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GS Paper: GS2

  • Bihar decides to drop ‘fail’ from Class 10, 12 marksheets

    Why in the News

    Bihar’s Education Department has decided that Class 10 and 12 marksheets issued by the Bihar School Examination Board will no longer carry the word “fail,” replacing it with “Kaushal ke liye patra” (eligible for skills). The state’s Education Minister announced the change at a review meeting, saying the Board would amend its rules and issue instructions, and that a student’s inability to secure expected marks should not be treated as a reflection of talent. The change follows other recent moves in Bihar’s school system aimed at reducing conventional classroom pressure, including a shorter “no bag day” on Saturdays, and comes as the department also plans special preparatory classes for students appearing for supplementary examinations.

    What is changing on Bihar’s Class 10 and 12 marksheets, and why now?

    1. A terminology change, not a grading change: The word “fail” will be replaced with “Kaushal ke liye patra (eligible for skills)” on marksheets, while the underlying pass criteria and examination structure are unchanged.
    2. Mental health is the stated rationale: The Education Minister said the change is meant to protect student morale, framing a failing mark as a gap in results rather than a judgment on a student’s ability.
    3. Supplementary examination support is being added alongside: The department will run special preparatory classes for a month for students appearing in the Matric supplementary examination, aimed at improving their chances of clearing it.
    4. The change follows a wider set of reforms: Bihar has also introduced a shorter “no bag day” on Saturdays, from 9:30 am to 1 pm instead of 9:30 am to 4 pm, to expose students to theatre, music and other creative activities.

    What does Bihar’s own recent school reform pattern reveal?

    1. Reduced classroom time is a recurring theme: The Saturday “no bag day” order, issued under the Chief Minister’s announcement, cuts formal instruction time in favour of non-academic activity, mirroring the marksheet change’s emphasis on reducing pressure over reducing rigour.
    2. Teacher workload is being reallocated, not reduced: Teachers are now required to spend an additional hour after classroom duties on lesson planning, laboratory management and remedial classes, shifting effort toward preparation and remediation.
    3. The announcement doubled as a Teachers’ Day preview: The same review meeting discussed the September 5 Teachers’ Day function, where one teacher per district will receive a state award, tying the marksheet change to a broader push to recognise and support the teaching workforce.

    Challenges to a terminology-only fix for exam-related student distress

    1. Renaming does not remove the underlying selection pressure: A student who does not clear the exam still cannot progress to the next stage or apply for further study, so the anxiety around the outcome persists even if the label softens. Eg. Kerala and several other states have separately debated “no detention” policies without resolving the same underlying pressure around board exam outcomes. Fix. Pair the marksheet change with post-result counselling support and multiple re-attempt windows so students have a genuine path forward, not only a softer label.
    2. Selective terminology change can obscure rather than address failure rates: Removing the word “fail” without addressing why students underperform risks treating the symptom, language, rather than the cause, such as teaching quality or foundational learning gaps. Eg. Bihar has run remedial classes only for the supplementary examination cohort, not as a standing intervention through the academic year. Fix. Extend structured remedial teaching to the full academic year rather than limiting it to a pre-supplementary exam crash course.

    Conclusion

    Bihar’s decision replaces the word “fail” with a skills-oriented label on its board marksheets, framed as a mental health measure, while leaving the underlying pass-fail structure and supplementary examination process intact. Whether the change eases student distress or merely renames it will depend on whether the state follows through with sustained academic support rather than a one-time terminology.

  • Braving the odds — parents of differently abled children in Kerala

    Why in the News

    A decade after Parliament passed the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, parents of differently abled children in Kerala continue to carry a caregiving burden the law has not eased, according to accounts gathered from families, care home organisers and rehabilitation professionals in Kozhikode. The article documents parents facing career loss, mental health strain, social stigma and, in extreme cases, deaths linked to caregiving despair, alongside gaps between the schemes that exist on paper and their reach on the ground. Officials and caregivers agree institutions and laws exist in adequate number, but say implementation and follow-up are what fail the families the law was meant to protect.

    What burden do parents of differently abled children carry, and how does it change over a lifetime?

    1. Grief is staged, not a single event: A rehabilitation expert identifies denial, anger, an attempt to escape the situation, depression and eventual acceptance as the stages every such parent passes through.
    2. The burden intensifies as the child becomes an adult: Once a child clears Class XII with assistance, parents shift to worrying about adult life, and over 20 cases of parents attempting to kill their adult children or end their own lives were recorded in Kerala in the past year alone.
    3. Mothers carry a disproportionate share: Around 34 percent of parents of girls worry specifically about their daughters’ safety in their absence, and menstrual hygiene management adds to caregiver fatigue and sleeplessness.
    4. Careers and social lives are given up: A survey of 200 parents by a private care home found at least four PhD holders and 30 postgraduates among them unable to pursue careers, most also avoiding social events.

    Why do government schemes for the differently abled fail to reach their intended beneficiaries?

