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  • Intensifying El Nino to persist until March 2027; strongest ever since 1950, says NOAAIntensifying El Nino to persist until March 2027; strongest ever since 1950, says NOAA

    Intensifying El Nino to persist until March 2027; strongest ever since 1950, says NOAAIntensifying El Nino to persist until March 2027; strongest ever since 1950, says NOAA

    Why in the News

    For the first time since records began in the 1950s, sea surface temperatures in the western part of the equatorial Pacific have run more than 4 degrees Celsius above normal. The current El Niño is set to become the strongest since 1950. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a United States federal agency, expects the event to stay “strong” to “very strong” through the first quarter of 2027.

    What is El Niño?

    1. What it is: El Niño is a naturally occurring warming of the seas along the equatorial Pacific Ocean. It works like a fever in one ocean that unsettles weather across the world.
    2. Global effects: A warm Pacific changes weather far beyond the ocean itself:
      • it alters rainfall patterns;
      • it pushes temperatures up;
      • it increases wildfires;
      • it brings extreme weather as floods or droughts.
    3. Three phases: El Niño is one of three phases of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a recurring swing in Pacific ocean and air conditions. The other two are ENSO-neutral and the cool La Niña.
    4. The takeaway: A record El Niño shifts weather risks worldwide, from heat and fires to failed or excess rain.

    How far beyond past El Niños could this event go?

    1. The yardstick: El Niños are compared on the Relative Oceanic Niño Index (RONI, how far sea surface temperature in the Niño 3.4 region of the central equatorial Pacific departs from normal), which also sets the ENSO phase.
    2. An ordinary El Niño: A three-month average above 0.5 degree Celsius is enough to declare one.
    3. Record territory: A historic event needs +2.5 degrees Celsius or more, five times the declaration level, which would exceed every El Niño recorded since 1950.
    4. The takeaway: An El Niño needs only half a degree to be declared; this one is being judged against the +2.5 degree record line, with western Pacific readings already above 4 degrees.

    What has NOAA forecast?

    1. Still intensifying: NOAA says the current event continues to strengthen. It is set to break all known sea surface temperature records along the equatorial Pacific.
    2. Odds of a historic event: NOAA puts the chance of a historic event at about 60% for the October to December and November to January periods.
    3. WMO warning: In October, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations agency for weather and climate, warned of “off-the-charts” temperatures. The new readings confirm that warning.

    Challenges

    1. Monsoon risk: El Niño years have often brought weak southwest monsoon rain to India, which raises the risk of drought.
    2. Heat extremes: A record El Niño adds to background warming, so new global temperature records become more likely.
    3. Forecast uncertainty: ENSO forecasts made before the northern spring are less reliable, so the event’s course into mid-2027 remains uncertain.

    Way Forward

    1. Monsoon outlook: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) should track the event’s decay closely and factor it into its 2027 monsoon outlook.
    2. Contingency crop plans: States should update district contingency crop plans and seed reserves for a possible weak monsoon.
    3. Heat action plans: Cities and States should prepare heat action plans ahead of the coming summer.

    Conclusion

    A record-breaking warming of the Pacific is under way and has yet to peak. Watch NOAA’s monthly ENSO updates for signs of the event weakening, and the IMD’s first monsoon forecast for its likely effect on India.

    Back2Basics: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

    1. Status: NOAA is a United States federal agency under the US Department of Commerce, set up in 1970. It is not a United Nations body.
    2. Mandate: It monitors and forecasts the oceans, the atmosphere, weather and climate.
    3. ENSO outlooks: Its Climate Prediction Center issues the monthly ENSO forecasts on which this outlook rests.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2011] La Nina is suspected to have caused recent floods in Australia. How is La Nina different from EI Nino? 1. La Nina is characterized by unusually cold ocean temperature in the equatorial Indian ocean whereas EI Nino is characterized by unusually warm ocean temperature in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. 2. EI Nino has an adverse effect on the southwest monsoon of India, but La Nina has no effect on monsoon climate. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 ANSWER: (d)”

  • Critical ban

    Critical ban

    Why in the News

    India has moved lithium-ion battery black mass from the “free” to the “prohibited” export list, to keep battery scrap at home for domestic refiners. A ban can redirect supply, but it cannot by itself create a recycling market, so India needs an entire ecosystem for recycling lithium-ion batteries.

    What is black mass, and why has its export been banned?

    1. What it is: Black mass is the powder left when spent batteries and factory scrap are shredded. It holds valuable lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite, much like an ore that has already been mined.
    2. The ban: The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), which sets India’s export and import rules, issued the ban on November 10.
    3. Stated aim: The Commerce Ministry says the ban will secure raw material for domestic refiners, keep their plants running closer to full capacity and draw investment.
    4. Import dependence: India depends heavily on imports for critical minerals, including those used in battery inputs.
    5. The takeaway: Keeping black mass at home helps only if India can turn it into battery materials.

    Why will a ban alone not build a recycling industry?

    1. Two different segments: Lead-acid battery recycling is an established, formal ecosystem from end to end. Lithium-ion recycling is an emerging segment with only a few dozen licensed operators.
    2. Growth potential: The wide use of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles (EVs) gives the segment large potential.
    3. Supply without a market: The ban keeps black mass in India but does not create buyers for it. If no one buys it, spent batteries will end up dumped in landfills.
    4. Missing downstream step: Making black mass is largely mechanical shredding. The next step, chemical processing into usable battery materials, is specialised and needs larger investment and policy support.
    5. Link to manufacturing: Once downstream units are running, their output can feed directly into indigenous lithium-ion battery manufacture.

