By Dr. Gyan Pathak

The INDIA bloc’s meet on June 8, 2026 in New Delhi has reset a broader consensus on national politics to take on the BJP despite its regional conflicts that surfaced with DMK keeping away from and AAP declaring that it was not part of it. Nevertheless, as many as 25 political parties participated, the Congress President and the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha said, adding that they reached a collective resolve on five key issues.

BJP had earlier said that INDIA bloc was dead and buried, but this level of success of the INDIA meet despite structural fragility and regional friction within, has come as contradiction to their narrative. After the meet, BJP mocked INDIA bloc and claimed that it has shrunk from stadiums to a single room (at Constitution Club New Delhi), described the alliance as a “figment of imagination” plagued by intense internal conflicts, and is in disarray with “no leader, policy, or office” after key partners like DMK and AAP left. One of the BJP leaders even said that the alliance is effectively dissolved, lacking a cohesive structure, policy, or leadership. BJP’s narrative against the INDIA bloc clearly reveals their own “regimentation” approach within their party and in their RSS family.

INDIA bloc runs differently, there is no regimentation but democracy, no single leader but collective leadership, and no political autocracy but political federalism. INDIA bloc tries to achieve “unity in diversity” and there is not structural regimentation, which its detractors try to project as structural fragility. Every political party in INDIA bloc has its own regional or national interests and it is not a small achievement that 23 political parties participated in the meet along with two other political individual personalities after a series of setbacks in the last two years after the Lok Sabha election 2024. The meet decided to meet regularly from now on, the next meeting to be held in August in Hyderabad. Regular coordination matters, which amount to a reset of the INDIA bloc.

The other achievements of the INDIA bloc meet are its five key resolutions. It resolved that the bloc would write to the Chief Justice of India, flagging concerns over the Special Intensive revision (SIR) and the alleged ‘vote loot’. It demanded the immediate resignation of Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan, stating that he had “presided over the betrayal of lakhs of youth who appeared for NEET and CBSE exams”. These two issues are very sensitive, and has political implications for the ruling establishment, given that the third and final phase of SIR in the country has already been announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI), while the youth of the country under the banner of Cockroach Janata Party (not a political party but a non-political front) has threatened nationwide agitation if Pradhan does not resign or is not removed this week.

The third important resolution of the INDIA bloc has called on the Union Government led by PM Narendra Modi to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the “current critical economic situation” in the country including inflation and price rise, unemployment crisis among youths, and farm sector distress. The fourth important decision taken in the meet was to hold coordination meetings every two months, and the fifth and last, but not the least, that the participating political parties committed themselves to daily parliamentary coordination during sessions.

The significance of these decisions at this juncture is more focused on the collective resolution of the INDIA bloc constituent political parties to corner the ruling BJP led by PM Narendra Modi on governance failures, for which they have reset their institutional framework. Their aim seemed to prepare for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, and to oppose the sweeping changes in the political system of the country that PM Modi is set to introduce in the coming months, which included delimitation and one nation one election among others. It can be counted as success of the INDIA bloc meet.

The course of events in the recent months, especially after the state election results on May 4, 2026, has clearly brought the conflicting interests within the INDIA bloc constituents. Regional parties have expressed their trust deficit against Congress, which is the largest political party leading the bloc. In Kerala UDF led by Congress was in opposition to LDA led by CPI(M), but both participated in the meet. In West Bengal, TMC led by Mamata and the Congress fought each other, but both came to participate.

In case of Tamil Nadu, Congress joined hands with the TVK led by C. Joseph Vijay for form government after election result, which irked its old ally DMK in the state. DMK stayed away from the meet but it has said that it will remain in solidarity with the opposition against the BJP on national issues concerning Tamil Nadu. DMK did not come despite the party was approached by Mamata and SP Supremo Akhilesh Yadav. TVK has defeated DMK and Congress alliance in Tamil Nadu, and DMK have never been ready to share power with the Congress. If Congress joined hands with TVK, it is no surprise. TVK has not yet decided to join INDIA bloc, but it also does not support the BJP, and not likely to. If fragility in the INDIA bloc is seen in Tamil Nadu, it will not give advantage to the BJP, since BJP has also been split, and its important former leader Annamalai will launch his own party.

As for AAP, it is in power in Punjab where legislative assembly election will be held in 2027. Congress is the main opposition there, and BJP has little presence. It was natural for the AAP to declare that it was not part of INDIA bloc, which is no advantage to BJP. Therefore, BJP’s structurally fragile narrative against INDIA bloc, though partially true, will not benefit them.

However, the real problem is with split within one of its constituents TMC, whose rebel group of 58 MLAs out of 80 in the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal has formed their own group and one of the rebel leaders was given the status of the Leader of the Opposition. However, more concerning development has taken place in the Lok Sabha where 20 TMC MPs has declared their support to NDA led by BJP. It may effectively reduce the strength of the INDIA bloc in the parliament. However, INDIA bloc will be able to get issue based support of both AAP and DMK in national politics against BJP’s agenda to defend secularism, federalism, and victimization of opposition leaders and states they rule.

Congress was criticized for parting ways with the DMK and Left parties criticized it for aggressive campaign against LDF in Kerala. JMM of Jharkhand and RJD of Bihar have also raised their grievance. However, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that he “welcomes all the criticism with a smile” and assured that the Congress would work with “love and affection” to keep the alliance united.

Uttar Pradesh is going to poll in 2027 which will be crucial for the INDIA bloc. SP supremo said that defeating BJP will be crucial. While acknowledging the Congress’s pan-India presence, he urged Congress to be “large-hearted” and allow dominant regional parties to take the lead wherever appropriate. It gives a hope that there will be some sort of alliance between the Congress and SP, though they are presently preparing to contents on all seats on their own. The possible unity in Uttar Pradesh has unnerved the BJP.

To address the organization or structural fragility, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray and CPI(ML)L general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya called for a concrete organizational structure. Several other issues were raised. INDIA bloc has decided to meet every two months to discuss all the issues. INDIA bloc has just been reactivated, and most likely to evolve first into a stronger federal front, secondly a stronger parliamentary coalition with greater cohesion, and thirdly a stronger electoral alliance before the Lok Sabha election 2029. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

After a series of political setbacks since Lok Sabha Election 2024, the meet of the INDIA bloc scheduled to be held at the Constitution Club in New Delhi on June 8 is a significant development, especially when one of its allies DMK has announced to skip the meet, and the BJP has claimed that INDIA bloc is dead and buried, and exists only on paper.

The meet is significant on account of other reasons too. It is the first meet of the top leaders after they met in December 2023, ahead of general elections 2024. Several meetings of INDIA bloc were held thereafter, but top leaders did not come together in any of the subsequent meetings. As of now as many as 17 top leaders of the 35 constituent parties are reported to participate in the June 8 meet which included TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, JMM supremo Hemant Soren, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray.

It should be noted that DMK had announced that they will not participate in the meet, which has been sensationalised in some news papers as “DMK to boycott the meet”. However, they failed to note that DMK has simultaneously maintained that it remained committed to broader Opposition solidarity on national issues. It indicates that in spite of some serious grievances of the DMK against the Congress, DMK will remain in broader opposition solidarity against the BJP’s policy regarding national issues.

It is a matter of serious concern for the BJP and hence the party has tried today June 5 to portray the INDIA bloc in very bad light. BJP’s national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, “The INDI alliance has now broken into pieces. It was predicted that on May 4 there would be nothing called the INDI alliance left, and that prediction came true.”

Poonawalla referred May 4, the day of election results of five states including Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal. In Tamil Nadu, DMK led government lost power to TVK led by Vijay; in Kerala Congress led UDF thrown LDF government led by CPI(M), and in West Bengal BJP thrown TMC led by Mamata out of power. Poonawalla has seen in the results and aftermath a disintegration of INDIA bloc, which was just a hype of the BJP, as the confirmation of top leaders participating in INDIA bloc meet on June 8 indicates, in which only DMK has announced not to participate but has stated the party’s commitment to broader solidarity. Poonawalla’s statement – “The INDI alliance is dead and buried. It may exist on paper and on television screens, but it does not exist in reality” – is just an overstatement.

Since its inception, INDIA bloc has been working on the principle of “March separately, Strike Together”, as the then CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury had suggested, because the Left Front had stakes in West Bengal and Kerala, where they had to fight TMC and Congress led UDF respectively. It allowed Left, TMC, and Congress to be part of the INDIA bloc though they have been fighting with each other in their respective states of influence. Here lies a hope for the INDIA bloc, which will sure to find a way out for a united front at the national level against the BJP, even though DMK on June 4 issued a strongly-worded statement and said that “out of respect for the feelings of party comrades who are deeply hurt by the betrayal committed by the Congress party against DMK after the Assembly election in Tamil Nadu, the DMK will not participate in the INDIA alliance meeting.”

DMK’s stand not to sit with the Congress in the Parliament, and not to participate in the INDIA bloc meet is, of course, a matter of concern. It was a result of Congress shifting its stand deserting DMK to join TVK government. Other two allies of INDIA bloc VCK and IUML has also joined TVK government. However, TVK’s ambivalence on becoming part of the INDIA bloc continues. Even if it does not become part of INDIA bloc, it is not likely to join hands with the BJP.

BJP has its own worries in Tamil Nadu. A former popular BJP leader K Annamalai has resigned from the party and has announced ‘new political movement’ in the state. Tamil Nadu politics is therefore taking a new shape, and it will be too early to announce death of INDIA bloc, in Tamil Nadu, and at national level. BJP will try to implement its decisions, such as delimitation of constituencies and “One Nation One Election” before 2029 Lok Sabha election, and hence INDIA bloc meet on June 8 has become important, where a broader solidarity among the anti-BJP political forces is most likely to be renewed.

Grievances and difference of opinion are there, but they will finally be sorted out. Two important states are going to polls in 2027 are Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. At present Congress and Samajwadi parties are preparing for election on their own, but it is worth nothing that SP Supremo Akhilesh Yadav will be participating in INDIA bloc. SP and Congress had contested 2024 Lok Sabha election in the state and considerably reduced the BJP’s seats in the Lok Sabha to only 240 seats. They are most likely to join hands for 2027 Legislative assembly election in the state. In Punjab, AAP is in power and they will have to battle with the Congress candidates. BJP has not strength in there, and hence contest between AAP and Congress will not benefit BJP. Obviously, AAP is not participating in INDIA bloc’s June 8 meet, but they will be part of opposition solidarity at national level.

Despite the Left and TMC political tussle, historically and currently, top leadership from both camps have confirmed their participation in the INDIA bloc meet.

INDIA bloc’s trying to renew their unity – and if possible, expand it – during the June 8 meet is significant at this juncture when BJP is trying to introduce sweeping political changes in the country in the form of SIR, NRC, One Nation One Election, and delimitation. This unity among non-BJP political parties will be important because they altogether have support of about 63 per cent of voters in the country. For INDIA bloc parties, it is a time to stand against BJP’s intention of sweeping political changes, that may alter the fate of the country, under which future elections will be contested. June 8 meet will be an occasion when the opposition INDIA bloc will show solidarity to the BJP and the nation. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

The preliminary version of the OECD Outlook released on June 3, 2026 has projected the real GDP of India to grow by 6.3% during the FY 2026-27, which is a sharp decline from the robust growth rate of 7.8 per cent year-on-year in the quarter ending in December 2025 (Q3 FY2025–26), easing from 8.4% in the previous quarter. However, it expects only a little improvement in the GDP growth in 2027-28 to 6.4 per cent.

Summing up the scenarios, the OECD Outlook stated that rising inflation is expected to weigh on private consumption, while investment slows amid higher oil and gas prices and gas rationing. Employment growth and labour market participation are set to weaken. Inflation is projected to increase to 4.8% in FY2026-27, driven by higher food, energy and fertiliser costs, and currency depreciation. The current account deficit is expected to widen, as higher energy import costs outweigh the impact of weaker domestic demand. More persistent energy rationing could lead to weaker growth.

High-frequency indicators, including softer industrial production, suggest a loss of momentum of India’s growth rate. Retail indicators and survey-based measures of consumer sentiment point to an easing of private consumption as higher food and energy prices weigh on households’ real purchasing power.

At 3.5% year-on-year in April, headline inflation has picked up since early 2026, driven primarily by food prices, but core inflation has remained broadly stable and below the mid-point of the central bank’s target band of 4% ± 2%.

The depreciation of the rupee relative to the US dollar of around 7% since the beginning of the year has added to inflationary pressures by raising import costs, particularly for fuel and fertilisers, with partial pass-through to consumer prices.

Labour market conditions are softening, with the workers population ratio declining from 40.5% in December to39.5% in April.

India’s crude oil and natural gas dependence on the Middle East is substantial, with crude oil imports accounting for about 46% of total imports in 2024 and natural gas for about 57%. Energy import prices have risen sharply in recent months, but only part of that has fed into domestic energy prices.

Reductions in excise duties on petrol and diesel and the removal of import duties on selected petrochemical inputs, alongside export levies on refined products, have helped to contain the pass-through from international prices to domestic inflation.

Rationing measures have prioritised natural gas supply to households and transport, while expanding access to kerosene through the public distribution system and increasing the availability of small LPG cylinders for migrant workers. The recent reduction in US import tariffs lowered the average effective tariff rate on India by 23 percentage points, reducing pressures on exporting sectors.

The Reserve Bank of India reduced the monetary policy rate from 6.5% in January 2025 to a broadly neutral level of 5.25% in February 2026 and average lending rates have fallen. Non-food bank credit (bank credit net of food procurement-related lending) expanded by 15.9% year-on-year in March.

However, the outlook says that recent developments point to a re-emergence of inflationary pressures. Headline inflation has begun to rise, driven primarily by higher food prices as favourable base effects fade. Higher oil and gas prices are adding both direct and indirect pressures, increasing transportation and production costs across sectors.

The depreciation of the rupee is further amplifying imported inflation by raising the domestic cost of fuel, fertilisers and other tradable goods. In this context, a temporary increase in the policy rate of around 25basis points is projected by the end of the first quarter of FY2026-27 to help maintain inflation within the4% ± 2% target band and anchor expectations. As inflationary pressures recede over the projection horizon, monetary policy is expected to ease in FY2027-28.

Fiscal policy is projected to become expansionary in FY2026-27 to cushion the impact of higher energy prices. The FY2026-27 budget envisaged a reduction in the fiscal deficit from 4.4% of GDP in FY2025-26 to 4.3% of GDP. However, measures adopted to mitigate the energy price shock are expected to widen the deficit by around 0.4% of GDP relative to the budgeted path.

OECD outlook says that these measures will provide near-term support to household real incomes and limit the impact on consumption but will also slow the pace of public debt reduction, which is expected to reach 54.7% in FY2027-28. Fiscal policy is expected to return to a moderate consolidation path in FY2027-28 as energy prices stabilise and temporary support measures are phased out.

The negative effects of higher energy prices and gas rationing, weaker global demand and higher production costs are expected to weigh on investment and exports, despite lower US import tariffs providing some support to exports. Private consumption growth is projected to slow as inflation reduces households purchasing power.

As some of these headwinds recede in FY2027-28, growth is expected to recover to 6.4%. Inflation is projected to rise to 4.8% in FY2026-27, driven by higher food and energy prices and exchange-rate depreciation, before easing in FY2027-28 as commodity prices stabilise and monetary policy tightens. The current account deficit is expected to widen in FY2026-27, reflecting higher energy import costs and weaker external demand.

Risks are tilted to the downside. Persistent disruptions to energy supply, including prolonged gas rationing, could further constrain production and raise inflation, including through reduced fertiliser supply and agricultural output. Trade policy uncertainty remains elevated, and additional restrictions or weaker global demand could weigh on exports and investment.

On the upside, if energy support measures effectively reduce near-term inflation and limit the erosion of real disposable incomes more effectively than assumed in the projections – particularly for liquidity-constrained households – private consumption may prove more resilient than projected.

Energy support could cushion real incomes and consumption more than expected, the outlook said, adding that India’s fiscal policy is poised to turn expansionary in FY2026-27 to mitigate the impact of higher energy prices, notably through subsidies. Moving from price support to targeted transfers could reduce the fiscal cost of policy support.

Following a period of easing, monetary policy is projected to tighten with a policy rate increase in early FY2026-27 to help keep inflation within the target band. Streamlining and harmonising regulations would reduce administrative burdens, boosting productivity and investment. Accelerating the rollout of renewable energy sources would strengthen energy security and reduce carbon emissions.

India’s energy support measures have largely relied on broad-based, price-distorting interventions rather than targeted assistance, the OECD outlook said. This approach has high fiscal costs, slowing the rebuilding of buffers. Direct transfers to vulnerable households and viable firms would achieve similar objectives at significantly lower fiscal cost.

Expanding renewable energy sources, while strengthening grid infrastructure and storage capacity, would make growth more sustainable by reducing carbon emissions and at the same time reduce the reliance on imported energy. However, regulatory complexity and overlapping administrative requirements across central and state levels continue to raise compliance costs, delay project implementation and deter investment, particularly in manufacturing and infrastructure. Streamlining and harmonising regulatory frameworks, expanding single-window clearance systems, digitalising approvals and setting clear administrative deadlines would reduce uncertainty and improve transparency. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

The last three months of 2026 have seen considerable inflationary pressure on Indian economy on account of fuel crisis triggered by the Iran war. All sectors of economy are reeling under the pressure. Unemployment is rising, real wages have declined, and living cost is rising fast. Now, there is an additional concern of a deficit monsoon in 2026 after three years. It is a matter of great concern because Indian agriculture depends for 70 per cent of water on monsoon. The monsoon rainfall is also the chief source of groundwater and the waterbodies on the surface.

Currently, neutral El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions are transitioning towards El Nino conditions over the equatorial Pacific region. The latest climate model forecasts, says India Meteorological Department (IMD) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, indicate that El Nino conditions are likely to develop during the southwest monsoon season.

Based on this, in an updated second long-range forecast on May 29, 2026 for the forthcoming southwest monsoon seasonal rainfall during June-September, the IMD has projected 90 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA) with a model error of ±4%, indicating that below normal rainfall is most likely over the country as a whole.

On April 13, the IMD had issued the first-stage forecast consisting of quantitative and probabilistic forecasts for the country as a whole, and the spatial distribution of probabilistic forecasts for the tercile categories (above normal, normal, and below normal) of the seasonal rainfall. At that time IMD had projected a normal monsoon to be 92 per cent with a model error of ±5%. IMD had expecting a weak La Nina-like conditions transitioning to neutral ENSO conditions.

However, things changed fast. Quantitatively, for India as a whole, IMD has now predicted lower by 2 per cent and also reduced error level by ±1%. The current prediction of 90 per cent rainfall with probable error of ±4% is a matter of serious concern because normal rainfall in India is in the range of 96-104 per cent of the 50-year average of 87 cm during the monsoon season of four months between June and September.

This means India is staring at drought, as the IMD projection indicates, but does not say in words. Since 2016, that is under Modi Raj, the IMD has officially decided to stop using the term “drought” in its reports and forecasts, and replaced the term with two different terms “deficient” (rainfall deficiency 40% and covering over 40% of the area). Thereafter, the responsibility of declaration of a “draught” is on the state governments, based on agriculture and hydrological factors.

