The Government highlighted the achievements of MANAS (Madak Padarth Nishedh Asoochna Kendra), the National Narcotics Helpline, as a technology-driven platform supporting the vision of a Nasha Mukt Bharat through citizen participation, digital reporting, counselling, and rehabilitation.
What is MANAS?
MANAS (Madak Padarth Nishedh Asoochna Kendra) is India’s National Narcotics Helpline.
Launched:18 July 2024.
Implemented by:Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Developed in collaboration with the Digital India Corporation (DIC).
A secure digital platform for:
Reporting drug-related offences.
Seeking counselling.
Accessing rehabilitation support.
Key Features
Accessible through: Helpline: 1933, Official web portal, Email, and UMANG app
Allows anonymous reporting of Drug trafficking. Drug peddling. Illegal cultivation of narcotic plants.
Addiction-related calls are transferred to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment’s de-addiction helpline (14446).
Features: Digital ticket generation. Workflow management. Smart IVRS (under development). Chatbot support. Multilingual and regional language assistance (being expanded).
[2024] Consider the following activities: 1. Identification of narcotics on passengers at airports or in aircraft 2. Monitoring of precipitation 3. Tracking the migration of animals In how many of the above activities can the radars be used?
The Central Government has amended the Drugs Rules, 1945 to bring Cell or Stem Cell-derived products, Gene Therapeutic Products, and Xenografts under the Centrally License Approving Authority (CLAA) framework, ensuring uniform regulation across India.
What is the Amendment?
Expands the CLAA framework to include: Cell or Stem Cell-derived products, Gene therapeutic products and Xenografts.
These products will now be subject to joint oversight by the Central and State Licensing Authorities.
What is the CLAA Framework?
Established under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
Provides joint regulatory supervision by Central Licensing Authority and State Licensing Authorities.
Earlier covered critical biological products such as Vaccines, Large Volume Parenterals (IV solutions >100 ml), and Recombinant DNA (r-DNA)-based medicines.
The amendment expands its scope to emerging advanced therapies.
Emerging Therapies Covered
1. Cell or Stem Cell-derived Products
Therapies developed using stem cells or other living cells.
Used in Regenerative medicine. CAR-T cell therapy for blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma.
2. Gene Therapeutic Products
Modify or replace defective genes to treat diseases.
Include Gene replacement therapy and Gene editing therapies.
Used for Genetic disorders and Certain cancers.
3. Xenografts
Animal tissue or organ-derived products transplanted into humans.
Examples: Animal-derived heart valves.
Applications: Cardiology and Orthopedics.
Why is the Amendment Important?
Ensures uniform regulatory standards across all States.
Enhances patient safety through stricter oversight.
Strengthens regulation of rapidly evolving medical technologies.
Aligns India’s regulatory framework with global best practices.
Promotes innovation while ensuring safe adoption of advanced therapies.
UPSC Prelims Facts
CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell) therapy is a form of immunotherapy in which a patient’s T-cells are genetically modified to attack cancer cells.
Stem cells are undifferentiated cells capable of self-renewal and differentiation into specialized cell types.
Gene therapy involves introducing, replacing, or editing genes to treat or prevent diseases.
Xenotransplantation refers to transplantation of living cells, tissues, or organs from one species to another, usually from animals to humans.
[2026] Which of the following statements with regard to genetic medicine is/are correct ? 1. Genetic medicines correct/compensate for the faulty genes responsible for disease. 2. Engineered viruses and lipid nanoparticles are used as carriers of the genetic medicine. 3. Genetic medicines alter the entire DNA sequence. Select the answer using the code given below :
India’s coal imports declined by 12.95% in April 2026 compared to April 2025, reflecting the government’s continued push towards import substitution through higher domestic coal production and improved supply logistics.
Key Highlights
Total coal imports fell from 24.27 MT (April 2025) to 21.13 MT (April 2026), a decline of 12.95%.
Power sector coal imports declined by 24.89%, from 4.67 MT to 3.51 MT.