    How does the certificate price gap weaken recycling?

    1. EPR system: Under the Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022, producers buy extended producer responsibility (EPR) certificates from recyclers. A certificate shows that a recycler has processed battery waste on the producer’s behalf.
    2. Undervalued certificates: Certificates sell for less than real recovery costs, so genuine recycling loses money. Cheap certificates reward recycling on paper over investment in high-yield plants.

    Why are rare earths a missed opportunity?

    1. Phones as ore: Up to 1% of a smartphone’s weight is a strong neodymium-iron-boron magnet. So its rare earth content, about 3,000 parts per million, matches India’s monazite beach sands.
    2. Cheaper than mining: Extracting rare earths from such waste takes less energy than mining them. A magnet separated from a phone is about 30% rare earth.
    3. Hard drives: Magnets make up as much as 3% of a hard drive. They can be recovered only if removed before the drive is shredded to destroy its data.
    4. Policy gap: The e-waste rules do not require rare earth magnets to be separated. Paying recyclers by weight of waste undervalues rare earths, which form a tiny share of that weight.

    Challenges

    1. Informal collection: Much of India’s battery and electronic scrap is gathered by informal collectors outside the licensed recycling system.
    2. Refining know-how: Recovering battery-grade metals from black mass needs chemical refining that few Indian firms have built at scale.
    3. Investment risk: Without a stable certificate price, investors cannot count on returns from high-yield recovery plants.

    Way Forward

    1. Certificate floor price: Set a floor price for EPR certificates that covers the full cost of recovery, with digital tracking of each certificate.
    2. Rare earth EPR category: Create a separate EPR category for rare earths, since paying by weight cannot value them.
    3. Magnet separation: Amend the e-waste rules to require rare earth magnets to be removed before devices are shredded.
    4. Downstream support: Back chemical processing plants with policy support, so black mass finds a domestic buyer.

    Conclusion

    The export ban secures feedstock but leaves the harder part, a market that pays for real recovery, still unbuilt. Watch whether certificate pricing and rare earth rules follow, since they decide whether the ban builds an industry or fills landfills.

    Back2Basics: Monazite

    1. What it is: Monazite is a reddish-brown phosphate mineral that contains rare earth elements and thorium.
    2. Where it occurs: India’s monazite lies mainly in the coastal beach sands of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
    3. Who mines it: Because it holds thorium, a nuclear fuel source, its mining and processing are reserved for the state-owned IREL (India) Limited under the Department of Atomic Energy.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2026] Which of the following statements about Rare Earth Elements (REEs) and Critical Minerals is/are correct? 1. Modern technological innovations including Artificial Intelligence, robotics and space exploration extensively utilise Rare Earth Elements (REEs). 2. China has the highest share in mining of REEs followed by India. 3. The Government of India launched the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) in 2025 to establish a robust framework for self-reliance in the critical mineral sector. 4. Rare Earth Elements are a set of 13 metallic elements. Select the answer using the code given below: (a) 1 and 3 only (b) 3 only (c) 1, 3 and 4 (d) 1, 2 and 4 ANSWER: A”

  • Our magical thinking on pollution: Do annual rituals, hope you are immune

    Our magical thinking on pollution: Do annual rituals, hope you are immune

    Why in the News

    India’s response to air pollution has settled into annual rituals, visible seasonal steps that leave pollution’s sources untouched. Their cost falls first on the poor, and divided State authority and weak incentives block lasting measures beyond Delhi.

    Why has fighting pollution become a ritual?

    1. What it is: The Air Quality Index (AQI) turns pollutant levels into one daily number showing how unhealthy the air is. Daily tracking was meant to build public pressure for cleaner air.
    2. Monitoring without action: Delhi residents check the AQI daily, but checking has not cleaned the air. It resembles King Mithridates dosing himself with poison, hoping for immunity.
    3. Visible but weak tools: Action has shrunk to showy steps: mist cannons, anti-smog guns, tattered green nets on building sites, a few road vacuums, and tree planting as forest cover shrinks.
    4. Blaming seasonal sources: The state targets short, visible events such as stubble burning and firecrackers, and leaves poor waste management unfixed. Critics call such bans a cultural attack, not a health measure.
    5. The takeaway: Monitoring and seasonal bans have replaced the harder work of cutting pollution at its sources across India.

    Who pays for anti-pollution measures?

    1. Construction ban: The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), the National Capital Region (NCR) air regulator, halted construction for 15 days. 70% of daily-wage labourers in Gurugram and Manesar got no relief.
    2. Small fires and dirty fuels: Bans on small fires and “dirty energy” hit the poor, small businesses and eateries first.
    3. “Laptop class”: During COVID-19, the US National Institutes of Health director used this term for office workers whom lockdowns shielded at manual workers’ cost. Pollution work-from-home rules repeat this.
    4. Weak public support: The poor experience environmental rules as policing of the poor, so public demand for such rules stays weak.

    What has the state done, and what holds it back?

    1. Measures in place: The government backs clean energy and electric vehicles (EVs), and has moved many industries to cleaner fuels. Its National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) covers over a hundred cities.
    2. State capacity: It is unclear whether these schemes match the problem’s scale, or whether the state will build capacity to run them.
    3. Federalism: Polluted air crosses State borders, but each State governs only its own territory, so each pushes the cost onto a neighbour or shifts the blame.
    4. No demand outside Delhi: Most States face no political pressure for clean air, and even Delhi does not clearly prioritise it.

    Why has the PARIVARTAN scheme fallen short?