    1. Reach, not availability, is the gap: A care home organiser says India has enough institutions and laws for the differently abled, but existing schemes, such as the pension for differently abled persons, are not tracked for how many eligible people actually receive them.
    2. New schemes launch without evaluating old ones: Projects are announced without follow-up or evaluation of whether earlier schemes worked, according to a care home convener who argues empowering existing schemes matters more than launching new ones.
    3. Departments work in silos: A convener calls for convergence between the Departments of Education, Health and Social Justice, starting with including the real-life problems of the differently abled in the school curriculum rather than only success stories.
    4. A parent-centric policy design has its limits: A Social Justice department official concedes the existing policy framework itself is built around parents, leaving less structured support for the child’s independent adult life.

    What alternatives are families and the government building to reduce dependence on parents?

    1. A parent collective is building independent housing: A group of parents pooled funds to build 25 houses of 800 sq. ft. each at Keezhariyur in Kozhikode, along with vocational training centres, therapy units and a health centre, so children with intellectual disabilities can live even without their parents.
    2. Respite care has been introduced in response to caregiver strain: The Kerala Social Justice department launched three ‘Anpu’ homes in August, letting differently abled persons and their parents stay up to seven days, twice in six months, so caregivers can attend to emergencies or travel.
    3. Existing government facilities remain concentrated in a few centres: Northern Kerala’s government facilities include a Regional Intervention Centre and Autism Centre at Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, and a District Early Intervention Centre at Government General Hospital, Kozhikode, but officials admit other districts lack comparable facilities.
    4. Vocational reskilling is proposed for adult independence: A former Samagra Shiksha Keralam official suggests deploying persons with intellectual disabilities in mechanical jobs after proper training, converting disability into an employable skill rather than treating it only as a welfare category.

    Challenges to disability welfare delivery in Kerala

    1. Care-giving burden has no institutional substitute: Families rely almost entirely on parents, especially mothers, for lifelong care, with no state mechanism assuming that role once parents age or die. Eg. Parents in Kerala report at least 20 cases in a year of attempting to end their own or their child’s life over anxiety about the child’s future without them. Fix. Expand community living models like the Keezhariyur collective through state co-funding, so independent living is not dependent on a single family’s ability to pool resources.
    2. Social stigma persists despite legal protection: Differently abled children are still kept away from social events such as weddings, undermining the dignity and inclusion the 2016 Act guarantees on paper. Eg. Caregivers report attempts to exclude differently abled children from family weddings in Kerala. Fix. Link disability welfare scheme disbursement to periodic community sensitisation drives conducted by the Social Justice department.
    3. Exploitative “magical cure” claims target desperate families: Parents seeking a cure for their child’s condition fall prey to unproven treatments and sell property in the process, delaying appropriate care. Eg. A rehabilitation professor in Thiruvananthapuram reports parents selling property believing false claims of a cure. Fix. Empower District Early Intervention Centres to issue verified treatment pathway certificates that families can use to screen out unproven providers.

    Conclusion

    A decade of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act has not closed the gap between the schemes that exist and the support caregivers actually receive, leaving Kerala’s parents of differently abled children to build their own alternatives, from community housing to informal support networks, while government follow-up on existing entitlements remains the piece still missing.

    Back2Basics

    1. Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016: An Act of Parliament that replaced the earlier 1995 law, recognising 21 categories of disability and mandating equal opportunity, non-discrimination and full participation for persons with disabilities.
    2. Administering ministry: The Act is implemented by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities under the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
    3. Core entitlements: It guarantees reservation in government jobs and higher education, free education for children with benchmark disabilities, and accessibility in the built environment, transport and information.
    4. National Trust: A statutory body under the Act’s parent ministry, chaired by the District Collector at the local level, mandated to support persons with autism, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability and multiple disabilities.

    [2026] Which of the following statements with regard to the persons with disabilities in India is/are correct?

    1. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, an Act passed by the Parliament of India in 2018, mandates reservation in education and employment, places a legal duty on Governments to ensure accessibility and non-discrimination.

    2. The Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan focuses on achieving universal accessibility for Persons with Disabilities across three key domains – built infrastructure, transport systems and information and communication technology.

    3. The National Divyangjan Finance and Development Corporation (NDFDC) is a public sector organization set up by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs as a not-for-profit company to promote entrepreneurship among Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).

    Select the answer using the code given below:

    [A] 1 and 2

    [B] 2 only

    [C] 1 and 3

    [D] 1 only

  • Gen Z Adivasis ask for more

    Why in the News

    Tribal students at the Manjari Scheduled Tribes (ST) hostel near Pune have been on a hunger strike for over two weeks, part of protests at 25 locations across Maharashtra since August 12, demanding that the state act on 14 charges, chief among them a Supreme Court-mandated 2017 order to fill 12,500 government job positions reserved for tribals. The immediate trigger was an August 5 state order capping the age limit for staying in tribal hostels at 26 years, which the government raised to 30 on August 14 after protests began. The agitation gained force after three tribal schoolgirls died of snakebite at a Gadchiroli ashram school that had no beds. The state has held four rounds of talks and withdrawn the age cap, but has given the protesters no timeline on the pending job vacancies, and students say the same demands recur every year.