Despite the changes in definition and responsibility of the state, PM Narendra Modi government will have to take the prediction seriously, because it may impact the general life conditions of the people of the country on account of food security, and also the adverse impact on the economy that the deficient rainfall is likely to cause. The government has to take actions quickly from now, since June, the first month of the monsoon, is also projected to be below normal, which will be likely less than 92 per cent.

Earlier, the Southwest monsoon was expected to come by May 26 on the Indian land, but it is still in the sea. IMD now expects that it will come over parts of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal in the next seven days in the first week of June. Monsoon is delayed in India this year, and El Nino conditions, has weakened the monsoon. It should also be noted that India has historically witnessed deficient rainfall during several El Nino years, at times leading to drought conditions in the country.

Nevertheless, for the Northeast India, IMD has predicted normal rainfall in the range of 94-106 per cent of LPA. For Central and South Peninsular India, it predicted less than 94 per cent of LPA, while for Northwest India even below 92 per cent.

The Monsoon Core Zone (MCZ) consisting of most of the rainfed agriculture areas in the country is most likely to receive below normal rainfall less than 94 per cent. Below-normal rainfall is most likely over most part of the country, except some areas over northwest and northeast India, eastern parts of south peninsula and adjoining areas of east-central India and isolated pockets of East India, where normal to above normal rainfall is likely, said IMD.

At present, neutral Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) conditions are observed over the Indian Ocean, IMD said. The latest MMCFS forecast indicates that neutral IOD conditions are likely to continue during the monsoon season.

The IMD forecast is based on the new strategy being used since 2021. For this, a newly developed Multi-Model Ensemble (MME) forecasting system is used. The MME system utilizes simulations from the coupled global climate models (CGCMs) sourced from various global climate prediction and research centres, including IMD’s Monsoon Mission Climate Forecasting System (MMCFS) model.

Given the deficient rain forecast probability is 60 per cent, below normal 24 per cent, normal 14 per cent and above normal 2 per cent, India needs to prepare itself for the worst in the midst of multiple crises the country has fallen into. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Supreme Court of India on May 27, 2026 upheld the legality of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in Bihar and elsewhere and emphasized that this exercise is constitutionally connected to “free and fair polls”. The judgment strongly underlined the purity and accuracy of rolls giving priority to preventing bogus voters entering into the voter lists (deletion), but at the same time did not give equal weightage to, rather pushed into the rear, the task of protecting every eligible citizen’s right to vote (inclusion). This is where significant concerns lie, despite the judgement.

Before going into details of the judgement, it would be worth recalling the respective position of the ruling BJP and the political parties in opposition. The Ruling BJP and the Election Commission of India (ECI) have always emphasized on cleaning the electoral rolls after deletion of ineligible voters including Bangladeshi infiltrators, while the opposition has always grudged this and emphasized on protecting every eligible voter’s right to vote.

We have seen all through the SIR process the struggle between the two priorities – deletion of voters and the protection of citizens’ right to vote. At no point of time the so called “pure” voter list prepared by the ECI was complete even though election to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal is over and results are out. The Tribunals are hearing the cases of excluded voters who could not exercise their right to vote, many of their names were cleared only after election was over, that benefited the BJP. The current judgement therefore suffers from giving less priority to “protection of the citizen’s right to vote” than deletion of voters for so called “purity” of electoral roll. One can therefore easily differ as to what constituted “purity” of the voter list that is prerequisite for “free and fair” polls.

Critics of the judgement argue that the Supreme Court failed to substantively examine the way SIR was implemented itself undermined free and fair elections. The court chiefly examined whether the ECI had statutory and constitution powers und Article 324 and the Representation of the People Act. The court gave less attention to whether the SIR exercise could disproportionately disenfranchise poor, migrant, minority, or document-deficient voters? The court justified the ECI’s requirement of documents, but on Aadhaar, it said that it can be accepted as an “additional indicative document” in future, which cannot itself determine citizenship status.

It should be noted that the bench itself had earlier acknowledged a possible “margin of error” in mass verification process. Yet in the latest judgement it seemed treating the mechanism as institutionally reliable without fully addressing whether large-scale verification can realistically avoid arbitrary deletions.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi has pronounced the judgment after hearing a bunch of petitions that have challenged the notification issued by the ECI in June 2025 to conduct SIR in Bihar. The bench said, “When the statute itself authorises a special revision at any time, for reasons to be recorded and in such manner as the Election Commission may deem fit, the impugned exercise cannot be invalidated merely because it does not conform in every respect to the ordinary modalities contemplated for routine revision. In our considered opinion, the impugned SIR does not supplant the Representation of the People Act and the Rules. Rather, it breathes life into the constitutional mandate under Article 324 within the precise statutory contours provided by Section 21(3). Therefore, it cannot be said that the Commission has acted in excess of its statutory powers.”

The bench emphasized on the claimed objective of the SIR and said that it bore nexus with the constitutional goal of ensuring free and fair elections. It also noted that elections did not rest merely on the mechanics of polling but fundamentally depended on the integrity, accuracy, and credibility of the electoral rolls, which formed the foundation of the democratic process.

Every word of the bench seems to be important, but has different meanings for different people. What constitute “integrity, accuracy, and credibility of electoral rolls”? Answer to this question is not clear when we go through the judgement, since this is precisely the opposition’s allegation that “integrity, accuracy, and credibility of the electoral rolls” have been compromised because the PM Narendra Modi led government and the ECI have conspired to get SIR done in particular manner. Therefore the “foundation of the democratic process” that is preparation of pure and credible voter list with integrity and accuracy remains questionable in the light of the decisions of the Tribunals in West Bengal which has been finding thousands of eligible citizens who were excluded from electoral roll violating their right to vote.

CJI Kant has observed, “Calling upon electors to furnish supporting material in the course of such an exercise does not amount to negation of the presumption. Rather, it reflects the procedural mechanism through which the Commission seeks to reaffirm or, where necessary, correct existing entries. The presumption continues to operate, but it does not negate the possibility of verification.”

Moreover, the court said that ECI has power to go into questions of citizenship for the purpose of including in the electoral roll, but the negative determination of the ECI does not result in a conclusive finding that the person is not an Indian citizen. CJI pronounced, “The consequence of such a citizenship determination is correspondingly limited. It affects the individual’s entitlement to be included in the electoral rolls and thereby the right to participate in the electoral process. It does not, however, operate to divest the individual of claims to citizenship, nor does it foreclose adjudication of that question by the competent authority under the Citizenship Act.”

Where the country will be moving from SIR? There is an indication in the judgement itself. It says, in cases where commission is not satisfied that a person fulfils the statutory conditions for inclusion in the electoral rolls, it would be incumbent upon the Commission to refer such an individual to the competent authority of the Union Government for adjudication in accordance with law.

This confirms the opposition fear that “SIR was a backdoor NRC” which India will see soon, as we have already seen the case of Assam where D-voters (doubtful voters) were referred to authorities for ascertaining their citizenship. More so because the court has asked the ECI to forward the Central Government the names of persons deleted from the 2003 electoral rolls over doubtful citizenship within four weeks. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Annoyed by the voice of the voiceless cockroaches on Social Media platform X, the Union Government of India led by PM Narendra Modi got their account banned in the country. Thanks to the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant’s one of the comments on May 15, 2026, that had triggered the voice, that was ultimately suppressed by the government that goes on trumpeting the world that India is the mother of democracy.

Why should anyone have a voice in democracy – other than the Mann Ki Baat of PM Narendra Modi? His master’s voice is alright but your own voice? Voice of the Cockroaches were heard first on X on May 16 with creation of Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), and within 4 days, the account got banned in India after it got more than 200,000 following. It was withheld in response to the legal demand from Modi government. The original handle @CJP_2029 was taken down.

Nevertheless, there is no ban on the social media that are openly claiming that they will kill all kinds of cockroaches. The founder of the CJP Abhijeet Dipke is being trolled by a number of netizens and their language indicates that they are from the BJP-RSS family. Someone asked even caste of the founder cockroach, and he revealed that he is a Dalit from Maharashtra – A Dalit Cockroach. Hackers are very active to hack the CJP’s website cockoachjanataparty.org their social media accounts.

Cockroaches, scientifically one of the toughest creatures of the world, and it may survive even nuclear warfare, scientists say. You may just imagine the annoyance of the Modi led BJP government, when it came to know that cockroaches got over 14.5 million followers on another social media platform on Instagram surpassing BJP’s only 8.8 million followers count. The pride of the BJP was hurt by the rise of the Cockroaches. Moreover, cockroach is back with a different handle on X @cockroachisback.

Banning the voice of the cockroaches on X is a serious matter since it throttles the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under the Constitution of India. Only a few days ago, the Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng, who works for the Oslo-based newspaper Dagsavisen, reported that her Instagram and Facebook accounts were suspended following her attempts to question India Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Norway on May 18-19, 2026. Lyng said a very small price to pay. She had asked, “Prime Minister Modi, why don’t you take some questions from the free-est press in the World?” It is worth noting that Norway is at the top in ranking in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index and India’s at very low at 157th. One can see, it is not without reason.

Modi government and his party are worried because of the potential fallout of the cockroach movement in the country, as Samajwadi Party (SP) Supremo Akhilesh Yadav has said in his three word post on X – “BJP banam CJP” that is “BJP versus CJP”. Uttar Pradesh is going to poll within 18 months in 2027, where SP is the chief challenger of BJP. SP does politics on “PDA” (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak). Now it has been revealed that a Dalit cockroach has founded the CJP, while he has identified himself with unemployed cockroaches.

The trigger for the CJP is the CJI Surya Kant’s comment during hearing of a case on May 15, “There are youngsters like cockroaches, who don’t get any employment or have any place in profession. Some of them become media, some of them become social media, RTI activists and other activists and they start attacking everyone.” Later he clarified that he meant “who have entered professions … with the aid of fake and bogus degrees.” Clarification has even complicated the matter since people are asking if the Constitution of India had denied access to justice even to the people with “fake and bogus degrees”, or the people who have no degree at all? People are seeing as an attempt to denial of access to justice “cockroaches” whatever it means according to Chief Justice of India.

CJI’s clarification has become totally ineffective on the ground level, since it has come at a time when papers are repeatedly leaked under Nation Testing Agency (NTA) dominated by Education Mafia, and Union Minister of Education presiding over the ministry, audaciously saying that he did not implement the recommendation of the Parliamentary Panel to reform NTA for leak proof examinations because there were opposition leaders in it. Supreme Court had also ordered reform in 2024 after a paper leak, but paper for NEET-UG 2006 examination held on May 3 were leaked again. Under PM Modi, the NTA was launched with Rs25 crore in 2018, and by 2022-23 it was earning Rs 3,513 crore. Several students have committed suicides.

CJI’s term cockroach immediately caught imagination of the “cockroaches” whose voice is not heard by anyone, especially the government, which goes on doing whatever it likes to. We have examples, in which justices even of the Supreme Court of India were rewarded by the BJP government for direct or indirect favour in facilitating the government to do whatever they wanted to. Judgments were delayed, and in the meantime, government got their works done, though later courts found the government’s mechanism unconstitutional. Judiciary was seen increasingly aligning with the Modi government as the Election Commission of India. We have also examples of Modi government appointing Election Commissioners of their choice, won elections, and officers of the Election Commissions were rewarded with posts for their loyalty.

Whatever is happening in India, gives a feeling to the common man that they are treated just like cockroaches, they have no or little access to justice due to numerous factors, and now they are losing even right to freedom of speech and expression under PM Narendra Modi rule. Where should they go if not to judiciary and not to Election Commission, when the government refuses them even the basic rights? They had a chance to voice their concerns on the social media and on the internet, but under new law their voices are stifled by takedown orders. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Despite several orders and recommendations of the Supreme Court and the Parliamentary Standing Committee, the Union Government did not structurally reform the National Testing Agency (NTA), and also did not take appropriate actions that helped the education mafia of the country to strengthen its grip over the agency. In the name of taking “tamper-proof exams” for much needed “education reform”, NTA is earning hundreds of crore from students, while by continued paper leaks education mafia is earning huge money. What surprises even more is the India’s Education Minister’s contemptuous statement on his not implementing parliamentary panel’s recommendations on the ground that there were opposition members in the committee. What is then behind it – an arrogance of his government, some people’s financial interests, or something else?

The decision to launched NTA was taken by the Union Cabinet meeting held under PM Modi’s chairmanship and was established in November 2027 with a very good business model, with one-time grant of Rs 25 crore at inception. Thereafter it operates without government funding. It sets question papers and heavily relies on outsourcing, because it does not have enough staff or its own permanent, nationwide infrastructure for conducting exams. Here lies the root cause of repeated paper leaks.

Nevertheless, between 2018-19 and 2023-24 it collected Rs3512.98 crore in exam or application fees. Parliamentary panel has said that it had a surplus of Rs448.21 crore that it could have used to plug the security gaps. Such a huge earning was because it collects huge fees. In the case of NEET-UG 2026, that was cancelled on May 12 due to paper leak, the fees collected were Rs1,700 from General, Rs1,600 from OBC-NCL/EWS, and Rs1,000 for SC/ST/PwD/ and Third Gender candidates. The total fee was about 355 crore.

The parliamentary panel on education, it its December 2025 report, recommended that NTA deploy the corpus to build in-house testing capacity or strengthen vendor monitoring. Earlier in March, the same panel has asked the NTA to produce annual report, but it had not produced any. It was therefore, the panel has reiterated again that it must produce its annual report and submit to the parliament.

The Supreme Court of India in its judgement in July 2024, on the NEET UG 2024 paper leak case, had said that NTA “must now avoid the flip flops which it has made in this case.” The court had recorded serious concern and directed for structural reforms. The court had expanded the mandate of the seven-member expert committee constituted by the Union Government under former ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan and directed it to recommend reforms on examination security, transportation of papers, CCTV surveillance, candidate verification, encryption protocols, technological safeguards, real-time monitoring, grievance redressal, and international best practices. The government has even filed compliance report in the Supreme Court in December 2024. However, the paper leak in NEET-UG 2026, shows even wider leak network under the education mafia.

Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi has demanded from the Prime Minister of India that the Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan be sacked. The Congress chief whip in the Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh has moved a privilege notice against Dharmendra Pradhan and said that he had “deliberately lowered the stature and prestige of the institution of the standing committee.”

On May 15, Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan had said in reply to a question by a reporter during his press conference as to why the government did not implement parliamentary panel’s recommendation, “I will not comment on Parliamentary Standing Committee red flags. I will speak about the High-Level Committee of Experts (HLCE)/Radhakrishnan Committee. The Parliament Standing Committee has members from the Opposition. They write things in a certain manner; you also know that. Hence, I won’t speak on the standing committee.”

Congress leader Ramesh has said, “He has made these outrageous remarks while presiding over the rot in the Education Ministry that is destroying the future of lakhs of youth across the country.” In his privilege notice, Jairam Ramesh said these “derogatory” comments reveal the Minister’s “contempt for Parliament”. He said that Pradhan’s comments also “seek to malign parliamentarians, parliamentary committees and the Parliament of India. … The Minister’s comments are also tantamount to imputing dishonourable motives to members of parliamentary committees themselves.”

It is still a mystery, as to why Union Minister of Education, behaves in a way that goes against the critics of the NTA’s failures and repeated paper leaks, while NTA’s reforms have been delayed under his leadership, despite the orders of the Supreme Court of India and the Parliamentary Standing Committee’s recommendations?

Dharmendra Pradhan as Union Ministry of Education is politically and administratively responsible for repeated paper leaks under NTA functioning under his ministry. In India’s parliamentary system, ministries are accountable for the functioning of agencies under them. Repeated paper leaks raise questions about ministerial oversight. Moreover, recurring paper leaks indicate systemic governance failures. It should be noted that in case of NEET-UG 2024 paper leak he himself had admitted that as an “institutional failure” and had announced reforms. However, that proved to be a political statement only, and paper leak continued even in May 2026.

Petitions have been also been filed in the Supreme Court of India demanding even dismantling of the NTA, or replace it by another dependable institution, or fundamentally restructure it. Petitioners have also demanded accountability.

In the meantime, on May 18, the parliamentary panel has summoned the NTA chief to appear before it on May 21, to review their recommendation of reforms, that Union Minister of Education had refused to implement. The agenda includes a review of the implementation of the K Radhakrishnan Committee report on NTA reforms and an update on the investigation into the alleged NEET-UG paper leak case. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

The opposition has always been claiming that the Election Commission of India (ECI) is being controlled by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ECI has been working to ensure that BJP wins elections in the country. They alleged that ECI is compromised while the Modi government asserted that the constitutional body is independent. Now the Supreme Court of India has asked “Why this show-off about independence?” The question makes us rethink if elections are free and fair in the Modi Era in light of the decisions and observations made by the Supreme Court in the last several years?

The Supreme Court of India is currently hearing the challenges to the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 which was past just before the Lok Sabha Election of 2024. The Bench observed that free and fair elections depend on a truly independent ECI.

During the hearing the Bench pointed out the absence of even “one absolutely neutral person” on the selection committee chaired by Prime Minister. The presence of a Cabinet Minister in the committee was also questioned by the Bench observing that such a minister could not be expected to defy the Prime Minister, and asked whether the presence of the Leader of Opposition on the committee was merely “ornamental”. Since appointments could be done effectively by the Executive by 2:1 majority, “Why this show-off of independence in appointment of election commissioner?”

The Bench observed if the Chief Justice of India (CJI) could be part of the appointment process for the director of the CBI, then here was no reason why an independent process could not be followed for the appointment of the CEC and ECs, which is more important as it directly concerned “upholding democracy and free and fair elections”. It emphasized that ECI “should not only be neutral but it should look neutral in its functioning.”

It should be noted that earlier CJI used to be part of the selection committee but the Modi government removed CJI from the appointment committee. Under the current structure, the government can appoint “person of its choice”. Hence the appointment of the current CEC and other ECs do not appear credible to the public.

The observation of the Bench has political significance because it has indicated serious judicial concern regarding executive influence over the ECI, appearance of bias, and whether institutional safeguards for free and fail elections are being weakened. The courts reasoning connects directory to electoral neutrality, public confidence, and constitutional democracy. An Election Commission dependent on the executive for its appointment risks losing institutional credibility especially when ruling party itself contests elections under supervision of ECI.

The recent West Bengal election has shown direct relationship between the election and appointments. The Special Observer for SIR and the Chief Electoral Officer were allegedly remained loyal to the BJP and helped the party to win, and when BJP won, they were appointed advisor and Chief Secretary of the new BJP government. The ECI appointed by the BJP under the new law of 2023, had appointed both the observer and the CEO.

Rahul Gandhi had publicly shown how electoral rolls were manipulated by adding voters from other states to influence the electoral outcome of the state in favour of the BJP in Karnataka and in Haryana as examples. Such additions of voters were done under the presumption of legality. After the expose, the ECI supported by BJP started SIR in Bihar, and this time to delete large number of voters in the name of cleanup of electoral roll. Supreme Court intervened to get lakhs of voters included, but many left out of the voter list and could not vote. This helped the BJP to win election in Bihar and more recently in West Bengal. In case of West Bengal, the Supreme Court has asked the aggrieved TMC to file separate case. The Supreme Court is also hearing the cases under the SIR, but no final decision has come out yet.

BJP thus goes on winning elections, and the Supreme Court is still hearing the case. It is a social political concern that goes beyond the scope and ambit of the Supreme court, because it is not likely to decide on the status of the elected government, even though excluded voters finally get their names included in the voter list.

