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Subject: Governance

Important aspects of Society

  • Amid ‘NRC first’ demand, Centre defers Census exercise in Manipur

    Why in the News

    The Centre has deferred the house listing phase of Census 2027 in Manipur, which was to begin on 1 September. The deferment answers a demand from Meitei and Naga civil society groups that a National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise be carried out in the State before any count is taken. The Manipur High Court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by the Kangleipak Students’ Association and the International Peace and Social Advancement, along with a connected writ petition. It recorded an undertaking from the Centre that the operation would be postponed, and ordered that it remain in abeyance until the next hearing on 12 October. The tension is that a Census is a statutory national exercise run on a single schedule, and it has been suspended in one State on the argument that counting people before verifying citizenship fixes the wrong population base for future delimitation and resource allocation.

    What is the house listing phase of the Census?

    1. It is the first of two field phases: House listing records buildings, households and their amenities before the population enumeration that follows.
    2. It fixes the frame for the count: The list of houses prepared at this stage is what enumerators use to reach every household in the second phase.
    3. It runs on a notified schedule: The Centre issued a notification on 7 January 2026 providing for the exercise, under which States issue notifications of their own.
    4. Administrative boundaries are frozen before it starts: Manipur froze all its boundaries from 1 January 2026 to 31 March 2027 to prepare for the operation.

    How was the deferment actually effected?

    1. A high level review preceded the decision: A meeting chaired by the Union Home Minister reviewed the situation in Manipur, attended by the Governor, the Chief Minister and the Union Home Secretary.
    2. The undertaking was given in open court: The Deputy Solicitor General told the High Court that on the instructions of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner a decision had been taken to postpone the house listing operations.
    3. The January notification is to be formally modified: The Centre was to issue a fresh notification modifying the one that had provided for the exercise, and the court recorded this as an undertaking.
    4. The State kept its own notification in abeyance: Manipur told the court it would not commence house listing and would hold its 22 March 2026 notification in abeyance pending the Centre’s formal notification.
    5. Two grounds were cited: The Centre cited the demands from Meitei and Naga groups and the tenuous security situation in the State.

    What is the demand, and how long has it been pressed?

    1. The State Assembly has resolved for a register twice: Resolutions dated 5 August 2022 and 1 March 2024 sought the introduction and enforcement of the NRC in Manipur.
    2. The State government wrote to the Centre twice: Communications in January 2023 and June 2024 referred to concerns over illegal immigration and demographic change.
    3. Civil society leaders and legislators lobbied in Delhi: Delegations from 14 civil society organisations and a group of BJP MLAs travelled to press the demand.
    4. The Chief Minister recorded the acceptance: His office stated that the Centre agreed to defer the exercise considering the feelings and aspirations of the people of Manipur.

    Why do the Valley groups object to counting first?

    1. A count before verification would include the undocumented: The groups argue that a Census held before an NRC would place undocumented or allegedly illegal immigrants inside the population figure.
    2. The consequences run to seats and money: They contend the resulting figure could affect future delimitation and the allocation of resources.
    3. Opposition has been concentrated in the Valley: The demand has come principally from the Meitei dominated Imphal Valley, with Naga groups also pressing it.
    4. The boundary freeze itself triggered protests: It produced massive strikes, torch rallies and closure of educational institutions across the valley districts.

    Challenges to conducting Census 2027 in Manipur

    1. The population to be counted is displaced: Ethnic violence since 2023 has moved large numbers into relief camps, so the household’s usual residence is not where the enumerator will find it. Eg. Kuki-Zo and Meitei residents were displaced across the hill and valley divide and have not returned to their original homes.
      The Fix: Record a displaced household against its pre-displacement address with a separate camp flag, so the count and the entitlement do not diverge.
    2. Enumerators cannot cross the ethnic divide: Field staff are locally recruited teachers and government employees, and staff from one community cannot safely work in areas held by another. Eg. Movement between the valley and the hill districts has required security escort since the violence began.
      The Fix: Recruit and deploy enumerators within each administrative unit, and open self-enumeration through the Census portal wherever field access fails.
    3. Deferring one State breaks national comparability: A Census counts a population against a common reference date, so a State enumerated later yields figures that cannot be set beside the rest. Eg. The exercise has already slipped from its due year of 2021 to 2027.
      The Fix: Fix a single revised reference date for the deferred State rather than letting the schedule drift with the litigation.
    4. The register being demanded has no settled cut off date: A citizenship register requires a date before which residence establishes citizenship, and none has been fixed for this State. Eg. Groups in Manipur have pressed for 1951 as the base year, a date that appears in no law applying to the State.
      The Fix: Legislate a cut off date and an appeals machinery before any register exercise is contemplated, so the demand has a determinate object.
    5. A deferment invites the same demand elsewhere: Conceding a precondition in one State supplies a template for others to seek their own. Eg. Demands for citizenship verification ahead of enumeration have been raised in other Northeastern States.
      The Fix: Publish the criteria on which a State level deferment is granted, so the next such decision is a rule rather than a negotiation.