    What are the students protesting, and what triggered this round?

    1. Fourteen charges, only one conceded early: The students placed 14 demands before the government, of which it first agreed only to scrap the hostel age limit for admission.
    2. A punitive age cap sparked the protest: The August 5 order capping hostel stay at 26 years threatened students who use the hostel to prepare for competitive exams and city jobs, and was raised to 30 only after protests spread.
    3. Snakebite deaths widened the demands: Three tribal schoolgirls died of snakebite at an ashram school in Gadchiroli that had no beds, after which protesters added a demand for 1 crore compensation and health insurance for the families.
    4. Invasive hostel practices are also contested: The students want Government Resolutions restricting assembly, protests and union participation withdrawn, and an end to compulsory practices such as pregnancy tests in female hostels.

    Why has the 2017 Supreme Court-mandated job quota gone unfilled for nine years?

    1. A binding order without a deadline mechanism: The Supreme Court directed in 2017 that 12,500 government job positions be filled for tribals, but nine years on the vacancies remain open with no fixed completion date.
    2. The state cites inter-departmental delay: A government official said filling the vacancies “cannot be done overnight” because multiple departments are involved, without naming a target date.
    3. Hostel capacity has not kept pace with demand: The state runs 490 tribal hostels housing 59,020 students, and students say the government has not expanded this capacity for several years even as demand for seats in city hostels has grown.

    What does the state’s handling of the protest reveal about tribal welfare governance?

    1. Concessions follow political pressure, not review: The age cap was withdrawn only after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi gave the protesters a platform at a Pune rally and wrote to the Chief Minister, not through an internal policy review.
    2. Design choices override student preference: The state defends centrally cooked meals for hostels as easier to monitor, while students say food travelling up to 100 km from central kitchens often spoils by the time it reaches them.
    3. The protest is a recurring one: Students say they have held similar protests for four consecutive years over the same unmet demands, including hostel safety and hygiene.
    4. The hunger strike has produced a medical emergency: Two of the six students on hunger strike, weak after 14 days without food, needed to be moved for hospital treatment as their blood pressure and blood sugar dropped.

    Challenges to filling the Scheduled Tribes job quota

    1. No enforcement timeline attached to the court order: A Supreme Court direction to fill a quota carries no built-in penalty for delay, so the executive can let vacancies persist for years without consequence. Eg. The 2017 order remains unimplemented nine years later even as the state government publicly reaffirms it will comply. Fix. Require the state to file a compliance affidavit before the Court every six months, naming the number of posts filled and the department responsible for the remainder.
    2. Fragmented departmental ownership slows recruitment: Filling a quota spread across “many departments” leaves no single authority accountable for the shortfall. Eg. A state official cited inter-departmental coordination as the reason recruitment “cannot be done overnight.” Fix. Designate one nodal department to consolidate vacancy data and recruitment timelines across departments and report progress publicly.

    Conclusion

    The Manjari hunger strike has forced the Maharashtra government to withdraw one contested order and promise action on the rest, but the core grievance, a Supreme Court-mandated tribal job quota unfilled nine years on, remains unresolved without a stated timeline. Whether this round of protest produces a written, binding commitment or another round of verbal assurance will determine if the annual cycle of protest continues.

  • [29th August 2026] The Hindu OpED: Unkind cuts: On the Telangana and Karnataka electoral rolls

    [29th August 2026] The Hindu OpED: Unkind cuts: On the Telangana and Karnataka electoral rolls

    Question (2018, GS2): “In the light of recent controversy regarding the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), what are the challenges before the Election Commission of India to ensure the trustworthiness of elections in India?
    Linkage: The core of the current news is the concern over potential wrongful disenfranchisement vs. genuine roll clean-up. When the ECI implements large-scale deletions (up to 50% in some urban constituencies) without releasing verifiable metrics like the elector-to-population ratio, it creates a transparency deficit. This directly mirrors the challenge of maintaining public trust in the electoral process, similar to the EVM debate.

    Mentor Comment:

    The Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has struck off nearly a fifth of the electoral rolls in Telangana and Karnataka, about 22 per cent and 19.5 per cent respectively, with some Bengaluru and Hyderabad constituencies losing more than 40 to 50 per cent of their electors. The revision has proceeded after the Supreme Court of India permitted the SIR process to continue, and follows the Bihar SIR, where the Court had questioned why political parties filed so few objections to wrongful deletions. The Commission has not published the elector-to-population ratio, the only test of under-enrolment, for any state during the revision, making it impossible to verify whether the deletions reflect genuine bloat or wrongful disenfranchisement.

    What is the Special Intensive Revision (SIR)?

    1. What it is: The SIR is an intensive revision of electoral rolls conducted by the Election Commission of India, distinct from its routine summary revision process.
    2. How it works: It places the onus on electors and political parties to file objections against wrongful deletions.
    3. Its template: The Bihar SIR set the process the Commission has since extended to other states, including Telangana and Karnataka.