Imported Coal-Based (ICB) power plants recorded the steepest fall in imports: 3.97 MT → 2.88 MT (down 27.45%).
Domestic Coal-Based (DCB) plants importing coal for blending reduced imports by 11.26%: 0.71 MT → 0.63 MT.
Import dependence (coal imports as a share of total consumption) declined 21.69% → 19.68%.
Coking coal imports increased marginally by 1.34%: 5.93 MT → 6.01 MT, due to limited domestic coking coal availability for the steel industry.
Reasons for the Decline
Increase in domestic coal production.
Better coal linkage supplies to thermal power plants.
Expansion of First Mile Connectivity (FMC) infrastructure.
Improved coal evacuation through coordination with: Ministry of Railways, Coal India Limited (CIL), and Coal subsidiaries.
Better monitoring of thermal power plant coal stocks.
UPSC Prelims Facts
Coal India Limited (CIL) is the world’s largest coal-producing company.
India has abundant non-coking (thermal) coal reserves but limited high-quality coking coal, making imports necessary for steel production.
First Mile Connectivity (FMC) refers to mechanised systems for transporting coal from mines to railway loading points, improving evacuation efficiency and reducing environmental impact.
[2019] Consider the following statements: 1. Coal sector was nationalized by the Government of India under Indira Gandhi. 2. Now, coal blocks are allocated on lottery basis. 3. Till recently, India imported coal to meet the shortages of domestic supply, but now India is self-sufficient in coal product. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
The Vice President of India, Shri C. P. Radhakrishnan, addressed participants of the MP LEAD Fellowship, emphasizing ethical leadership, constitutional values, national unity, and public service.
What is the MP LEAD Fellowship?
A two month internship programme initiated by Rajya Sabha MP Dr. Ajeet Madhavrao Gopchade.
Provides first hand exposure to Governance, Public policy, and Legislative processes
Aims to nurture future leaders through practical engagement with democratic institutions.
In 2026: 40 fellows were selected from 5,000+ applicants. 62% of the fellows are women, representing diverse regions of India.
Key Messages by the Vice President
Leadership is measured by service, not authority.
Citizens should uphold Fundamental Duties along with Fundamental Rights.
Rise above region, language, caste, and narrow identities in the national interest.
Encouraged youth to dream big, innovate, and contribute to nation building.
Reiterated India’s civilisational unity: “Bharat was one, Bharat is one and Bharat will always remain one.”
Constitutional Values Highlighted
Service before power in public life.
Unity and integrity of the nation.
Ethical leadership and public accountability.
Constitutional morality and responsible citizenship.
UPSC Prelims Facts
The Vice President of India is the ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
The Vice President is elected by an Electoral College consisting of members of both Houses of Parliament.
The office of the Vice President is provided under Articles 63 to 71 of the Constitution.
Fundamental Duties are listed under Article 51A.
[2015] “To uphold and protect the Sovereignty, Unity and Integrity of India” is a provision made in the:
PYQ Relevance[UPSC 2022] Do you think India will meet 50 percent of its energy needs from renewable energy by 2030? Justify your answer. How will the shift of subsidies from fossil fuels to renewables help achieve the above objective? Explain. Linkage: The PYQ asks whether India can meet 50% renewable energy needs by 2030 and whether shifting subsidies from fossil fuels to renewables helps achieve it. The article shows that even with strong renewable capacity growth, meeting such targets depends on coordinating generation, transmission, storage and distribution, not subsidy shifts alone.
Mentor’s Comment
The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) released a policy brief in May 2026 proposing a unified, four-pillar national energy framework. As India’s energy mix diversifies, the binding challenge shifts from expanding capacity to coordinating generation, transmission, storage and distribution across a fragmented institutional landscape. India’s energy transition has moved from an input problem of building capacity to an output problem of coordinating a system it has deliberately diversified. The INSA’s four-pillar framework formalises this shift through institutional integration rather than further capacity expansion.
