT reinstated two key directions — requiring Google to be transparent in its billing data policies and prohibiting it from using such data to advantage its own services.
• This partial outcome left all sides dissatisfied: Google sought a full reversal, the CCI wanted the original penalties restored, and ADIF felt the tribunal was too lenient.

High Stakes in the Android Antitrust Battle

• The Supreme Court’s ruling in the Google vs CCI case will shape the balance between platform control, market competition, and consumer choice in India’s digital ecosystem.
• Impact on Consumers
  • A CCI win could increase app choice and lower prices by allowing developers to bypass GPBS for cheaper payment options.
  • It may also enhance privacy and fairness by limiting Google’s use of billing data.
  • However, reduced control could cause Android fragmentation, leading to inconsistent user experiences.
• Impact on Smartphone Makers
  • An outcome favouring the CCI could give OEMs greater flexibility to pre-install rival apps and explore alternative Android versions without losing Play Store access — a potential boost for smaller Indian brands.
• Impact on Startups and Developers
  • Indian startups could gain a level playing field, with more payment options and less bias in app promotion.
  • ADIF views this as a chance to curb Big Tech dominance and improve local companies’ bargaining power.
• Impact on Google
  • Beyond India, a loss could inspire similar regulatory actions globally, forcing Google to unbundle services or open its billing system, altering its core Android business model.

Supreme Court Verdict to Shape India’s Digital Market Future

• The Supreme Court’s hearings will assess whether Google’s practices constitute “abuse of dominance” under Indian competition law and weigh the economic dynamics of platform markets.
• The ruling will influence how over 95% of Indian smartphone users access apps, make payments, and interact with mobile services.
• A verdict upholding the CCI’s original directions could position India as a global leader in strong digital market regulation outside the EU, while a decision in Google’s favour would maintain the current market structure.

Context:

• In July 2025, the Supreme Court of India delivered its judgment in Shivangi Bansal vs Sahib Bansal, effectively endorsing the suspension of arrests or coercive action under Section 498-A of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code (IPC).
• Critics argue that this decision rests on false premises and poses a serious risk to both criminal justice and gender equality.
• This article examines the law’s socio-legal context, the Court’s reliance on the “misuse” narrative without empirical backing, and the potential erosion of protections for women facing domestic cruelty.

Section 498-A

• Section 498-A IPC (now Section 85 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita) penalises cruelty against a woman by her husband or his relatives, prescribing imprisonment of up to three years and a fine.
• Cruelty includes dowry harassment, acts driving the woman to suicide, or causing injury to life or health.
• The law was introduced in 1983 to address widespread domestic violence and dowry-related harassment.
• Parliament expanded its scope to cover all forms of cruelty within marriage, following a surge in dowry deaths and recognising that extreme cases like suicides and murders represented only a small fraction of the problem.

Supreme Court Endorses Blanket Protection from Arrest in 498-A Cases

• The Allahabad High Court had earlier directed that in cases under Section 498-A, no arrest or coercive action be taken against accused persons for a two-month “cool-off” period from the filing of the complaint.
• It also directed that such cases be referred to district-level family welfare committees.
• The Supreme Court has now endorsed these directions, effectively granting temporary blanket protection from arrest even when criminal law permits it.
• This decision, made in an individual dispute without detailed examination of its socio-political impact or hearing the State government extensively.
• This means that even with strong evidence of serious crimes, the police cannot make arrests for at least two months.
• Critics argue this risks the safety of complainants, deters victims from lodging complaints, and legitimises police inaction in investigating marital violence.
• While mediation and alternative dispute resolution may be beneficial in sensitive family matters like divorce or child custody, such approaches are unsuitable when serious allegations of violence, falling under penal law, are involved.

The Debate on ‘Misuse’ of the Anti-Cruelty Law

• The perception that Section 498-A is often “misused” has found resonance even in Supreme Court judgments.
• In Preeti Gupta vs State of Jharkhand (2010), the Court noted many non-bona fide cases, while in Sushil Kumar Sharma vs Union of India (2005), it warned of “legal terrorism” through misuse.
• In Arnesh Kumar vs State of Bihar (2014), the Court issued strict guidelines against automatic arrests, directing police to assess necessity under Section 41 of the then Criminal Procedure Code.
• These rulings have already made police action in such cases more cautious.

Lack of Empirical Evidence

• Despite frequent references to misuse, courts have not relied on concrete empirical data to substantiate such claims.
• Most cases before the Court involve specific disputes with conflicting narratives, making it difficult to generalise.
• Given the complex social nature of marital cruelty, courts have limited institutional capacity to question the legislative wisdom that enacted such protections.

Conviction Rates and Misinterpretations

• Arguments citing low conviction rates — around 18% as per NCRB 2022 data — are misleading. This rate is still higher than that for many other offences.
• Moreover, low convictions do not inherently prove misuse; they often reflect challenges in investigation, systemic bias, familial pressure on victims to compromise, and the difficulty of proving offences occurring in private spaces.
• High evidentiary standards in criminal law, combined with the reluctance of family members to testify, further explain lower conviction rates without undermining the law’s necessity.

Survey Evidence Counters Misuse Narrative

• NCRB data shows 1,34,506 cases registered under Section 498-A in 2022.
• However, the National Family Health Survey-5 reveals significant under-reporting of violence against women in many states.
• According to the women’s centre Humsafar, the rise in reported cases is likely due to greater legal awareness among women, not necessarily an increase in incidents.
• Even if some false cases exist, the possibility of misuse is inherent in any legislation. The truth of allegations can only be established through proper investigation.
• By suspending the anti-cruelty law’s immediate applicability, the Court has heightened the vulnerability of victims and weakened their access to justice.

Conclusion

• Placing certain criminal provisions under stricter scrutiny than others undermines the uniformity and consistency of the criminal justice system. This selective approach risks creating systemic imbalances.
• In Sushil Kumar Sharma (2005), the Supreme Court upheld the law’s constitutional validity, emphasising that misuse is no reason to strike down legislation.
• The current stance effectively contradicts that principle, restricting victims’ chances of obtaining meaningful justice.

Why in the News?

• The Lok Sabha has passed the National Sports Governance Bill 2025 and the National Anti-Doping (Amendment) Bill 2025.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• National Sports Governance Bill (Introduction, Key Features, Future Outlook, etc.)
• National Anti-Doping (Amendment) Bill (Introduction, Key Features, Future Outlook, etc.)