    1. What it offers: PARIVARTAN subsidises replacing commercial vehicles with Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) vehicles, the strictest Indian emission standard, or with EVs.
    2. NCR only: The scheme is confined to the NCR, where the crisis is most acute. India still lacks a national strategy for cleaner transport.
    3. Low uptake: Only 56,000 vehicles have registered and a few hundred operators have claimed the subsidy, which is too small to make switching worthwhile.
    4. Production first: The government made subsidies work in its Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes, which reward firms for raising output. It has not done the same for environmental goals.

    Challenges

    1. Airshed mismatch: Outside the NCR, no authority can act on pollution that crosses State borders.
    2. Unequal burden: Curbs without income relief turn workers and small traders against environmental rules.
    3. Underpriced pollution: Polluters do not pay for the health damage they cause, so cleaner fuels and vehicles stay costlier.

    Way Forward

    1. Polluter pays: Charge polluters for the health and environmental damage they cause, so cleaner choices become cheaper.
    2. National clean transport strategy: Redesign transport beyond the NCR before other regions reach Delhi’s pollution levels, instead of shifting Delhi’s old vehicles there.
    3. Relief during bans: Pair construction bans with wage support for daily-wage labourers.

    Conclusion

    India’s clean air programmes are real but undersized, and its yearly response still leans on rituals that burden the poor. The test is whether incentives and authority are scaled to whole airsheds, not to Delhi’s winter.

    What is the Airshed Approach?

    1. About: An airshed is an area where terrain and prevailing winds mix the air into one body, so emissions spread across it.
    2. Boundary: Mountain ranges, wind direction and the depth of the mixing layer set the boundary, not administrative lines, much as water flow defines a watershed.
    3. Rationale for regional management: An authority smaller than the airshed can be blamed for pollution it neither caused nor can reduce. The CAQM is India’s only regulator drawn on airshed lines.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2021, GS3, 10 marks] Describe the key points of the revised Global Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs) recently released by the World Health Organisation (WHO). How are these different from its last update in 2005? What changes in India’s National Clean Air Programme are required to achieve these revised standards?”

  • Suez to Hormuz, how chokepoints shape balance of power

    Why in the News

    Blockades of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran and of the Bab-el-Mandeb strait by the Houthis have triggered a major global energy crisis. Control of such narrow sea routes has repeatedly reordered the global balance of power, and the crisis may let India help shape a new order.

    What are chokepoints, and why have they decided the fate of powers?

    1. What it is: A maritime chokepoint is a narrow sea route that whoever holds the nearby land can control or close, like a toll gate on a highway.
    2. Bosporus and Athens: In the Peloponnesian War of the fifth century BCE, Sparta seized the Bosporus, Athens’ lifeline for food and supplies. Athens then collapsed.
    3. Constantinople to the Ottomans: Roman emperor Constantine later built his capital, Constantinople (now Istanbul), on the same waterway. After a millennium of Roman rule, the Ottomans took it and held the Bosporus until World War I.
    4. The takeaway: Whoever controls a chokepoint controls the trade through it, and that has repeatedly decided which power rises or falls.

    How did the Suez crisis turn a chokepoint into a weapon of trade?

    1. Trade as coercion: After World War II, countries built international institutions to regulate the world economy. Trade soon became a tool of pressure, especially for the United States.
    2. Nationalisation: In 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal, taking it from its British and French stakeholders.
    3. Eisenhower’s intervention: After a brief conflict, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower stepped in and the European powers backed off. Egypt has controlled the canal ever since.
    4. Shift in power: The crisis marked the decline of Britain and France as global powers and the rise of US-USSR bipolarity, a world split between two superpowers.

    Did globalisation end political control of trade?

    1. Wriston’s prediction: In his 1992 book *The Twilight of Sovereignty*, American financier Walter Wriston predicted that global finance and information technology would make national governments obsolete.
    2. Politics returns: The prediction held for about two decades. Political leaders then took back control of trade, and chokepoints became their lever.
    3. Current disruption: Since the Russia-Ukraine war of 2022 and last year’s US-Iran conflict, blocked chokepoints have threatened the world economy.

    Can India shape the order that follows?

    1. De Gaulle’s answer to Suez: Suez brought Charles de Gaulle back to power in France. Rejecting Cold War dominance by Washington and Moscow, he called for a “Third Force” aligned with neither.
    2. Europe des Patries: De Gaulle wanted Europe “from the Atlantic to the Urals” to speak with one voice, as a “Europe des Patries” (Europe of the Fatherlands). He fell short but gave France an independent foreign policy.
    3. India’s call for a new order: The Prime Minister says global institutions failed to make room for new powers. On a G20-related occasion, he sought “a new world order for the collective wellbeing of humankind”.
    4. India’s opportunity: On this view, the Prime Minister’s global stature lets India succeed fully where de Gaulle succeeded only partly.

    Challenges

    1. Energy exposure: India imports about 85% of its crude oil, so a Gulf blockade quickly raises its import bill.
    2. Institutional lag: Because global institutions lag behind new powers, no forum can quickly end a chokepoint crisis.
    3. Ambition versus capacity: De Gaulle’s partial success shows that shaping a world order needs economic and naval strength, not only intent.

    Way Forward

    1. Diversified supply: Spread oil and gas imports across more suppliers and routes than a single strait.
    2. Strategic reserves: The Union government should expand strategic petroleum reserves to cover longer disruptions.
    3. Reformed multilateralism: Use the G20 and United Nations to press for institutions that reflect new powers.