We can say this on the basis of precedents in which Supreme Court of India found electoral bond scheme of the Modi government unconstitutional, but did nothing on the status of the elections which were fought by the money unconstitutionally collected by the scheme. The electoral bond scheme was introduced by the Modi government in 2018, and every election thereafter was fought by this illegal money collected under presumption of legality.

Supreme Court, in fact, in several judgements and observations during the Modi Era, has expressed concerns about practices that it said could undermine the constitutional principle of free and fair elections. In the 2024 electoral bond scheme judgement the court held that anonymous political funding violated citizen’s Right to Information under article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India, unlimited corporate funding distorted electoral democracy, and the scheme violated the principle of free and fair elections.

The Apex Court had also said that allowing unlimited donations, including through shell companies, created the possibility of quid pro quo arrangements between corporations and ruling parties. It also said that the scheme enabled “unrestrained influence” of corporations over politics and elections.

The possibility of free and fair elections had actually erased if we take into consideration that how the electoral contests has become structurally unequal and Modi government has denied level playing electoral field, and ECI doing nothing. There has been allegations of even Modi government’s misusing central investigating agencies against opposition political parties and their leaders before and during elections with the soul purpose of disrupting their political campaigns. There has been unequal access to media and money. The government is also alleged of misusing government-media and administration.

It is under this backdrop India must try to restore people’s confidence on neutrality of the ECI in conducting free and fair elections in the country. We can’t ignore the assertions of the critics, opposition parties, former elections commissioners, constitutional scholars, common people that ECI appeared increasingly aligned with the Modi government. The latest observation by the Supreme Court indicates that independence of the ECI has been compromised. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

A closer look at the just released quarterly PLFS data for last quarter of 2025-26, January-March 2026, shows that salaried employment in India remains stagnant at 25.5 per cent, while casual employment has declined to 18.7 per cent from 20.1 per cent in the first quarter April-June 2025. Self-employment has risen during this period from 54.4 per cent to 55.8 per cent, which included rise in contributing but unpaid family worker from 14.1 per cent to 14.3 per cent, and own account worker from 39 per cent to 40.7 per cent.

According to Worker Population Ratio (WPR) in Current Weekly Status (CWS), that is the workforce that actually worked for at least 1 hour on any day during the 7 days preceding the date of survey, those persons were also counted as self-employed who did not work either due to sickness or due to other reasons though they had self-employment work, who were 0.8 per cent. It means those who did not earned anything were 15.1 per cent, but were counted as employed.

It clearly shows the very low quality of employment in India. When regular wage and salaried employments have stagnated, and even getting casual employment opportunities declined, people started their own work to somehow survive. Majority of them were even counted as employer because family members contributed in their work, counted as employed but remained unpaid. Among these unpaid workers 28.7 per cent were female and 7.6 per cent males of the family, totally unpaid but counted as employed. It is therefore, the quality of female employment in India remained worst.

How misleading is the self-employed data for female in India is can just be imagined by the WPR data that says that there were 64.8 per cent self-employed females during January-March 2026, out of which only 35.5 per cent were own account workers earning something, but 28.7 per cent were only contributing family workers who were unpaid. This marks the precarious conditions in which women workers have fallen into. Self-employment among female workers has risen from 63.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2025-26, while regular wage and salaried employment declined from 21.4 per cent in April-June 2025 to 21.1 per cent in January-March 2026. There was also sharp fall in their casual employment which fell from 15.1 per cent to just 14.1 per cent during this period.

Self-employment also rose during this period for male workers from 50.3 per cent to 51.6 per cent. Casuals work for them declined from 22.4 per cent to 20.9 per cent during this period, while regular wage and salaried employment for them marginally rose from 27.3 per cent to 27.5 per cent. Out of the self-employed male, 43.1 per cent males were own account workers which has risen from 41.3 per cent, while unpaid contributing family male unpaid workers have risen from 7.5 per cent to 7.6 per cent.

In the urban areas, regular wage and salaried workers declined from 49.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2025-26 to 48.9 per cent in the last quarter January-March 2026. Casual employment also declined from 11.3 per cent to 11.2 per cent. Due to the less opportunity of employment in the labour market, the percentage of self-employed people rose from 39.3 per cent to 39.9 per cent, contributing family members rose from 6 per cent to 6.2 per cent, and own account workers rose from 32.2 to 33 per cent.

Female own account workers in the urban areas rose from 25.1 per cent to 25.9 per cent and contributing family female workers from 11.1 per cent to 11.7 per cent, adding up to a rise from 37.4 per cent to 38 per cent from first quarter to fourth quarter of the year 2025-26. Regular wage and salaried employment from them declined from 55.1 per cent to 54.2 per cent, while opportunity for casual work stagnated at 7.5 per cent.

For male in urban areas, casual work declined from 12.5 per cent in the first quarter to 12.3 per cent in the last quarter, while regular wage and salaried employment declined from 47.5 per cent to 47.2 per cent. It pushed the self-employment up from 40 per cent to 40.5 per cent, own account worker from 34.6 per cent to 35.3 per cent and contributing family male workers from 4.3 per cent to 4.4 per cent.

In rural areas, quality of employment was far worse than in urban areas. Regular wage and salaried employment remained at 15.5 per cent during January-March 2026 which was 15.4 per cent during April-June 2025. There was sharp decline in availability of casual employment which came down from 23.9 per cent to 21.9 per cent. It pushed the level of self-employment up from 60.7 per cent to 62.5 per cent. Own account worker rose from 41.9 to 44 per cent and contributing family workers rose from 17.5 per cent to 17.7 per cent.

There was very little opportunity for female workers in the rural areas, where regular wage and salaried employment to them remained as little as 11.2 per cent during January-March 2026, which was a little improvement from 10.9 per cent. Nevertheless, casual employment for them had a sharp decline from 17.5 per cent in the first quarter of the year to 16.1 per cent in the last quarter. No wonder self-employment among rural female was as high as 72.7 per cent during January-March 2026 which had risen from 71.6 per cent in April-June 2025. Own account rural female workers rose from 36.4 per cent to 38.4 per cent, though contributing female rural workers declined from 34.3 per cent to 33.8 per cent which is very high because they are unpaid workers.

For male rural workers, casual employment declined from 27.1 per cent to 25 per cent though regular wage and salaried employment opportunities rose from 17.6 per cent to 17.9 per cent during this period. Self-employment among rural male workers rose from 55.3 per cent to 57.1 per cent, own account male workers rose from 44.6 per cent to 47 per cent and contributing rural male family workers rose from 9 per cent to 9.1 per cent.

All India WPR has risen from 39.3 per cent to 39.9 per cent between first and the fourth quarter, but it fell from 40.2 per cent in the third quarter of 2025-26. Male WPR was 54.8 per cent and female WPR was just 25.2 per cent during January-March 2026. WPR in urban areas was 37 per cent and in rural areas 41.3 per cent.

Employment in the agriculture sector was 41.1 per cent during January-March 2026, while in secondary sector including mining and quarrying it was 25.2 per cent and in the tertiary sector 33.7 per cent. The matter of concern is that the employment in secondary and tertiary sector has fallen from 26.6 per cent and 33.9 per cent in April-June 2025.

The All India Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in CWS, that is the workers actually employed and actively searching for employment, was 42 per cent – 57.6 per cent among males and 26.6 per cent among females. In urban areas LFPR was 39.7 per cent and in rural areas 43.1 per cent in January-March 2026.

Unemployment rate remained as high as 5 per cent in January-March 2026. Among youth 15-29 years it was 15 per cent highest in the four quarters of the year, the lowest being 14.3 per cent in the third quarter October-December 2025. Rural unemployment stood at 4.3 per cent and urban unemployment at 6.6 per cent. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

With the publication of the final rules under the Code on Wages, 2019 and Industrial Relations Code, 2020 on Friday, May 8, 2026, the Union Government of India has fully operationalized them. Apart from these, the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment has also notified the Model Standing Orders, 2026, for the mining, manufacturing and services sectors.

The final rules on the other two new labour codes – the Code on Social Security, 2020 and the Occupational Safety, Health and working Conditions Code, 2020 will also be published soon, according to the officials in the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment.

All the four controversial labour codes were notified on November 21, 2025, just after BJP’s spectacular win in Bihar Legislative Assembly election. However, the codes were not implemented due to stiff opposition by the joint platform of the 10 Central Trade Unions (CTUs) in the country which threatened all India strike if implemented.

Thereafter, the Union Ministry of Labour announced that the full implementation of the labour codes will be rolled out from April 1, 2026 with the beginning of the new financial year 2026-27. The Ministry said that they needed further feedback from the stakeholder on the final rules.

Consequently, the final draft central rules were published on December 30, 2025 for stakeholders’ feedback. The government gave a 30-days feedback period for the Industrial Relations Code, while for other three codes the given feedback period was 45-days.

In the meantime, on February 12, 2026, the joint platform of the CTUs, farmers unions, scheme workers, bank associations and other sectoral unions organized an all India strike against the labour codes demanding their immediate withdrawal. It was the largest ever workers’ strike in India. They also threatened that if the government went ahead with roll out of the final rules for full implementation of the codes, they would organize an unprecedented level of protest and strike action, which will include multi-days general strike of the workforce in the country.

The government has now published the final rules on two of the codes after the spectacular win in the West Bengal. It is worth recalling that West Bengal is the only state that has not published its own rules under the Central Labour Codes, which was legally required for their implementation because labour is in the Concurrent List of the Constitution of India. Now a BJP government is in power in West Bengal, and therefore, there will be no problem for the Centre to get the rules framed and published by the state under the new labour codes. It will pave the way for full implementation of the labour rules across the states in the country.

The Code of Wages subsumes 4 laws – on Minimum Wages, Payment of Wages, Payment of Bonus, and Equal Remuneration. The Industrial Relations Code subsumes 3 laws – on Industrial Disputes, Industrial Employment (Standing Orders), and Trade Unions. Final rules were published on these two codes.

The Code on Social Security subsumes 9 laws which included EPF, ESIC, Maternity Benefit and Gratuity. The Occupations Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code subsumes 13 laws which included Factories Act, Mines Act, and Contract labour. Official sources said that final rules regarding these will be published soon for fully operationalizing all the four labour codes. As for now, old rules will remain in force until final publications of the new rules relating to these codes.

With the final publication of central rules on Wages and Industrial Relations, these will be implemented immediately on the sectors and units under the central government. However, the state governments are supposed to publish their rules as soon as possible as per the central rules.

Official sources say that the publication of final rules were delayed chiefly because certain definitions and provisions needed explanations. With the publication of the final rules, that hurdle has been removed. Publication of final rules was necessary for making the new codes fully operational. Now these can be enforced in the country.

The rules under the Code on Wages empowers the Union government to set minimum wages, a national floor wage, and also to prescribe the manner in which payments are to be made. It makes the employer responsible for non-payment of bonus to the contractual employees, though they may be working under contractors. Variable dearness allowances are to be revised twice a year as per the CPI for industrial workers. Weekly working hours have been capped at 48 hours, and anyone working beyond will be paid twice the amount of their defined hourly wages.

Under the Industrial Relations Code rules, the government will set up a National Reskilling Fund. A worker losing job will be given one-time severance pay and will be financially supported from the fund to gain new skills.

Though the government has termed the implementation of the codes the next transformative step for much needed labour reform, the CTUs have criticised it and demanded immediate withdrawal of the codes threatening unprecedented large scale protest across the country. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

BJP won the West Bengal election with the most recognizable face leading from the grassroots to the state level against Mamata led TMC is Suvendu Adhikari. He also defeated TMC supremo CM Mamata Banerjee from Bhabanipur Vidhan Sabha constituency. Naturally, he is seen as the most suitable candidate for Chief Minister post by common people, but not by the BJP’s state and central leadership, many of them betrayed some unspecified internal discomfort ever since the election results were announced on May 4. Suvendu Adhikari himself have contributed in the internal discomfort by making some rash statements, of which the most damaging to the party, both domestically and internationally, was his saying that he will work for the Hindus of Nandigram, because they have voted for him, while Muslims voted for TMC.

Apart for Bhabanipur Vidhan Sabha Constituency, Suvendu also won Nandigram Vidhan Sabha Constituency. He had defeated Mamata Banerjee from Nandigram in 2021, after he had switched over to BJP from TMC. He was a minister and deputy in the CM Mamata led government until he left her in 2020. After winning in 2021, he became leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Vidhan Sabha, and continuously opposed Mamata and her government. He was the chief architect of an escalated anti-establishment sentiment against Mamata, which ultimately unseated her from the power in 2026.

BJP’s central and state leadership recognize his contribution in party’s win, but they have been feeling a deep discomfort too on account of his statements. For example his recent statement in relation to his win in Nandigram has just reversed Modi’s “Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas” (With all, development for all) slogan to “Jo Hamare Sath, Hum Uske Saath” (Who is with us, we are with them). He did not stop at that. He continued – We had said to save Hindus and the Constitution. I talked about nationalist Muslims. You all sloganeered – Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas. Then Suvendu said with folded hand – We will not say all that from now.

When everybody is criticizing Mamata Banerjee for saying that she will not resign from the Chief Minister’s post, the BJP leadership is busy in assessing the pros and cons of not making Suvendu chief minister of the state, chiefly on account of the internal discomfort that Suvendu has created by his statements. Choosing a chief minister who says that he will work for those who votes for him, is not only unethical but also against Modi’s slogan of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”. It is also against the Constitution of India. How can BJP legitimately choose a person a chief minister who says he will work for the community who voted for him, referring a community that not voted for him?

What goes in favour of Suvendu Adhikari is that he has strong backing of some central BJP leaders. He has also the largest support base in the state from the grassroots level to the state level rank and file in comparison to any other state BJP leader. Therefore, the central leadership will run a risk if they antagonize him by not making him chief minister of the state.

However, there are many BJP leaders who do not like Suvendu Adhikari to be chief minister of the state on account of his arrogance. They are lobbying that he must not be made chief minister of the state. This has made to rethink the central leadership before announcing any name for the post of chief minister. A legislative party meeting is scheduled to be held on May 8 in the evening, which will decide its chief minister, in the presence for central BJP leadership.

In the meantime, an RSS-BJP lobby is asserting that Suvendu is new entrant in the party, and hence he must not be made chief minister. Some old RSS-BJP leader should be made chief minister of the state. They have proposed several names for the post. One of the suggestions made before the central BJP leadership is that a woman should replace the woman chief minister Mamata Banerjee. This suggestion has some attraction because PM Narendra Modi and the BJP has always been talking about Nari Shakti, and recently they tried to push Women’s Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha.

The most important issue before the central BJP leadership is that how to keep the Bengali diverse electorate in favour of the party until the Lok Sabha election 2029. Reversing “Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas” may prove counterproductive for the party. Many BJP leaders in the state and at the central level have already distanced themselves from Suvendu’s statement of working for those who voted them.

The other point of consideration for the central BJP leadership is that a West Bengal chief minister typically needs support beyond its core vote bank on account of cultural diversity in the state. Aggressive communal messaging may be beneficial during elections, but is not good during party’s rule. BJP leadership also wants not to give any political tool in the hands of TMC supremo Mamata in the state, INDIA bloc across India, and to the International community. They may like a less controversial face as chief minister, but then there is a risk of stiff opposition from the Suvendu Adhikari’s support base among BJP’s rank and file. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

The theme of May Day 2026 focuses on “Ensuring a Healthy Psychosocial Working Environment” which reminds us how the working environment has deteriorated in recent times. In India, the recent workers unrests in April in Noida and the states in the National Capital Regions, show it. Protesting workers demanded chiefly two things – increase in minimum wages to the level that is necessary for survival and workplace safety. In Noida protests over 350 people were arrested for arson, vandalism, and spreading rumours. Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh suspected foreign “conspiracy” behind the unrest, while Trade Unions alleged that protest was ruthlessly suppressed.

Ironically, the government of India has been implementing the four controversial labour codes from April 1, 2026, which on paper assures both the workplace safety and minimum wages. After the Noida unrest over minimum wages, the UP government had to initiate action against 203 contractors for labour law violations, including failure to pay minimum wages. The joint platform of 10 Central Trade Unions and farmers organization under the umbrella of Samyukta Kisan Morcha have already observed a nationwide strike on February 12 against demanding withdrawal of the labour codes, which was largest ever strikes of workers in India in which over 300 million workers participated.

Nevertheless, government has been rolling out the provisions of the labour codes one by one, which the Central Trade Unions allege anti-labour and pro-corporate. Industries and business have been given free hand for hire and fire, more scope for contractualization and informalization of workers preventing them from social security coverage and subject to further exploitation.

How much anti-labour is the current Government of India , can just be imagined in the April 29 order of the Supreme Court of India, in which the court had to remind the government that India’s space achievement would not have been possible without the contribution of Group C and Group D labourers, and criticized it for failing to implement the regularisation of daily wage workers in ISRO subsidiary, despite earlier direction of the Supreme Court.

It goes without saying that the old issues of exploitation, low wages, and weak enforcement of labour laws persist unchecked, as the Noida labour unrest has clearly shown. Then there are new emerging and intensifying pressures on account of automation, Artificial Intelligence, labour law reforms allegedly in favour of the corporate, and rise of the gig economy and their workers that are given certain social security coverage but not the status of employees.

It is in this general backdrop, the Labour Movement in India needs not only to defend the rights of workers but also to redefine itself in the fast changing world of work. Trade Unions will have to work hard to unite all sections of workforce. Trade Union presence at present is by and large in the organized sector which according to independent assessment employ just about 10 per cent of the workforce in India. About 90 per cent of the workers are in informal sector, and number of informal and contractual workers are on the rise in the organized sector. The four labour codes have been creating even more serious conditions. Given this scenario, Trade Unions of the country need to widen their base among all type of workers – to include platform workers, gig workers, scheme workers, and other informal workers.

The new labour codes and policies adopted by the Government of India try to curb Trade Union Movement in the country. It is another serious concern, especially because the Centre has not even convened meeting of the Indian Labour Conference (ILC) since 2015, though ILC is the highest tripartite body in the country on labour issues. Government supports its own family labour organization BMS and says it the largest Trade Union on the country on the basis of the validation data of 2021. Government has been neglecting all other Trade Unions of the country. India’s labour moment is being suppress in numerous other ways, the joint platform of CTUs have alleged, and has vowed to defend the workers right, by organizing even bigger and multi-days workers strike in the country.

Nevertheless, organizing scattered, informal and gig workers into effective unions is a bigger challenge for the Trade Unions. It is important since majority of workforce is in the unorganized and informer jobs having no social security coverage and very high level of exploitation. Even where welfare schemes exist, there are implementation gaps, delays and exclusions leaving workers without social security benefit. Contractualization and gig worker are expanding which is weakening the collective bargaining power of the Trade Unions.

Despite workers protest with several all India strike actions, the government has started implementing the labour codes. It has increased the challenge before the Trade Unions who need to protect the workers’ rights more effectively, with appropriate strategy.

Technological and AI led job losses need to be protected, especially in the High-Tech sector. This is the sector in which there is little presence of the Trade Unions. Policies in this sector are such that it has considerably weakened the Trade Unions, and bargaining power of workers. Trade Unions will have to rethink their strategy for this segment.