    What does the scale of deletions in Telangana and Karnataka show?

    1. High deletion rates: Telangana lost about 22 per cent and Karnataka about 19.5 per cent of electoral roll names, among the highest deletion rates in the country.
    2. Sharpest cuts in capital cities: Five Bengaluru constituencies lost more than half their electors, and nine of Hyderabad’s 15 constituencies saw deletions of more than 40 per cent.
    3. Implausible as genuine bloat: Both states have high net in-migration from the rest of India, and a deletion is justified only if the elector left the state altogether, since a move within the state would only relocate a name on the same roll rather than remove it.

    Why is the Commission’s justification hard to verify?

    1. Mandatory ratio withheld: The Commission has not published the elector-to-population ratio for any state during the revision, though doing so is mandatory and is the only test of under-enrolment.
    2. Opaque data release: Karnataka’s Chief Electoral Officer has not released a gender-wise breakdown of deletions and has scattered lists across Google Drive links without the old booth numbers, making verification difficult.
    3. A precedent of wrongful exclusion: A similar “logical discrepancy” process in West Bengal disenfranchised lakhs of electors; a Right to Information request found barely 82,000 of nearly 38 lakh appeals before 19 tribunals had been decided months after the state’s elections, with more than 90 per cent of decided appeals restoring the elector.

    Challenges to the SIR process

    1. Onus on electors invites under-objection: Requiring electors and parties to actively contest wrongful deletions means low awareness and the infrequent use of a voter identity card lead to few objections being filed. Eg. During the Bihar SIR, the Supreme Court itself asked why political parties had filed so few objections. Fix. Shift the burden to the Commission by requiring it to proactively verify a deletion against updated residence or migration data before finalising it.
    2. Opacity defeats verification: Withholding the elector-to-population ratio and publishing deletion lists without booth numbers or gender breakdowns prevents independent scrutiny of whether cuts are justified. Eg. The Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer scattered deletion lists across Google Drive links without old booth numbers. Fix. Mandate publication of the elector-to-population ratio and a standardised, booth-wise deletion list for every state before a revision is finalised.

    Conclusion

    Unless the Commission publishes the verification data it is required to release, the scale of the Telangana and Karnataka deletions will remain unexplained, and the West Bengal experience suggests a substantial share of those struck off may eventually prove to have been wrongly excluded.

  • OBC creamy layer income test issue stuck between Ministries, says House panel chief

    Why in the News

    The chairperson of the House Committee on the welfare of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) has said the OBC creamy layer income test issue is stuck between the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, with the Social Justice Ministry yet to formulate the policy needed to place the matter before the Cabinet. The issue follows a Supreme Court judgment in March that found the DoPT was practising “hostile discrimination” by applying the income test differently to OBC candidates whose parents worked in posts without an established equivalence to government service, and directed the government to exclude salaries from the test for that category and create supernumerary posts for wrongly denied candidates. The government had six months to implement the directions but has instead approached the Supreme Court arguing retrospective implementation is “extremely difficult.” Nearly six months on, the two Ministries continue to pass responsibility for the equivalence-of-posts policy to each other, leaving the Court’s directions unimplemented.

    What is the OBC creamy layer income test?

    1. What it does: The creamy layer income test excludes wealthier or higher-status members of Other Backward Classes from non-creamy-layer OBC reservation benefits, based on parental income and the equivalence of a parent’s post with government service.
    2. Where the dispute lies: The test has been applied differently depending on whether a parent’s post has an established equivalence with a government post.
    3. Its legal basis: The equivalence determination has rested on the DoPT’s interpretation of a 2004 letter.

    What did the Supreme Court’s ruling require?

    1. Finding of hostile discrimination: The Court held that the DoPT was practising hostile discrimination by applying the income test differently based on equivalence status.
    2. Salary exclusion direction: The Court directed the exclusion of salary income from the test for candidates whose parent’s post had no established equivalence with government service.
    3. Supernumerary posts direction: The Court directed the creation of supernumerary posts for OBC candidates wrongly denied non-creamy-layer status.

    Why has implementation stalled between the two Ministries?

    1. Policy not yet formulated: The Social Justice Ministry has not formulated the equivalence-of-posts policy needed before the matter can go to the Cabinet.
    2. Government contests retrospective application: The government told the Supreme Court that retrospective implementation is “extremely difficult” and argued that some cases must still count salary income.
    3. Responsibility passed back and forth: In 2025 committee hearings, the DoPT told the House panel the equivalence responsibility lay with the Social Justice Ministry, which has yet to respond to the committee on the issue.

    Conclusion

    The dispute is procedural rather than substantive, over which Ministry must act first, and until the Social Justice Ministry frames the equivalence policy, the Supreme Court’s correction to the OBC income test remains unimplemented well past its six-month deadline.