    Conclusion

    The present blockades show how fast control of narrow sea routes can shake the world economy. India’s claim to a larger role rests on cutting its own exposure to these routes, not on stature alone.

    About Maritime Chokepoints

    1. Strait of Hormuz: Iran holds its northern shore and Oman its southern entrance. About 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade passes through it.
    2. Bab-el-Mandeb: The Houthis control its Yemeni shore de facto. It is the only southern gateway to the Suez Canal and carries about 8.7% of global trade.
    3. Suez Canal: Egypt is its sole sovereign and collects all tolls. It carries about 12% of global maritime commerce.
    4. Strait of Malacca: Singapore dominates its eastern entrance. It carries 23.7% of global seaborne trade and 80% of China’s energy imports.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2026] Ships from which of the following countries have to cross the Strait of Hormuz to reach out to the Indian Ocean? 1. Bahrain 2. Syria 3. Qatar 4. Egypt (a) 1 and 2 (b) 1 and 3 (c) 2 and 3 (d) 3 and 4 ANSWER: B”

  • The challenge of holding the Quad together

    Why in the News

    Leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), India, Australia, Japan and the United States (U.S.), are expected to meet in Manila in November on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit. It would be their first summit since Donald Trump began his second term as U.S. President, after a year in which shifting U.S. priorities strained the group.

    Why does the Manila summit matter for the Quad?

    1. A group without a secretariat: The Quad has neither a permanent bureaucracy nor an institutional framework of its own. Like a club that exists through its meetings, it relies on summits to reaffirm its purpose and set its agenda.
    2. First in two years: The U.S. Secretary of State has announced the summit. It would be the first since Wilmington in 2024, and the first for Japan’s new Prime Minister.
    3. Venue shift: India was expected to host the next summit. Manila’s hosting instead reinforces ASEAN centrality, the principle that Southeast Asian states sit at the centre of the regional order.
    4. Philippines as host: The Philippines faces ongoing sovereignty disputes with China. Leaders are expected to stress sovereignty in the South and East China Seas and international law.
    5. The takeaway: A summit is the Quad’s main sign of life, so Manila tests whether the U.S. still backs it at the top.

    How did the Quad survive a turbulent 2025?

    1. Strain without collapse: Washington’s shifting priorities and strained ties with Quad members, especially India, made 2025 a low point. The group did not collapse.
    2. What IPMDA does: The Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) initiative gives partners satellite tracking of ships that switch off their transponders, the radio beacons that report a ship’s position.
    3. Maritime surveillance upgrade: IPMDA was elevated to the Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration framework, launched in New Delhi in May 2026 after the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
    4. Foreign ministers kept meeting: Quad foreign ministers met twice in Washington in 2025. In 2026 they met in New Delhi, Manila and Atlanta.

    Why are partners unsure of Washington?

    1. First term record: The Quad was revived in 2017, during Trump’s first term. The U.S. Pacific Command was also renamed the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
    2. Second term priorities: Trump’s priorities now lie in the Russia-Ukraine war, ties with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the war in West Asia.
    3. Burden sharing: U.S. demands that transatlantic allies carry more of the security burden have worried Indo-Pacific partners too.
    4. AUKUS review: The White House review of AUKUS, the Australia, U.K. and U.S. pact to equip Australia with nuclear powered submarines, has added uncertainty.
    5. Still a major actor: The U.S. remains a significant security actor, especially in the Pacific, where several partners rely on its security alliances.

    How are partners hedging, and why does Washington still matter?

    1. Japan’s OCEAN: Through its One Cooperative Effort Among Nations (OCEAN) framework, Japan builds closer security ties with partners and changes its post-war security posture.
    2. Australia’s partnerships: Australia is strengthening defence ties with India, Japan, Southeast Asia and Pacific Island countries to deter China’s growing footprint.
    3. India’s multi-alignment: India diversifies defence and strategic ties with like-minded states across the Indian Ocean and the Indo-Pacific.
    4. Trilaterals and new entrants: The Japan-Australia-India (JAI) Defence Ministers’ meeting in Cebu shows a will to deepen ties regardless of Washington. France is also building regional ties.
    5. Why the U.S. still counts: China’s expanding maritime footprint keeps the U.S. role critical, especially in the Taiwan Strait, a key flashpoint.

    Challenges

    1. Leader level attention: The U.S. President’s engagement decides whether the Quad moves beyond ministerial routine.
    2. India-U.S. strain: Strained bilateral ties with India weaken the group’s core.
    3. No institutional anchor: Without a secretariat, momentum lapses whenever a summit is skipped.

    Way Forward

    1. Reset U.S. posture: Use the Manila visit to reset the U.S. posture in the region and affirm the Quad’s stand against Chinese belligerence.
    2. Concrete deliverables: Set measurable targets for the maritime surveillance framework at the summit.
    3. Work between summits: Keep senior officials’ meetings regular so projects continue when leaders do not meet.

    Conclusion

    The Quad has survived U.S. distraction by working through ministers and maritime projects, but it still depends on the American President’s attention. Manila will show whether Washington resets its regional posture or leaves partners to keep hedging.

    Quad Initiatives beyond Maritime Surveillance

    1. Critical Minerals Initiative (July 2025): Diversifies critical mineral supply chains among the four members, since China dominates refining.
    2. Malabar exercise: Japan joined permanently in 2015, and Malabar now brings all four navies together.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2026, GS2, 10 marks] “IPMDA (Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness) bridges the gap between India’s SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) vision and the Quad’s collective Indo-Pacific strategy.” Make a critical assessment of the statement focusing on IPMDA.”