Why has India’s energy transition reached a point where coordination, not capacity, is the binding constraint?
Renewable capacity has scaled sharply: Installed renewable capacity grew from approximately 40 GW in 2015 to approximately 260 GW by 2025, a more than six-fold increase.
Import dependence persists despite expansion: Domestic energy production continues to grow, but India remains dependent on imports for a significant share of oil and natural gas requirements.
Demand growth adds to system complexity: Energy demand is expected to grow steadily as economic development, industrialisation and urbanisation continue.
Multiple objectives must be managed together: Energy security, affordability, sustainability and economic growth compete for priority, requiring coordinated planning across sectors and fuels.
Access foundations are already built: The Saubhagya Scheme and the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana have delivered near-universal household electrification and clean cooking fuel access, shifting the policy problem from access to integration.
Two national targets set the horizon: India has committed to energy self-reliance by 2047 and net-zero emissions by 2070, both of which require an increasingly integrated approach to planning and governance.
What does the INSA’s four-pillar framework propose to structure this coordination?
Adequacy: Ensures reliable and diversified energy supply through a balanced portfolio of conventional and emerging sources, backed by modern infrastructure, storage and digital technologies.
Access: Builds on existing electrification and clean cooking gains to strengthen last-mile delivery, improve service quality and expand decentralised energy solutions.
Affordability: Relies on innovative financing mechanisms, efficient markets and consumer-focused safeguards to keep the transition economically viable for households, businesses and industries.
Appropriate sustainability: Rejects a one-size-fits-all model and aligns sustainability pathways with India’s developmental priorities, resource endowments, and social and regional context.
Cross-cutting enablers are named separately: Circular economy practices and Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) are identified as enablers that support renewable deployment and reduce industrial emissions.
How does the framework sequence implementation across time?
Near-term priorities are capacity-and-institution focused: Strengthening infrastructure, accelerating renewable deployment, supporting emerging technologies such as green hydrogen, and building institutional mechanisms for long-term coordination.
Long-term emphasis shifts toward integration: Over time, the focus moves toward deeper integration of low-carbon technologies, expanded use of bio-resources, and a more interconnected, resilient energy ecosystem.
The transition is treated as multi-decade, not single-cycle: The framework explicitly recognises that energy transitions occur over decades, avoiding premature closure on any single pathway.
Region-specific pathways are built into the design: The sustainability pillar supports local communities, workforce development and region-specific transition pathways rather than a uniform national template.
Can a single national framework unify a deliberately diversified and decentralised energy system?
Diversification was itself the policy achievement: India deliberately diversified its energy mix, growing renewable capacity six-fold while pursuing decentralised solutions under the access pillar.
The same brief now demands coordination across that diversity: As the energy ecosystem becomes more diverse, the brief argues that coordination among generation, transmission, storage, distribution and emerging technologies becomes increasingly necessary.
No single technology is assigned the transition: Coal, renewables, biomass, natural gas, waste-to-energy systems and emerging clean technologies are each given a continuing role, ruling out any single-pathway solution.
The framework unifies without standardising: The appropriate sustainability pillar explicitly rejects a one-size-fits-all approach, meaning a “unified” framework must accommodate region-specific and sector-specific variation rather than remove it.
Institutional authority remains unspecified: The brief calls for developing institutional mechanisms to facilitate long-term coordination but does not identify which entity holds authority when the four pillars’ objectives conflict across sectors.
Conclusion
India’s energy transition problem has shifted from expanding capacity to coordinating a system it has deliberately diversified. The INSA’s four-pillar framework formalises adequacy, access, affordability and sustainability as national objectives, but leaves unresolved which institutional mechanism will adjudicate conflicts between diversification and unification as the transition deepens. Coordination, not capacity, is now the binding constraint on India’s energy security by 2047 and its net-zero target by 2070.