    Conclusion

    The Census calendar has been reopened by a demand the Census cannot itself satisfy, since an enumeration counts residents and does not determine citizenship. Manipur’s house listing now depends on the progress of litigation rather than on a notified date. The unresolved position is that the State has asked for a register whose legal machinery has been built for only one State in the country, and the Centre has deferred the count without saying whether it will build that machinery here. The thing to watch is the next hearing before the Manipur High Court, where the Centre must produce the notification it has undertaken to issue.

    Back2Basics: National Register of Citizens

    1. What it is: A register of Indian citizens, first prepared from the 1951 Census, listing the persons enumerated as citizens in that count.
    2. Legal basis: Section 14A of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 provide for its preparation.
    3. Updated in Assam alone: The update ran under a separate schedule tied to the Assam Accord, 1985, using 24 March 1971 as the cut off date.
    4. Outcome of the Assam update: The final list published in August 2019 excluded about 19 lakh of roughly 3.3 crore applicants and has still not been notified by the Registrar General.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2009] Consider the following statements : 1. Between Census 1951 and Census 2001, the density of the population of India has increased more than three times. 2. Between Census 1951 and Census 2001, the annual growth rate (exponential) of the population of India has doubled. Which of the statements given abova is/are correct ? (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 ANSWER: (d)”

  • The broken promise of right to work

    Why in the News

    Employment under India’s rural work guarantee fell 68 per cent in July and August against the average of the preceding five years. The Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, enacted by the Union government in December 2025 to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA), came into implementation on 1 July. A three judge Supreme Court Bench led by the Chief Justice of India dismissed a petition on minimum wages in rural employment guarantee programmes on 21 August and sought a fresh one. The same Bench asked whether the right to work should be treated on par with Article 21, the fundamental right to life. The tension is that the right to work sits in the unenforceable Directive Principles, and the one statute that had converted it into a demand driven entitlement has been replaced by a law that caps funds and shifts cost onto the States.

    What is the VB-GRAM G Act?

    1. It replaced the 2005 employment guarantee law: The Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-GRAM G) Act took over from MGNREGA with effect from 1 July.
    2. Funding is capped rather than demand driven: The Act places an arbitrary cap on funds instead of releasing money against work actually demanded.
    3. The wage is not tied to a minimum wage: The Act does not link its wage rate to any statutory minimum wage.
    4. Areas can be denotified: It carries provisions to denotify specified areas and exclude them from the scheme, which ends the universality MGNREGA carried.

    What has happened to rural employment since 1 July?

    1. Employment fell 68 per cent in July and August: The comparison is with the average for those two months over the preceding five years.
    2. The five year average was 3.44 crore households: They generated about 44 crore person days of work in July and August.
    3. This year the figures are 1.39 crore households and 14.94 crore person days: The data are as on 31 August 2026 for 2026-27.
    4. The decline predates the new law: Households employed in those months fell steadily from 4.79 crore in 2021-22 to 2.44 crore in 2025-26 under MGNREGA itself.
    5. Household earnings have halved: Estimated total earnings of households in July and August fell to about half of the same months last year.

    Why does the Constituent Assembly debate matter to the present dispute?

    1. The disagreement was about placement, not value: Most members agreed that a right to work was vital, and the argument was whether it belonged among the fundamental rights or in the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP), which are precepts for framing law rather than enforceable rights.
    2. K.T. Shah argued for a fundamental right: He held that the State needed a constitutional and positive legal mandate to guarantee socio-economic security to its citizens.
    3. B.R. Ambedkar held it was not yet enforceable: He treated the right to work as an essential goal whose immediate universal enforcement was not fiscally or institutionally viable in a newly independent India hollowed out of its resources.
    4. The placement was aspiration, not abandonment: Locating the right among the Directive Principles reflected a deliberate constitutionalism of aspiration rather than a rejection of the welfare ideal.

    Which constitutional provisions carry the right to work?

    1. Article 41 states the obligation: The State shall, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make effective provision for securing the right to work.
    2. Article 39 covers livelihood and equal pay: It directs the State towards an adequate means of livelihood and equal pay for equal work for both men and women.
    3. Articles 42 and 43 cover conditions and wages: They require just and humane conditions of work, and a living wage with a decent standard of life for all workers.

    How did the aspiration become a statutory right?

    1. Olga Tellis established the link to life: In Olga Tellis vs Bombay Municipal Corporation (1985) the Supreme Court ruled that the right to livelihood was a necessary condition for the fundamental right to life.
    2. Activists and rural workers drove the legislation: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was passed in 2005 following their collective effort.
    3. It made a pan-India right to work real for the first time: The State carried a statutory obligation to provide employment at minimum wages.
    4. The scope was always narrow: The guarantee covered 100 days of work per rural household, and the programme was chronically underfunded.

    What is wrong with the Bench’s own remark on minimum wages?