  • Absent from the classroom: The teacher

    Absent from the classroom: The teacher

    Why in the News

    A child in an average government primary school spends only about 85 hours a year on learning tasks, barely a tenth of the 800 to 900 instructional hours prescribed. Debates on learning quality largely overlook this loss of teaching time to closures, non-teaching duties and thin staffing.

    How does teaching time disappear from the school year?

    1. What instructional time is: Instructional hours are the hours a teacher actually teaches. Like a factory’s output, learning depends on hours actually worked, not hours scheduled.
    2. Closures: Board exam duties, campaigns, celebrations, extreme heat or cold and district holidays close schools or halt teaching for 30 to 35 days.
    3. A calendar against learning: The school calendar does not protect teaching time:
      • March, free of extreme weather, goes almost entirely to exams;
      • attendance is low in April and May, and heat advances summer holidays by 8 to 10 days;
      • students return slowly in July, and holidays break up October and November.
    4. Short teaching year: Northern and eastern India get only about 140 to 145 teaching days.
    5. The takeaway: Limited teaching time caps learning, whatever the quality of teaching.

    How do non-teaching duties pull teachers out?

    1. Election work: Elections and electoral roll revision take 25 to 30 days almost every year for most teachers.
    2. Guidelines ignored: Election Commission of India (ECI) guidelines say duties as a Booth Level Officer (BLO), the official who checks voters locally, should not disrupt teaching. This rarely holds.
    3. This year’s load: In some States, two roll revisions, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and Special Summary Revision (SSR), plus census duties could take over three months of teaching time.
    4. District tasks and data entry: Districts add tasks, some as odd as a stray dog survey. Data entry cuts another 10 to 15 days for some teachers.
    5. Cover for absence: Some teachers use these duties to stay away from class longer than required.

    Why do small schools lose the most?

    1. Thin staffing: Over 70% of government primary schools have three or fewer teachers, and over a lakh have just one teacher.
    2. Multigrade classes: Where one teacher teaches several grades together, each grade may get as little as a third of the teacher’s time.
    3. Short school day: In most northern and eastern primary schools, little teaching happens after the mid-day meal, leaving 3 to 3.5 effective hours a day.
    4. Absence on both sides: Teachers’ leave and unauthorised absence cut teaching days, and student attendance, averaging 75%, cuts contact time again.

    How big is the loss?

    1. Scale of erosion: Effective teaching falls to about 120 to 130 hours a year, a far bigger loss than in good school systems worldwide.
    2. Off-task time: The Teaching and Learning Practices Survey 2025 studied early grade classrooms in nine States. It found students distracted or off-task for 27% of teaching time.
    3. Rote tasks: Almost half the remaining learning time goes to rote memorisation, handwriting practice, choral repetition and other mechanical tasks.

    Challenges

    1. Legal carve-out: Section 27 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 permits teachers’ deployment for census, disaster relief and elections, so BLO duty is lawful.
    2. No dedicated field cadre: Administrations default to teachers for surveys because no other staff is as widely spread.
    3. Hidden loss: Learning debates track outcomes and rarely count instructional hours, so the loss goes unmeasured.

    Way Forward

    1. Spare understaffed schools: Do not nominate teachers from understaffed schools for these duties.
    2. Other staff for non-teaching work: Use other employees for district tasks, and a dedicated pool for recurrent voter list work.
    3. Protect peak months: Keep teaching uninterrupted in months of high attendance.
    4. Rationalise data entry: Simplify the data teachers must enter.

    Conclusion

    Every learning reform in government primary schools assumes a teacher in the classroom, who is often elsewhere. Whether States shield teachers from this year’s roll revision and census work will show whether teaching time is a priority.

    Key numbers

    1. Single teacher schools: 1.04 lakh government primary schools.
    2. Time lost: India over 80% of allocated teaching time; good systems worldwide under 20%.

    About Instructional Time Norms in India

    1. RTE norm, primary: The RTE Act’s Schedule sets 200 working days and 800 instructional hours a year for Classes 1 to 5.
    2. RTE norm, upper primary: It sets 220 working days and 1,000 instructional hours a year for Classes 6 to 8.
    3. NEP 2020 commitment: The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 says teachers will no longer do work not directly related to teaching.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2017] With reference to ‘National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF)’, which of the statements given below is/are correct? 1. Under NSQF, a learner can acquire the certification for competency only through formal learning. 2. An outcome expected from the implementation of NSQF is the mobility between vocational and general education. Select the correct answer using the code given below: (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 ANSWER: (b)”

  • Amid the digital avalanche, childhood needs a protective umbrella

    Why in the News

    Smartphones, apps and artificial intelligence (AI) tools are moving into India’s elementary and pre-school classrooms, though evidence of their harm to young children keeps growing. Some countries have banned smartphones in elementary schools, yet Indian school boards and States are now bringing AI into the earliest grades.

    Why are screens a problem in early childhood?

    1. Smartphone as babysitter and tutor: Parents use the smartphone as a babysitter, and education policymakers treat it as a learning tool. Its harm to children’s intellectual development is no longer debated.
    2. Screens replace teachers: E-pedagogy, meaning teaching through digital devices, holds back intellectual and emotional growth in the early years. It also makes teaching harder in higher grades.
    3. Kindergarten example: A kindergarten child whose teachers kept phones away loved rhymes, words and drawing, and showed no interest in her mother’s phone.
    4. The takeaway: Early screens do not give children a head start; they crowd out the attention and play early learning needs.

    What does Britain’s experience show?