Introduction

• The Lok Sabha has passed two landmark legislations, the National Sports Governance Bill 2025 and the National Anti-Doping (Amendment) Bill 2025, marking a major overhaul of India’s sports governance and anti-doping framework.
• Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya described the reforms as the “single biggest sports reform since independence”, underscoring their role in building a transparent, accountable, and high-performance sports ecosystem as India prepares to bid for the 2036 Summer Olympics.

About the National Sports Governance Bill 2025

• The National Sports Governance Bill seeks to transform India’s sports administration through the establishment of New Bodies:

• National Olympic Committee
• National Paralympic Committee
• National and Regional Sports Federations for designated sports
• Creation of the National Sports Board (NSB):
• The NSB will grant recognition to national sports bodies, register affiliated units, and monitor compliance. It will have power to de-recognise federations that fail to conduct fair elections, mismanage funds, or commit gross irregularities.
• National Sports Tribunal:
• A judicial body with civil court powers to resolve disputes involving selection, elections, or governance of federations. Tribunal decisions can only be challenged in the Supreme Court.
• Accountability and Transparency Measures:
• All recognised national sports bodies receiving government funding will fall under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, with some exceptions, such as the BCCI, which remains outside RTI unless substantially funded by the government.
• Leadership Provisions:
• Administrators aged between 70 and 75 can contest elections if permitted under international federation rules, a relaxation from the earlier age cap of 70 years.

About the National Anti-Doping (Amendment) Bill 2025

• This amendment aligns India’s anti-doping laws with World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) requirements:

• Operational Independence for NADA: The National Anti-Doping Agency will function without direct government oversight to address WADA’s concerns over autonomy.
• Changes in the National Anti-Doping Board: The Board remains but without powers to oversee NADA or influence its operations, ensuring compliance with global anti-doping norms.
• Alignment with UNESCO Convention: Strengthens India's commitment to international anti-doping standards while protecting athlete rights and ensuring fair play.

Significance of the Reforms

• Olympics 2036 Preparation: The legislation is part of India’s roadmap to bid for the Summer Olympics, requiring compliance with the Olympic Charter and international best practices.
• Addressing Long-standing Gaps: Efforts to create a robust sports governance law date back to 1975, with multiple failed attempts due to political hurdles. This Bill finally delivers on decades of unfinished reforms.
• Promoting Gender Inclusion: Provisions ensure greater participation of women in sports federations and leadership roles.
• Enhancing Performance: By enforcing accountability and reducing political interference, the Bills aim to improve India’s performance in global sports events.

Future Outlook

• The reforms are expected to:

• Streamline governance in sports federations
• Build stronger anti-doping mechanisms
• Boost India’s medal prospects in international competitions
• Lay the institutional foundation for India’s Olympic bid

• However, successful implementation will depend on effective enforcement, autonomy for sports bodies, and sustained investment in athlete development.

Context:

• The lower Himalayan states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh have witnessed severe erosion and flash floods during the current monsoon season.
• Public perception often attributes such events directly to climate change, overlooking historical recurrence and local anthropogenic triggers—especially unplanned construction and poor land use, which are key drivers of disaster vulnerability.

Historical Precedence of Himalayan Disasters:

• 2013 Kedarnath floods: When Kedarnath and the Mandakini Valley were inundated by an unstoppable surge of water and debris caused by a glacial outburst that was triggered by excessive rain.
• 2011 Assi Ganga floods near Uttarkashi: Washed away a hydropower project and labour camps.
• 1970 and 1978 floods: When minor tributaries of the Alakananda and Bhagirathi were blocked by landslides, forming temporary dams that finally burst and carried a huge volume of water and rubble downstream.
• 1880 Harsil flood: A major flash flood occurred near the site of this week’s disaster.

Structural and Environmental Vulnerabilities:

• Natural vulnerability of the Himalaya:
  • Geologically young and unstable mountains.
  • Susceptibility to hydrological extremes, erosion, and seismic activity.
• Human-induced risks:
  • Unplanned and illegal construction: Homes, hotels, ashrams, eateries built on riverbanks and flood-prone zones.
• Tourism pressure:
  • Char Dham Yatra expansion via widened roads and helicopter services.
  • Rising pilgrim influx leading to mushrooming of hotels and dhabas in hazard zones.
• Urban encroachment: Dehradun and Mussoorie seeing construction in streambeds and landslide-prone areas despite earlier restrictions.

Political and Administrative Factors:

• Bureaucratic complacency and political opportunism enabling unsafe development.
• Ineffective enforcement of land use and building norms in ecologically sensitive zones.

Misplaced Attribution to Climate Change:

• While climate change impacts (melting glaciers, altered precipitation) are real, attributing every disaster to it oversimplifies causation.
• Avoidable, immediate triggers such as poor planning, deforestation, and encroachment play a more decisive role in disaster severity.

Way Forward:

• Strengthen land-use planning: Enforce zoning laws and hazard mapping.
• Regulate religious and adventure tourism: Introduce visitor caps in ecologically sensitive areas.
• Eco-sensitive infrastructure: Prioritise resilient construction, away from flood plains.
• Public awareness: Shift discourse from fatalism to accountability for unsafe practices.

Conclusion:

• In the coming decades, safeguarding the fragile Himalayan ecosystem will require shifting from reactive disaster relief to proactive, science-based land-use planning that prioritises ecological security over unchecked development.
• By integrating resilient infrastructure, regulated tourism, and community participation, the region can transform from a disaster-prone zone into a model for sustainable mountain governance.

Context

• In recent years, Indian states have experimented with ambitious initiatives aimed at bringing health care directly to people’s doorsteps.
• Tamil Nadu’s Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam scheme, launched in August 2021, and Karnataka’s Gruha Arogya scheme, introduced in October 2024 and expanded statewide in June 2025, are notable examples.
• These programmes focus on delivering services, particularly for non-communicable diseases, directly to citizens’ homes.
• While such measures mark significant progress toward proactive health care delivery, they raise an equally important question: as health systems strive to reach citizens physically, to what extent can citizens themselves reach into, engage with, and influence health governance?

The Imperative of Citizen Engagement and Its Benefits

• The Imperative of Citizen Engagement
  • Health governance in India has evolved from a government-led domain into a more complex ecosystem involving civil society organisations, professional bodies, hospital associations, and trade unions.
  • It functions through both formal and informal processes, where power dynamics influence whose voices are heard.
  • Meaningful public engagement is not just a procedural nicety, it affirms dignity, counters epistemic injustice, and upholds democratic principles by enabling citizens to shape decisions affecting their health.
• Tangible Benefits of Inclusive participation
  • It strengthens accountability and transparency.
  • It challenges elite dominance and reduces the scope for corruption.
  • It develops collaboration with frontline workers, improving service uptake and health outcomes.
  • It builds mutual trust between communities and providers.
  • Without such engagement, health governance risks becoming exclusionary, oppressive, and disconnected from community realities.