Noida workers unrest has clearly shown that workers are not getting even living wages. Real wages are not keeping pace with price rise and inflation, and inequality is on the rise between capital and labour. Trade Unions will have to strengthen themselves and unite the labour force against their exploitation. Trade Unions need to rebuild unity and their relevance in the changing scenario, especially when the state response to protests are to suppress it through surveillance and arrests. There is a challenge before them to transition the labour movement to include all type of workers. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

As the first phase of election in West Bengal in underway on April 23, the electoral battle for the second phase of election to be held on April 29 has now become a rare spectacle in which Bengal Tigress Mamata Banerjee is seen fighting back as ferociously as the political attacks on her by the two strongest politicians of India PM Narendra Modi and Union Minister of Home Amit Shah.

The fight has now turned into an epic political battle, outcome of which will affect the leaders personally, the fates of their parties, future of the state and the Centre, and federal politics in the country. No wonder, the BJP is trying to conquer this regional citadel in the East at any cost, while Mamata is fiercely fighting to defend it. Stakes are very high on both sides, with rising electoral tensions and political violence and several places.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have been campaigning in the state with high-intensity, multi-layered strategy combining mass rallies, cultural messaging, and booth-level organisational management.

TMC supremo and CM Mamata Banerjee has framed her electoral battle as fight between the BJP culture vs Bengali culture, giving clear signal that BJP is trying to destroy the Bengali culture and the regional citadels of Bengalis.

PM Narendra Modi himself had contributed to the cultural twist to the election campaign by mentioning fish, which heavily symbolic in Bengal because of their food habit. Speaking at a rally in Haldia, Purba Medinipur, he said, “Bengal imports fish from other states. In the last 15 years, the TMC government has taken no worthwhile step to enhance supply and attain self-sufficiency in fish production”. The issue became a key flashpoint after Mamata Banerjee alleged that the BJP would ban fish, meat, and eggs, and impose vegetarianism if elected. PM Modi even tried to connect with local culture by even eating Bengali snack ‘Jhalmuri’ to reduce the “outsider” perception against them.

Amit Shah has been camping in West Bengal and looking after the election campaigns in the state while addressing series of rallies across the state. PM Modi has also been addressing rallies across the state and leading roadshows is several key places in the state including Kolkata. They are making sharp attacks on Mamata Banerjee, who is making equally sharp attack on the duo.

Modi has been repeatedly accusing TMC government of nurturing cut money (bribe) culture, and running a syndicate raj, that is local political extortion networks. He framed Mamata’s rule as anti-development, benefiting middlemen instead of citizens. He also alleged that Mamata practiced minority appeasement and tried to polarise Hindu votes in favour of the BJP. He attacks on Mamata, at times turned personal, mocking and confrontational, aiming to reduce Mamata’s strong emotional connect with voters. He promised a double engine government both at the centre and the state, and claimed that Bengal was missing on central benefits due to TMC. He portrayed Bengal unsafe under TMC. One women’s reservation, he alleged that TMC “betrayed Bengal’s women”.

Mamata on the other hand defenced by her counterattack on Modi. She framed Modi’s almost every claim factually incorrect and insulting to Bengali pride. She said PM Modi’s speeches as insult to Bengal, and completely hypocritical – whether it was the issue of fish, or women’s reservation. “They are spreading lies and trying to divide people,” she said. A recurring line in her speeches is “Bengal will not accept outsiders ruling the state”, which is her strongest political shield directly countering Modi’s national appeal. She even said, “I respected the Prime Minister, but I will not tolerate insult to Bengal.”

As for Amit Shah, he made even sharper attack on Mamata. He said, “We will turn TMC’s goons upside down and straighten them.” He has been referring to Bangladeshi infiltrators, and alleging Muslim appeasement. Kolkata has become a “city of slums because of infiltration” he said blaming Mamata government for illegal migration and urban decline. He also mocked and taunted Mamata by calling “Ei Didi” which later became controversial and perceived as disrespectable language. He said “Tata, bye-bye Didi” and claimed end of her rule.

Mamata Banerjee made counter attack on Amit Shah. She hit back and said, “BJ is the biggest gunda party. They are threatening people instead of doing politics. On infiltration and slums remark of Amit Shah, she said, “They are insulting Bengal and its people … Bengal has always protected everyone.” In response to repeated shark attacks, she said, “Why are they using such language? This is not the culture of Bengal.”

On BJP’s broader campaign, including Shah’s speeches, Mamata’s recurring sharp line is – “They only know how to threaten, divide and spread lies.” On Modi-Shah’s duo’s claim of end of her power after the result is out, she said, “People of Bengal will say bye-bye to BJP, not to me.”

Modi’s attack was related to policy of TMC, messaging of Hindu votes consolidation, and symbolism to remove the “outsider” image of the BJP and their leaders, while Shah was more hard-hitting, and adopted ground-level political attack lines. In response to the Modi’s attacks on policies and criticism of her government Mamata played identity, emotional, welfare legitimacy to convert criticism into “insult to Bengal”. Shah’s attacks were hard, aggressive, and law-and-order focussed and Mamata’s replies were defensive at times but mostly counterattack using regional and cultural identity and dignity of Bengalis.

By April 27, when the election campaign is scheduled to end, we may hear even more sharper attacks and counter attacks of defence from both sides. Million dollar question is whose attacks or defenses are working with voters? Modi-Shah duo’s attacks on Mamata on law and order, infiltration, and political violence seem to be working well in border districts and polarised constituencies, but many common voters find them too harsh, threatening, and misleading.

Mamata’s defensive, emotional, and identity-driven speeches are both protective and combative, that go well with rural voters, women, and Bengali identity conscious population. Mamata seems to be converting personal attack by Modi Shah duo into “attack on a woman leader”, political attack into “attack on Bengal, and ideological attack into “attack on unity.” (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

April 17, 2026 marked the biggest setback for PM Narendra Modi’s political design when the united INDIA bloc in the Lok Sabha brought it down. Never before had INDIA bloc such a win, and Narendra Modi such a defeat, when a constitutional amendment bill brought by his government in a specially convened session of the Parliament of India failed. It was the biggest setback for PM since June 4, 2024, when Lok Sabha elections were out that had reduced his BJP to minority – from 303 seats to only 240.

The defeat of the Constitution 131st Amendment Bill, 2026 on April 17 seeking to amend Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 (the Constitution 106th Amendment Act of 2023) through which Modi government wanted to redraw electoral map of the country by way of delimitation based on Census 2011, as a next higher level of electoral manipulation is politically significant – that might have shaken the earth beneath the feat of PM Narendra Modi, while boosting up morale of the INDIA bloc and its constituents. The bill needed 352 votes, but could get only 298, while 230 votes were cast against it, with 528 MPs present out of 540. Three seats are vacant. The 12 MPs were not present in the House, for several reasons including the election being underway in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

The voting pattern shows one thing clearly – the INDIA bloc has emerged as the most united opposition in the country against the PM Narendra Modi led BJP’s political agenda in the country. Such a Unity was not even seen during the Lok Sabah election 2024. Unity within INDIA bloc had suffered since, with losses in several state legislative elections thereafter. The voting in the Lok Sabha on April 17, shows that they have not only recovered their unity, but also have attracted certain other political parties in their fold against the BJP and NDA.

In this context, the defeat of the Constitution 131st Amendment Bill 2026 in the Lok Sabha, is not a mall thing, because it is not only a defeat of a legislation, but also a political defeat of PM Narendra Modi and BJP in the hands of a strongly united INDIA bloc and other political parties in opposition. No wonder the NDA has been organising nationwide protests against the opposition blaming them for defeat of the women’s reservation.

However, every political party in the opposition has maintained that the bills were not for women’s reservation, but for redrawing of electoral map of the country to suit the BJP’s political agenda. Amendment to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam 2023 was just a cover up.

The new level of unity achieved among the political parties in opposition did not happen automatically, but it was a result of coordinated floor management by the INDIA bloc leadership and their political signalling to non-NDA non-INDIA bloc political parties on issue-based convergence to defeat PM Narendra Modi’s and RSS-BJP’s political agenda.

The amendment was framed by the opposition parties as a threat to constitutional balance in respect to federalism, judiciary, or electoral process. Every political party in opposition – whether national or regional – got a single rallying point and a clear common objective. Leaders across the opposition parties publicly emphasized “defending the constitution” and national and regional interests which helped them to override their internal differences. This shows that unity among the political parties in opposition can unite if there will be common clear objective and appropriate common agenda.

Congress being the largest opposition party played a greater role in uniting the opposition against PM Narendra Modi’s electoral agenda from behind the women’s reservation smokescreen. It successfully coordinated with bloc partners irrespective of political differences such as with Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Shiv Sena (UBT). Top leaders of the Congress, including Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge talked personally to several leaders of other political parties. All of them ultimately united against the government to defeat the bill.

Inside the Lok Sabha, there was a tight floor management. Whips were issued, attendance were enforced, and MPs were instructed to remain present throughout the voting window. They ensured minimal absenteeism among the INDIA bloc MPs and had established real-time communication during debate and voting. They have even resorted to strategic speaking slots in the House to maintain pressure on the government.

INDIA bloc leadership was also able to establish issue-based outreach beyond the INDIA bloc and reached non-aligned or smaller parties not formally part of the alliance. When a constitution amendment required two-third majority, such a strategy was important. It just shows that INDIA bloc leadership was very alert about its strategy.

What next for INDIA bloc? Can they successfully take on PM Narendra Modi and BJP in the General Election 2029? Even a lesser unity had cost BJP 63 seats in Lok Sabha election 2024, and reduced the party to minority with only 240 seats. Now with greater unity, they can think to render even bigger defeat to PM Narendra Modi and BJP, but then they will have to keep up the unity by real-time communication, better coordination, and a common objective. The united voting in the Lok Sabah shows that differences on account of regional and national interests of the parties can be ironed out, if there is a will. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Showing its impatience, PM Narendra Modi led government, has notified the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam 2023. The government implemented it from April 16, 2026, the same day after it introduced an amendment to the Act in the Lok Sabha, after convening a three-day special session of the parliament on April 16-18. Government was sitting over the Act, after the bill got presidential assent on September 28, 2023, but now did not wait for even voting outcome on its own amendment scheduled for April 17 and 4 PM.

Here lies a political trick just to influence the women voters in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu where elections are underway. In spite of its being notified, and the act coming into force, implementation of reservation for women is not possible, which Modi government clearly known. The law itself makes it clear that the quota takes effect only after a fresh delimitation exercise to be carried out based on the first census conducted after the law comes into force.

Elections later this month in the West Bengal and Tamil Nadu explains the urgency of the government, which even grossly violated the Model Code of Conduct in an effort to win women voters of those states. Election Commission of India (ECI) is still silent over the violation, which has been alleged conniving with PM Narendra Modi in electoral manipulation. Opposition has alleged electoral manipulation by the government first by bringing electoral bond scheme, followed by change in legislation relating to appointment of ECI weakening its constitutional autonomy, voter list manipulation by adding voters from other states to win state elections, and then deleting and adding voters through Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

The opposition has also alleged the latest introduction of three legislations – the Constitution 131st Amendment Bill, 2026 which seeks to amend the Constitution of India and to implement Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam 2023, the Delimitation Bill, 2026, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 in the Lok Sabha, which seeks to amend the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963, the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 – a part of PM Narendra Modi’s greater design to completely redraw the electoral map of the country in BJP’s favour before the general election of 2029.

The allegation of the opposition that the government is using women’s reservation as cover of its greater design to redraw the electoral map of the country is serious. It got credence because the government never wanted to implement women’s reservation in the legislatures of the country and states immediately after the passage of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, despite the opposition overwhelmingly supported the legislation. Rather the government linked it to delimitation, which was to be done after the first Census of the country after 2026, and sat over it for over two and half years without notifying it even after presidential assent.

Now on April 16, after introducing amendments to it in the Lok Sabha that seek to remove the constitutional safeguards in respect of delimitation, delimitation commission, and post-2026 Census, and linking it to 15 year old Census 2011 population data, the Modi government has notified the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act of 2023, popularly known as Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam. The long pending law provides 33 per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabah and State Legislative Assemblies.

The gazette notification read, “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 1 of the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023, the Central Government hereby appoints the 16th day of April, 2026 as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force.”

Apart for providing 33 per cent of women’s quota in Lok Sabha and State Legislatures, the law also creates a sub-quota for women belonging to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). Moreover, since the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 proposes to increase the current 543 seats to 850 in the Lok Sabha on the basis of the Census 2011, it is likely to not reflect the present reality of the demography, for reservation for SCs, STs, and Women, and also women from SCs, and ST communities.

When the three legislations relating to women’s reservation and delimitation on back dated 15 years old population data are being debated in the Lok Sabha, and they are to be put to vote on April 17, at 4 PM, Modi government’s hurriedly notifying the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam 2023 is a mysterious act, which is currently not known to the public.

The question is why the government did not wait for the voting outcome on the amendments in Lok Sabha? It might be a fear within the ruling establishment that the amendments can be blocked by the opposition, because they are unitedly opposing them, and they have enough strength to prevent the government to have two-thirds votes needed for any constitutional amendment. And if their amendments are blocked, Modi government could not take credit for the bringing women’s reservation law in force, though it has been sitting over it since September 28, 2023.

Why the three legislations have been brought at this time and why it has been linked to Census 2011? First, the delimitation is a time taking exercise, and last delimitation of 2008 in the country had taken 6 years of time. If the government allows the Constitutional safeguard of post-Census 2026, of the delimitation on the basis of that, and of the Delimitation Commission’s constitutional autonomy, their gameplan of redrawing electoral map of the country will fail. Therefore, they tried to do away with the constitutional guarantees given to the nation.

If the legislations are passed Delimitation Commission will not have constitutional safety, such as of effect a change only by two-third majority in the parliament. The present legislation seeks to change is through simple majority. It would effectively put the Delimitation under full control of the Modi government.

It should be properly understood in context as to how Modi government has been trying to keep every constitutional body under its thumb, including the Election Commission of India. Modi government has already tested it in the past in case of delimitation in Assam which was initiated in December 2022, and in Jammu and Kashmir in March, 2020. Final delimitation order for Assam was passed on the basis of Census 2001, and for Jammu and Kashmir on the basis of Census 2011. Election commission’s conduct was protested in both the Assam and Jammu & Kashmir, and people alleged that the constituencies carved out from the old data did not reflect their current political realities. Moreover, people alleged that Election Commission carved the constituencies on the basis of religion to benefit the BJP.

Delimitation Bill 2026, is suspected to pave the BJP’s design which it got done in Assam and Jammu & Kashmir. Since, there is very little time is left before the General Election 2026, the government wants to get it done on the basis of Census 2011. Census 2027, which is now underway, results will come out after over one year from now, and then delimitation work may further take about six years on the fresh data, as it took in the last delimitation. Delimitation Bill 2026 will also put the commission under de facto control of the government, as the ECI has become after change in legislation of appointment of Election Commissioners brought in 2023.

Election manipulation in India has become a serious issue since 2018 in the country, because of certain moves of the Union government and the Election Commission, which opposition alleged benefited PM Narendra Modi and his BJP. In 2024, BJP had won only 240 seats and reduced to minority status in the Lok Sabha. Opposition allege that the three legislations, if passed, would just change BJP’s minority status into majority to such an extent that opposition could not even dream of matching, simply by increasing the number of seats through delimitation. If it happens it would be the next level of electoral manipulation in the country, the opposition alleged. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

On the first day of the three-day Special Session – April 16 to April 18, 2026 – of the Parliament convened by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government, three legislations have been introduced seeking to change the electoral map of India.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has said that there would be 15-18 hours of time to debate on the three Bills – the Constitution 131st Amendment Bill, 2026; the Delimitation Bill, 2026; and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026. Voting will be held on the three bills as well as on setting up a delimitation commission on April 17, at 4 PM. If the bills are passed, these will be introduced in the Rajya Sabha, and the government is trying to get them passed in this special session itself.

Government is standing behind its announced purpose to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in national and state legislatures, and has linked it to delimitation based on 15 years old population data of Census-2011, while Census-2027 is underway. Opposition has however strongly resisted the subtle move of the government brought from behind the women’s cause.

PM Narendra Modi, who himself was responsible for delay of the implementation of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam by about a decade, had recently said, “Will be a gross injustice if delayed.” However, the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has said ahead of the special session that the proposed amendment was an attempted power grab using delimitation and gerrymandering. Rahul had alleged that the proposed delimitation exercise had “nothing to do” with implementing the 33% women’s reservation, calling it an “attempted power grab” through the redrawing of constituencies.

Opposition had been demanding immediate implementation of the Act ever since it was passed in the parliament in 2023, but Modi government had deferred saying the act will be implemented post-2026 Census and delimitation thereafter. Now he has appealed the opposition to support his moves, while opposition is in no mood to support him now to change the political map of the country in the name of women.

Before the special session began, PM Modi posted on X, “Starting today, in the special session of Parliament, our country is all set to take a historic step towards women’s empowerment. The respect for our mothers and sisters is the respect for the nation, and with this very spirit, we are moving forward resolutely in this direction.”

Union Minister of Law Arjun Ram Meghwal introduced the Constitution 131st Amendment Bill, 2026 which seeks to amend the Constitution of India and to implement Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam 2023, and the Delimitation Bill, 2026. The Union Minister of Home Amit Shah introduced the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 in the Lok Sabha, which seeks to amend the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963, the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.

The Congress MP Hibi Eden and DMK Parliamentary Party leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi moved motions to oppose the amendments to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in the Lok Sabha. The opposition has raised concerns over the proposed changes, particularly the plan to redraw constituencies and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats from the current 543 to a maximum of 850.

Opposition slammed the Modi government over the introduction of these three legislations, particularly the delimitation bill. Congress, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, DMK, AIMIM, RSP, CPIM raised several objections in the Parliament.

Nothing much happened in the Rajya Sabha because the House was adjourned until April 17, 11 AM after oath-taking, obituary references. Opposition has announced that they will boycott the election of the Deputy Chairman scheduled on April 17. Opposition has pointed out that Modi government has not appointed Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha for the last 7 years, which has never happened before. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has said that never before has a person nominated by the President to the Rajya Sabha been considered for the post of its Deputy Chairman.

The focus is therefore on the proceedings in the Lok Sabha, in which the fate of the country will be decided within three days, where government is seeking to redraw electoral map of India through the three interlinked legislations.

INDIA bloc is supporting women’s reservation bill but it opposed the proposed delimitation exercise. Congress MP Karti Chidambaram has said that INDIA bloc would vote against the delimitation-related proposal, asserting that the government may not have sufficient numbers to pass it.

“The timing of the Parliament session itself is very devious. Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are yet to go to the polls, and we are in the middle of an election campaign. In order to disrupt the campaign of the principal political parties in these states, which are clearly opposed to the BJP, the government has convened a Parliament session on the 16th, 17th, and 18th. This clearly reflects the government’s underhanded agenda,” Karti Chidambaram alleged.

Participating in the debate Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav questioned the Centre’s urgency, “Why is the Centre rushing for women’s reservation? Start with the Census first.” He supported the women’s reservation but opposed its implementation through delimitation that too the manner in which government wants. He said, “”They are delaying the census because when it happens, we will ask for the caste-based census, and they don’t want it.”

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, “The Census process has already started across the country, and after that, we will also conduct a caste-based census.”

Congress MP KC Venugopal opposed all three legislations and formally recorded the party’s objections in the House. He said, “The government wants to completely hijack the Constitution.”Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi has said, “Don not link women’s quota to delimitation.”