    1. Reading apps made compulsory: Britain made reading apps compulsory in its first wave of digital enthusiasm. Fifteen years later, many schools are returning to paper and pencil literacy and numeracy.
    2. Fewer teachers: The promise of digitally assisted teaching was used to raise class sizes and cut teaching staff, so reversing course is now hard.
    3. Attention deficits: Attention deficit is common among children raised on app based learning and AI assisted homework marking.
    4. Widening divide: The gap between elite and middle class children is widening, as middle class children stay on e-reading. The British state has not admitted its digital spending failed.

    Which way is Indian policy moving?

    1. No ban: Neither the Centre nor any State has acted to keep digital devices out of elementary schools.
    2. Growing investment: Public and private spending on devices for elementary schools keeps growing.
    3. Pandemic habit: The pandemic made online teaching look like a substitute for real teaching. Eg. Delhi shifts schools online during pollution spells, with no check on quality.
    4. Kendriya Vidyalayas: Device based teaching and testing is rising even in the Central government’s Kendriya Vidyalayas.

    Why is early AI the sharpest concern?

    1. AI in early grades: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will introduce AI in Grade III, and Punjab wants it from Grade I. Some schools already use AI equipment in nursery and kindergarten.
    2. “Starting early” belief: The belief that starting early helps in every field has no evidence behind it. It reflects a middle class fear of falling behind, which now drives public policy.
    3. Adults versus children: New technologies can serve adults, but young children need protection from them to stay calm and spontaneous.

    Challenges

    1. Policy momentum: Boards and States have already announced AI for early grades, so reversal means undoing curricula.
    2. Sunk investment: Money spent on devices makes governments reluctant to admit the policy has failed.
    3. Parental demand: Middle class parents see early technology as an advantage and press schools to offer it.

    Way Forward

    1. Suo motu action: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and child rights groups should act on their own to shield small children from digital invasion.
    2. Review early AI plans: CBSE and the States should test AI teaching in Grades I to III against evidence on child development.
    3. Device free early years: Keep pre-primary and early primary classrooms free of digital devices.

    Conclusion

    India is adding screens and AI to its earliest classrooms just as Britain retreats from digital teaching. Whether the NCPCR or education authorities act before AI reaches nursery classrooms at scale is the test.

    Government Initiatives for Early Childhood and Digital Education

    1. National Education Policy (NEP) 2020: Creates a foundational stage for children aged 3 to 8, built on play and activity based learning.
    2. PRAGYATA guidelines, 2020: The Ministry of Education’s digital education guidelines advise at most 30 minutes a day for pre-primary, spent guiding parents.
    3. NIPUN Bharat, 2021: The national mission aims for every child to achieve foundational literacy and numeracy by the end of Grade 3.

    Back2Basics: National Commission for Protection of Child Rights

    1. Legal basis: A statutory body set up in March 2007 under the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, under the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
    2. Mandate: It checks that laws, policies and programmes conform to child rights, and monitors the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.
    3. Suo motu power: It can act on its own when child rights are denied or violated.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2025, GS2, 15 marks] The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has to address the challenges faced by children in the digital era. Examine the existing policies and suggest measures the Commission can initiate to tackle the issue.”

  • Missing in fertility industry: Safeguards that work

    Missing in fertility industry: Safeguards that work

    Why in the News

    Police in Hyderabad have reportedly rescued 43 women from an alleged egg donation trafficking network linked to 23 in vitro fertilisation (IVF) centres. The Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021 bars such brokers on paper, but public records show little sign of enforcement.

    What does the ART Act promise egg donors?

    1. What the Act is: The Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) law licenses the chain that supplies eggs and sperm to fertility clinics. It works like a drug licence: only registered entities may handle the supply.
    2. Banks screen, clinics buy: Only registered ART banks may screen donors and supply them to clinics (Section 27). Clinics must take gametes, meaning eggs and sperm, only from those banks (Section 21(b)).
    3. Once in a lifetime: A woman may donate eggs only once in her life, and only between the ages of 23 and 35.
    4. No middlemen: Section 33 bars medical practitioners from using intermediaries to find donors, with fines and, for repeat offences, prison.
    5. The takeaway: The law treats brokers as the core risk, so it works only if clinics and banks are checked before women are harmed.

    What do the trafficking cases reveal?

    1. Hyderabad network: Women from several States were promised Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 per cycle. Police seized Humog HP 150 IU, a drug that makes the ovaries release several eggs at once.
    2. Erode, 2022: A 16 year old alleged her family forced her to sell eggs for four years.
    3. Varanasi, 2023: A 17 year old was taken to an IVF centre on a tampered Aadhaar card.
    4. Common pattern: In each case, brokers recruited economically vulnerable women using falsified documents. Facilities did not check how donors were recruited.

    Why does the trade persist under the law?

    1. Demand gap: Demand for donor eggs far exceeds the pool of women legally eligible to donate, leaving room for brokers.
    2. Unregistered clinics: The National ART and Surrogacy Registry, where clinics and banks must enrol, lists only a fraction of clinics. An academic estimate puts the real number at about 40,000.
    3. Silent records: The Department of Health Research (DHR) 2025-26 annual report is silent on inspections, violations and prosecutions. The DHR’s system to collect donor data has only been piloted.

    Where does accountability break down?

    1. Registry as safeguard: ART banks must log every donor on the National Registry, so the same woman cannot donate again. That safeguard failed in Erode.
    2. Boards hold the key: Courts can act on offences only on complaints by the Act’s regulators, the National or State Boards (Section 35). Enforcement rests on these Boards.
    3. Missing annual reports: Rule 5 of the ART Rules, 2022 requires the Boards to file annual reports, yet the DHR report carries nothing from the National Board.
    4. Raids, not inspections: All three cases surfaced through police raids or complaints, so a few agents are arrested and the clinics keep operating.