Existing Frameworks for Participation and Persistent Challenges

• The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), launched in 2005, institutionalised community participation through platforms like the Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committees (VHSNCs) and Rogi Kalyan Samitis.
• Designed to be inclusive, especially of women and marginalised groups, these bodies were supported by untied funds for local health initiatives.
• Urban parallels include Mahila Arogya Samitis, Ward Committees, and NGO-led committees.
• However, despite their promise, these platforms face persistent challenges. For example, in some areas, they have never been established.
• Where they do exist, meetings are irregular and roles are poorly defined and funds are underutilised.
• Intersectoral coordination is weak and deep social hierarchies undermine inclusivity.

Structural and Mindset Barriers

• A fundamental obstacle lies in how policymakers, administrators, and providers perceive communities.
• Too often, citizens are viewed as passive beneficiaries rather than active co-creators of health systems.
• This language signals an underlying paternalism: citizens are framed as objects of intervention rather than rights-holders.
• Performance metrics typically prioritise the number of people reached rather than the quality of engagement or the lived experience of service delivery.
• Health governance structures remain dominated by medical professionals, mostly trained in western biomedical models, who often acquire administrative responsibilities without formal public health training.
• Promotions are seniority-based rather than expertise-driven, entrenching a hierarchical and medicalised culture.

The Way Forward

• The Need for a Mindset Shift
  • Addressing these challenges requires a fundamental shift in mindset. Community engagement should not be reduced to an instrumental strategy for achieving programme targets.
  • Treating people merely as a means to better health statistics diminishes their agency and dignity.
  • Participatory processes should be valued in their own right, not only for the outcomes they produce.
• Empowering Communities
  • Disseminate accessible information on health rights and governance structures.
  • Develop civic awareness from an early stage.
  • Intentionally reach marginalised groups.
  • Equip citizens with the tools, skills, and resources to participate meaningfully.
• Sensitising Health System Actors
  • Move beyond the narrative that low health service utilisation is simply due to poor awareness.
  • Avoid individualising blame for systemic issues.
  • Recognise and address structural determinants of health inequities.
  • Develop collaborative relationships where communities are treated as equal partners.

Conclusion

• Doorstep health delivery programmes such as those in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka demonstrate the capacity of the Indian health system to innovate in service provision.
• Yet, without corresponding progress in citizen engagement, such initiatives risk reinforcing a top-down model of care.
• True transformation demands that communities are not only reached by services but are also empowered to shape them.
• By investing in inclusive, functional, and participatory governance platforms, and by shifting the attitudes of health system actors, India can move from a model of medicine at people’s doorsteps to one of democracy in health governance.

Why in news?

While overall merchandise export growth remains flat and unlikely to exceed the 2022-23 peak of $451.1 billion, agricultural exports are driving India’s export momentum, showing resilience and record-breaking potential.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• India’s Export Performance in 2024-25
• Drivers and Risks for India’s Farm Exports
• India’s Agricultural Import Trends and Growing Dependence
• Agriculture Emerges as a Sticking Point in India–US Trade Talks

India’s Export Performance in 2024-25

• In 2024-25, India’s merchandise exports stood at $437.4 billion, just 0.1% higher than the $437.1 billion in 2023-24.
• During April-June 2025, exports rose to $112 billion, a 1.7% increase from $110.1 billion in the same period last year.
• Union govt. expressed confidence that exports this fiscal would surpass last year’s levels, despite potential disruptions from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff measures, including a 50% duty on Indian goods.
• Agricultural Exports: Strong Upward Trend
  • Agricultural exports recorded robust growth of 6.4%, increasing from $48.8 billion in 2023-24 to $51.9 billion in 2024-25.
  • The first quarter of 2025-26 posted a further 5.8% year-on-year rise.
  • If current trends continue, farm exports could reach $55 billion in 2025-26, surpassing the previous record of $53.2 billion in 2022-23.
  • India’s agricultural exports to the U.S. have been particularly strong, growing by 24.1% during January-June 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.

Drivers and Risks for India’s Farm Exports

• India’s farm exports surged from $7.5 billion in 2003-04 to $43.3 billion in 2013-14, later peaking at $53.2 billion in 2022-23 due to a global agri-commodity price boom.
• The FAO food price index rose from 96.4 (2019-20) to 140.6 (2022-23).
• The 2023-24 decline was driven by drought and government curbs on wheat, rice, sugar, and onion exports to control food inflation.
• These restrictions eased in 2024-25 as monsoon-aided farm output improved, with a second consecutive above-normal monsoon likely allowing sugar export resumption.
  • Sugar net exports fell sharply from $5.5 billion (2022-23) to $771.3 million (2024-25).
• In Q1 2025-26, major items like marine products, non-basmati rice, buffalo meat, coffee, tobacco, and fruits & vegetables posted strong growth.
• Coffee exports benefited from low global stocks due to poor harvests in Brazil and Vietnam, while tobacco shipments rose following output shortfalls in Brazil and Zimbabwe.
  • Brazil and Vietnam are the world’s biggest producers of arabica and robusta varieties respectively.
  • India mostly exports robusta beans and powder used in instant coffee and espresso blends.
• Tariff Risks and Competitive Pressures
  • From August 27, 2025, U.S. tariffs of 50% on Indian goods could hit marine products hardest, with the U.S. taking 35% of India’s exports in this category.
  • Frozen shrimps and prawns alone sent $1.9 billion of the $4.5 billion total to the U.S.
  • Similar tariffs on Brazilian goods may divert their coffee surplus to other markets, potentially lowering prices and hurting Indian exports.

India’s Agricultural Import Trends and Growing Dependence

• India maintained a $13.4 billion agricultural trade surplus in 2024-25, with farm exports ($51.9 billion) exceeding imports ($38.5 billion), even as the surplus has fallen sharply from $27.7 billion in 2013-14 due to faster import growth.
• Agricultural imports remain concentrated in a few commodities, with over two-thirds coming from vegetable oils, pulses, and fresh fruits.
• Fresh fruit imports — worth $1.7 billion, largely from the U.S. — include almonds, pistachios, walnuts, apples, grapes, kiwis, figs, pears, and dates.
• Pulses imports hit a record 7.3 million tonnes ($5.5 billion) in 2024-25 after duty cuts following the 2023-24 El Niño drought, though they have reduced this year with a bumper harvest.
• Vegetable oil imports (palm, soyabean, sunflower) continue rising as domestic production lags demand.
• Cotton and natural rubber imports have also grown due to declining domestic output since their peaks in 2013-14 and 2012-13, respectively.