BJP MP Tejasvi Surya said, “The opposition does not come prepared for debates … and their object is to oppose for the sake of opposing.” He referred opposition of the government’s moves in Tamil Nadu and said, “Today, they are out there in Tamil Nadu doing drama by burning a constitutional amendment bill. Let there be a limit to your hypocrisy. Let there be a limit to the hypocrisy of the DMK now.”

It will not out of place to mention here that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has intensified his opposition to the Centre’s proposed delimitation exercise by symbolically burning a copy of the delimitation bill and raising a black flag as part of a protest he has called for. He wrote on X, “Let the flames of resistance spread across Tamil Nadu! Let the arrogance of the fascist BJP be brought down! … This fire will now spread across the Dravidian land. It will rise, it will rage, and it will bring the BJP’s arrogance to its knees.”

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has said, “The issue is very simple. The government has a plan to redelimit the constituencies and increase the number of seats in areas where the ruling party is strong. They are using women’s reservation as an excuse to bring about that change by trying to amend the constitutional amendments that they had already brought in 2023.”

Nevertheless, PM Narendra Modi said in the Lok Sabha, “Those opposing quota won’t be forgiven by women. …Women’s reservation is not in favour of any party …no need to give it political colour.” PM Modi, however, admitted that everyone urged for the women’s reservation to be taken up in 2023-24 itself, but adding that “it wasn’t possible due to time constraint … we shouldn’t delay it further.” He also said, “Irrespective of who is responsible, we have already delayed women’s reservation enough.”

PM Modi also referred to Tamil Nadu and said “If you want me to use the words “guarantee” or “promise”, I shall do it. If there is any apt word in Tamil, will use that as well. When the intent is pure, there is no need to play the game of words.” He also said, “It is obvious that I will benefit from it politically.” However, if women’s reservation is not done even after almost three decades of delay, the benefit will slip away from all parties and people. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Election Commission of India (ECI) has caused miscarriage of democracy in West Bengal, which is rejoiced by the Union Government of India led by PM Narendra Modi and RSS-BJP clan, lamented by millions of voters whose names were deleted from the electoral roll under Special Intensive Revision (SIR), and strongly resisted by West Bengal Government. It is very unfortunate that the miscarriage was caused under the nose of the Supreme Court of India.

The Electoral Rolls have been frozen on April 6 and April 9, on the last date of nominations for the two-phase election in West Bengal, with names of over 9 million voters deleted. Supreme Court has allowed it to happen, by accepting it as final electoral roll, though its preparation is still questionable, which is not even free and fair, which the Supreme Court has itself accepted. Supreme Court failed to provide even enough time before election to deleted voters to appeal in the Tribunals against the adjudication orders by former judges, though it expressed concerns about ongoing SIR process, and emphasized on need to have a “robust appellate mechanism” to deliver justice to the deleted voters.

The good words of the Supreme Courts are welcome, but it applies for the future. What is happening now is of serious concern, since deleted voters are unheard in the appellate tribunals, and their constitutional right to vote has already been violated, which is nothing but miscarriage of democracy.

Supreme Court might have been aware how BJP’s real politics moved faster than their decisions, and how BJP politicians got the things done whatever they wanted in respect to electoral roll manipulations, as alleged by the opposition, by addition of names of persons from outside states and by deletion of voters who they supposed were anti-BJP. This is what precisely happened, fist in Bihar, and now is happening in West Bengal.

Appellate Tribunals have started hearing the appeals on April 13, 2026, and it is obvious that the persons whose names are deleted, several days after the voter list have been frozen, cannot vote in this election. The West Bengal government led by TMC leader CM Mamata Banerjee has raised serious concern about the deleted voters, and prayed that if the process of SIR can’t be completed before election, electors should be allowed to vote on the basis of the pre-SIR electoral roll. However, the Supreme Court refused the request, accepted the incomplete electoral roll published by ECI on February 28, as Final Electoral Roll, directing ECI to publish supplementary electoral rolls, after adjudication by the judicial officers it had ordered to deploy.

The adjudication process for SIR in West Bengal was “largely completed” by April 9, on the last date of nomination for the second phase of election. Supreme Court had refused to delay the freezing of electoral rolls on April 6, the last date of nomination for the first phase of election. An April 13, the Supreme Court has ruled that individuals whose appeals are pending or not resolved by the deadline cannot vote in 2026 Assembly election. There are over 34 lakh pending voter exclusion appeals before the 19 newly created tribunals.

Supreme Court Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, which also included Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi, have been hearing a bunch of petitions against SIR. The Bench has been raising serious concerns about the process, and have been giving directions to the ECI to conduct SIR in justifiable manner. It had also flagged the ECI software that have created discrepancies. The Bench had noted that there was no trust between the ECI and the West Bengal government, and ordered adjudication by formers judges, and then establishment of tribunals.

Supreme Court knew that the West Bengal was targeted unfairly, but it is most unfortunate thing that the Bench did not act properly. On April 13, the Bench itself said that the ECI departed from promise to leave voters in 2002 electoral roll untouched. Not only that the Bench noted that the “logical discrepancy” category was unique to West Bengal, and was not applied to SIR process in any other state.

On April 13, the Apex Court told the ECI that right to be on electoral roll and to vote in one’s own country is not only constitutional right but also sentimental, while referring to lakhs of voters excluded for “logical discrepancies” and lining up for appeal hearing in the state hardly 10 days ahead of Assembly elections, following an “inquisitorial” SIR. It said that voting is the biggest expression of nationality and patriotism that you are in participatory process to elect a democratic government, justice Joymalya Bagchi said.

“No other state has a category called “logical discrepancy”. We have examined Bihar, we did not find a single person flagged for logical discrepancy,” said justice Bagchi, adding, “This is not a question of inflating or shrinking, but of Fairness.”

Justice Bagchi said, “The original SIR notification said voters in the 2002 electoral roll would not be touched. The 2002 roll would be the benchmark. But when you introduced ‘logical discrepancy’, you infracted that rule.”

Representing ECI Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, said “statistics” proved West Bengal did not “stand out” and was “on par” with other states in the number of exclusions. He also said that voters who could prove their credentials were retained, and those with disparity in their names or other background detains were asked to provide detains, which were verified.

Ironically, the Bench was hearing a petition of Quraisha Yeasmin, who was a mapped voter, and had an Indian passport and an Aadhaar. Yet she said, she was excluded from the electoral roll. On submission by Naidu, Justice Bagchi said, “A voter in the 2002 roll was not required to give anything… When the Bihar SIR was argued, and the Bihar SIR was a facsimile of the SIR we are dealing with today, the EC was unequivocal when it submitted that a person in the 2002 voter list does not have to prove anything. No uploading of documents was required… And then you deviated from your original arguments.”

“The appellate process must be robust… somewhere we are getting blinded by the dust and fury of an impending election… We need to protect the due process rights of the voters,” Justice Bagchi said. “This is not a fight between the EC and the West Bengal government. This is not a blame-game. It is a question of voters being sandwiched between two constitutional authorities. Our adjudicatory process and interventions were meant to ensure fair elections. The appeal hearings cannot be hurried. We are not on ‘ends justifying means’. We are on ‘means subjecting themselves to reasonableness and fairness’.”

Despite all these, the current position is that elections are being held on faulty, and unfair voter list, and by the time justice will be delivered, election will be over. BJP will get benefit of this voter list manipulation, and TMC will suffer. Supreme Court is trying to show it is doing its best, and we see where things stand, not only on SIR, but also how Central Investigating Agencies are active, and how ECI has virtually taken the state administration, that are advantage BJP Government led by PM Narendra Modi. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

While world’s untaxed wealth of the richest 0.1 per cent hidden offshore surpasses entire wealth of the poorest half of the humanity, India remains the receiver of the highest number of the regressive tax recommendations by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that increases tax burden on the lower-income households more than high-income earners.

This has been revealed in two separate analyses by Oxfam today on April 2, 2026, just ahead of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C. to be held from April 13 to April 18, and ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Panama Papers which were officially leaked and published on April 3, 206 by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which had revealed a global network of offshore companies used for tax evasion and money laundering.

Now, a decade later, the Oxfam analysis reveals that the super-rich continue to exploit offshore systems to evade taxes and conceal assets, highlighting the urgent need for coordinated international action to tax extreme wealth and end the use of tax havens. It estimates that $3.55 trillion in untaxed wealth was stashed offshore in tax havens and unreported accounts in 2024.This sum hidden globally is more than twice the combined GDP of the world’s 44 least developed countries.

The richest 0.1 percent people of the world holds approximately 80 percent of all untaxed offshore wealth, or around $2.84 trillion. Within this tiny group, the ultra-wealthiest 0.01 percent holds roughly half ($1.77 trillion).

Christian Hallum, Oxfam International’s Tax Lead, has said, “The Panama Papers pulled back the veil on a shadow world where the richest quietly move immense fortunes beyond the reach of taxes and scrutiny. Ten years on, the super-rich are still sequestering oceans of wealth in offshore vaults.”

“This isn’t just about clever accounting —it’s about power and impunity. When millionaires and billionaires stash trillions of dollars in offshore tax havens, they place themselves above the obligations that bind the rest of society. The consequences are as predictable as they are devastating: we see our public hospitals and schools starved of funds, our social fabric shredded by rising inequality, and ordinary people forced to shoulder the costs of a system rigged to enrich a tiny few,” Christian Hallum added.

While progress has been made in reducing untaxed offshore wealth, it remains stubbornly high at approximately 3.2 percent of global GDP, Oxfam said in its press release. Progress also remains highly uneven: most countries in the Global South are excluded from the Automatic Exchange of Information system (AEOI) despite their urgent need for tax revenue. It is worth noting that the AEOI is credited with reducing the share of untaxed offshore wealth in recent years.

Another analysis by Oxfam, that examined the IMF’s tax advice to 125 countries between 2022 and 2024, says that only 3 percent of the more than 1,000 tax recommendations made by the IMF to governments in recent years focus on taxing wealth and income from wealth.

Despite the rapid growth of extreme wealth ―billionaire wealth has surged by 81 percent since 2020― just 30 of 1,049 tax recommendations focus on net wealth taxes and the taxation of income from wealth, namely capital gains, the Oxfam analysis has found.

Kate Donald, Head of Oxfam International’s Washington DC Office, said, “As billionaire fortunes grow at extraordinary speed, the IMF’s silence on taxing extreme wealth is increasingly untenable.” She also said, “The Fund is reinforcing a system in which ordinary people —already strangled by rising prices— are forced to shoulder the brunt of taxes. Meanwhile, vast concentrations of obscene wealth remain largely untaxed. Serious fiscal reform should start with those most able to contribute.”

The Oxfam analysis exposed two striking discrepancies in IMF guidance depending on a country’s income level. First, 52 percent of tax advice to high-income countries was progressive, while 59 percent of tax advice to low- and lower-middle-income countries was regressive. Secondly, while the IMF publicly acknowledges that tax policy is a critical tool for addressing inequality, it links its tax advice to inequality far more often for high-income countries (34 percent) than low- and lower-middle-income countries (8 percent).

It is here worth noting that a progressive tax system ensures those who have higher income and more wealth pay proportionally more taxes than those who have less. Progressive tax measures like net wealth and capital gains taxes were rarely recommended, and when they were, advice was concentrated in high-income contexts. Also, nearly 90 percent of low- and lower-middle-income countries have medium or high inequality.

The Oxfam analysis found that IMF tax advice to Canada and the United States was overwhelmingly progressive, while advice to South Asia was by far the most regressive, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa. India received the highest number of regressive recommendations.

It is worth noting here that the IMF’s regressive recommendations typically refer to tax policy advice – often given to developing nations – that increases the tax burden on lower-income households more than high-income earners. These commonly included pushing for higher Value Added Taxes (VAT) or consumption taxes, cutting tax exemptions, and prioritizing revenue collection over equitable distribution.

The Oxfam analysis says, “In the past 25 years, the gap between the richest 1 percent and the poorest 50 percent has grown in twice as many low- and middle-income countries that received mostly regressive IMF tax advice (25 percent) than in those that received mostly progressive advice (11 percent).”

Ms. Kate Donald said, “The IMF is operating with a troubling double standard that calls into question the evenhandedness it holds as a core principle. It offers mostly progressive tax advice to rich countries, yet its guidance for the rest of the world remains largely regressive. The Fund must provide equally progressive tax advice to all members —or admit its commitment to tackling inequality is merely rhetorical.”

Oxfam’s analysis also found that 10 percent of the IMF’s recommended tax reforms address gender inequality, and most of these references amount to just a few sentences. Overall, more than 90 percent of all IMF tax guidance focuses on tweaking existing measures.

In the context of the unlawful attacks on Iran by Israel and the United States, and Iran’s response, tax policy remains a critical tool for mitigating the impact of surging energy prices, which drive up costs for transport, food, and basic commodities, disproportionately affecting lower-income households. A windfall profits tax on energy corporations, which are poised to earn substantially higher profits, should be systematically included in IMF tax guidance.

Oxfam has called on governments to ensure the richest 1 per cent pay significantly higher effective tax rates on income from both labour and capital, with even higher rates for multimillionaires and billionaires, and end tax havens under the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation. It has also urged IMF to systematically place inequality at the heart of all fiscal advice, significantly broaden recommendations for taxing high-net-worth individuals and wealth, while actively supporting measures to curb corporate tax avoidance and harmful competition. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

By modifying its own order on April 1, 2026, to allow new documents to be submitted before the Tribunals established to hear appeal against deletion of names from the Final Electoral Roll of West Bengal, the Supreme Court of India has brought a new hope to the people whose names have been deleted under Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, though it has come too late, preventing many citizens in participating in the election, which is just a violation of their constitutional right, and failure of the Election Commission of India (ECI) in conducting free and fair election.

Election to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal, was announced on March 15, 2026, though the Final Electoral Roll published on February 28 was actually not final. Notification for the first phase of election was issued on March 30, and last date for filing nomination is April 6. According to law, the electoral roll is frozen on the last date of nomination. Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court has informed the Supreme Court Bench hearing a bunch of petitions in this regard that the judicial officers have disposed of nearly 47 lakh out of 60 lakh claims under adjudication, have been deciding nearly 2 lakh objections daily, and will clear the pending claims by April 7.

It should be noted that April 7 is the date of scrutiny of nomination for the first phase of election. There is no clarity over total number of deletions, though CM of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee has said that names of 1.2 crore voters have been deleted. The deleted voters are not able to participate in the election, because they got no time for appeal against deletion, because the 19 Appellate Tribunals, headed by former High Court Chief Justices or Justices, have only been notified by the order of the Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi, and they will be operational soon.

Finding the ECI and the West Bengal Government having distrust against each other, the Supreme Court Bench had order deployment of judicial officers from West Bengal and neighbouring states Jharkhand and Odisha for adjudication work on about 60 lakh names that were put under logical discrepancy list. Over 730 judges were deployed, and the work is still not complete.

The Appellate Tribunals were not supposed to accept any new document, other than which were notified by the ECI and as ordered by the Supreme Court, from the voters whose names were deleted from the electoral roll. Additionally, the Tribunals had also not access to the reasons record by the adjudicating officers for deletion of names or acceptance. Now the Supreme Court have modified its order and not only allowed Tribunals to accept submission of new documents, but also has said that they must have access to the reasons recorded by the adjudicating officers. Both the direction has brought a great hope to the people whose names are deleted from the Final Electoral Roll and the supplementary electoral rolls.

The Supreme Court had initially ordered that the Appellate Tribunals should not entertain fresh or new documents which were not submitted before the adjudicating officers. When the petitioners in the case raised serious concern about its potential adverse impact on the fate of the citizens and their voting rights, the Bench has modified its order as “The Appellate Tribunal will not entertain fresh documents without verifying the genuineness of such documents.”

The court also observed that the Tribunals must have access to the reasons recorded by adjudicating officers for their decisions. Justice Bagchi observed, “The architecture of the software provides for a field for remarks, which are reasons given by the officers concerned while deciding whether the logical discrepancy was justified and therefore deletion was warranted or it was not justified and therefore inclusion is directed. In such cases, whenever an appeal is field by an aggrieved person, be it the representative of the ECI who feels that the inclusion is unjustified or be it the person who has been excluded, the reason shall be supplied to the person concerned.”

As for the incorrect inclusion in or exclusion from the electoral roll, Justice Bagchi said that they can be corrected by the Tribunals, and said, “Even if a person is excluded today, and is unable to vote in this particular election, but that exclusion appears to be unjustified to a Tribunal headed by a former Chief Justice, we see no reason why the decision can be altered and he can be included. And likewise, a person incorrectly included, and votes in this election, and your representative makes a report to the Tribunal, we see no reason why the entire cleaning exercise taken by you should not been taken to its logical conclusion.”

Petitioners also raised concern about bulk registration of new voters, on which the Bench said that voters included after the qualifying date set by the ECI cannot claim the right to vote. They Bench also said that the petitioners should bring to notice any specific difficulties to the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court who has been entrusted with this matter.

Supreme Court’s modification of its order gives much needed relief, but the question of free and fair election remains unanswered since the very electoral roll on which these rests is not final and the persons whose names have been deleted are not given time to appeal before the election of the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

The Congress announced five guarantees to Assam voters on Sunday March 29, and two days later on March 31, BJP has released its manifesto and gave 31 promises. A special feature of the BJP’s manifesto is its comparison of achievement of NDA and UPA rule in the state trying to outshine the Congress. The social and economic promises given by both are attractive and may catch the imagination of voters, who will cast their vote on April 9, 2026.

The first guarantee the congress gave was to transfer Rs 50000 to every woman’s bank account to start or grow business. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged, “The money that the BJP is today giving to women is conditional. They see that you are a BJP member. But after my government comes, we will not give any conditions. We will give it to all women.”

The second Congress guarantee is Rs25 lakh cashless health cover for families, as such cover was given in Congress led governments in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. The third Congress guarantee was delivering justice in the matter of death of singer Zubeen Garn within 100 days. The fourth guarantee was to increase old age pension from Rs250 to Rs1250 per month, and the fifth guarantee was to give permanent pattas (document) replacing 10 lakh annual land pattas to “Bhoomi Putras”.

Congress campaign seems to rest on criticising BJP leader and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Congress president Kharge said that he had snatched the CM’s seat from BJP CM Sarbananda Sonowal through deception. He tried to attract voters’ imagination by asking them, “Will you vote for such person? Will you vote for someone who deceives? Who lies? Who eats others’ money? Who steals land? Who helps the sand mafia. All the people in their house are drowning in corruption.” Congress leaders are campaigning but their campaigns seem to be weak in substance.

On the other hand, BJP has come out with a manifesto, and tried to corner the Congress on achievements. It gave comparison of the performances of the UPA government during 2006-2026 and NDA government during 2016-2026. The indicators included central assistance, GSDP, Central Tax Devolution, Per Capita Income, Poverty Rate, Road infrastructure, Bridges over Brahmaputra, Colleges and Universities both government and private, Medical Colleges, Cancer Institutes, Medical seats, Maternal Mortality Ratio, and Wildlife. The data it provided clearly outshines the Congress.

After giving the comparison, it gives details of its performance in the last 10 years of BJP led NDA rule. Congress will thus have to counter the development narrative of the government effectively, if it wants to push its own narrative of development in the state.

BJP does not rely only on the economic content it gave in the manifesto, but also have given 31 politically attractive promises. The first two promises are social promises that have been agitating the mind of the people of Assam for a long time.