    Matching Previous Year Question

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  • 57 lakh active workers await e-KYC under new job scheme

    Why in the News

    The e-KYC verification rate of active rural employment guarantee workers stands at 94.88 per cent, two months after the launch of the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission, Gramin (VB-G RAM G), leaving 57 lakh active workers unverified. The Union Rural Development Minister had assured, ahead of the scheme’s rollout, that existing e-KYC verified job cards under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) would remain valid until new Gramin Rozgar Guarantee Cards are issued, and states had been asked to complete verification of all remaining active workers by the end of February, a deadline that was missed. e-KYC verification has now been made a condition for availing work under the new scheme, raising questions about whether unverified workers can access employment despite the Ministry’s assurance that no eligible worker will be left behind.

    What is the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission, Gramin (VB-G RAM G)?

    1. What it replaces: VB-G RAM G is the new rural employment guarantee scheme that has replaced MGNREGS.
    2. Access condition: e-KYC verification of job cards is a condition for availing work under the new scheme.
    3. Transition safeguard: The Ministry has allowed exceptions in a few cases and assured that existing verified job cards remain valid until new cards are issued.

    What does the data show about the verification gap?

    1. Overall registration lags active workers: The e-KYC rate is 71 per cent among all registered workers against 94.88 per cent among active workers, those who availed work at least once in the last three years, leaving 57 lakh active workers unverified.
    2. Employment generation has fallen sharply: Person-days generated under VB-G RAM G in July, 7.67 crore, were 49.94 per cent lower than the 15.33 crore person-days generated under MGNREGS in July of the previous year.
    3. Wide state variation: Tamil Nadu has the highest e-KYC rates among large states, 99.32 per cent for active workers and 84.89 per cent overall, followed by Rajasthan at 95.66 per cent and 69.45 per cent, Uttar Pradesh at 94.21 per cent and 58.89 per cent, and Andhra Pradesh at 90.4 per cent and 82.32 per cent, while Bihar’s overall rate of 58.05 per cent is among the lowest for large states.

    Why did States miss the e-KYC deadlines?

    1. First deadline missed: The Rural Development Ministry asked States on 30 January to complete e-KYC verification of all remaining active workers within a week, as revealed by a Right to Information application filed by the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information.
    2. Second deadline also missed: States were again asked on 12 February to complete verification by the end of February, and nearly seven months later the target remains unmet.

    Challenges to VB-G RAM G’s rollout

    1. Verification bottleneck denying access: Making e-KYC mandatory before the backlog is cleared risks excluding otherwise eligible workers from guaranteed work. Eg. 57 lakh active workers remain unverified two months into the rollout. Fix. Extend the grace period for unverified active workers until states clear the backlog, rather than making verification a hard gate from the outset.
    2. State capacity variation: The wide gap between states, Bihar’s 58.05 per cent overall rate against Tamil Nadu’s 84.89 per cent, points to weak last-mile administrative capacity in some states. Eg. Bihar remains among the lowest performing large states despite repeated Ministry deadlines. Fix. Direct targeted central enumerator support to the lowest-performing states rather than applying a uniform national deadline.

    Conclusion

    The transition to VB-G RAM G is proceeding despite an unresolved verification backlog. The Ministry’s next milestone is closing the gap for the 57 lakh unverified active workers before its assurance of uninterrupted access is tested against actual demand for work.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    PrelimsPYQ.csv: “Among the following who are eligible to benefit from the “Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act”? … (d) Adult members of any household” Answer: (d) — “MGNREGA benefits any adult member of a rural household, regardless of caste or economic status, providing 100 days of guaranteed work annually.” (2011, Microtheme: SchemeXRural/Agri, Subject: Governance)

  • Govt. track record on free coaching plan is poor: Congress

    Why in the News

    The Congress has questioned the Centre’s decision to launch free online coaching for students, citing the government’s poor implementation record under an existing coaching scheme. The criticism follows a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment report, tabled on 10 August, showing the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment enrolled only 2,790 of a targeted 10,500 candidates, about 26 per cent, under its existing free coaching scheme over three years, with the scheme’s allocation declining every year. It also follows the Leader of the Opposition’s remarks at a Kota event on 17 June that Indian families spend 2.5 times more on coaching centres than the Union government invests in education. The Congress has termed the free online coaching announcement an “accountability-evading gimmick,” questioning the government’s capacity to deliver at scale.

    What is the Social Justice Ministry’s free coaching scheme?

    1. Administering ministry: The scheme is run by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for candidates from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and other disadvantaged groups.
    2. Enrollment target: It had set a target of enrolling 10,500 candidates over three years.
    3. Funding trend: Its budgetary allocation has declined each year since.

    What does the committee’s report reveal about the scheme’s implementation?

    1. Sharp enrollment shortfall: Only 2,790 of the targeted 10,500 candidates, about 26 per cent, were enrolled over three years.
    2. Declining allocation: Funding for the scheme fell each year even as the shortfall persisted.
    3. Political context of the new announcement: The Congress says the Prime Minister’s Independence Day announcement of free online coaching followed public pressure after the Opposition Leader’s remarks on coaching dependence at Kota.