    1. The remark links a wage floor to fewer workers: The Bench observed that if financial resources remained the same, a minimum wage threshold could reduce the number of workers who could be given employment.
    2. It cuts against Sanjit Roy: In Sanjit Roy vs State of Rajasthan (1983) the Supreme Court held that payment below minimum wages violates Article 23 of the Constitution and is akin to forced labour.
    3. It assumes a fixed budget: The reasoning rests on the resources for a welfare programme remaining unchanged and constrained.
    4. Higher wages raise demand, not only cost: Higher rural wages increase purchasing power and effective demand for goods and services, producing a multiplier effect on productivity.

    How did the wage fall behind in the first place?

    1. Wages were delinked from the wage law in 2009: MGNREGA wages ceased to be tied to the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.
    2. They barely kept pace with inflation: The daily wage in July and August rose from Rs 210 in 2021-22 to Rs 282.5 this year while person days collapsed.
    3. They stayed below agricultural minimum wages: The MGNREGA rate remained lower than the minimum agricultural wage in most States.
    4. Women are increasingly unpaid family workers: Rural wages have been stagnant for a decade, and women are recorded in growing numbers as working without pay within the household.

    Why does the new Act face a constitutional objection?

    1. Non-retrogression bars rolling a realised right back: Once the State has reached a level of progressive legislation and enforceability of a right, it cannot adopt measures that deliberately undo it.
    2. The Supreme Court affirmed the doctrine in Navtej Singh Johar vs Union of India: It operates as a check on State power, ensuring that rights once realised are not diluted later.
    3. The replacement appears to breach it: Substituting a demand driven statutory entitlement with a fund limited mission dilutes a right that had already been realised in law.
    4. The fiscal shift compounds the problem: States already face curtailed borrowing limits under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) framework, and the new Act adds to what they must fund.

    Challenges to the rural employment guarantee

    1. A capped budget converts a guarantee into a scheme: Work can be refused once the allocation is exhausted, so the entitlement lapses at the point demand peaks. Eg. MGNREGA allocations were routinely spent before the fourth quarter, leaving States carrying negative opening balances into the next year.
      The Fix: Treat the allocation as a first charge revised at the supplementary budget stage against verified work demand.
    2. Wage payment delay destroys the incentive to seek work: A worker who waits months for payment stops applying, and the falling application count is then read as falling need. Eg. Delayed wage payments under MGNREGA drew repeated censure from the Supreme Court and from parliamentary committees.
      The Fix: Release the statutory delay compensation automatically from the central account rather than on an individual worker’s complaint.
    3. Work demand is registered by the body that must then supply it: A gram panchayat under budget pressure has an incentive not to record demand, so the shortfall never appears in the data. Eg. Dated receipts against work applications are prescribed by law and are rarely issued in practice.
      The Fix: Allow demand to be registered through an independent time stamped channel outside the implementing agency.
    4. Social audit units depend on the governments they audit: Their staff and budgets come from the State administration, which limits what they are able to report. Eg. Social audit units in several States operate well below their sanctioned staff strength.
      The Fix: Fund social audit units through a ring fenced central allocation and place their findings before the State legislature.
    5. Asset creation is measured by expenditure rather than durability: A work is closed on payment rather than on verified usefulness, so the durable asset the programme exists to create goes unchecked. Eg. Comptroller and Auditor General audits of MGNREGA have repeatedly reported incomplete and unusable works.
      The Fix: Make geo-tagged completion and a one year durability check the condition for closing a work in the management information system.

    Conclusion

    An unenforceable directive principle survives only through the statute that implements it. India now has a rural work law that no longer carries the features which made the earlier one a right, and the collapse in employment is the first measurable consequence of that. What must change is that the wage be linked to a living wage standard, that payment be made on time, and that social audits be run by panchayati raj institutions holding real powers. These are the minimum conditions under which a work guarantee functions as a guarantee at all.

    Back2Basics: Minimum Wages Act, 1948

    1. Purpose: It empowers the appropriate government to fix and revise minimum rates of wages payable in scheduled employments.
    2. Dual authority: Both the Centre and the States act as appropriate governments, each notifying rates for the employments within its own sphere.
    3. Components of the wage: A minimum wage may combine a basic rate with a cost of living allowance, so it moves as prices move.
    4. Current status: It has been subsumed into the Code on Wages, 2019, which extends a statutory floor wage across all employments rather than scheduled ones alone.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2011] Among the following who are eligible to benefit from the “Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act”? (a) Adult members of only the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households (b) Adult members of below poverty line (BPL) households (c) Adult members of households of all backward communities (d) Adult members of any household ANSWER: (d)”

  • Step up regulation

    Step up regulation

    Question (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.”
    Linkage: The fact that non-government institutions account for 85–86% of AYUSH colleges is a stark example of the “marketisation” of healthcare education. The incentive of private players to “maximise student intake without matching increases in faculty and laboratory infrastructure” illustrates the precise “adverse impacts” of market-led growth that the state must step in to regulate.