“We will protect the land, heritage and dignity of the indigenous people of Assam, the first Sankalpa says, “By Implementing the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, to expedite the process of detection and pushback of illegal immigrants; Freeing every inch of land from encroachment by illegal immigrants; Providing land rights to all genuine citizens of Assam under Mission Basundhara; Freeing the remaining encroached lands of Satras, Namghars, Devalayas and other places of worship and cultural heritage and providing financial assistance under the Asom Darshan Scheme; Strengthening the Satra Aayog to free Satralands from encroachment and provide assistance for Satra restoration and preservation; Redeveloping the Sri Sri Madhupur Satra in line with the Batadrava Than Cultural Project (Srimanta Sankardeva Abirbhav Kshetra); and Redeveloping and restoring Talatal Ghar and freeing it from encroachment in line with the Rang Ghar Beautification Project.

The second socially and politically relevant promise it has made, “We will strengthen the legislative protections to preserve the civilisation, heritage and rights of the people of Assam by: Working towards the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), excluding the 6th Schedule areas and tribals, while ensuring the traditional rights of ethnic communities; Formulating an effective Act to end the menace of Love Jihad; and taking firm measures to tackle the menace of Land Jihad.”

The next 29 promises it gave were related to economy and development. I promised to invest ₹5 lakh crore to position Assam as India’s Eastern Gateway, backed by an Asom Gati Shakti Master Plan to ensure the timely completion of projects.

It has promised city development projects in collaboration with the Central government under with sustainable satellite townships, industrial cities, world class Aerocity and airport in Silchar.

BJP’s other important promises include creation of a flood-free Assam Mission with and investment of ₹18,000 crore+; creation of additional 2 lakh government jobs; financial assistance of upto ₹5 lakh to cover 10 lakh youth under the Chief Minister’s Atmanirbhar Asom Abhijan to support the creation of new entrepreneurial ventures; free ration; a university in every district; free education from KG to PG to poor; increase monthly assistance to women to Rs3000 per month and also financial assistance of Rs25,000 to existing beneficiaries for business; Rs 11,000 per year for farmers; inclusion of seven communities in OBC list; land pattas; and doubling the Assam’s economy by 2031 to $150 billion, and scale it to $300 billion by 2036. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

On the very onset of the Financial Year 2026-27, beginning from April 1, 2026, India faces a multi-layered set of risks, given its position as a major energy importer with strong trade, investment, and remittance linkages with the West Asia region, which has turned into a war zone since the United States of America and Israel launched it on February 2026. India’s budget for 2026-27, was tabled in the parliament much before on February 1, that has now been rendered irrelevant, and the evolving situation warrants calibrated policy responses, to save the people of India. According to an estimate the fall of the rupee to Rs93 per dollar in early March had already pushed 18.7 per cent of the country’s population into poverty compared to early 2022, while it continues to fall. On March 30, it is Rs 94.71 per dollar.

In the monthly Economic Review for March 2026, the Chief Economic Advisor of the Government of India V Anantha Nageswaran, has said that India’s merchandise trade deficit exceeded USD 280 billion in 2024-25, amounting to around7.5 per cent of GDP and the trade deficit would rise significantly in FY27, widening the current account deficit. Keeping it manageable will require burden-sharing between the government, via fiscal absorption, and households and businesses. Pass-through of higher import prices to end-users will also moderate demand growth and, with it, the pressure on the current account.

On the 27th February, we upgraded India’s growth estimate (at constant prices) for FY27 to a range of 7.0 per cent to 7.4 per cent, Nageswaran said. Clearly, there is considerable downside to this number. However, the data for March does not reveal much, since businesses are trying to meet full-year targets forFY26. Similarly, the current account deficit too will widen significantly in FY27.

At the same time, in the current and the preceding financial years, net capital flows to India have been sharply lower, although gross foreign direct investment flows have remained steady. He hoped that continued efforts to lower manufacturing costs — such as reducing tariffs on industrial power, allowing employers and employees to agree on averaging labour hours over a quarter or half-year and reducing overtime rates — will further enhance India’s already-strong attractiveness as an investment destination, given its market size. Further, in the current circumstances, credible assurances of tax policy certainty, stability and continuity will matter more than ever.

Given the considerable impact of the conflict on India’s economy, CEA, said that we should leverage the fallout to redouble our recent reform efforts to enhance India’s competitiveness and preparedness. The ‘entrepreneurial mindset’ in bureaucracy (not making the ‘best’ the enemy of the ‘good’), accompanied by enhanced speed of decision-making, is precisely what is called for if India is to emerge from this episode stronger, more resilient and more competitive.

The economic review for March 2026, has said that the economic outlook has become more uncertain, which have disrupted key energy and logistics channels and led to a tightening of global supply conditions. Prior to the onset of these developments, economic activity in India remained robust up to February 2026, with strong performance across both supply and demand-side indicators, on which data the review of the March 2026 has relied, and therefore the review itself admitted that it may not fully capture the evolving impact of the conflict. However, the recent data for March reflect that the recent shocks are being transmitted through higher input costs, supply constraints, and pressures across sectors.

On the inflation front, retain inflation rose to a 10-month high of 3.21 per cent in February2026, driven primarily by a sharp uptick in food prices. The current inflation numbers do not yet reflect the potential impact of rising crude oil prices, which pose an upside risk going forward, the review stated.

In recent times, a decline in predictability, with trade policy uncertainty emerging as the prevailing norm, has been observed. This shift can be attributed to various factors, including tariffs and other restrictions, as well as supply chain challenges stemming from geopolitical disruptions. In February 2026, India’s merchandise exports declined marginally by 0.8 percent (YoY).

India’s current account deficit widened to 1.3 per cent of GDP in Q3 of FY26, from 1.1 percent of GDP in Q3 FY25. The increase was mainly driven by a larger merchandise trade deficit. During April-JanuaryFY26, gross FDI inflows increased; however, this momentum did not translate into higher net FDI, which remained subdued and has been negative for five consecutive months. Increased geopolitical uncertainty has dampened global risk appetite; as a result, the portfolio flows remained negative in March 2026.

Global Geopolitical Risk Index had already reached new high by January 2026, and the West Asia conflict has worsened the situation. Average commodity prices have increased sharply. Data until March 2026 shows that the price of natural gas has increased from 32.4 Euro/MWh in February 2026 to 52.2 Euro/MWh and Brent Crude Spot increased from 69.8 USD/BBL to 94 USD/BBL during this period. As for fertilizer, price of Ammonia has increased from 493.1 USD/MT in February to 568.3 USD/MT as on March 20. On the same date the price of Urea was increased to 696.7 USD/MT as against 475.1 USD/MT in February 2026.

The outage of LNG from the Middle East is expected to last for several years due to damage of the industrial facilities there. Going forward, the review said that the fundamental problem is a simultaneous double squeeze – no crude coming in, and no product going out. So even where crude can come in via alternate pipelines, finished products cannot leave as they are more dependent on tankers, making partial operation economically pointless. Thus, production of crude and natural gas will have to be scaled downowing to overflowing bunkering facilities, which have not been cleared as the tankers are stranded.

Output product storage capacity generally does not exceed a month’s worth of requirements. Hence, if refineries are shut down, it will take a long time to resume normal oil production even after the conflict subsides. Overall, these cascading effects are expected to weigh on global economic activity and reinforce inflationary pressures, with risks to growth skewed to the downside.

LPG faces more acute constraints than LNG, and there will be time lag and elevated costs. LPG have limited substitutability since India imports 93 per cent from conflict affected region, and has low refinery yields of only around 4-6 per cent throughput. It impacts fertilisers (gas-based urea, petrochemicals, and gas-based power generation, due to shortage and price increase.

India’s agriculture will be impacted because over 80 per cent of ammonia and sulphur imports come from the Gulf, while around 40 per cent of DAP imports are sourced from Saudi Arabia. If the situation remains unresolved, risks persists for Rabi season, fertilizer availability will somehow be managed during Kharif crops, with risk of higher costs. Input cost increases and logistical constraints may affect farm operations of the country.

Our refineries may focus on increasing LPG output, but this reduces the output of other petrochemical products, creating disruption in feedstock availability. Shortage of solvents and polymers are disrupting production cycles of pharmaceuticals, chemicals, packaging, textiles, and plastics.

In several segments, particularly MSMEs and continuous-process industries like glass or ceramics, the inability to switch fuels or inputs has led to production curtailment and temporary shutdowns.

Shipping disruptions, rerouting, and war-risk premiums have significantly increased freight and insurance costs. Transit delays have lengthened delivery cycles, affecting both imports of critical inputs and export commitments. Airspace restrictions have further compounded challenges for high-value and time-sensitive cargo. Remittances will have significant impact. And on the fiscal side, higher subsidy requirements (fertiliser and fuel) and potential revenue shortfalls may widen the fiscal deficit, underscoring the need for expenditure prioritisation.

The transmission of higher global prices and logistics costs is already visible through exchange rate pressures, with the rupee depreciating to around ₹93.88 per US dollar (24 March2026), reflecting both trade-related pressures and heightened global risk aversion. In March alone, around USD 12.5 billion in outflows have occurred on the portfolio side.

E-way bill generation declined by 5.3 per cent on a month-on-month basis up to 22 March, indicating some moderation in goods movement, although it remained higher by 9.4 per cent on a year-on-year basis. Flash PMI estimates for March 2026 point to a softening in output growth following the energy price shock.

The review while saying that the range of measures taken by the government along with existing macroeconomic buffers, provide some support, it admitted that the balance of risks remains tilted to the downside. In this context, continued vigilance and proactive policy measures will be important to mitigate the impact of evolving global uncertainties. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Union Government of India under PM Narendra Modi has given enough hints by proposing to bring an amendment Bill purportedly to fast-track women’s quota rollout that it is seriously working on its earlier plan to complete the delimitation process by 2028. However, the most surprising element that has emerged is that the process is to be completed on the basis of the Census 2011, while it was to be done on the basis of the first Census after 2026 as it was legally mandated.

Though there is no written communication circulated about the details of the current proposal, it has been reported that under the proposed amendments, the number of Lok Sabha seats will increase from current 543 to 816, with 273 seats reserved for women. Since four states and one UT are going to polls in April and Model Code of Conduct is in operation, the government plans to bring the legislation after the election is over. Government will either extend ongoing budget session for this or a separate Special Session will be called for this purpose.

Some of the key proposals as communicated verbally by not less than the Union Home Minister Amit Shah are: the proposed delimitation will be based on 2011 census; Population will not be the determinant in deciding strength of a state’s representation in Lok Sabha; The seats in the Lok Sabah and the Legislative Assemblies of the states will be increased by 50 per cent across the board; Number of current Lok Sabah Seats of States will not be reduced but maintained proportionately; and Women’s quota will be rolled out and will also be applied to SC and ST categories.

According to sources, the Centre is planning to constitute the Delimitation Commission by June 2026. Nevertheless, many things are to be clarified by the government – for example the rationale of increasing the Lok Sabha seats from 543 to 816, or on what basis the seats in the Lok Sabha and in the State Legislative Assemblies will be increased by 50 per cent.

It should be noted that the new parliament building has 888 seats. Currently, we have altogether 543 MPs, which works out to be one MP representing about 10 lakh people. The delimitation was based on the 1971 population.

The projected population as of March 2026 is somewhere between 1.47 and 1.48 billion. If we decide one MP for 20 lakh population there would be 707 seats. If we decide for one MP in 15 lakh population, total seats would be 942. As per the 2024 Lok Sabha election figures, each Lok Sabha Constituency had 17.84 lakh voters on projected population of 25.8 lakh. Therefore, the rationale of increasing seats to 816 needs to be explained.

During a parliamentary debate in September 2023, on Women’s Reservation Bill, the implementation of which was also linked to delimitation on the first Census after 2026, the issues of parliamentary seats was discussed, in which MPs for Southern states have raised the issue and expressed their concern of losing their representation in the parliament of India. At that time on projected population of 142 crore, Lok Sabha Constituencies were estimated to rise to 848. In that case the number of seats in Uttar Pradesh would increase from 80 to 143, Bihar from 40 to 79, Rajasthan from 25 to 50 and Madhya Pradesh from 29 to 52.On the other hand, in the southern states – in Tamil Nadu it would increase from 39 to 49, Andhra and Telangana from 42 to 45, Karnataka from 28 to 41. As for Kerala is concerned its seat will remain at 20. Southern states have raised serious concern.

In March 2025, Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin has convened an all party meeting, in which a resolution was passed demanding that the freeze on the number of seats in Lok Sabha based on the 1971 Census should be extended for another 30 years. CM Stalin has said, “Delimitation exercise solely based on population figures will be a gross injustice to Tamil Nadu and other Southern States. We are not against Delimitation exercise, but we want justice to be rendered to us.”

However, when the current proposal of amending the legislation to roll out women’s quota was communicated, MK Stalin supported that but reiterated the demand of suspending the delimitation process for 30 years.

Union Government is now in talks with opposition on the issue. Union Minister of Home Amit Shah and other leaders from the government have met several leaders this week which included the Nationalist Congress Party (SP)’s Supriya Sule, YSR Congress Party’s P.V. Midhun Reddy, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s Asaduddin Owaisi and the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Arvind Sawant, among others. Government has already consulted Congress and SP separately. TMC and Left have skipped meetings.

While Trinamool Rajya Sabha leader O’ Brien called it an “election stunt”, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh has criticized PM Narendra Modi, and said that he wants to implement the women’s reservation law without completing the delimitation and census operation. He alleged that this was a “weapon of mass diversion” to change the narrative from “foreign policy failures and setbacks and from the LPG and energy crisis facing the country”.

Nevertheless, the issue of delimitation on the basis of 2011 Census is labelled by experts as a bad idea, on several grounds, and called it highly problematic. Population as that time was 1.21 billion but now it is 1.48 billion. It may distort the political map which will not reflect the reality of the country. Since 2011 data is outdated, it will make fairness questionable. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s exit from Bihar politics not only marks the most consequential political transition in Bihar but also has greater implications on BJP’s national strategy and realization of its dream that it may appear at first glance. With negotiated removal of the CM Nitish Kumar, a significant regional political force has been cleared out of the way of the BJP.

Nitish Kumar has already filed his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha election scheduled on March 16. This implies he will soon step down as Bihar Chief Minister and transition to the Upper House of Parliament.

Though CM Nitish Kumar has said that becoming Rajya Sabha MP was his long-held wish, but the opposition has called it “leadership coup” and “political abduction” orchestrated by the BJP betraying the people’s mandate given in the Bihar election just held about 5 months ago. At that time, it was said that BJP will make him chief minister as against it has done in Maharashtra where it did not allow its ally and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde to remain chief minister. Nevertheless, it kept Nitish on the CM, and now Nitish is leaving Bihar politics, though he says that he would be supporting the new government and expressed his “resolve to work together to build a developed Bihar will remain steadfast”.

Before assessing about the detail, it should be recalled that BJP has suffered a great setback in the 9 Hindi heartland states in Lok Sabha Election 2024. BJP had won 203 seats out of 225 in 2019 elections, but had lost 55 seats in 2024. To form government in the country, 272 seats are required. It has made the BJP to recalibrate its political strategy in the Hindi belt, and if possible, complete delimitation exercise to substantially increase the Lok Sabha seats to establish its control over the governance in the country for many years.

For years, Bihar has been one of the few large Hindi-belt states where BJP was powerful but not the primary face of governance. With Nitish’s exit from Bihar, BJP gains effective control of the state government. Then it would be easy for the party to strengthens its hold in the eastern corridor (UP–Bihar–Jharkhand belt). It would reduce the party’s dependence on strong regional satraps. Bihar will then be aligned more directly with central leadership’s narratives. This will support BJP’s long-term strategy of expanding from western/northern strongholds into eastern India, and will be able to convert its alliance states into BJP-led states.

BJP will also be able to rebalance the NDA structure. Within the National Democratic Alliance, Nitish’s exit from Bihar politics will weaken JD(U)’s bargaining power.BJP will become even more structurally dominant, which will result in shift of coalition politics from “negotiated equality” to “centralized leadership.”

It matters the most for BJP’s national design, because it minimizes unpredictability from regional allies. It should be noted here that CM Nitish Kumar is nicknamed as “Palatu Ram” since he has been known for shifting his political loyalties and breaking or making alliances. Therefore, Nitish’s exit reduces the risk of alliance instability in Bihar. It gives a clear message that BJP is the permanent anchor of NDA. This strengthens BJP’s long-term coalition management model.

Nitish in Patna has been an autonomous regional power centre. Nitish in Rajya Sabha though will be influential, but not administratively autonomous. He will be dependent on parliamentary space rather than executive control. For BJP’s national dream of centralized ideological and organizational coherence, this shift weakens alternative regional power poles and reinforces Delhi-centric decision-making. This fits BJP’s structural evolution under strong central leadership.

Back in Bihar, it is most likely BJP will be in full charge of governance, and can take full credit for governance. The shift can change the caste-politics in Bihar, and BJP will have more chance to consolidate its support base among the OBCs and EBCs under its own banner than under the banner of Nitish Kumar., the JD(U) supremo.

What will happen to the Bihar politics is now only in the domain of speculation. It should be noted that Nitish has successfully managed EBC coalitions, Mahadalit outreach, and minority balancing. Here lies the BJP’s risks, and if BJP fails in performing successfully in this space, opposition forces could take advantage of that.

There is no denying the fact that JD(U) may erode sharply, and it could lose a moderate-secular ally image in the state. People will take the party as controlled ally, controlled by the BJP leadership. BJP has already given a symbolic national message that BJP has risen from a junior partner in several states to a dominant partner in coalition politics. Nitish’s exit has again confirmed this, which marks a decline of a regional “kingmaker” era. It is a clear transition from coalition era federal balancing to centralized party hegemony. This is a structural advantage for BJP for its long-term national ambition – to be a default governing party across most of India, especially, in the Hindi Belt.

It is already known that many JD(U) leaders have been working with the BJP, because they are not happy with Nitish Kumar. However, the genuine Nitish support would have to struggle in keeping its flock together. JD(U) is likely to weaken considerably in this scenario. With Nitish’s exit, an era of politics has just ended in Bihar, giving way to a new era of politics in the state.

This new era of politics is likely to be dominated by BJP, but it will also make Bihar a more open terrain for the opposition politics in absence of the regional satrap like Nitish Kumar. Cast coalition politics may re-fragment further, and it is uncertain if BJP will able to take advantage of it. Bihar politics will undergo a restructuring. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Supreme Court of India has ordered a blanket ban on an NCERT book, and used the expression “deep-rooted and well-planned conspiracy” in a specific context a chapter that discussed alleged corruption and functioning of the Judiciary. Only an investigation can reveal the actual dimension of the conspiracy, that has been threatening the entire country’s social and political fabric ever since PM Narendra Modi led government have come to power in 2014. The question is whether the conspiracy is far deeper involving RSS-BJP clan led government?

In the current case, the Supreme Court’s chief concerns revolved round the portrayal of the judiciary, possible undermining of institutional credibility and the tone of the framing of the content for school students. However, the deep-rooted and well-planned conspiracy is an old allegation that has been raised since 2014 for several textbook revisions relating to several other matters. India needs to know to what extent the RSS-BJP led government have been involved in changing the entire education system to indoctrinate our children in a particular way through textbooks revisions.