Agriculture Emerges as a Sticking Point in India–US Trade Talks

• PM Modi’s recent statement that India will never compromise the interests of its farmers, livestock rearers, and fisherfolk underscores the government’s firm stance in stalled trade negotiations with the US.
• The key point of contention is opening India’s market to US farm produce — including GM maize, soyabean, fuel ethanol, and dairy products — which New Delhi now wants excluded from any deal.
• This hardened position is shaped by domestic political sensitivities and US President Donald Trump’s tariff measures, including a 50% duty on Indian imports, part of which penalises oil purchases from Russia.

Why in news?

India’s National Security Council Secretariat recently hosted officials from the U.S., UAE, Saudi Arabia, France, Italy, Germany, Israel, Jordan, and the EU to review progress on the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).

This article deals with the corridor’s ambitions, challenges, and future prospects.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• About India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC)
• IMEC’s Promise and the Geopolitical Opening That Enabled It
• Gaza War Turns IMEC’s Challenges into Fundamental Obstacles
• IMEC’s Future Hinges on Middle East Stability and Conflict Resolution

About India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC)

• 
• Announced at the 2023 G20 Summit in New Delhi, the IMEC aims to boost economic development through enhanced connectivity between Asia, the Arabian Gulf, and Europe.
• It consists of two segments:
  • India-Gulf corridor, linking India’s western ports to the UAE and then via high-speed freight rail through Saudi Arabia and Jordan to Haifa, Israel; and
  • Gulf-Europe corridor, connecting Haifa to Greece and Italy by sea, followed by onward transport through Europe’s rail networks.
• Expected to reduce India-Europe shipping times by about 40% compared to the Red Sea route, the project has seen limited progress since its launch.

IMEC’s Promise and the Geopolitical Opening That Enabled It

• The IMEC was conceived during India’s G20 Presidency in September 2023, at a rare moment of Middle East stability following years of regional rivalries.
• Arab normalisation with Israel, which Saudi Arabia was poised to join, created conditions for India, Middle Eastern states, the U.S., and Europe to envision a corridor connecting India to Europe.
• The economic case was strong — the EU is India’s largest trading partner, with FY 2023-24 bilateral trade at $137.41 billion, and non-oil trade with the UAE and Saudi Arabia rising significantly.
• Planned as more than a trade route, IMEC aimed to integrate electricity and digital connectivity cables, clean hydrogen pipelines, and measures to boost efficiency, reduce costs, create jobs, and cut emissions.
• It sought to address persistent trade challenges, including lack of tariff standardisation, low financial integration, limited corridor-wide insurance, and varying port capacities, while building a cross-Saudi/UAE railway to link its sea legs.
• Although these were considered manageable through investment and cooperation, the project stalled when, less than a month later, the region was plunged into ongoing conflict, preventing the first stakeholder meeting from taking place.

Gaza War Turns IMEC’s Challenges into Fundamental Obstacles

• While the IMEC’s economic rationale remains strong, its hurdles have shifted from manageable to fundamental due to Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, which has strained regional ties.
• The corridor’s key Middle East-Europe link depends on Jordan-Israel cooperation, now at a low point amid tensions over Palestinian displacement.
• Prospects for Saudi-Israel normalisation have also diminished, with Riyadh demanding Palestinian concessions that Israel is unwilling to make.
• The war’s expansion into Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and tensions with Iran heightens insurance costs for regional trade, further complicating implementation.
• Ironically, despite hindering progress, Israel sees the IMEC as crucial to deepening its economic integration with the Arab world, excluding Palestine.
  • Prime Minister Netanyahu has termed framed of the project as a geopolitical blessing for participating states.

IMEC’s Future Hinges on Middle East Stability and Conflict Resolution

• While the IMEC’s western leg faces uncertainty, India’s strong strategic and economic ties with the UAE and Saudi Arabia keep prospects for its eastern leg alive.
• Initiatives like UPI integration enhance digital connectivity potential, but intra-Gulf economic rivalries, such as Saudi measures to counter Emirati dominance, hinder unified corridor planning.
• For the IMEC to match its 2023 vision, the regional stability that enabled its conception must be restored — a goal tied to resolving the Palestinian statehood issue.
• Growing global recognition of the need to end Israel’s Gaza war, reflected in actions like Germany halting certain arms shipments to Israel, underscores this reality.
• Until lasting peace is achieved, IMEC remains a “day-after” project, with current efforts limited to planning and trade facilitation.

Context

• The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative, launched in Donald Trump’s second term, seeks to cut U.S. federal spending, deficit, debt, and interest burden while streamlining operations.
• Elon Musk was appointed as an advisor, aiming to create a leaner government by reducing the number of federal agencies from over 400 to 99.
• This article highlights the U.S. DOGE initiative under Donald Trump’s second term, its cost-cutting measures, revenue challenges, and the fiscal risks threatening its long-term success, especially with the proposed One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB).

Low Revenue Collection as the Core of U.S. Deficit and Debt

• The Trump administration’s push for a smaller government stemmed from persistent high spending and deficits.
• Although U.S. public expenditure averaged 36.49% of GDP between 2001 and 2024 — the smallest among major advanced economies (MAE) — its fiscal deficit (6.0% of GDP) and debt burden (119.5% of GDP) in 2024 exceeded MAE averages.
• The key reason is chronically low revenue collection.
• From 2001 to 2022, U.S. government revenue averaged 30.55% of GDP, the lowest among peers, and its tax-to-GDP ratio of 19.27% lagged far behind countries like Italy, France, and the OECD average.

DOGE Reforms Deliver Major Cost Savings and Workforce Reduction

• The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has implemented extensive expenditure reforms, including:
  • cancelling unused office leases and wasteful contracts,
  • recovering misallocated funds,
  • reducing the federal workforce through hiring restrictions,
  • voluntary buyouts,
  • performance-based layoffs, and
  • cutting overseas humanitarian spending.
• AI tools now monitor employee productivity, detect inefficiencies, and identify overlapping departmental functions.
• DOGE also repealed or modified several regulations, saving $30.1 billion and removing 1.8 million words from federal rules.
• Its transparency measures include publishing savings updates, revealing grant recipients via a payments portal, and sharing workforce size data.
• Layoffs have been streamlined with the “Workforce Reshaping Tool,” leading to about 2,60,000 staff exits.
• Overall, DOGE has achieved an estimated $190 billion in savings — $1,180 per taxpayer.
• As per the unconstitutionality index (UI), for every law passed by Congress in 2024, there were about 19 rules created by the bureaucracy.
  • DOGE publishes a unique UI measuring the extent of bureaucracy’s role in shaping federal policy.