    Mentor Comment

    Non-government institutions accounted for 86 per cent of Ayurveda colleges and 85 per cent of homoeopathy colleges in 2024, according to government data. Permitted seats rose by 43 per cent and total admission capacity by 25 per cent between 2021 and 2024. The Centre’s AYURGYAN allocation for AYUSH education, training, research, innovation and capacity building increased nearly sixfold over the same period, AYUSH being the group of systems covering Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy. Through that expansion the sector’s regulators have been denying permissions and grading colleges poorly. The tension is that private led growth carries an incentive to maximise student intake without matching increases in faculty and laboratory infrastructure, and the regulatory answer to it arrives one inspection at a time.

    How fast has AYUSH education expanded, and who is running it?

    1. The private sector runs the great majority of colleges: Non-government institutions accounted for 86 per cent of Ayurveda and 85 per cent of homoeopathy colleges in 2024.
    2. Seats grew faster than institutions: Permitted seats rose by 43 per cent and total admission capacity by 25 per cent between 2021 and 2024.
    3. Public funding rose alongside private capacity: The AYURGYAN allocation increased nearly sixfold over the same period.
    4. The private sector is leading the build out: The expansion of AYUSH medical education infrastructure is being driven by non-government institutions rather than by State run colleges.

    Why do the quality questions differ from those in allopathic education?

    1. The allopathic concern is narrower: Debate there has been confined to whether institutions adequately prepare students for evidence-based practice.
    2. AYUSH raises two questions at once: The first is the quality of training delivered, and the second is what students are being trained to practise.
    3. The evidence base is itself in question: Tougher quality control does not settle the separate question of the evidence backing AYUSH medicinal systems.

    Do the quality problems predate the current expansion?

    1. A 2005 audit found widespread deficiencies: The Comptroller and Auditor General found insufficient hospital beds, outpatient services or staff to be widespread among homoeopathy colleges.
    2. Bed occupancy ranged from 1 per cent to 71 per cent: The same audit recorded that spread across the colleges it examined.
    3. Faculty shortfalls exceeded half the requirement: A 2020 article in the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine reported that many institutions fell short by more than 50 per cent of the teaching staff required by the standards then in force.

    What are the regulators finding now?

    1. The Ayurveda regulator has denied 17 permissions: As of 21 August the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) had listed 17 Ayurveda colleges, all private, whose permissions it had denied.
    2. Several denials were for obstructing the process itself: The stated reason in several cases was non-compliance with the inspection process.
    3. The homoeopathy regulator graded 41 per cent of colleges lowest: The National Commission for Homoeopathy placed that share at the bottom grade, including nearly half of all private institutions.
    4. The recorded failures are specific and repeated: They include inadequate or disputed faculty strength, failures in inspection requirements and student intake numbers, and allegations of fictitious faculty.

    What incentive does private led expansion create?

    1. Intake is the revenue lever: Expansion led by private institutions is accompanied by an incentive to maximise student intake while holding faculty size and laboratory infrastructure at existing levels.
    2. A court has recorded the practice: The Karnataka High Court in Hillside Ayurveda Medical College (2023) acknowledged that educational institutions are often guilty of admitting excess students for financial gains.
    3. The regulatory response is retrospective: Permission withheld after an inspection corrects a college that has already been built and has already admitted students.
    4. Causation is not yet established: It is premature to infer that the rapid expansion has amplified these problems, and the persistent non-compliance is established on its own.

    Challenges to regulating AYUSH medical education

    1. Faculty can be produced on paper: A college can satisfy a faculty norm on inspection day by listing teachers who do not actually teach there. Eg. Aadhaar linked biometric attendance was introduced in allopathic medical colleges precisely because faculty were being shown only for inspections.
      The Fix: Extend biometric and payroll linked faculty verification to every AYUSH college and publish the verified roll monthly.
    2. Approval and assessment sit with the same body: A regulator that grants permission to a college also rates it, so a poor rating is a verdict on its own earlier approval. Eg. Allopathic regulation separated the two, creating a distinct Medical Assessment and Rating Board under the National Medical Commission.
      The Fix: Split permission and rating into separate boards with published criteria, on the model already used in allopathic regulation.
    3. Seats are cheaper to add than laboratories: Where fees are capped, a college raises revenue by raising intake rather than by improving what it teaches with. Eg. Private professional education in India has produced capitation fee litigation running from T.M.A. Pai Foundation (2002) onward.
      The Fix: Link seat sanction to an audited per student cost of teaching and clinical infrastructure rather than to floor space and declared faculty strength.
    4. Clinical exposure is measured by beds, not patients: An attached hospital can meet a bed norm without meeting an occupancy norm, so a student can qualify with very little clinical contact. Eg. Minimum standard requirements for AYUSH colleges specify bed numbers, which a college can satisfy with wards that stay largely empty.
      The Fix: Make verified average bed occupancy and outpatient footfall a condition of annual permission renewal.
    5. Efficacy sits outside the regulator’s remit: A regulator can enforce faculty and infrastructure norms without settling whether the therapy being taught works. Eg. Research on Ayurvedic medicine is largely funded and evaluated by the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences, a body under the same ministry that promotes the system.
      The Fix: Route efficacy trials for AYUSH therapies through independently assessed, pre-registered protocols outside the promoting ministry.