Union Minister of Commerce, at a London business conference, accused global sovereign credit rating agencies of being “unfair to India” while praising India-headquartered CareEdge Ratings as “objective.” The remark reopens a standing government charge that international agencies keep India’s rating just above junk grade by over-weighting subjective, opinion-based judgments of “willingness to repay” over India’s stronger, verifiable “ability to repay” data.
What are sovereign credit ratings?
A sovereign credit rating is an independent evaluation of a country’s creditworthiness.
It measures a government’s ability and willingness to repay its debt obligations, helping global investors assess the risk of investing in that nation’s bonds or lending it money.
Working: Ratings are assigned by independent credit rating agencies, most notably Standard & Poor’s (S&P), Moody’s, and Fitch Ratings.
High Ratings (e.g., AAA, Aaa): Signal strong economic stability, low risk of default, and allow the government to borrow money at lower interest rates.
Low Ratings (e.g., BB+, Ba1): Indicate higher credit risk and are typically labeled as “speculative” or “junk” grade, forcing the country to pay higher interest to compensate investors for the increased risk.
How do rating agencies define and measure sovereign creditworthiness?
Rating universe: India is rated by seven international sovereign credit rating agencies, S&P, Moody’s, Morningstar DBRS, Fitch, Japanese Credit Rating Agency (JCRA), Rating and Investment Information (R&I), and CareEdge Ratings. The three most widely accepted globally are S&P, Fitch, and Moody’s.
Rated entities: The same alphabet-scale logic applies not only to sovereigns but to companies, municipal corporations, and state governments.
Scale mechanics: Fitch and S&P run from AAA downward through AA+, AA, AA-, A+, A, A- into the B-grade band, ending at D for default. Moody’s follows an identical structure using different letters, starting at Aaa.
Price-of-risk function: The rating fixes the interest rate at which an entity can borrow. AAA signals zero default risk and the lowest borrowing cost; each downward notch raises the rate to compensate lenders for higher perceived risk.
The dual metric: Ability to repay is quantitative, drawn from hard, verifiable macroeconomic data. Willingness to repay is qualitative, resting on an agency’s opinion of intent rather than capacity. This distinction structures India’s later grievance against the agencies.
What has India’s rating trajectory looked like?
Persistent floor: Across most agencies, India has stayed at the lowest rung of investment grade, a grade or two above junk status, the threshold at which institutions stop lending for fear of default.
Long stagnation: Until recently, this rating stayed unchanged for more than a decade, and in some cases for nearly two decades.
S&P upgrade: S&P raised India’s long-term sovereign rating to BBB from BBB- in August 2025, its first upgrade of India in 18 years.
Moody’s upgrade: Moody’s raised India to Baa2 (equivalent to BBB) from Baa3 in 2017, its first upgrade of India in 13 years.
Other 2025 movements: R&I upgraded India to BBB+ from BBB in September 2025; Morningstar DBRS upgraded India to BBB in May 2025.
Why does the government call the ratings agencies’ methodology unfair to India?
Persisting grievance despite upgrades: Even after the 2025 upgrades, India’s rating remains just above junk grade. India argues that agencies have not credited India’s growth story, its fundamentals, or its sovereign capabilities as a rating agency should.
Official continuity: The Finance Minister of India has separately called for reform of the agencies’ methodologies, establishing this as a standing government position rather than a one-off remark.
Economic Survey precedent: The 2020-21 Economic Survey devoted a full chapter to the issue. It noted this was the first time the world’s fifth-largest economy had been assigned such a low rating.
Ability case made: The Survey argued India’s macroeconomic fundamentals were strong enough to demonstrate ability to repay debt.
Willingness case made: It also argued India’s record of never defaulting on sovereign debt despite multiple crises should establish willingness to repay.
Core allegation: The central charge is that agencies weigh the qualitative willingness metric (grounded in the opinions of a small group of experts and prone to subjectivity) more heavily than the quantitative ability metric, on which India performs comparatively well but which carries lower weightage.
Why is CareEdge Ratings being held up as the corrective model?
Origin and perception: CareEdge is the first sovereign ratings agency headquartered in India, feeding the perception that it can better capture the ground realities of the Indian economy.