In the current case the Supreme Court Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi has ordered the NCERT and Union and State Education Departments to ensure that all copies of the book, be it hard copy, or digital, be removed from public access. “We would like to have a deeper probe. We need to find who is responsible and we will see who are there. Heads must roll! We will not close the case,” CJI said.

The court took strong objection to the communication by the NCERT Director to the Supreme Court after the controversial potions came to light. The court observed, “Instead of filing an introspection of what has been written in the book in an extremely contemptuous and reckless manner, the NCERT Director wrote back defending the contents.”

“It seems to us that there is a calculated move to undermine the institutional authority and demean the dignity of the judiciary. This, if allowed to go unchecked, will erode the sanctity of judicial office in estimation of public at large and within impressionable minds of youth,” the order noted.

These are only but examples related to the judiciary. There have been several others that need to be taken into consideration, if at all, India needs to expose the “deep-rooted and well planned conspiracy” that the Bench has pointed out.

There have been controversies and political debates in India about how the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks are revised — with critics on the opposition and civil society side claiming that changes reflect an attempt by the government and its ideological supporters BJP and RSS to reshape history and social science teaching.

Critics — including politicians and academics — allege that recent NCERT textbook changes represent politically motivated editing or “saffronisation” of history.

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan has accused NCERT of removing chapters and sections about events like the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, ban on RSS, and parts of Mughal history, and said these were intended to promote an RSS-aligned view of history.

Opposition leaders like Manickam Tagore have said the BJP is pushing an RSS narrative in school books.

Academics Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar publicly objected to NCERT publishing revised textbooks under their names without consent. Earlier rounds of textbook rationalisation (e.g., removal of chapters in Class 9 and 12) were criticised as ignoring key historical episodes or reducing coverage of Islamic history.

One of the chief allegation is that the PM Narendra Modi led government is following fascism and trying to establish absolute control over the country, including controlling the judiciary. Therefore, the comment of the Supreme Court stating “deep rooted and well planned conspiracy” is significant.

There has been a core allegation of saffronisation of history. It has been alleged that Textbooks are being reshaped to reflect a Hindu nationalist worldview aligned with the BJP and RSS. Critics argue that Ancient India is presented in more civilisational-glorifying terms, Vedic knowledge and indigenous scientific achievements are emphasised, Islamic and Mughal periods are comparatively reduced or reframed, and Cultural nationalism is foregrounded over secular historiography.

During syllabus “rationalisation” (2020–2023), critics had noted – Removal or shortening of detailed chapters on the Mughals; Reduction of references to court culture, administration, and syncretic traditions; and Trimming of content on Delhi Sultanate rulers. Historians argue this distorts proportional historical coverage. NCERT says the cuts were part of pandemic-era syllabus load reduction.

Revisions related to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination and the RSS ban, reduced or modified references to the ban imposed on the RSS after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. It also Reframed contextual discussions around the assassination. Critics claim this weakens discussion of extremist politics in post-Independence India. NCERT maintains that essential facts remain intact and edits were technical or pedagogical.

Contents related to contemporary political events were also removed. Chapters removed or trimmed include: Discussion of the 2002 Gujarat riots; Content on protests and social movements; References to rising intolerance debates; and Sections on democracy and dissent in certain classes.

Some sociology and political science content reportedly reduced: Discussions on caste-based inequalities; Sections on minority struggles; Portions referencing discrimination and communal conflict.

In the post-NEP 2020 era, there is a shift toward civilisational narrative in the new curriculum. There are language framing and tone changes. There have been many more allegation suggesting “deep rooted and well planned conspiracy” spreading beyond the corruption in judiciary. The whole thing therefore must be investigated and conspiracy exposed. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

The year 2026 began with worsening of unemployment scenario in India, which rose for the third consecutive month in January and stood at 5 per cent in Current Weekly Status (CWS). Youth (15-29 years) unemployment is urban areas rose more sharply in the last five months to 18.6 per cent, with overall unemployment rate of 7 per cent for urban India. Even in rural India, unemployment rate among youth rose for the third consecutive month to 12.8 per cent, while overall unemployment in rural areas rose for the second consecutive month to 4.2 per cent.

The data of the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for the month of January 2026 shows that all India unemployment rate for all age group was 4.7 per cent in November 2025, which rose to 4.8 per cent in December 2025, and then to 5 per cent in January 2025. The reason of worsening the situation is obvious, because of the decline in the agricultural activities in the rural areas, while there was no improvement in the employment opportunities in the urban areas, which has been worsening more rapidly than in the rural areas.

Major concern is the sharply rising youth unemployment. At all India level, the youth unemployment was 14.1 per cent in November 2025, which rose to 14.4 per cent in December 2025, and then to 14.7 per cent in January 2026.

Youth unemployment in urban areas was five months high for which data is available in the January bulletin. In September 2025, youth employment in urban areas was 18.5 per cent, which came down to 17.8 per cent in November, probably because of festival season but started rising again, to 18.1 per cent in December 2025 and then to 18.6 per cent in January 2026.

All India urban unemployment has also been rising since November 2025, when it was 6.5 per cent for all age groups. It rose to 6.7 per cent in December 2025, and then again rose to 7 per cent in January 2026.

Youth unemployment in rural India has also been showing disturbing trend. It was 12.4 per cent in November 2025, which rose to 12.6 per cent in December 2025, and then again rose to 12.8 per cent in January 2026. All India rural unemployment for all age groups even rose from 3.9 per cent in December to 4.2 per cent, which is likely to rise more with decline in agriculture activities.

Women are suffering more due to high level of unemployment among them compared to males. At all India level for women of all age group, unemployment rate was highest in the last five months since September 2025 when it was 5.5 per cent and against male unemployment of 5.1 per cent. The gender gap widened more sharply by January 2026 when female unemployment rose to 5.6 per cent as against the male unemployment rate of 4.8 per cent.

Both male and female unemployment rate has worsened for the last three consecutive months. Male unemployment rate in November 2025 was 4.6 per cent, which rose to 4.7 per cent in December 2025 and 4.8 per cent in January 2026. During this period female unemployment rates stood at 4.8 per cent in November, 2025, 4.9 per cent in December 2025, and 5.6 per cent in January 2026.

Youth unemployment rate among women is four months high. From 17.1 per cent in October 2025, it rose to 17.8 per cent in January 2026. Male youth unemployment is little less but as high as 13.6 per cent in January 2026.

There is very wide gender gap in youth male and youth female unemployment in urban areas. The PLFS data shows that the urban youth female unemployment rate in January 2026 was 26.4 per cent as against 16 per cent among youth males. In December 2025, urban youth female unemployment was 24.9 per cent. Urban youth male unemployment has risen for the third consecutive month from 15.3 per cent in November 2025 to 15.8 per cent in December 2025 and then 16 per cent in January 2026.

Unemployment among rural female of all age group was little higher at 4.3 per cent that males at 4.1 per cent. Similar is the case for rural youth female unemployment which stood at 14.2 per cent in January 2026 as against 12.3 per cent among rural youth males. Rural female youth unemployment was highest in five months in January 2026, which rose sharply from 12.5 per cent in November 2025 to 14.2 per cent in January 2026.

Worker Population Ratio (WPR), that is who actually worked for at least one hour in a week, also gives distressing picture. At all India level WPR in CWS declined from 40.4 per cent in November 2025 and 40.5 in December 2025 to 40.1 per cent. A wide gender gap persists. WPR for female was just 25.4 per cent as against 55.1 for male. WPR declined for both male and female for the second consecutive month, from 55.4 per cent and 25.9 per cent respectively in December 2025. Youth WPR was just 36 percent in January 2026, only 19.1 per cent among female and 53 per cent among male.

Urban WPR for all age group was worse at 37 per cent compared to all India WPR at 40 per cent in January 2026. Female urban WPR stood at only 18.4 per cent as against 55.1 per cent among urban males. Urban youth WPR was even less at 33.9 per cent – 16.1 per cent for urban youth female and 50.2 per cent for urban youth male.

Rural WPR stood at 41.6 per cent for all age groups – 28.7 per cent for females and 55 per cent for males. For rural youths it was 37.1 per cent – 20.5 per cent for females and 54.4 per cent for youth males.

Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), that is those actually worked and those who were seeking works, in January 2026 stood at 42.3 per cent for all age groups – 26.9 per cent for females and 57.8 per cent for males. LFPR for urban areas was 39.8 per cent – 20.4 per cent for females and 58.7 per cent for males. It is a major concern that among urban youth it stood LFPR stood at 41.6 per cent – 21.9 per cent among females and 59.8 percent among males. Gender gap is obviously very wide. Rural LFPR for all age group stood at 43.4 per cent – 30 per cent among females and 57.4 per cent among males. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

India witnessed on Thursday February 12 the most intensified of all India general strike of workers in the country so far in which over 30 crores workers were estimated to have participated in about 600 districts of the country, surpassing the record of July 9, 2025 general strike in which over 25 crore workers had participated in about 550 districts of the country. This is the 5th general strike since passage of the four controversial labour codes (one passed in 2019 and the three in 2020), against the workers have been protesting demanding their withdrawal. The Union Government of India announced that full implementation of the labour codes will be rolled out from April 1, 2026.

The strike was called by the joint platform of 10 Central Trade Union (CTUs) – INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC. The umbrella organization of farmers Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), Banks employees association, and many sectoral organisations participated in the strike. Though the strike impacted all the industrial and mining areas of all states in the country, the worst hit states were Assam, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Kerala, Odisha, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar, and Jharkhand.

Workers and farmers took to streets in several states to protest against the anti-labour policies of the Union Government led by PM Narendra Modi. Congress and left parties have also supported the workers’ strike. MGNREGA and scheme workers in several states have also participated in the strike.

Public transport services and buses in states like Tami Nadu and Kerala were either suspended or disrupted. Banks, government offices, and schools are also shut or operating at reduced capacity in several regions of the country. Marches and demonstrations are reported in major cities, though the impact varied by region.

Significant disruptions in everyday services were witnessed in over 600 districts in the country, which affected not only public transport, but also banking services, while postal and insurance sectors reported major stoppages or reduced services.

Workers in Tamil Nadu blocked rail and road transports in several areas, which affected several cities. In Maharashtra, State Transport Workers’ Union protested at Mumbai Central. Parts of Andhra Pradesh was also affected, especially its industrial cities. Gujarat also witnessed protests in several cities, including Ahmedabad and Vadodara.

Workers protests were most strongly felt in Kerala, where normal life came nearly to halt in Kannur and Kasaragod districts.

Karnataka also witnessed intensified workers protests across the states. In Bengaluru, police even detained trade union leaders and workers protesting outside the Town Hall. Public transport in Telangana were also impacted, while significant disruption were seen in the industrial areas.

Trade Unions hit the streets in several cities of Jharkhand. Mining and industrial areas were particularly affected.

In a significant development in Madhya Pradesh, over 25,000 civilian defence staff reported to work an hour late as protest against the anti-labour policies of the government. The All India Defence Employees Federation (AIDEF) said that over 25,000 civilian workers posted at six ordinance factories in the state, the 506 Army Base Workshop, the Central Ordnance Depot and Military Engineer Services reported an hour late. AIDEF said that they could not observe a complete daylong strike as defence production and related work fall under the essential services category.

In Odisha, transport services hit hare. Buses and auto-rickshaws not operating widely. Road blockades reported in cities such as Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Rourkela. Markets and normal life disrupted with commercial establishments closed.

There was near-total shutdown in Kerala. Public buses (eg KSRTC) and auto services were off the roads and many shops and public services were closed. Schools, banks and government offices were reported either shut or operating minimally, with essential services exempted.

In several parts of Assam there were complete closure in several cities and semi-urban areas with heavy participation by trade unions.

Strong presence of Trade Unions in West Bengal led to significant disruption in markets, public services, and transport, and services available were limited.

The reports coming from Punjab suggested massive participation of industrial workers, agriculture workers and farmers, as major unions have joined the Bandh.

The importance of this general strike lies in its political, economic and social significance – just a one-day shutdown. This unprecedented strike signals that the organized labour remains a major mobilizing force in India despite growing informalisation of the workforce. The CTUs have clearly shows their capacity for nationwide coordination, while workers solidarity across the sectors and states shows that they are ready to intensify their protest if the government goes ahead with roll out of full implementation of the labour codes from April 1. The CTUs have already threatened multiple day general strike if government implements the labour codes.

CTUs have been demanding immediate withdrawal of the labour codes that have made hiring and firing easier, weakened collective bargaining, raised threshold for layoffs without government approval, and diluted inspection and compliance mechanism that goes against the labour force. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

The Supreme Court of India ordered extension of time for objections in West Bengal SIR by a week from Feb 14, which in the notified date for publication of the final electoral roll for the state. It has pointed out problem with the “software” that is being used in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), while agreeing with the West Bengal’s argument that the name mismatched people cannot be excluded at all from the electoral roll. It also ordered that EROs should consider all or any of the documents listed in the SIR notice plus documents mentioned in the SC order (admit card, Aadhaar, etc) during verification in the claim/objections phase. To West Bengal, the Supreme Court asked to respond to allegations of violence committed against EC officials.

The Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice N V Anjaria hearing the petitions challenging the SIR being carried out by the ECI, ordered that the 8,505 officials from the State government have to report for duty before the district electoral offices by tomorrow 5 p.m. The Election Commission has to utilise their services as EROs/AEROs if found suitable, and the EROs will alone take the decision if a name has to be in the electoral roll or not, not the macro-observers.

The bench has agreed to the submission of the Senior Advocate Shyam Divan appearing on behalf of the state government that “The name mismatch people cannot be excluded at all.”

CJI Justice Kant said, “Yes we are saying… That.” But on being requested “let a direction be issued”, Justice Kant said, “But that will be a pre-emptory direction… to the ECI.”

Senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, appearing for West Bengal CEO told the bench that there is a “software” identifying discrepancies which are irreconcilable. On this Justice Joymalya Bagchi told EC, “Tools applied to your software are very restrictive. They are excluding natural discrepancies.”

On issue raised against the deployment of micro-observers from other states ruled by BJP, Justice Surya Kant said, “Micro-observers cannot take decisions.”

The Bench has said the ECI can replace AEROs who are not complying with SIR process in West Bengal with the new crop of officers given by the State. The direction was given after the senior advocate Shyam Divan appearing on behalf of the state government submitted that they have send list of over 8,505 Group B officers to help with the SIR process, especially with the name mismatches.

Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, appearing for the State of West Bengal, tells the Supreme Court the State has given over 80,000 personnel for SIR work till February 4. He said that ECI never asked us for extra personnel. It was only on February 4, that this court suggested more personnel can be given by the state to EC, adding that micro-observers did not know the ground realities of West Bengal.

The deadline for the hearing on SIR in West Bengal was February 7, but there is very large number of unheard cases. The Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agrawal had therefore requested on February 8 to the ECI to extend the date for at least one week. In many places hearing continued on February 8 without extension of date. Final voter list was to be published on February 14.

Earlier Mr. Naidu was telling the court that West Bengal and its CM Mamata Banerjee were making a mountain out of a molehill. The appearing on behalf of the state counsel Divan has said that 70 lakh people have received notices under the logical discrepancies category. He said that SIR process will end on Feb 14. Therefore, there was a tremendous urgency for the reliefs which were sought. Please note that the draft electoral list has 7.08 crore voters. Out of this 6.75 crores are mapped by which it means that they were mentioned in 2002 list or identifiable with that list. 32 lakhs were unmapped, and 1.36 crores were put in the logical discrepancy list.

Mamata Banerjee had personally appeared on February 4, to argue a petition she had filed, in the case to defend the people of her state from being “bulldozed” through SIR by Election Commission of India (ECI), that had attracted special attention of the country. In her petition, CM Mamata, had sought the quashing of all SIR-related orders issued by the ECI on June 24, 2025, and October 27, 2025, along with all connected directives. She stated in her petition filed on January 28 that the ongoing process will result in “large-scale disenfranchisement” caused by “the opaque, hasty, unconstitutional and illegal actions of the ECI.” She had prayed that upcoming Legislative Assembly Election be held in the basis of 2025 electoral rolls. She had also raised the issue of “logical discrepancy list, saying that notices were served over minor spelling mistakes, and appointment of micro-observers from BJP-ruled states deliberately to delete voters.

CJI led Bench had then asked the Election Commission of India to submit a reply and also asked CM Banerjee to submit a list of officers of the state available for SIR work because ECI had submitted that the state was not cooperating and not even given the required number of officers. Ahead of the hearing West Bengal government has informed the ECI that it is ready to make 8,505 Group B Officers of the state available for the process.

In its reply EC has submitted in the Supreme Court that SIR is West Bengal is marred by threats, violence and intimidation to the election officials, and three is sustained political interference and obstruction against the election work. Against the Mamata’s prayer to conduct election on the basis of 2025 electoral roll, ECI has submitted that the sanctity of 2025 electoral roll was questionable.

To prevent her personal appearance in future, a petition was also filed in the Supreme Court by Akhil Bhart Hindu Mahasabha stating, “That the present Intervention Application is filed exclusively to assist this Hon’ble Court on an issue of grave constitutional and institutional importance, namely, the impermissibility, impropriety, and adverse constitutional consequences of permitting the personal appearance of a sitting Chief Minister in proceedings invoking the extraordinary jurisdiction of this Hon’ble Court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India.”

The applicant said, “The issues raised directly implicate the institutional functioning of the State of West Bengal and its constitutional relationship with the Election Commission of India. In such circumstances, the Petitioner, being the incumbent Chief Minister, cannot claim to appear in a personal capacity, and any representation before this Hon’ble Court must necessarily be through duly appointed advocates representing the State of West Bengal. The State, as a constitutional entity, is already adequately represented through its appointed counsel, and no occasion arises for the personal appearance of the Petitioner in proceedings of such nature.”

Appearing on behalf of West Bengal, senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, said that CM Mamata Banerjee appeared in SC as a citizen. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

The Supreme Court’s refusal to entertain a petition challenging the direct cash transfer to voters while Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for election was in operation, the Election Commission of India’s turning blind eye to the violation of MCC in this way, and deploying beneficiaries on election duty on the polling day is flawed because it has identifiable legal weaknesses and also political overtone bullying a petitioner political party for its failure in election while making it one of the grounds without going into the merit of the allegation.

While refusing to hear the petition on Friday February filed by Jan Suraaj Party founded by a well known political strategist Prashant Kishor, the Supreme Court Bench comprised of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed the petitioner to approach the Patna High Court. The petitioner had sought annulment of the 2025 Bihar Legislative Assembly Election and appropriate guidelines and direction to ensure free and fair elections by stopping the corrupt practice resorted to by the ruling establishments to win elections.

The most disturbing was the political comment of the CJI, “How many votes did your political party get? People reject you and they you use judicial platform to get popularity. … We cannot issue an omnibus direction for the entire state that too at the instance of a political party.”

It is unfortunate that CJI took this view while ignoring the issue that was raised in the petition. JSP had moved the petition alleging that the Bihar government violated the MCC by transferring Rs 10,000 to women beneficiaries under the Mukhya Mantri Mahila Rojgar Yojna that was launched virtually by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The petitioner had alleged that the debt-ridden state disbursed Rs 15,600 crore influencing voters in violation of the Article 324 of the Constitution of India, and Section 123 of the Representation of the People Act.