Fiscal Risks Threaten DOGE’s Long-Term Goals

• DOGE’s future faces uncertainty after Elon Musk opposed the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), a legislative extension of DOGE reforms, over its removal of electric vehicle tax credits.
• More critically, the OBBB’s tax cuts far outweigh its spending cuts, projected to add $3.2 trillion to U.S. debt in the next decade.
• With the U.S. already having the lowest corporate tax rates among major economies, below-OECD-average effective tax rates for the wealthy, and secrecy laws aiding tax evasion, deficit reduction is unlikely without boosting revenues.
• Without addressing this, President Trump’s plan to cut debt through DOGE-style spending reforms may fall short.

Context

• In April 2025, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announced in the Legislative Assembly that all village names ending with colony or containing explicit caste references, such as Pallappatti, Paraiyappatti, Naavidhan Kulam, Paraiyan Kulam, and Sakkilippatti, would be removed from official state records.
• These localities would be renamed, with the goal of eliminating public markers of caste identity and social stigma.
• While the move is symbolic, its implications are rooted in a long and complex history of caste-based segregation in rural Tamil Nadu, as well as in the linguistic evolution of place names.

Historical Origins of Caste-Based Segregation

• The practice of spatial segregation based on caste in Tamil Nadu likely began around the 12th century CE, drawing on the varnashrama system.
• By this time, literature began recording the isolation of toiling, marginalised communities in settlements away from dominant caste quarters.
• These divisions became entrenched over centuries, reinforced by religious movements such as the Bhakti period under the Cholas, which restructured village layouts in alignment with temple-centric social hierarchies.
• By the Vijayanagar period (14th–17th centuries) and under the Nayakkas, caste segregation was brutally enforced.
• The arrival of European colonisers deepened pre-existing social schisms while also introducing new administrative classifications that formalised derogatory locality names in official records.

The Evolution of ‘Colony’ and ‘Chery’

• Historically, the Tamil word chery (or cherry) simply referred to a settlement.
• Ancient works like Tolkappiyam (7th century BCE) and the Kurunthokai poetry collection (5th century BCE) used the term without any caste implication.
• However, by the medieval period, especially in texts like Periya Puranam (12th century CE), terms like theendachery (untouchable settlement) emerged, marking a clear social boundary.
• The English word colony underwent a similarly dramatic shift in meaning.
• Initially used by Europeans to describe elite, exclusive white settlements in colonised territories, the word lost its colonial grandeur in rural Tamil Nadu, where it came to refer almost exclusively to Dalit habitations.
• By the 20th century, chery and colony were interchangeable in rural caste geography.

The Social Stigma of Place Names

• In rural Tamil Nadu, a village name containing colony is rarely neutral.
• Unlike in urban, areas where Railway Colony or Jayendrar Colony may be socially mixed rural colonies are understood as lower caste enclaves.
• The stigma operates as a form of linguistic dog-whistling, instantly signalling a resident’s caste to outsiders.
• This has far-reaching consequences because residential addresses appear on essential identity documents such as Aadhaar cards, ration cards, passports, voter IDs, and driving licences.
• For members of historically marginalised castes, the mere mention of their locality can trigger prejudiced attitudes, discriminatory treatment, and social exclusion, perpetuating a cycle of psychological harm and economic disadvantage.

Attempts at Reform and New Terminology and the 2025 Renaming Initiative

• Attempts at Reform and New Terminology
  • The 20th century saw various reformist attempts to replace derogatory caste labels.
  • Mahatma Gandhi coined Harijan to symbolically uplift Dalits, but the term soon became another instrument of condescension.
  • Leaders like Iyothee Thass Pandithar and M.C. Rajah promoted the use of Adi-Dravidar instead of Parayar or Panchamar, and the Madras Presidency formally adopted this classification in 1922.
  • Yet even this designation eventually became associated with marginalisation.
• The 2025 Renaming Initiative
  • The Tamil Nadu government’s 2025 renaming plan is not a direct welfare scheme but a social reform measure.
  • The initiative aims to replace derogatory names with those inspired by flowers, poets, or scientists, deliberately avoiding political leader names.
  • While urban localities like Saibaba Colony or Velachery will remain untouched, since they are not caste-coded, rural habitations with colony or chery used in a discriminatory sense will be renamed.
  • This renaming is intended to promote dignity, reduce the everyday visibility of caste divisions, and create social cohesion.
  • While it cannot by itself dismantle caste prejudice, it signals an official recognition of the problem and sets a precedent for symbolic action in the service of equality.

Conclusion

• The stigma embedded in place names is not a relic of the past; it is an active mechanism of caste discrimination in rural Tamil Nadu.
• The journey of words like chery and colony from neutral descriptors to markers of exclusion reveals the power of language to both reflect and perpetuate social hierarchies.
• By removing derogatory locality names from state records, the Tamil Nadu government is making a historic, symbolic gesture towards a more inclusive society.
• Though symbolic reforms cannot substitute for structural change, they can reshape public consciousness and lay groundwork for genuine social integration.

Why in the News?

• Tamil Nadu has launched its State Education Policy 2025 as an alternative to the NEP, emphasising state-specific priorities in school and higher education.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Tamil Nadu’s SEP 2025 (Introduction, Historical Context, Key Features, Differences with NEP 2020, Way Ahead, etc.)

Introduction

• Tamil Nadu has introduced its long-awaited State Education Policy (SEP) 2025, offering a distinct alternative to the Centre’s National Education Policy 2020.
• The policy aims to uphold the state’s historical emphasis on equitable education, social justice, and linguistic diversity while addressing future challenges in skill development, higher education, and technology integration.
• The decision comes amid ongoing differences between the Tamil Nadu government and the Union government over language policy, entrance examinations, and federal autonomy in education.

Historical Context of Education Policy in Tamil Nadu

• Tamil Nadu has historically pursued progressive education policies that prioritise accessibility and social equity.
• Since the introduction of free noon meals in schools in the mid-20th century and the expansion of state-run institutions, the state has consistently worked to reduce dropouts and bridge socio-economic divides.
• In recent decades, Tamil Nadu has:

• Resisted the three-language formula, opting instead for a two-language policy prioritising Tamil and English.
• Opposed NEET (National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test) for medical admissions, arguing it disadvantages rural and socially backward students.
• Maintained higher-than-national-average Gross Enrolment Ratios (GER) in both school and higher education.