Methodological difference: CareEdge’s own methodology note assigns primary importance to quantitative factors, directly inverting the qualitative-heavy approach India accuses the major agencies of using.
Political endorsement: Goyal singling out CareEdge as “objective” aligns with the government’s broader argument that a quantitative-first method would rate India more favourably.
Conclusion
India’s persistently sub-BBB sovereign rating, despite improving fundamentals, stems from ratings agencies’ structural preference for qualitative, opinion-driven assessments of willingness to repay over quantitative measures of ability to repay. This is a metric on which India performs well. The government’s promotion of CareEdge Ratings, a domestic agency that weights quantitative factors more heavily, functions less as a technical fix than as an assertion that India deserves to be rated on its own terms. This does not resolve who sets the criteria for creditworthiness: India’s grievance can only be addressed if the major agencies alter their own weighting, a decision outside New Delhi’s control. Until then, India’s rating will likely continue to lag its economic weight.
PYQ Relevance
[UPSC 2017] Among several factors for India’s potential growth, the savings rate is the most effective one. Do you agree? What are the other factors available for growth potential?
Linkage: Sovereign credit ratings directly influence investment flows and borrowing costs, which affect capital formation and India’s long-term growth potential. The article argues that global rating agencies undervalue India’s macroeconomic strengths and growth prospects, thereby increasing borrowing costs despite strong economic fundamentals.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz in 2026 disrupted India’s crude oil and LPG supply chains, testing the country’s energy security architecture in real time. India’s refineries absorbed the crude shock through rapid sourcing diversification, but the same crisis exposed that LPG dependence is structurally different and cannot be diversified the same way, pushing coal based DME production onto the national agenda.
How did India’s refining sector convert two decades of indigenous investment into crisis resilience during the 2026 Hormuz disruption?
Diversified supplier base: India’s crude supplier base nearly tripled over two decades, forcing refineries to build capability to process multiple crude specifications rather than a single feedstock.
Indigenous technical capability: Investments in indigenous research, metallurgy, process innovation, and workforce training gave refineries the ability to process feedstock across a broad range of specifications.
Speed of the pivot: Within weeks of the Hormuz closure, non-Hormuz sourcing rose from 55% to 70% of India’s crude intake.
LPG production surge: Under the LPG control order, domestic LPG production rose from 35 Thousand Metric Tonnes (TMT) per day to 54 TMT per day within five days. Engineers achieved this by adjusting fractionation and cracking units in real time.
Engineering, not accounting: The production increase was an outcome of technical capability, not a redirection of existing supply.
Did refinery flexibility solve India’s LPG vulnerability, or did it only manage the immediate crisis?
Different nature of the two problems: Refinery flexibility solved the problem of keeping crude flowing through a fixed set of plants. It did not solve the deeper problem of LPG import concentration.
Crude diversification is engineerable: A refinery can be engineered to process crude from 40 different countries.
LPG diversification is not engineerable: LPG cannot be sourced from 40 different geographies. The molecule is drawn overwhelmingly from a handful of Gulf and Atlantic Basin producers.
Refining efficiency is not the solution: Processing the same imported molecule more efficiently does not reduce the underlying dependence.
The real solution is substitution: The long-term fix requires producing a domestic molecule that serves the same function as LPG.
What is Dimethyl Ether (DME), and how does India propose to substitute a domestic molecule for imported LPG?
Definition: DME is a clean-burning gas chemically similar to LPG. It blends directly into existing cylinders and pipelines, so it requires no new distribution infrastructure.
Production route: DME is produced through coal gasification. Coal gasification converts coal into syngas, and syngas is then converted into DME.
Resource base: India possesses some of the world’s largest coal reserves, giving it abundant raw material for DME production.
Regulatory approval: The Bureau of Indian Standards has approved blending up to 20% DME with LPG.
Quantified impact: A 20% blend sourced from coal gasification could displace roughly 6.3 million tonnes of LPG imports annually, saving nearly ₹34,000 crore in foreign exchange each year.