    Conclusion

    The dispute centres on whether the Centre can execute a new free online coaching commitment given its own record on the existing scheme. The government has not yet released implementation details for the new initiative, and the enrollment and funding data for the existing scheme remain the yardstick against which its rollout will be judged.

    Matching Previous Year Question

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  • FM: Closer India-Canada economic ties important amid global uncertainty

    FM: Closer India-Canada economic ties important amid global uncertainty

    Why in the News

    The Union Finance Minister has said closer economic cooperation between India and Canada carries greater significance amid a rapidly changing global landscape marked by geopolitical uncertainty, and called for stronger partnerships to build resilient, sustainable and inclusive economies. The remarks came after the inaugural India Canada Economic and Financial Dialogue, the first such dialogue between the two countries. The Finance Minister said the dialogue reflects a shared ambition to move beyond traditional trade in goods and services toward a deeper partnership covering investment, finance, capital markets and regulatory cooperation.

    What is the India Canada Economic and Financial Dialogue?

    1. About: It is a bilateral mechanism between the Indian and Canadian finance ministries to coordinate on macroeconomic policy, financial sector cooperation and multilateral economic issues, launched with its inaugural round.
    2. Scope of discussions: The inaugural round covered three areas, macroeconomic developments and domestic policy priorities in both countries, avenues for financial sector cooperation, and broader international and multilateral cooperation on shared interests.
    3. Anchored in a wider strategic goal: The Prime Minister and his Canadian counterpart have set an ambitious goal for strengthening bilateral ties, and the dialogue is meant to give that goal fresh momentum and direction.

    What case did the Finance Minister make for closer India Canada cooperation?

    1. Global uncertainty is the backdrop: The Finance Minister described the world as going through a profound transformation with constantly evolving geopolitical and economic realities, making resilient partnerships more important.
    2. India’s economy was presented as a stable partner: The Finance Minister highlighted India’s “remarkable macroeconomic resilience” and pointed to complementarities between the two economies as grounds for expanding investment and economic cooperation.

    What specific areas of financial cooperation did the two sides identify?

    1. Cross border payments and financial stability: The two sides explored cooperation on cross border payment systems and measures to safeguard financial stability.
    2. Fintech and capital markets: Discussions also covered cooperation in financial technology and capital markets, part of the plan to move beyond goods and services trade into deeper financial integration.

    Conclusion

    The inaugural dialogue has set out macroeconomic policy coordination, financial sector cooperation and multilateral engagement as its three working areas. No date has been set for the next round, but the framework is intended to carry forward the broader bilateral goal the Prime Minister and his Canadian counterpart have set for the relationship.

  • India’s return to its Central Asian neighbourhood

    India’s return to its Central Asian neighbourhood

    Why in the News

    The Prime Minister is set to travel to Central Asia, beginning with a state visit to Uzbekistan and followed by participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit of Heads of State in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital once called Frunze in Soviet times. The visit follows a decade long build up in India’s outreach to the region, a landmark 2015 tour of all five Central Asian states, India’s entry into the SCO as a full member in 2017, and the invitation extended to all five Central Asian leaders as chief guests for Republic Day in 2022. Central Asia sits between Russia and China, both of which still shape its politics and economy, while Pakistan seeks to claim the region’s historical and religious lineage as its own. The visit tests how far India can convert a civilisational and diplomatic relationship into a substantive one without a shared land border.

    Why does India treat Central Asia as its neighbourhood despite the absence of a land border?

    1. A civilisational link substitutes for geography: Central Asia shares deep ties with India in culture, religion, language and architecture, and India is separated from Tajikistan only by the narrow Wakhan corridor inside Afghanistan.
    2. Pakistan contests this claim: Pakistan seeks to use religious affinity to claim the region’s historical lineage for itself and to cut India off from these connections, an approach that has not succeeded so far.
    3. The region is turning outward: Central Asian states are increasingly looking beyond Russia and China for development partners, and view India’s plural, moderate and democratic experience with admiration rather than suspicion.

    How has India built its Central Asia engagement over the past decade?

    1. The 2015 visit ended a policy of deference: The Prime Minister’s 2015 tour of all five Central Asian states marked the end of India’s earlier practice of deferring to Russia in what it treated as Moscow’s periphery.
    2. SCO membership followed in 2017: India was admitted to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as a full member in 2017, the same year Pakistan was admitted, sponsored respectively by Russia and China.
    3. A dialogue mechanism followed the pandemic: An unprecedented invitation to all five Central Asian leaders as Republic Day chief guests in 2022 was forced online by the COVID 19 pandemic, but still produced the India Central Asia Dialogue as a standing mechanism for cooperation.

    Why does the visit begin with Uzbekistan?