About the State Education Policy 2025

• The SEP 2025 was drafted by a high-level expert committee chaired by retired Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Justice D. Murugesan, after extensive consultations with educators, students, civil society, and subject experts.
• Key Principles:

• Equity and Inclusivity: Ensuring access to quality education regardless of caste, gender, language, or socio-economic status.
• State Autonomy: Crafting education strategies that align with Tamil Nadu’s socio-cultural and economic needs rather than following a uniform national template.
• Employment-Readiness: Integrating skill development and vocational training from the school level.

School Education Reforms

• Two-Language Policy: Tamil and English will remain the medium of instruction, rejecting the NEP’s three-language recommendation.
• Foundational Literacy and Numeracy: Strengthened focus on early learning in Classes 1-3, with continuous assessment instead of high-stakes exams.
• Digital Infrastructure: Expansion of smart classrooms, ICT tools, and teacher training in digital pedagogy.
• Social Justice Measures: Continuation and strengthening of welfare schemes such as free textbooks, uniforms, and the noon-meal programme.

Higher Education Framework

• Autonomous Curriculum Design: State universities will have greater flexibility in designing syllabi suited to local industries and employment needs.
• Multiple Entry-Exit System: Students will have the option to pause and resume studies without losing academic credits, similar to NEP’s flexibility but tailored for Tamil Nadu’s academic calendar.
• Research and Innovation Hubs: Investment in domain-specific research centres, especially in agriculture, renewable energy, and healthcare.
• Opposition to Common Entrance Tests: Admissions to professional courses will continue to follow the state’s reservation policies and entrance examination exemptions where applicable.

Vocational and Skill Development Focus

• Collaboration with industries to update vocational curricula in polytechnic and ITI institutions.
• Introduction of skill-based courses in secondary schools covering AI, robotics, agritech, and entrepreneurship.
• Partnerships with MSMEs to offer internships and apprenticeships for final-year students.

Teacher Training and Capacity Building

• Revised Teacher Education Modules integrating technology and inclusive pedagogy.
• Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programmes for educators in both school and higher education.
• Creation of an online teacher resource portal in Tamil and English.

Differences with the NEP 2020

Significance of the SEP 2025

• The SEP 2025 underscores Tamil Nadu’s federal stance that education should remain a Concurrent List subject with adequate space for states to address their unique contexts.
• By resisting uniformity, the policy strengthens the state’s identity and commitment to social justice while aligning with global education trends in flexibility and skills-based learning.

Future Outlook

• The success of the SEP 2025 will depend on its implementation, funding allocation, and coordination between the state education department, universities, and private institutions.
• As Tamil Nadu seeks to position itself as an education hub, the policy could also serve as a model for other states asserting autonomy over education governance.

Context:

• India’s welfare ecosystem is vast but fragmented, with multiple central and state schemes leading to duplication, inefficiencies, and access barriers.
• Election-bound states often announce populist welfare measures, but the real challenge is designing a unified, rights-based, and economically sustainable social security system leveraging the Digital India framework to ensure universal, efficient, and inclusive coverage.

Current Scenario of Social Security in India:

• Populist welfare trends:
  • Bihar recently increased pensions from ₹400 to ₹1,100 for elderly, widowed, and disabled citizens ahead of elections.
  • Similar welfare announcements are common globally and in India, providing short-term relief but lacking structural reform.
• Existing coverage and schemes:
  • Over 34 major social protection schemes, 24 pension schemes, and several independent state-level initiatives.
  • International Labour Organisation (ILO)-Phase II survey:
    • The ILO’s Director-General recently lauded India’s “cash and non-cash” social protection schemes.
    • Over 100 crore beneficiaries are covered cumulatively by central and state programmes.
  • ILO’s coverage estimates: The World Social Protection Report (2021) revised estimated India’s coverage from 24.4% to 48.8% after factoring in state-level schemes.
  • Central legislations: The Employees’ Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, Employees’ Compensation Act, ESIC Act, BOCW (Building and Other Construction Workers) Act, Maternity Benefit Act, etc.
  • Institutions: Like the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) (30 crore accounts, 8 crore active contributors) and Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) already deliver services at scale.

Challenges in the Current System:

• Fragmentation and duplication:
  • Overlapping registrations (e.g., E-Shram vs. EPFO).
  • States often rebrand existing schemes instead of creating new value.
• Beneficiary identification issues:
  • Scattered entitlements make access difficult.
  • Lack of interoperability between schemes.
• Consumption-oriented transfers: Cash transfers are rarely linked to capacity-building or economic empowerment.
• Fiscal constraints: Need for sustainable financing, as per G20 New Delhi Declaration commitment.

Reform Path - One Nation, One Social Security Governance:

• Global models:
  • Brazil’s ‘The Fome Zero’ programme: It brought in a Unified System of Social Assistance (SUAS) that regulates and organises the social assistance service network across the nation.
  • South Korea’s consolidation: Under institutions like the National Pension Service and the National Health Insurance Service.
• Proposed Indian model:
  • Integrate schemes under a federated, flexible, incentive-driven framework.
  • States add top-ups instead of duplicating central schemes.
  • Use EPFO’s UAN for routing cash transfers; part of transfers to be invested in PF, pension, and insurance.
  • Leverage Digital India Stack, Aspirational Districts Programme, and PM-Gati Shakti for efficient delivery.
  • Employment Linked Incentive Scheme via EPFO to create 3.5 crore jobs in 2 years.

Way Forward:

• Integration and interoperability: Build a centralised beneficiary database with cross-scheme linkages.
• Rights-based framework: Guarantee minimum social security for all, irrespective of political cycles.
• Productive transfers: Link welfare benefits to skill development, education, and employability.
• Political consensus: Achieve bipartisan support for a federated social security reform.

Conclusion:

• By 2047, adopting a “one government” welfare system can streamline India’s fragmented schemes into a unified, technology-driven social security network that ensures dignity, equity, and opportunity for all citizens.
• This transformation will be a key pillar in realising the vision of Viksit Bharat, where inclusive growth and economic resilience go hand in hand.

Why in news?

Maoist insurgency, once dominant across the Red Corridor, is now limited to 18 districts.

Experts attribute this decline to targeted development initiatives, continuous counterinsurgency efforts, internal divisions, rigid ideology, leadership crises, and loss of local support.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Overview of LWE
• Decline of Maoist Influence in India
• Key Reasons Behind the Decline
• Changing Social Outlook
• Challenges Ahead

Overview of LWE

• Left Wing Extremism (LWE), or Naxalism, is among India’s most serious internal security challenges.
• Rooted in socio-economic inequalities and guided by Maoist ideology, it has historically targeted security forces, infrastructure, and democratic institutions.
• Emerging from the Naxalbari movement in 1967, it spread across the “Red Corridor,” affecting states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra, and parts of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and others.
• While claiming to fight for marginalized tribal communities, Maoists have engaged in armed violence, extortion, infrastructure destruction, and recruitment of civilians, including children.