    Conclusion

    AYUSH education can expand meaningfully only when capacity growth is matched by quality assurance. Stronger faculty verification, independent assessment, outcome based accreditation and evidence based research can ensure that expansion delivers credible, high quality healthcare education.

    Back2Basics: National Commission for Indian System of Medicine

    1. Governing Act: Established under the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Act, 2020 as the statutory regulator for Indian systems of medicine.
    2. Predecessor: It replaced the Central Council of Indian Medicine, which had regulated the sector since 1970.
    3. Jurisdiction: It covers education and practice in Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Sowa-Rigpa.
    4. Structure: It works through autonomous boards handling education standards, assessment and rating of institutions, and ethics and registration of practitioners.

  • Govt. notifies IST as common time reference across India; gives 180 days for compliance

    Why in the News

    The Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has notified the Legal Metrology (Indian Standard Time) Rules, 2026, making Indian Standard Time (IST) the single reference for legal, administrative, commercial and other official purposes across the country. The Rules come into force 180 days after their publication in the Official Gazette, which gives government departments, businesses and institutions a compliance window to align their systems. The step follows the spread of digital and technology based systems whose records depend on accurate and synchronised time stamps, from banking and payments to telecommunications, railways, power grids and computer networks. A stated feature of the Rules is the reduction of dependence on foreign satellite based time sources that several critical systems currently rely on. The tension is that a legal mandate can fix which clock is authoritative and cannot by itself supply a domestic time signal accurate and reachable enough for the systems being asked to switch.

    What are the Legal Metrology (Indian Standard Time) Rules, 2026?

    1. A single legal reference: The Rules make IST the sole time reference for legal, administrative, commercial and other official purposes across India.
    2. Regulated as a measurement: The nodal authority is the Department of Consumer Affairs, so time is governed as a unit of measurement under legal metrology rather than as a scientific standard alone.
    3. Deferred commencement: Enforcement begins only after the compliance window closes, so existing systems are given time to re-synchronise instead of being placed in immediate default.

    Why does a single time reference matter for the systems that use it?

    1. Financial records: A common reference supports accurate time stamping of banking and digital payment transactions, which is what establishes the order of two competing entries.
    2. Transport coordination: It underpins coordination among railways, airports and other transport systems that run on shared schedules.
    3. Communication networks: Reliable functioning of telecommunication and internet networks depends on synchronised clocks across switching and routing equipment.
    4. Power systems: Precise timekeeping in power systems is what allows a grid disturbance to be sequenced and attributed after the event.
    5. Legal and government records: The upkeep of government and legal records rests on a timestamp that can be relied on as evidence.
    6. Emergency services: Coordination of emergency and other time critical services requires every responding agency to work off the same reference.

    Why are foreign satellite based time sources the actual target?

    1. The current dependence: Several critical systems draw their time signal from foreign satellite constellations rather than from a domestic source.
    2. Divergent sources produce divergent records: Inconsistencies between different time sources affect the coordination and the recording of transactions and operations.
    3. Sovereignty over the signal: A time signal controlled outside the country can be degraded or withdrawn, which places the legal record of a domestic transaction outside national control.
    4. Dissemination is being built: Infrastructure is being created to disseminate accurate IST through Indian institutions and legal metrology laboratories.

    Challenges to enforcing a single legal time reference

    1. Legacy equipment cannot be re-synchronised by notification: Older industrial and utility controllers carry their own internal clocks and no interface to accept an external time input. Eg. Supervisory control equipment in several State distribution utilities still runs on locally set device clocks. Fix. Make an external time input a condition of equipment certification, so replacement cycles carry the requirement instead of a one time drive.
    2. Millisecond accuracy needs a physical network, not a rule: A mandate names the reference and does not deliver the signal at the precision that payment switches and grid protection equipment need. Eg. India’s national time reaches most users through public internet time servers rather than through dedicated links. Fix. Extend optical fibre and radio based time dissemination to regional laboratories before the compliance window closes.
    3. Enforcement capacity sits with State departments: State legal metrology staff who inspect weights and measures are being asked to verify a technical time standard they hold no instruments for. Eg. State legal metrology departments already report inspector shortfalls for routine verification of weighing and measuring instruments. Fix. Fund a reference clock and calibration equipment at each State laboratory as part of the rollout rather than after it.
    4. One legal time does not answer the longitudinal spread: A single reference across a country spanning nearly 30 degrees of longitude leaves the northeast with early sunrise and working hours misaligned with daylight. Eg. Assam has repeatedly sought a separate tea garden time an hour ahead of IST for its plantation working hours. Fix. Meet the demand through statutory flexibility in working hours, since the Rules foreclose a second legal time.