Origin of the technology: Scientists at CSIR’s National Chemical Laboratory developed the indigenous technology for converting methanol into DME years before the crisis.
Is India’s coal gasification ambition backed by matching execution capacity?
Policy commitment: The Union Cabinet approved a ₹37,500 crore scheme to promote surface coal and lignite gasification, citing the West Asia crisis as part of its rationale.
Scale of ambition: The scheme targets 100 million tonnes of coal gasification annually by 2030.
Investment incentive: The scheme provides an incentive of up to 20% of plant and machinery costs.
Tenure certainty: The scheme extends coal linkage tenure to 30 years. Capital-intensive projects need this horizon before committing investment.
Fast-tracked approval: The Centre for High Technology under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas approved scaling up the indigenous DME pilot technology within the crisis window, without the delay typical of technology-to-deployment transitions.
Feedstock gap: India’s coal has a higher ash content than the cleaner coal that underpinned China’s coal-to-chemicals industry.
Capacity gap: Domestic gasification capacity remains far below the scheme’s stated ambition.
Nature of the remaining challenge: Closing this gap is a question of industrial discipline and investment. Policy intent has already been settled.
Conclusion
India’s refinery flexibility during the Hormuz crisis proved that indigenous technical capability, once built, can absorb supply shocks. This capability did not solve India’s LPG dependence. LPG is sourced from a handful of Gulf and Atlantic Basin producers and cannot be diversified the way crude oil can. Coal-based DME production is the domestic substitute for the imported molecule. Policy commitment for it is now in place through the coal gasification scheme. What remains is execution: closing the ash-content gap and scaling gasification capacity to the technical depth China has spent two decades building.
Value Addition
What is Coal Chemistry?
Coal chemistry refers to the conversion of coal into high-value chemicals, fuels and industrial feedstocks through physical and chemical processes instead of burning it directly for power generation.
It enables coal to produce cleaner fuels, fertilizers, petrochemicals and specialty chemicals, thereby improving the economic value of domestic coal resources.
Major Products of Coal Chemistry
Process
Output
Coal Gasification
Syngas (CO + H₂)
Syngas Conversion
Methanol
Methanol Conversion
Dimethyl Ether (DME)
Fischer-Tropsch Process
Synthetic Diesel
Coal-to-Chemicals
Ammonia, Urea, Olefins, Hydrogen
What is Coal Gasification?
Coal gasification is the process of converting coal into synthesis gas (syngas) by reacting coal with oxygen, steam and controlled heat under high pressure.
Instead of burning coal directly, it transforms coal into a cleaner intermediate fuel that can be further processed into Hydrogen, Methanol, Dimethyl Ether (DME), Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG), Fertilisers, and Petrochemicals
What is Dimethyl Ether (DME)?
Dimethyl Ether (DME) is a clean-burning gaseous fuel produced from methanol derived through coal gasification.
Key Features
Chemically similar to LPG
Can be blended with LPG
Compatible with existing LPG cylinders and pipelines
Produces lower particulate emissions
Reduces dependence on imported LPG
Can also serve as a clean industrial and transport fuel
PYQ Relevance
[UPSC 2017] Access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy is the sine qua non to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Comment on the progress made in India in this regard
Linkage: The PYQ tests India’s strategy to achieve energy security through indigenous energy resources, cleaner technologies, and sustainable industrial development. The article highlights coal gasification and coal chemistry as indigenous clean-coal technologies that can reduce LPG imports, strengthen energy security, and support India’s transition towards reliable and sustainable energy systems.
The US Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship, reaffirming that children born in the United States are citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment regardless of their parents’ immigration status.
What is Birthright Citizenship?
Birthright citizenship is the automatic acquisition of citizenship by virtue of birth. There are two main principles:
Jus Soli (Right of the Soil): Citizenship is granted based on place of birth.
Jus Sanguinis (Right of Blood): Citizenship is determined by the nationality of one or both parents.