    Challenges

    1. Unregistered sector: Most clinics operate outside the Registry and its inspections.
    2. Complaint bottleneck: Only the Boards can set a prosecution in motion, so their inaction stalls every case.
    3. Interstate recruitment: Brokers move women across State lines, beyond the reach of any single State Board.

    Way Forward

    1. Publish Board reports: The Union Health Ministry should publish the Boards’ annual reports.
    2. State disclosure: States should disclose inspections, suspensions, complaints and violations.
    3. Women as witnesses: Treat recruited women as witnesses, with independent medical care and the 12 month health insurance Section 22(1)(b) requires.
    4. Verify donor registers: Inspect donor registers and hold clinics accountable for gaps.

    Conclusion

    India’s egg donation law is strong on paper, but its enforcement rests on Boards and a Registry with no public record of working. Whether Board reports and State inspection data are published is what to watch.

    Key numbers

    1. Retrieval cap: At most seven eggs may be retrieved from a donor (ART Act, 2021).
    2. Broker penalty: First offence, Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh fine; repeat, three to eight years’ prison and Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh fine.
    3. Registry count: 4,726 clinics and 940 ART banks registered (31 October 2026).

    About Assisted Reproductive Technology in India

    1. What ART covers: Techniques that achieve pregnancy by handling eggs or sperm outside the body, such as IVF and gamete donation.
    2. Before the Act: Clinics ran on the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines of 2005, which had no legal force.
    3. Companion law: The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 permits only altruistic surrogacy, and its National Board doubles as the ART Act’s National Board.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “No direct PYQ traced in the provided files. Thematic PYQ: [2024, GS2, 15 marks] In a crucial domain like the public healthcare system, the Indian State should play a vital role to contain the adverse impact of marketisation of the system. Suggest some measures through which the State can enhance the reach of public healthcare at the grassroots level.”

  • These voters in Pune never moved, someone changed their addresses anyway

    Why in the News

    A voter’s name is meant to move to another constituency only when the voter applies to shift, yet in Pune voters who never moved or applied were deleted from their home rolls. An inquiry found address changes approved without field checks, and the Pune District Election Officer (DEO) has now issued a show cause notice. The roll software still offers no way to stop such deletions.

    How does a change of address work on the voter roll?

    1. What Form 8 does: A voter who shifts files Form 8 in the new constituency. Its Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), who keeps the roll, verifies the documents and may send a Booth Level Officer (BLO) to check the address.
    2. Automatic deletion: On approval, the Election Commission of India (ECI) software ERONET, which processes voter forms, creates a Form 7 deleting the voter from the old constituency. It works like a bank closing an old account the moment a new one opens.
    3. Accept only: The old constituency’s ERO sees only an “accept” option, so a wrong approval in one place removes a voter elsewhere with no second check.
    4. The takeaway: One unverified approval can silently remove a genuine voter from another constituency’s roll.

    How were the irregularities flagged?

    1. District warnings: From October 2024 the Pune DEO warned the Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), the State’s top election official, about bulk Form 8s. Many used one electricity bill with mismatched names and came from a single IP address.
    2. Reject option sought: In 2025 the DEO reported that these voters had not moved and asked for a “reject” option for automatic deletions. He warned of more cases before the January 2026 local polls.
    3. Complaint that forced an inquiry: A Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader’s November 2025 list alleged bulk “fraudulent deletions/ shifting of voters”. The CEO’s office ordered an inquiry the next day.
    4. Voters’ accounts: Listed voters said they had neither moved nor applied. One, shifted to Pimpri, was later left off the draft roll of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), a full re-check of the roll.

    What did the inquiry find, and what has changed?

    1. No field checks: EROs in Pimpri, Thane and Khadakvasla admitted approving Form 8s on documents alone. The DEO cited the deadline to print rolls before the 2024 Assembly polls.
    2. Scale of deletions: All but one of the listed voters were among 5,603 voters deleted through auto generated Form 7s.
    3. Show cause notice: On 31 October 2026 the DEO issued the Pimpri ERO a show cause notice, asking why action should not follow.
    4. Police report: The Pimpri Assistant ERO filed a police report under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 against persons who filed Form 8s in bulk.
    5. The ECI’s fix: The CEO calls a “reject” option infeasible, because the voter would then stay registered in two constituencies. The ECI instead made an Aadhaar based digital signature mandatory in September 2025.

    Challenges

    1. Deadline driven approvals: Roll printing deadlines push EROs to approve address changes without field checks.
    2. Signature is not verification: A digital signature identifies the filer but does not confirm that the voter actually moved.
    3. Burden on the voter: A deleted voter must notice and refile Form 6 to return.

    Way Forward

    1. Mandatory field check: Require BLO verification before any Form 8 that deletes a voter elsewhere.
    2. Notice to the voter: Alert the voter at the old address before an automatic Form 7 takes effect.
    3. Flag bulk patterns: Have ERONET flag applications sharing an IP address, mobile number or proof document.

    Conclusion

    Pune shows that a roll can lose genuine voters through routine approvals, without any forged deletion order. The outcome of the show cause notice and the police case will show whether anyone is held to account.