    Conclusion

    What to watch through the compliance window is whether the domestic dissemination network is live before enforcement begins, since a mandate that outruns its infrastructure converts every unsynchronised system into a default. The wider question is whether a legal standard alone can displace a foreign signal that critical systems adopted because it was cheaper and easier to reach.

    Back2Basics

    1. Reference meridian: IST is set to the 82.5 degrees East longitude, which passes near Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh.
    2. Offset: It runs 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the global time scale maintained by atomic clocks.
    3. Custodian: The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, maintains and disseminates India’s national time using caesium atomic clocks.
    4. Single zone: India uses one time zone for the entire country, unlike several states of comparable longitudinal span that use more than one.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2017] Consider the following statements: 1. The Standard Mark of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is mandatory for automotive tyres and tubes. 2. AGMARK is a quality Certification Mark issued by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). 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: (a)”

  • All workers shifted to VB-G RAM G; e-KYC is not mandatory, says Centre

    Why in the News

    The Union Ministry of Rural Development has said that every worker registered under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has been migrated to the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), or VB-G RAM G, irrespective of whether electronic Know Your Customer (e-KYC) verification of the job card is complete. The statement answers reporting that the job cards of 57 lakh active workers have not completed that verification. The Ministry has not disputed those numbers and says e-KYC is a database authentication measure rather than a precondition for exercising the statutory right to demand employment. The tension is that a verification requirement introduced to clean the worker database sits directly on top of a right that is meant to be exercisable on demand.

    What did the Ministry actually commit to?

    1. Migration is unconditional: Every worker registered under MGNREGA has been moved to the new mission regardless of e-KYC status.
    2. Pending verification does not block work: A pending e-KYC does not prevent a worker from demanding or from receiving employment.
    3. An exception route exists: An exception mechanism is available to facilitate the employment demand and the provision of work for workers whose verification is pending.
    4. The right is characterised as statutory: The Ministry’s position is that e-KYC authenticates the database and does not condition the statutory entitlement.

    What do the coverage numbers show?

    1. The verified total is large: e-KYC has been completed for 15.89 crore workers overall.
    2. Active worker coverage is near complete: 10.27 crore of 10.84 crore active workers have been verified, approximately 95 percent.
    3. The residual is the disputed group: 57 lakh active workers remain unverified, a figure the government has not contested.
    4. Employment provision is reported separately: Around 2.11 crore workers have so far been offered employment under the new mission, and the Ministry states that every worker who demanded employment was offered work as per demand.

    Where does responsibility for the verification sit?

    1. The task is with the States: e-KYC of workers is the responsibility of the concerned State and Union Territory governments.
    2. The stated purpose is database integrity: It is being undertaken to strengthen authentication and maintain an accurate and credible worker database.
    3. The Ministry characterises it as trivial: The process can ordinarily be completed in less than 30 seconds.
    4. The Centre’s role is advisory and supervisory: States have been advised to expeditiously complete verification of all active workers, with the Ministry monitoring the exercise.

    Challenges to biometric authentication of rural workers

    1. Fingerprint authentication fails for manual labourers: Sustained manual work erodes fingerprint ridges, so the biometric most commonly used for authentication is least reliable for the population the scheme is designed for. Eg. Authentication failures among elderly and manual workers were a documented cause of denied ration entitlements after Aadhaar seeding of the Public Distribution System. Fix. Make iris and face authentication, and offline verification against a signed identity document, equally valid at the field level.
    2. Connectivity gaps convert a 30 second process into a multi day one: Online authentication in low network blocks requires repeat visits to a common service centre at the worker’s own cost. Eg. Workers in remote blocks routinely travel to block headquarters for banking correspondent services because village level connectivity is intermittent. Fix. Permit offline capture at the gram panchayat with batch upload, so the worker’s trip does not depend on live connectivity.
    3. Database cleaning has historically deleted genuine workers: Bulk verification drives produce deletions of active job cards recorded as duplicates or as non existent. Eg. Crores of job cards were deleted during MGNREGA database cleaning exercises, with State level audits later finding genuine workers among them. Fix. Require a written, appealable deletion order served on the worker before a job card is removed.
    4. The exception mechanism is only as good as its field awareness: A right that survives on paper still fails where the panchayat functionary treats verification as mandatory. Eg. Aadhaar Based Payment System rollout saw wage payments stall for workers whose seeding was incomplete despite instructions that work could not be denied. Fix. Issue the exception route as a numbered circular to every gram panchayat with a stated escalation officer, rather than as a press statement.

    Conclusion

    The Ministry’s clarification settles the legal position and leaves the administrative one open, since the entitlement is denied at the panchayat counter rather than in the policy document. What to watch is whether the exception mechanism is actually invoked for the unverified workers in the coming employment season, measured by work provided to them rather than by the verification percentage.

