1. World Bank Brief: Extreme Poverty Falls to 2.6% (SOCIAL JUSTICE) (TH) (IE) The World Bank’s India Poverty and Equity Brief (October 2026) reports that extreme poverty, measured at USD 3.00 a day in 2021 purchasing power parity terms, fell to 2.6% in 2023 from 27.1% in 2011. At the USD 4.20 line, poverty dropped…
1. Punjab’s Drug Crisis: Roots, Routes and Remedies (INTERNAL SECURITY) (IE) Despite years of government campaigns, Punjab’s drug crisis persists and is now a public-health, social and border-security problem at once. The market has shifted from traditional substances to heroin, synthetic drugs and pharmaceutical opioids, moved by cross-border networks that increasingly use drones. How the…
1. Collegium Debate Returns: Transparency Under Scrutiny (POLITY AND GOVERNANCE) (TH) Former Supreme Court judge Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul has raised concerns over alleged informal consultations between former CJI D.Y. Chandrachud and the Union Government on judicial appointments. The remarks have revived the debate on the collegium system, its transparency and judicial independence. The collegium…
1. UAE Oil Spill Threatens Gulf Desalination (ENVIRONMENT) (DD) A large oil spill from the crude tanker Gem No. 2 off the northern Emirates has closed beaches and restricted fishing. Satellite imagery shows the slick spreading towards the coast, and the main worry is the seawater intake of desalination plants that supply most of the…
1. Genome Editing and Apomixis for Staple Crops (SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY) (TH) Former Principal Scientific Adviser K. VijayRaghavan argues that genome editing and apomixis can renew India’s rice and wheat, which occupy more than half of the country’s farmland, provided plant-science research regains its appeal for students and the seed system adapts. Why Rice and…
1. AVYAY: A Framework for Dignified Ageing (SOCIAL JUSTICE) (PIB) The Social Justice Ministry’s Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana (AVYAY), an umbrella scheme launched in 2021 that subsumed the National Action Plan for Senior Citizens, is in focus as India ages and family support weakens. In 2026–27, ₹77.98 crore in grants was released to 755 projects…
1. Sentencing Should Not Be a Lottery (POLITY AND GOVERNANCE) (IE) Observing in Sunita Devi v. State of Bihar (2024) that “sentencing shall not be a mere lottery”, the Supreme Court asked the Union to examine a national sentencing policy, possibly through a Sentencing Commission. The Centre has reportedly asked the Law Commission of India…
1. Defining Journalists: The National Media Council Debate (POLITY AND GOVERNANCE) (TH) The Supreme Court, hearing a PIL on protecting freelance journalists after the October 2026 protests in New Delhi, questioned how a “journalist” should be defined in the digital age and flagged the need for a national protocol and a unified regulatory framework. This…
1. Why Sensitive Legal Language Matters (POLITY AND GOVERNANCE) (TH) The Karnataka High Court has directed Family Courts to replace ‘visitation’ with ‘parenting time’ in child-custody cases. The order adds to a wider push by the Supreme Court to make judicial language free of stereotypes. Sensitive legal language means words in judgments, orders and pleadings…
1. Kerala Takes Vigilance Wings Out of RTI (ETHICS) (OM) (PRINT) Kerala has notified the T1 and T2 sections of its Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) as exempt from the RTI Act, 2005, using Section 24(4). The sections had been brought back under RTI in 2022. What these sections handle Section Work T1 Confidential reports,…