US Position
Governed by the Fourteenth Amendment (1868).
Provides citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction.
Intended originally to guarantee citizenship to formerly enslaved people after the American Civil War.
Recognizes limited exceptions: Children of foreign diplomats. Children of enemy forces during hostile occupation.
[2021] With reference to India, consider the following statements: 1. There is only one citizenship and one domicile. 2. A Citizen by birth only can become the Head of State. 3. A foreigner once granted the citizenship cannot be deprived of it under any circumstance. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
The Government highlighted the growing impact of eSARAS, the official digital marketplace for products made by Women Self Help Groups (SHGs) under DAY-NRLM, as a key initiative promoting rural livelihoods, women entrepreneurship and Digital India.
What is eSARAS?
eSARAS (SARAS Aajeevika) is the official e-commerce platform of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM).
Developed by the Ministry of Rural Development.
Provides women SHGs direct access to national online markets by eliminating intermediaries.
Supports marketing, branding, packaging and logistics.
Key Features
Exclusive marketplace for SHG products.
Promotes One District One Product (ODOP) and traditional handicrafts.
Product categories include: Home & Living, Apparel & Accessories, Food Products, Personal Care, and Toys & Gifts
Integrated with ONDC (11+ buyer apps; 20+ crore potential buyers) and UMANG
Supported by eSARAS Mobile App, Fulfilment Centre, SARAS Aajeevika Gallery (New Delhi), and SARAS Shakti premium gift collection
Key Statistics
8.62 crore women SHG members have access to a digital storefront.
85% linked directly to the Ministry of Rural Development network.
DAY-NRLM covers 7,627 blocks across India.
Supported by 1.51 crore community cadre members.
Over 800 handcrafted products listed on ONDC.
Significance
Promotes women-led entrepreneurship.
Provides market access without intermediaries.
Preserves traditional crafts and cultural heritage.
Enhances rural incomes through digital commerce.
Supports Digital India, Atmanirbhar Bharat and inclusive rural development.
Encourages formalization of rural enterprises.
About DAY-NRLM
Centrally Sponsored Scheme under the Ministry of Rural Development.
Aims to reduce rural poverty through: Women’s Self Help Groups, Financial inclusion, Skill development, and Sustainable livelihoods, and Enterprise promotion
[2023] Consider the following statements: 1. The Self-Help Group (SHG) programme was originally initiated by the State Bank of India by providing microcredit to the financially deprived. 2. In an SHG, all members of a group take responsibility for a loan that an individual member takes. 3. The Regional Rural Banks and Scheduled Commercial Banks support SHGs. How many of the above statements are correct?
The Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin) [VB-G RAM G] Act, 2025 came into force across India on 1 July 2026, replacing and expanding the rural employment guarantee framework.
What is VB-G RAM G?
A statutory rural employment guarantee programme aimed at strengthening livelihoods and creating durable rural assets.
Guarantees 125 days of wage employment annually to eligible rural households, replacing the earlier 100-day guarantee.
Focuses on Rural livelihood security, Natural resource conservation, Agricultural productivity, Women-led development, and Creation of durable community assets
Key Features
Statutory guarantee: 125 days of wage employment.
Minimum daily wage: No notified wage below ₹300.
National average wage: Increased from ₹298.8 to ₹327.4 per day (over 10% increase).
Wage hikes of 15 to 25% in States such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.
Interim allocation: ₹95,692.31 crore released to States/UTs for implementation.
Objectives
Enhance rural employment security.
Promote sustainable livelihood opportunities.
Strengthen climate-resilient and productive rural assets.
Improve agricultural productivity through resource conservation.
Increase women’s participation and economic empowerment.
[2021] With reference to casual workers employed in India, consider the following statements: 1. All casual workers are entitled for Employees Provident Fund Coverage. 2. All casual workers are entitled for regular working hours and overtime payment. 3. The government can by a notification specify that an establishment or industry shall pay wages only through its bank account. Which of the above statement are correct?