    Key numbers

    1. Complaint list: 58 voters, 51 of them Muslim; over 15,000 cases alleged.
    2. Approvals without BLO check: Pimpri 42, Thane 10, Khadakvasla 1.
    3. Police complaint: Four mobile numbers used to file 40 Form 8s.
    4. The 58 voters: Three had died, 11 lived where registered, Form 6 filed for 43.

    Back2Basics: Section 31, Representation of the People Act, 1950

    1. What it punishes: A false written declaration made in connection with preparing or revising an electoral roll, or adding or removing an entry.
    2. Penalty: Imprisonment of up to one year, or a fine, or both.
    3. Why non-cognizable: Because the maximum term is one year, the offence is non-cognizable: police cannot investigate it without a magistrate’s order.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2026, GS2, 10 marks] Is the right to vote a fundamental right? Discuss the position of the Election Commission of India while undertaking the revision of electoral rolls. Can it also examine the question of citizenship of voters?”

  • To strengthen the Supreme Court, divide it

    Why in the News

    The Supreme Court ended 2025 with 92,318 pending cases, its heaviest backlog ever, and its constitutional work has shrunk sharply. This has revived the proposal to split it into a lean Constitutional Court and regional Courts of Appeal. The debate is whether division restores the court’s constitutional role or dilutes its authority.

    What is the proposal to divide the Supreme Court?

    1. What it is: A Constitutional Court of about 11 judges in Delhi would hear only constitutional cases and substantial questions of law. Four or five regional Courts of Appeal would take ordinary appeals, like district hospitals freeing specialists for hard cases.
    2. Law Commission plan: The 229th Law Commission Report (2009) proposed a Delhi Constitution Bench and four regional Cassation Benches for ordinary appeals.
    3. Recent backing: A Parliamentary Standing Committee recommended regional Benches in 2023, and the Union Law Ministry accepted it.
    4. The takeaway: Sorting constitutional cases from routine appeals lets questions shaping the Republic skip the queue of private disputes.

    Why has the court drifted from its constitutional role?

    1. Unheard reference: In 2016 a Bench asked whether the court was drowning in ordinary appeals. Its 11 questions, referred to a larger Bench, remain unheard.
    2. Shrinking constitutional work: Constitution Benches decided fewer than 10 cases a year over the last decade, against over a hundred in the early 1960s.
    3. Special Leave Petitions: Special Leave Petitions (SLPs) under Article 136 are discretionary appeals meant as a rare safety valve. By one count, they formed most of the admission docket in 2011.
    4. Court of fourth appeal: A Constitution Bench in Bihar Legal Support Society (1986) said the court was never meant for ordinary appeals. It has since become a routine court of fourth appeal, above the High Courts.
    5. More judges, same backlog: Parliament raised the sanctioned strength to 38 in 2026, but the caseload outpaces any reasonable enlargement.

    What do other democracies show about splitting and filtering?

    1. United States: The U.S. Supreme Court sits atop 13 federal Courts of Appeals and decides only a sliver of cases.
    2. South Africa: A Constitutional Court in Johannesburg hears constitutional cases, and a Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein hears the rest.
    3. Germany: The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe hears only constitutional matters, and specialised federal courts take other law.
    4. Brazil: The 1988 Constitution created a Superior Tribunal of Justice to take appeals off the Supreme Federal Tribunal, but the split alone did not ease the backlog.
    5. Filtering power: Brazil’s backlog fell only after a 2004 reform let its apex court refuse constitutional appeals lacking a “general repercussion” beyond the parties.

    Does dividing the court weaken its authority?

    1. Indivisibility concern: Chief Justices warn that regional courts would look like lesser venues and dilute one final court’s authority.
    2. Already divided: The court already sits in about a dozen small Benches that often contradict each other, so its unity exists only on paper.
    3. Route without amendment: The 229th Report argued that Article 130 (the court may sit outside Delhi where the Chief Justice of India decides, with the President’s approval) may permit regional Benches without a constitutional amendment.

    Challenges

    1. No admission filter: Without a filter, a Constitutional Court would inherit the same congestion in miniature.
    2. Institutional resistance: Opposition from successive Chief Justices has stalled reform for years.
    3. Conflicting regional rulings: Separate Courts of Appeal could rule differently on the same law, with no settled way to reconcile them.

    Way Forward

    1. Hear the reference: The Chief Justice of India should list the pending 2016 reference before a larger Bench.
    2. Regional Benches first: The Chief Justice, with the President’s approval, should set up regional Benches under Article 130.
    3. Admission filter: A test similar to Brazil’s “general repercussion” should confine the Constitutional Court to questions of wide importance.

    Conclusion

    The Supreme Court’s weakness lies less in too few judges than in an unsorted docket that buries its constitutional work. Whether the court hears its pending reference and pairs any split with an admission filter will decide if division restores its authority or merely relocates the queue.

    Key numbers

    1. Constitution Bench output, early 1960s: An average of 134 cases decided a year.
    2. SLP share of the admission docket, 2011: 84.6%.
    3. Pendency trend: Near 60,000 when the Bench grew to 34 judges (2019).
    4. Cases in 2025: 65,615 disposed of, against 75,410 fresh matters filed.
    5. U.S. filter: Review granted to roughly one per cent of about 7,000 petitions a year, a discretion held since 1925.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2021] We adopted parliamentary democracy based on the British model, but how does our model differ from that model? 1. As regards legislation, the British Parliament is supreme or sovereign but in India, the power of the Parliament to legislate is limited. 2. In India, matters related to the constitutionality of the Amendment of an Act of the Parliament are referred to the Constitution Bench by the Supreme Court. Select the correct answer using the code given below. (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 ANSWER: (c)”

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