    Back2Basics

    1. Statute: Enacted in 2005 and administered by the Ministry of Rural Development, it is the legal basis of the rural employment guarantee.
    2. The guarantee: It provides at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
    3. Demand driven design: Work must be provided within 15 days of a demand being registered, failing which the worker is entitled to an unemployment allowance from the State.
    4. Delivery unit: The job card issued to a household is the document that records registration, demand and days of work provided.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2011] Among the following who are eligible to benefit from the “Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act”? (a) Adult members of only the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households (b) Adult members of below poverty line (BPL) households (c) Adult members of households of all backward communities (d) Adult members of any household ANSWER: (d)”

  • Indian Standard Time made the single legal time reference through new Legal Metrology rules

    Why in the News

    The Department of Consumer Affairs has notified the Legal Metrology (Indian Standard Time) Rules, 2026. The rules make Indian Standard Time (IST) the single legal time reference for use across sectors.

    Core facts

    1. Notifying body: The rules were notified by the Department of Consumer Affairs, under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
    2. Parent law: The rules are framed under the Legal Metrology Act, 2009. This Act governs weights, measures and standards of measurement in India.
    3. Mandate: The rules mandate use of IST for legal, administrative, commercial and official purposes. Use of any alternative time reference is barred unless expressly permitted.
    4. Synchronisation method: Government offices and public institutions must synchronise clocks using Network Time Protocol (NTP) and Precision Time Protocol (PTP). These are internet protocols that distribute a common reference time to connected devices.
    5. Source of time: IST is maintained by the CSIR National Physical Laboratory (NPL). It is set at Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) plus 5 hours 30 minutes.
    6. Exemptions: Scientific, astronomical and navigational uses are exempt with prior government approval.
    7. Enforcement: Compliance is checked through periodic audits. Penalties apply for violations.

    Static Context

    1. One Nation, One Time: The reform is the operational form of the One Nation, One Time idea. A draft version was first issued for public comment in early 2025.
    2. Legal Metrology institutions: The Legal Metrology wing sits under the Department of Consumer Affairs. It enforces uniform weights, measures and now uniform time.
    3. CSIR National Physical Laboratory: NPL is the national measurement standards laboratory. It keeps India’s atomic time scale and disseminates IST.
    4. Why uniform time matters: Power grid synchronisation, telecom, banking, digital governance and defence need one accurate time base. Many networks earlier drew time from foreign satellite sources such as the Global Positioning System (GPS).

    Prelims angle

    1. Custodian fact: IST is maintained by CSIR NPL, not by the India Meteorological Department or ISRO.
    2. Offset fact: IST equals UTC plus 5:30, based on the 82.5 degree East longitude reference.
    3. Legal base fact: The rules flow from the Legal Metrology Act, 2009, a consumer affairs law, not from a science ministry statute.
    4. Protocol fact: NTP and PTP are the mandated synchronisation protocols.

    Mains angle

    GS3 (Science and Technology in everyday life) and GS2 (government regulation and standardisation). A question can ask how a single national time standard strengthens critical infrastructure security and consumer fairness.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “No direct PYQ traced in the provided files for legal metrology or Indian Standard Time. Closest tracked Microtheme is Certification/Promotional Bodies (Governance), covering national standards and certification bodies.”

  • Why is FSSAI tightening the rules on food claims?

    Why in the News

    The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued more than 150 notices to food companies in recent months over misleading advertisements, false claims and labelling non compliance. Mondelez India has withdrawn certain health and nutrient comparison claims for Bournvita and removed the related advertisements from e-commerce platforms. The regulator has extended its scrutiny beyond the physical package to online marketplaces and food service establishments. A claim can be withdrawn on notice years after consumers have already acted on it, which is what makes the reach of this enforcement contested.

    What is a health claim, and what is a nutrient comparison claim?

    1. Health claim: A statement suggesting that a product helps deliver a particular health outcome. It can create expectations beyond what the product’s ingredient composition or the available evidence justifies.
    2. Nutrient comparison claim: A claim that positions a product’s nutrient content against another product or against a reference, such as a comparative calcium benefit.
    3. What the regulator governs: Food regulation is not limited to whether a product contains permitted ingredients. It also governs how a product’s nutritional qualities and benefits are communicated.

    Which claims and companies are under scrutiny?

    1. The companies served notices: The list includes Nestlé India, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola India, Abbott India, Red Bull India, Danone India, Mondelez India, Ferrero India and Kenvue.
    2. Bournvita: The product came under public scrutiny in 2023 over its sugar content and its claims about nutritional benefits. The present action does not establish that the product is unsafe, it questions whether particular claims are adequately supported.
    3. Amway India: The company removed “100%” from its “100% Pure Coconut Oil” packaging and promotional material. It also dropped the “Energy Drink” descriptor from its caffeinated XS products.
    4. Juza Foods: The Kerala based company agreed to withdraw claims of immunity, stronger bones and comparative calcium benefits from its baby food products.

    Why has the regulator targeted the word “100%”?