Decline of Maoist Influence in India

• Once a formidable internal security threat, the Maoist insurgency has shrunk from nearly 180 districts in the late 2000s to just 18 today.
• Incidents of Left-Wing Extremism have fallen by over 50% between 2004–14 and 2014–23, with fatalities dropping nearly 70%.
• Naxal violence peaked in 2010 with 1,936 incidents and 1,005 deaths but declined to 374 incidents and 150 deaths by 2024.

Key Reasons Behind the Decline

• Targeted Development and Security Operations
  • Government-led development schemes, along with sustained counterinsurgency efforts, have weakened Maoist control in their former strongholds.
  • Landmark security operations, such as the 21-day offensive in Narayanpur, have significantly reduced their operational capacity.
• Leadership Crisis and Strategic Missteps
  • The resignation of long-time leader Muppala Lakshmana Rao (Ganapathy) in 2018 marked a turning point.
  • His successor, Basava Raju, relied heavily on military offensives over political outreach, alienating the support base.
  • Raju’s death in 2025, reportedly due to internal betrayal, deepened the leadership vacuum.
• Internal Rifts and Political Isolation
  • Internal divisions, highlighted by surrendered members, have fragmented the organisation.
  • The CPI (Maoist) Politburo is now believed to have only four active members, further eroding decision-making strength.
• Loss of Public Support
  • In areas like Dandakaranya, Maoists prioritised military preparedness over local development, causing the very communities they claimed to protect to suffer.
  • Younger tribals and peasants increasingly favour education, jobs, and mainstream integration over armed struggle.

Changing Social Outlook

• Former insurgents, such as Ginugu Narsimha Reddy, now advocate peaceful solutions.
• Initiatives like fish farming in Gumla, Jharkhand, have inspired many to abandon violence, with over 150 families in Basia block joining such ventures.
• This shift reflects the waning ideological appeal of Maoism and the rise of alternative livelihoods in once Naxal-affected regions.

Challenges Ahead

• Critics claim that the persistence of Naxalism is the result of a systemic “protection ecosystem”:
  • political patronage enabled its rise;
  • state inaction allowed entrenchment, and
  • intellectual advocacy granted moral cover.
• Reducing it to a fight for tribal rights concealed its violence, coercion, and extortion, allowing political forces to appear humanitarian while enabling terror.
• As the Centre targets elimination of the insurgency by 31 March 2026, the real challenge lies in confronting those in politics, academia, and activism who enabled and legitimised Naxalism.
• Without this reckoning, security forces may win operational battles, but the war of narratives will remain unresolved.

Why in news?

Tata Consultancy Services’ reported freeze on experienced hiring and plans to cut 12,000 jobs have stirred anxiety in India’s $280 billion IT industry, which employs over 5.8 million people.

The developments highlight a period of uncertainty and transformation for the sector, now at a critical crossroads.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• AI-Driven Transformation Behind IT Sector Shake-Up
• AI’s Rising Role in Driving IT Efficiency
• AI’s Growing Influence on Jobs and Work Structures
• AI Era Opens New Opportunities for Indian IT
• TCS Signals Shift Towards an AI-Driven Future
• Adapting Skills for the AI Age in Indian IT
• Indian Tech Sector Shifts from Scale to Specialisation

AI-Driven Transformation Behind IT Sector Shake-Up

• While often portrayed as AI “cutting jobs,” the current upheaval in India’s IT sector reflects a deeper, AI-led transformation.
• According to industry experts, AI is reshaping software development and IT services by driving unprecedented efficiencies, prompting a rethinking of business models, talent strategies, and the nature of work itself.
  • AI’s ability to boost efficiency across the entire software development lifecycle lies at the core of this change.

AI’s Rising Role in Driving IT Efficiency

• With cost-optimisation dominating new deals, AI is helping companies showcase efficiency and win investor confidence.
• Experts note that AI-powered coding assistants, code generators, and intelligent debuggers are boosting productivity by over 30%.
• Its impact is especially strong in testing and maintenance, where AI reduces human error and improves accuracy through data-driven insights, making software testing faster and more reliable.

AI’s Growing Influence on Jobs and Work Structures

• AI is rapidly integrating into global enterprises, with over $1 trillion expected to be spent on its development in 2025.
• From generative chatbots to intelligent automation, it is reshaping customer service, decision-making, and organisational structures.
• Automation and low-code platforms enable fewer employees to accomplish more, impacting hiring trends.
• This mirrors cases like Wells Fargo in the U.S., where workforce reductions have been ongoing for years, driven by efficiency gains.

AI Era Opens New Opportunities for Indian IT

• Global firms face hurdles like outdated infrastructure, poor data quality, and fragmented systems when adopting AI at scale.
• With regulations such as the EU’s AI Act requiring responsible and compliant AI, Indian IT companies can step in to clean and organise data, modernise systems, and build compliant solutions.
• This positions Indian firms not as AI’s victims, but as key enablers helping global clients adopt it effectively.

TCS Signals Shift Towards an AI-Driven Future

• With over 6,07,000 employees, TCS’s recent moves serve as a signal to markets, clients, and staff.
• For investors, it reflects disciplined cost optimisation and market adaptation; for clients, a commitment to efficient, AI-powered solutions; and for employees, the need for continuous upskilling.
• Industry leaders note that India’s IT era built on large coding teams for legacy systems is ending.
• The future will belong to lean, AI-native firms tackling complex challenges in sectors like healthcare, defence, fintech, sustainability, and education, where small teams can outperform massive workforces.

Adapting Skills for the AI Age in Indian IT

• AI is unlikely to replace roles needing deep technical expertise, creativity, and critical thinking, such as C++ developers, tech architects, UI/UX designers, and robotics specialists.
• Experts advise developers to shift towards supervisory and collaborative roles, focusing on strategic, ethical, domain-specific, and security aspects that AI cannot match.
• They emphasise that the TCS developments are not signs of decline but a call for India’s tech workforce to adapt, evolve, and excel in an AI-driven future.

Indian Tech Sector Shifts from Scale to Specialisation

• India’s IT industry remains a global leader, backed by skilled talent, government digitisation efforts, and a thriving startup ecosystem.
• While it continues to attract multinational corporations for GCCs, the focus is shifting from sheer scale to specialised expertise and advanced technologies like AI.
• This transition offers a chance to shed its traditional image and lead in intelligent automation and digital innovation.
• As AI reshapes workflows and expectations, the sector’s core strengths—people, processes, and predictability—face a crucial test.