    1. Uzbekistan has been the region’s most dynamic reformer: Ties with Uzbekistan have improved steadily under its president since 2016, and the country is regarded as the most forward looking in the region on diversifying its foreign policy.
    2. Its counter terrorism record matters to India: Uzbekistan has taken an uncompromising line against terrorism and extremism, and its close knowledge of and pragmatic approach to Afghanistan and the Taliban is of direct value to India.
    3. It anchors India’s alternative connectivity plans: India has held detailed talks with Uzbekistan on alternative rail and road routes through Iran and Afghanistan, links that need to be revisited given recent developments in both countries.

    What other powers is India competing with in the region?

    1. Russia and China remain the dominant powers: Central Asia is landlocked between the two, and both continue to shape the region’s politics and economy even as their relative influence shifts, Russia’s weakening and China’s growing.
    2. Turkiye and Iran hold cultural and economic sway: Both countries are described as dominant influences in the region alongside Russia and China.
    3. The United States and European Union are entering the space: Both are working their way into Central Asia as Russia’s grip loosens.
    4. Radicalisation spillover from Afghanistan is a shared anxiety: China fears the spread of radicalisation into its border regions from Afghanistan, an anxiety the region shares along with memories of attacks such as the 2024 Crocus City Hall attack in Moscow.

    What is India’s position inside the SCO?

    1. The SCO has grown well beyond its founding core: What began as the “Shanghai Five” grouping in 1996 has grown, in its 25th year, to 10 members, 15 dialogue partners and two observers.
    2. India engages the SCO on geography, not ideology: India has been a regular participant at SCO Head of State meetings except in 2024, and has pushed ideas on economic, technological and civilisational cooperation, including a vision of security, connectivity and opportunity put forward at last year’s Tianjin summit.
    3. India offers a counterweight within the SCO’s China Pakistan dyad: Negotiating inside the SCO against a China Pakistan axis is demanding, and for a country as dependent on China as Kyrgyzstan, India’s presence in the SCO offers a genuine alternative.

    Challenges to India’s Central Asia outreach

    1. Weak physical connectivity limits how far ties can grow: India has no direct land or transit route into Central Asia, so trade and people movement rely on routes through third countries. Eg. Talks on alternative rail and road links through Iran and Afghanistan remain unfinished even after years of discussion. Fix. Operationalise the Chabahar port route and conclude a transit framework with Uzbekistan and other Central Asian states independent of Afghan transit uncertainty.
    2. China’s economic footprint outpaces India’s: China’s connectivity and trade financing in the region dwarf India’s presence in infrastructure and investment. Eg. China has built rail links and pipeline corridors connecting Central Asia directly to its own territory, a scale of investment India has not matched. Fix. Use lines of credit and the India Central Asia Dialogue to fund discrete, deliverable projects in energy, health and digital infrastructure rather than compete on scale.
    3. Russia’s traditional primacy still shapes the region’s security choices: Most Central Asian states retain security arrangements with Russia through the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, limiting how far they can diversify. Eg. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan continue to host Russian military bases. Fix. Build India’s security cooperation around counter terrorism training and disaster response, areas that do not compete with existing Russian linked security arrangements.

    Conclusion

    The visit signals a deliberate, structured attempt to convert a civilisational relationship into a strategic one, anchored first in Uzbekistan and then in the SCO platform. Connectivity gaps and the entrenched primacy of Russia and China in the region mean this return builds incrementally rather than displacing existing power structures. How far India can embed itself economically and strategically in Central Asia will depend on sustained follow through on the India Central Asia Dialogue rather than on the visit itself.

    Back2Basics

    What is the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation?

    1. Origin: It began in 1996 as the “Shanghai Five”, grouping China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and was renamed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in 2001 when Uzbekistan joined.
    2. Mandate: It focuses on regional security, counter terrorism, economic cooperation and connectivity among its Eurasian member states.
    3. Headquarters: Its secretariat is based in Beijing.

    [2024] “Critically analyse India’s evolving diplomatic, economic and strategic relations with the Central Asian Republics (CARs) highlighting their increasing significance in regional and global geopolitics.”

  • India-China boundary talks: Some progress, but a long road ahead

    India-China boundary talks: Some progress, but a long road ahead

    Why in the News

    An eight point consensus has emerged from the 25th round of talks between the Special Representatives of India and China, the National Security Advisor and the Chinese Foreign Minister, held in Beijing. The talks come ahead of the expected visit of the President of China to India for the BRICS Summit. The outcomes include agreement to advance a framework for settling the boundary question through an Expert Group and a Working Group, and to establish two new hotlines in the Eastern and Middle Sectors. Whether this procedural progress marks the start of genuine boundary delimitation, or repeats a decades long pattern of confidence building measures that stall before they mature, remains contested.

    What is the Special Representatives mechanism on the India China boundary?

    1. A political level channel: The Special Representatives mechanism is the designated political level channel, held at the level of the National Security Advisor and the Foreign Minister, tasked with negotiating a framework for settlement of the boundary question.
    2. The current round: The 25th round of talks was held in Beijing between the National Security Advisor and the Chinese Foreign Minister.
    3. Its relationship to implementation bodies: It operates alongside implementation level mechanisms such as the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India China Border Affairs (WMCC), which handles border management and now houses the Expert Group and Working Group tasked with delimitation and management.