    1. The advisory: In May 2025 FSSAI advised food businesses to stop using “100%” on food labels, packaging and promotional material.
    2. The reasoning: The regulator held that such language conveys a false sense of absolute purity or superiority to consumers.
    3. Why absolute words matter: Words such as “pure”, “natural”, “healthy”, “immunity-boosting” and “100%” influence a purchase before the consumer examines the nutrition panel or the ingredient list.

    Why has enforcement moved to e-commerce?

    1. Notices beyond the shelf: Notices have gone to online marketplaces as well as to restaurants and other food businesses.
    2. Online pages carry different content: An online product page can carry claims, images and promotional language that differ from what appears on the physical package.
    3. How consumers now decide: A purchase is often made off an online banner or product description rather than off the label read in a shop.

    What does the crackdown still leave unaddressed?

    1. Withdrawal comes late: A company can remove a claim after receiving a notice, and consumers may already have encountered that claim for years.
    2. Messaging survives across platforms: An advertisement can disappear from one platform and its messaging remain present elsewhere.
    3. Listings change faster than checks: Online listings change rapidly, which makes sustained monitoring necessary rather than one time correction.
    4. Compliance is episodic: The regulator’s task is to make compliance routine rather than a temporary response to regulatory scrutiny.

    Conclusion

    The shift being sought is from broad marketing language to claims that can be demonstrated. This matters as India confronts rising obesity and unhealthy diets, and FSSAI has linked its food safety messaging to that wider push for healthier eating. For a consumer, a health claim on a food packet remains a claim and not a guarantee.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2015, GS2, 12 marks] For achieving the desired objectives, it is necessary to ensure that the regulatory institutions remain independent and autonomous. Discuss in the light of the experiences in recent past.”

  • Soon, red hexagonal label to warn of high fat, sugar, salt in snacks

    Why in the News

    The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has told the Supreme Court that it proposes a red hexagonal front of pack label to warn consumers when a packaged food is high in salt, added sugar or added fat. The proposal answers the Court, which is hearing a plea by 3S and Our Health Society, a Kerala based non-profit organisation. No notification has been issued. What is contested is whether the phasing and the trigger conditions attached to the label leave most unhealthy products outside it.

    What would the proposed label carry?

    1. Shape and placement: The label is a red hexagon carried on the front of the packet, so the warning is visible before the pack is turned over.
    2. Language and size: The warning will be in English, in a font one point larger than the font used in the nutritional information table at the back of the pack.
    3. The declarations: The label will state “high fat”, “high sugar”, “high salt” or “highly sweetened beverage”, as applicable, to let consumers identify products high in the specified nutrients.
    4. The thresholds: What counts as high is set against the thresholds in the Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024, issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN).

    How will the rollout be phased?

    1. The first phase: Only products high in at least two of the ingredients of concern will carry the warning label.
    2. The second phase: The warning will extend to products high in even one ingredient.
    3. The stated reason: FSSAI said the two phase plan is meant to secure consumer acceptability and to give industry adequate time for reformulation.

    Which products are exempt?

    1. Single ingredient foods: Food products with a single ingredient fall outside the labelling requirement.
    2. Foods inherently rich in the nutrients: Ghee, edible oil, salt, sugar, jaggery and honey are exempt, subject to the other requirements under the food safety and labelling regulations.

    Why do nutrition experts call the proposal ineffective?

    1. The two nutrient trigger: The Convener of Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest (NAPi) India said many unhealthy products will not need the warning label in the first phase, since they are high in just one nutrient.
    2. No date for the second phase: FSSAI has given no timeline for the phase in which every product high in fat, sugar or salt must carry the warning.
    3. The word “added”: The warning is triggered only by added sugar or added fat, and the added quantity is difficult to estimate.
    4. Natural sugars escape the trigger: High levels of naturally occurring sugars also harm health, and the proposed trigger does not capture them.
    5. Presentation: The proposed font size is too small, and the message should also be carried in Hindi.

    Conclusion

    FSSAI has accepted warning labelling in principle, and the conditions attached to it decide how many products will actually carry a warning. The petitioner has circulated a revised draft, invited public comments on it, and will file a rejoinder once those comments are received. The next milestone is the notification itself, which will show whether the second phase carries a date.

    Back2Basics

    1. Statutory basis: FSSAI was established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
    2. Parent ministry: It functions under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
    3. Mandate: It lays down science based standards for articles of food and regulates their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import.
    4. Labelling powers: Packaging and labelling requirements for packaged food, including what must be declared on the pack, are framed under regulations it issues.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2016] With reference to pre-packaged items in India, it is mandatory to the manufacturer to put which of the following information on the main label, as per the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011? 1. List of ingredients including additives 2. Nutrition information 3. Recommendation, if any, made by the medical profession about the possibility of any allergic reactions 4. Vegetarian/non-vegetarian Select the correct answer using the code given below. (a) 1, 2 and 3 (b) 2, 3 and 4 (c) 1, 2 and 4 (d) 1 and 4 only ANSWER: (c)”

  • 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

    “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

    No direct PYQ traced in the provided files.