Why in the News?

The Union Government has revised the organ transplant allocation policy, giving priority to women patients and relatives of deceased donors to address gender disparity and boost donations.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Organ Transplant Allocation (Introduction, Criteria, New Rules, Registry & Compliance, Milestones, Infrastructure, Impact, etc.)

Introduction

• The National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) has issued a new 10-point advisory aimed at improving transparency, equity, and inclusivity in India’s organ transplant system.
• A key highlight of the revised allocation criteria is the provision of priority status to women patients and relatives of deceased donors awaiting organ transplants.
• This landmark decision is part of a broader effort to address gender imbalances in organ transplant recipients and to encourage more citizens to pledge organ donation.

Organ Transplant Allocation in India

• Organ allocation in India is governed by guidelines formulated by NOTTO under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The allocation criteria already prioritise recipients based on:

• Medical urgency (severity of illness)
• Duration of wait time on the transplant list
• Matching parameters such as blood group, organ size, and age
• Special cases, such as children or patients whose living donor had previously donated an organ but now requires a transplant themselves
• Geographical proximity for optimal organ viability

• The allocation system ensures that organs are distributed fairly and transparently, with the goal of achieving the best medical outcomes.

New Priority Criteria for Women and Donor Families

• The revised guidelines introduce “additional points in allocation criteria” for:

• Women patients on the national waiting list
• Immediate relatives of deceased donors

• Rationale

• Gender Disparity: Historically, women have had lower representation among organ transplant recipients, often due to socio-economic and cultural factors that lead to delayed diagnosis or treatment.
• Encouraging Donations: By offering priority to donor families, the policy aims to increase deceased organ donations, addressing the chronic shortage of organs in India.

National Registry and Data Compliance

• NOTTO maintains a digital national registry of both donors and recipients. Hospitals performing transplants must register patients through this system.
• Key compliance measures:

• All transplant centres must mandatorily submit data for each donor and recipient to the national registry.
• Non-compliance could result in legal action against hospitals.

Organ Donation Milestones in India

• India has seen a remarkable growth in organ donation and transplant numbers:

• 2023: Launch of Aadhaar-based NOTTO online pledge portal.
• 2024: Over 3.3 lakh citizens pledged to donate their organs.
• 2024: A record 18,900 organ transplants were performed, a sharp rise from fewer than 5,000 in 2013.

• These figures indicate growing public participation and improved medical infrastructure in the organ transplantation ecosystem.

Strengthening Transplant Infrastructure

• The advisory also calls for:

• Permanent posts for transplant coordinators in hospitals performing organ retrieval and transplantation.
• Development of organ retrieval centres in all trauma centres and registration of these facilities with NOTTO.
• Encouraging medical colleges to develop retrieval facilities in a phased manner.
• Training emergency responders and ambulance staff to identify potential deceased donors early, especially in cases of road accidents or strokes.

Broader Impact and Future Outlook

• The new allocation rules mark a significant shift in India’s approach to organ transplantation by integrating social equity considerations into medical prioritisation.
• By tackling gender disparity and recognising the contribution of donor families, NOTTO aims to create a more balanced, transparent, and humane system.
• In the long term, these changes are expected to:

• Increase deceased organ donations
• Improve gender balance in transplants
• Enhance trust in the allocation process
• Strengthen national transplant capacity

Why in News?

The Supreme Court’s (SC) recent censure of an Allahabad High Court (HC) judge for an “absurd” order has reignited debate over whether the apex court can intervene in the internal functioning of High Courts, particularly in the domain of a State HC Chief Justice’s exclusive ‘Master of Roster’ powers.

This raises important constitutional questions on judicial independence, institutional integrity, and the scope of the Supreme Court’s authority under Articles 141 and 142.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Background
• Key Constitutional and Judicial Principles
• Issues Raised
• In-House Mechanism vs. Public Reprimand
• Way Forward
• Conclusion

Background:

• Incident: Recently, an SC Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan directed that Justice Prashant Kumar (Allahabad HC) be paired with a senior judge and not be given a criminal roster till retirement, following an “erroneous” order.
• Objection: HC lawyers and Chief Justice Arun Bhansali raised concerns over interference with the Chief Justice’s administrative powers.
• Modification: Following a letter from the Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai, the SC modified its order later, clarifying it did not intend to challenge ‘Master of Roster’ powers.

Key Constitutional and Judicial Principles:

• Master of the Roster principle:
  • Definition: Exclusive authority of a Chief Justice (SC or HC) to constitute benches and allocate cases.
  • Landmark judgments:
    • State of Rajasthan vs. Prakash Chand (1998): Only CJ can decide which judge hears which case.
    • State of Rajasthan vs. Devi Dayal (1959): HC CJ decides single/division bench composition.
    • Mayavaram Financial Corporation (Madras HC, 1991): CJ has inherent powers for judicial business allocation.
• SC’s hierarchical role:
• Article 141: SC’s declared law is binding on all courts in India.
• Article 142: SC can pass any decree/order to ensure “complete justice” beyond ordinary procedure.
• Tirupati Balaji Developers Case (2004): SC is “elder brother” in judicial administration but has no power of superintendence over HCs.
• Judicial independence vs. institutional oversight:
  • HCs are independent constitutional bodies, but the integrated judiciary structure allows SC to intervene in rare cases threatening the rule of law.
  • Intervention in HC internal matters is exceptional and often debated as potential overreach.

Issues Raised:

• Scope of SC’s powers: Can SC give administrative directions to a HC CJ on roster allocation?
• Judicial discipline: Maintaining quality of judgments without undermining HC autonomy.
• Article 142 usage: Justification for preventive action to avoid repeated judicial errors.
• Separation of powers within judiciary: Balancing hierarchy with independence.

In-House Mechanism vs. Public Reprimand:

• Formal process: Impeachment (Parliament) for serious misbehaviour/incapacity; in-house inquiry for lesser issues.
• SC’s move: Public directive in open court rather than confidential administrative procedure.
• Nature: Not punitive removal; corrective mentoring by pairing with a senior judge and removing from the criminal roster.

Way Forward:

• Clear guidelines for when SC may step into HC administrative functions.
• Strengthening in-house mechanisms to address judicial conduct without public controversy.
• Mentorship and training for judges to avoid repeated errors in sensitive matters.

Conclusion:

While the ‘Master of Roster’ principle protects judicial independence, it is not an absolute barrier to SC intervention when judicial errors threaten the rule of law.

The SC’s Article 142 powers allow exceptional corrective steps, but such actions must be balanced to avoid undermining the autonomy of High Courts.