    What did the 25th round of talks agree to?

    1. Reaffirming peace along the border: The outcomes concern maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas, and advancing negotiations on a framework for settlement of the boundary question in accordance with previous agreements.
    2. New task for the Expert Group and Working Group: There is a specific reference to advancing discussions through an Expert Group and a Working Group respectively, to explore an early harvest of boundary delimitation in appropriate sectors, and effective border management.
    3. Implementing an earlier understanding: The two sides agreed to implement last year’s understanding on additional General Level Mechanism or Senior Highest Military Commander meetings, along with establishing two hotlines in the Eastern and Middle Sectors.

    How has the border personnel meeting mechanism evolved since 1992?

    1. Origins in the Joint Working Group: In 1992, the Joint Working Group on the Boundary Question decided on confidence building measures such as Border Personnel Meetings, complementing forward movement on border trade.
    2. A subgroup that grew into an institutional mechanism: A subgroup of the Joint Working Group was created following the 1993 border peace and tranquillity agreement, the India China Expert Group of Diplomatic and Military Officials, which became the precursor to the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India China Border Affairs, set up in 2012.
    3. New meeting points identified after 1995: After the success achieved in 1995 on disengagement at Sumdorong Chu, Lipulekh in the Middle Sector and Dichu in the Eastern Sector were identified as additional military meeting points.
    4. Not every point could be operationalised: The plan for meetings at Lipulekh was abandoned for want of infrastructure and because of adverse weather conditions. A trial meeting at Dichu, in the Kibithu sector of Arunachal Pradesh’s Anjaw district and the site of a notable 1962 battle in which the Kumaon Regiment fought, was finalised, but the chosen site on Madan Ridge proved contentious and no further meetings took place there.
    5. The proposal was revived only in 2014: It was then decided to hold regular meetings at Wacha, opposite Damai on the Chinese side, in the same Kibithu sector, in addition to existing venues across Bum La in Arunachal Pradesh and Nathu La in Sikkim.

    What do the new hotlines add to existing India China contact channels?

    1. The understanding they build on: Last year, the two sides had reached agreement in principle on working towards additional General Level or Senior Highest Military Commander meetings in the Eastern and Middle Sectors, similar to the existing mechanism in the Western Sector at Chushul and Moldo.
    2. Existing channels already in place: Hotlines already exist at Daulat Beg Oldie and Chushul, with informal communication at Demchok in the Western Sector, and similar hotlines at Nathu La in Sikkim and at Bum La and Kibithu in the Eastern Sector.
    3. What the new hotlines could achieve: The two additional hotline channels agreed for the Eastern and Middle Sectors could strengthen this existing capacity and help defuse local tensions.

    What broader thaw in ties has this round of talks followed?

    1. Political level consensus behind the process: The Special Representatives are working to realise the consensus reached between the Prime Minister and the President of China at Kazan in October 2024, and at Tianjin in August 2025, on improving ties.
    2. Other signs of normalisation: The resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, the restoration of direct flights, and the resumption of border trade are meaningful steps in the same direction.

    What tensions temper optimism about this round of talks?

    1. It would be premature to call this delimitation: It would be premature to suggest that substantive boundary delimitation has already begun in earnest, since the Expert Group and the Working Group under the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination are only now explicitly tasked with finalising their respective terms of reference, meaning the framework is being created and the process is being activated only incrementally.
    2. The road ahead is long: The task of achieving an early and substantial harvest of boundary delimitation and border management may be long and arduous, requiring patient negotiations.
    3. Piecemeal progress against an unsettled whole: There is also the question of piecemeal progress against a more holistic settlement of differences along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), since neither the Sikkim subsector nor the Middle Sector are free from their own unresolved differences.
    4. Negotiators need to be equal to a vexed history: The negotiators must be empowered to engage in meaningful discussions and must have sufficient experience in handling a matter that has proved difficult for previous generations.

    Conclusion

    This round of Special Representative talks has advanced the procedural architecture for the India China boundary question, through new hotlines and a formal mandate for the Expert Group and Working Group, ahead of the expected visit of the President of China for the BRICS Summit. Genuine boundary delimitation has not yet begun, and the decades long history of the border personnel meeting mechanism shows that such confidence building steps can stall for years before they mature. Whether the newly mandated Expert Group and Working Group convert this round’s procedural momentum into an actual settlement remains to be seen.

    Back2Basics: Line of Actual Control (LAC)

    1. Definition: The LAC separates Indian controlled territory from Chinese controlled territory along the unsettled boundary between the two countries.
    2. Three sectors: It is divided into three sectors, the Eastern Sector covering Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, the Middle Sector covering Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, and the Western Sector covering Ladakh.

    “[2024, GS3, 15 marks] India has a long and troubled border with China and Pakistan fraught with contentious issues. Examine the conflicting issues and security challenges along the border. Also give out the development being undertaken in these areas under the Border Area Development Programme (BADP) and Border Infrastructure and Management (BIM) Scheme.”