Supreme Court erred while it resorted to bullying the petitioner merely because its failure in the election. How many votes did you get? – the court asked and added in the same breath – Once people reject you, you use the judicial forum to get relief! It was only a partial and one-sided view of looking at the matter. Though we know that JSP could not win any single seat and most of its candidate forfeited their deposits, it is also a fact that JSP has got over 16 lakh votes which was 3.34 per cent of the total valid votes polled. It means JSP is the voice of so many people of the state, and therefore it can’t be summarily dismissed.

Courts reference to the petitioner’s electoral failure and perceived search for publicity has other flaws also, such as Constitutional jurisprudence does not recognize electoral success as a criterion for legal standing, or failure as forfeiture of their right to demand justice. Historically speaking, many transformative constitution cases were brought by those who were politically marginal actors.

Therefore, to weigh a petitioner’s electoral popularity while deciding entertainability of a legal petition risks introducing a subjective and extra-legal standard into constitution adjudication. Judiciary is expected to adjudicate claims, not motives. How can a court decided about the motive without hearing the merit of the case? Politically unsuccessful parties have also right to raise issues like violation of MCC during election, since they are victims of the distortion of the level playing field vitiating free and fair election.

Another question is raised by the critics about other observations of the court, such as “Somebody should have challenged the scheme itself then. That is not the prayer before us. You just want the election to be declared null and void.” CJI also said, “We will consider the freebies issue. But we have to see the bona fide also… we cannot look at that at the behest of a party which has just lost. When you come to power, you will do the exact thing.”

Take the last comment first. Telling a political party that when you come to power, you will do the exact thing, is just imagination of the court, and it is like an astrological prediction, to sound legal consideration. The court has no business to use such speculative language. It is just running down someone even before they commit something wrong.

A political party is a stakeholder in a democracy, and perhaps CJI can’t justifiably says “we cannot look at that (the issue of freebies) at the behest of a party which has just lost.” Then we have to see the bona fide also, the court said. One fails to understand how raising an issue that is prima facie violation of MCC by a political party that lost election is not bona fide. Any citizen of the country is bona fide, and he must be heard, even he is a total failure.

The petition was filed under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, which allows direct access to the Supreme Court for enforcement of fundamental rights), but the court said the appropriated remedy was to file petitions in the High Court because it was “state specific”. However, simply being state-specific doesn’t automatically make article 32 unavailable, especially where constitutional rights like free and fair election under Article 324 and equality under article 14 are allegedly violated.

Court did not examine whether the alleged violation of the MCC might constitute corrupt practice. It is precisely for this reason, the Supreme Court decision of refusal to entertain the petition is seen to have done on political consideration, that is party’s lack of electoral success, and procedural technicalities such as jurisdiction rather than an assessment of the legal merits of the allegations.

Taking the view by the Supreme Court that it looked like an election dispute and hence to be decided by High Courts in only partially current, and may be not wrong in principle. However, when the allegations like systemic violation of free and fair election, misuse of state machinery, mass inducement or bribery of voters, breach of equality under Article 14, and distortion of electoral choice under Article 19(1)(a) are involved, Supreme Court’s refusal is not sound. It is especially when the Supreme Court has already decided that free and fair elections are part of the basic structure of the Constitution of India.

The Court has flawed when mixed political commentary with legal jurisdiction while referring to electoral defeat, loss of seats, or seeking publicity. Courts are expected to separate political popularity from constitution justiciability. Refusal to entertain the petition without testing “systemic impact” is flawed also because the petitioner raised systemic distortion of electoral choice which is a constitution issue, and it is not individual corrupt practice that should be handled by election petitions. Court’s refusal is not aligned with its own constitutional precedents and decisions.

The strength of constitutional democracy lies not in protecting electoral outcomes, but in safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process itself. Even weak or unpopular petitioners can expose constitutional fault lines. By declining to examine those fault lines at the threshold, the Court may have missed an opportunity to reinforce, rather than retreat from, its role as the guardian of free and fair elections. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

December 2025 registered a rise in unemployment rate in India to 4.8 per cent from 4.7 per cent in November despite the seasonal increase in agricultural and allied activity in rural India. Additionally, it should be a matter of concern that unemployment rate in rural India failed to improve in November and December which remained at 3.9 per cent, in spite of the general trend of rise in rural employment every year during sowing of Rabi or winter crops during October-December. Urban unemployment on the other hand rose to 6.7 per cent in December as against 6.5 per cent in November 2025. These should be a matter of serious concern for the Union government.

According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) of the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment for the month of December, the rural Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) and Worker Population Ratio (WPR) improved a little. However, it surprises all that such improvements failed to improve rural unemployment rate which remained at the level of November at 3.9 per cent. It shows the complexity in the rural job market, which will become worse from now until March, when harvesting of Winter crops would provide increased number of employments to the rural folk.

PLFS data shows a disturbing trend on the unemployment front. Unemployment rate in Current Weekly Status (CWS) was lowest at 4.7 per cent in November, which was 5.2 per cent in September and October, and 5.1 per cent in August. It again has started rising.

Unemployment rate among youth in the age group 15-29 worsened to 14.4 percent in December as against 14.1 per cent a month before. Youth male unemployment rate rose to 13.7 per cent as against 13.4 per cent in November, while female unemployment rate stood at 16.3 per cent in November-December.

In rural India, availability of employment is tied with Rainy and Winter crops. Employment rises in July-August, and then October-December. In August, unemployment rate in CWS in rural India was 4.3 per cent which rose to 4.6 per cent in September, and came down to 3.9 per cent in November-December. The data however shows that female unemployment increased from 3.4 to 3.6 per cent while male unemployment remained at 4.1 per cent. Both male and female youth unemployment in the rural areas increased. Youth male unemployment rose from 12.4 per cent to 12.6 per cent, and female youth unemployment rose from 12.5 per cent to 12.7 per cent.

In urban India, unemployment among female stood at 9.1 per cent as against 5.9 per cent for male. Youth unemployment was very high at 18.1 per cent in December as against 17.8 per cent in November. Female youth unemployment stood as high as 24.9 per cent in December while it was 15.8 per cent for male youths which rose from 15.3 per cent a month ago.

Worker Population Ratio (WPR) in CWS, that is the number of persons who worked for at least 1 hour on any day during the 7 preceding days of the survey, was 40.5 per cent in December 2025, only a 0.1 per cent improvement from November. Female WPR remained as low as 25.9 per cent as against 25.7 per cent a month ago. Male WPR increased from 55.1 per cent to 55.4 per cent during this period.

The distortion in the labour market in terms of male and female WPR is obvious. Similar distortion can be seen among youth WPR compared to WPR for the age group 15 years and above which were 53.1 per cent and 74.1 per cent respectively for males and 18.9 per cent and 33.6 per cent respectively. It gives a disturbing picture for the youth employment in the country.

WPR for urban areas is even worse. It was 37.1 per cent in December – 55.2 per cent for males and 18.5 per cent for females. Youth WPR in urban India was worse than this which stood at merely 33.5 per cent – 49.9 per cent for male youth and 15.9 per cent for female youth.

WPR for rural areas was little better at 42.1 per cent – 55.4 per cent for males and 29.2 per cent for females in December, though these are at very low level. Youth WPR in rural areas in December was 37.1 per cent –54.8 per cent for male youths and 20.2 per cent for female youths.

LFPR in CWS, that is the number of persons either employed or unemployed on an average in a week of 7 days preceding the date of survey, was 42.5 per cent in December 2025 – 58.1 per cent for male and 27.2 per cent for female. For youth it was 42 per cent – 61.5 per cent for male youths, and 22.5 per cent for female youths.

LFPR in urban areas was only 39.8 per cent in December 2025 –58.7 per cent for males and 20.3 per cent for females. For youth it was 40.9 per cent – for male youths 59.2 per cent and for female youths 21.1 per cent.

LFPR in rural areas, though still low, was better than urban areas at 43.8 per cent – 57.8 per cent for males and 30.3 per cent for females. For rural youth it was 42.5 per cent –62.7 per cent for males and 23.2 per cent for females.

If the low level of WPR is a clear indication of non-availability of work to our workforce, the low level of LFPR is also an indication of lower level of participation of workforce. Unemployment, worsening unemployment in urban areas, and no improvement in rural areas, is also a signal for difficult days ahead. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Gig workers of India have concluded the year 2025 with an all-India strike action on the last day, December 31, 2025, demanding fair wages and working conditions, which have undergone marked deterioration in the last three months. It happened despite the Union government’s repeated claim that they have been doing everything possible for the welfare of the gig workers in the country, including them under the New Labour Codes notified on November 21, 2025. If things continue in this direction, the year 2026 will witness larger and stronger protests and strike action of gig workers.

The nationwide New Year’s Eve strike of the gig workers has special significance, even though it got mixed response from delivery workers, chiefly because the nature of their protest against low wages and lack of security benefits. Coming in the heels of the notification of the new labour codes, which the Centre says, has taken care of the welfare of the gig workers, the strike surprised many, but also received massive solidarity from socially-conscious consumer-citizens. On the other hand, India Inc has flagged several concerns with the New Labour Codes, including separate provisions for gig workers that make the rules confusing according to industry experts, while workers associations and labour law experts have said that despite the provisions of the codes, the gig workers remain confined to the status of a ‘non-employee’, thus depriving them of job security, stable/fair wages, and heir working conditions, especially the 10-minute delivery compulsions, make their very lives constantly endangered.

Nearly 3 lakh gig workers across India were on strike and were logged off form apps from 7 AM to 12 midnight, which affected delivery service, making their New Years Eve celebrations a tad inconvenient. The Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers (IFAT) had given the call for strike. Their key demands included restoring the per km wage to Rs10 per km, axing the 10-minute delivery option, and payment for cancelled orders too.

According to IFAT, nearly 3 lakh gig workers across India took part in the strike, with roughly 60,000 delivery agents in Karnataka alone, most of them from Bengaluru, Mysuru and Mangaluru. Telangana had a near full participation. However, it was a partial participation in Tamil Nadu. Thousands of food packets remained undelivered in kitchens across the country. In Delhi, only about 10 per cent of the 1.5 lakh gig workers worked, and most of them were Zomato delivery agents. By late evening, IFAT state vice president Om Prakash Raghav claimed, the firms were announcing Rs150 per delivery for a 3-km distance, but last-minute the consolation prize had few takers.

What prompted them for strike action was chiefly curtailment of wages. Only three months ago, the IFAT vice president Mohammad Inayat Ali had said, delivery workers were being paid Rs 10 per km. However, Zomato reduced it to only Rs 6 per km, and then all companies have followed it.

He said that when the order is cancelled at last-minute, the delivery agent gets nothing. We demand that the same per kilometre rate must be paid to delivery workers to prevent their loss of time and transportation costs. Further, 10-minute delivery option needs to be removed permanently, since delivery agents have to rush to the destination, making them compromise with their security of life. This option by Zepto, Blinkit and Instamart is dangerous for the life of delivery workers, and many of them have met with accidents.

The gig workers were also demanding natural justice. Presently, the IDs of gig agents or workers get blocked upon customers complaints, without allowing them time to provide their version. IFAT says they had to go on strike because of the long-standing issues of pay cuts, unsafe work conditions, inhuman pressure to deliver within impossible time frames, and arbitrary policies of the delivery app companies.

It should be noted that the gig workers invest in their vehicles, fuels, and phones and many resort to loans to survive as gig workers. The delivery app workers going on strike on a festive day meant heavy income loss to them, but they went ahead with the coordinated all-India action to drive home the point. The gig workers demonstrated that they are now ready to face even punitive actions, such as blocking of their ids, showing resolve that they are bracing for a greater, longer fight to protect their dignity, rights, wages, and safety of their very lives.

Working conditions of the gig workers in India has been abysmal, to say the least, while the Centre has been very slow in offering partial relief to them. Whatever is given to them is too little, despite the government claims to be working on social security and welfare for gig workers through initiatives like registering them on the e-shram portal, extending health benefits under Ayushman Bharat, introducing clauses in the New Labour Codes to define their status and rights, and potentially mandating platform contributions for their welfare, aiming to provide life or disability cover and better working conditions. However, the all-India strike of gig workers has just exposed just how hollow the government propaganda is in reality.

According to a report of People’s Association in Grassroots Action and Movement titled “Prisoners on Wheels”, supported by the University of Pennsylvania, over 80 per cent of workers surveyed work over 10 hours a day, while over 30 per cent over 14 hours. Majority of the drivers earn below Rs15,000 a month, while the delivery workers under Rs10,000. Nearly half of them were not able to take even a single day off in a week. Over 99 per cent reported physical and mental health issues, and about half of them reported violence at work. Majority of them reported arbitrary deactivation of their Ids.

Centre has announced that the notified New Labour Codes will be implemented fully from April 1, 2026, but there is not much to hope for the gig workers of India. They are merely included in the Social Security Code 2020, but will remain non-employees. Moreover, there are as yet no enforceable standards on wages, working hours, data transparency, grievance redressal for the workers or algorithmic accountability of the platforms.

However, with the massive all-India strike on the last day of 2025, the gig and platform workers have ushered 2026 in with a bang, bringing their oft-overlooked grievances to centre-stage, forcing the delivery app companies as well as the central and state governments, to sit up and smell the coffee. Indications are that the workers protests, including those by the gig workers, will have no option but to double down and intensify in 2026. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Two decades old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 2005 is finally replaced by Viksit Bharat – Guarantee For Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill 2025 on the last day of the Winter Session of the Parliament on December 19. Lok Sabha passed the Bill in the day on December 18, and it was tabled the same day in the Rajya Sabha which started debating it after 6.40 PM and passed it just after the midnight at 12.32 AM, in absence of the opposition. The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 16. It goes without saying, it was hurriedly passed.

After the midnight passage of the G RAM G Bill, the opposition parties staged a 12-hour overnight sit-in protest in the Parliament complex. Rajya Sabha passed the Bill by a voice vote after noisy scenes in the House and walkout by the opposition, when their demand to send the legislation to a parliamentary committee was rejected.

In the day on December 18, the opposition staged strong protests in the Lok Sabha and in the Parliament complex. Members of the opposition wanted the Bill sent to a standing committee of the Parliament. They protested in the Well of the house when the Lok Sabha Speaker said that the legislation had been discussed at length. Opposition MPs even tore the copies of the Bill.

The opposition MPs held protest march on December 18 in the morning in Parliament Complex demanding withdrawal of VB – G RAM G Bill. With photographs of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation, the MGNREGA is named after, the MPs of opposition political parties took out a protest march from the Gandhi statue at Prerna Sthal to Makar Dwar, raising slogan against the government led by PM Narendra Modi.

On the concluding day of the Winter Session on December 19, when the proceeding began in the Lok Sabha, Speaker Om Birla adjourned the House sine die. Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan also adjourned the House sine die after reading out a synopsis of the legislative business transacted during the winter session, which began on December 1.

Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha criticised the disruption of the Houses by the opposition. Nevertheless, the Opposition have criticised the Bill and the way Houses were conducted. Opposition had demanded withdrawal of the Bill or sending it to a parliamentary committee for detailed examination. The ruling establishment ignored the opposition demand and had conveyed from the beginning that they intended to get the G RAM G Bill passed in the current session.

Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi has said that the G RAM G Bill bulldozed through Parliament without proper scrutiny. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said, “We are unhappy about that for various reasons. It really takes out the heart of the entire Mahatma Gandhi rural employment program.”

While replying the debate, Union Minister Shivraj Sigh Chouhan said that MGNREGA was nothing but a tool of corruption and claimed that the new law has been brought after discussion with stakeholders. Opposition leaders said that MGNREGA was a support for the poorest of the poor, and the new Bill is anti-poor.

Many objections have been raised against the G RAM G Bill including that it will put an end to the rural people’s right to get works on demand under MGNREGA scheme, which is the only rural employment guarantee programme in India. Within six months from the date of commencement of the G RAM G Act, the states will have to make a scheme consistent with the provisions of the new legislation. States are objecting because the G RAM G Bill seeks to put considerable financial burden on state and UTs. Critics of the G RM G Bill said that it would dismantle the demand-driven framework of MGNREGA, remove its universal implementation provision, and centralise the decision making.

The Modi government’s decision to dismantle the demand driven MGNREGA is criticises no only by the opposition in India, but also by independent thinkers across the world. In an open letter to the Modi government, scholars, policymakers, lawyers, and civic actors (all friends of India from across the world),express profound concern regarding the imminent repeal of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). They urged a recommitment to this landmark legislation, which stands as the world’s most significant policy operationalizing a demand-driven, legal right to employment. They said, dismantling MGNREGA would be a historic error.

Opposition ruled states have criticised the repeal of the MGNREGA. Opposition ruled Punjab government has decided to convene a special session of Vidhan Sabha over replacement of MGNREGA. CM Bhagwant Mann alleges that the BJP government at the centre is trying to hit livelihoods of the poor.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has sharply criticised the replacement of MGNREGA and the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the scheme, calling it a matter of “deep shame.” She argued Bengal would rename its own rural jobs scheme after Gandhi in response. It should be recalled that Centre had stopped funding MGNREGA in West Bengal, and in October 2025, the Supreme Court had cleared the way for its implementation in the State. It is alleged that Centre has brought the G RAM G Bill to bypass the judicial order.

Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin has opposed the G RAM G Bill and criticised increasing the financial burden on states. Kerala has also criticised increasing the financial burden on the state and even termed the new legislation anti-poor, anti-worker, and anti-women, because 90 per cent of the MGNREGA workers in Kerala are women. Even NDA ally TDP has opposed the increased financial burden to the state and has demanded special assistance to compensate the loss.

The Congress party across states has condemned the bill and planned nationwide protests, arguing the move undermines rural employment rights and the legacy of a UPA-introduced scheme. Its leaders called the replacement anti-poor and warned it would hurt the rural poor and women workers who make up a large share of MGNREGA beneficiaries.

INDIA bloc parties and NREGA Sangharsh Morcha have vowed to protest across the country, which has already started from today December 19. The Secular Progressive Alliance led by the ruling DMK, has announced a state-wide protest on December 24 in Tamil Nadu. Opposition says the by stopping funding, giving no work, and by not paying workers in time, the Modi government crippled the MGNREGA, which is ultimately dismantled. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

When Indian rupee was falling in the Mumbai market against US dollar on Wednesday, December 3, 2023 – sliding past the 90-a-dollar mark for the second day, plumbing a new low of 90.29 in the morning trade after opening flat at 89.96, analysts were pegging the next level for the beleaguered unit at 92-93. However, the Chief Economic Advisor of the Government of India V Anantha Nageswaran was audaciously saying in an industry event in the same city, “It will come back next year. Right now, it’s not hurting our exports or inflation. I am not losing my sleep over it. If it has to depreciate now probably is the right time.”

CEA’s calmness over the fall of rupees was surprising for many since it ignored certain key risks to India. His statement was merely economically comforting and politically convenient, which only reflected a technocratic optimism that sits uneasily with the structural realities of the Indian economy.

CEA was actually underplaying the political cost of inflation, which is not merely a macroeconomic variable, but also a political variable. Three factors should be taken seriously in this regard. First – Even moderate imported inflation, if persistent, can destabilise household budgets; secondly, the government absorbs part of rising international prices through excise cuts or subsidies; and thirdly, this fiscal burden has political consequences, especially before elections.

By claiming that depreciation is “not hurting inflation,” the CEA effectively dismisses the lived inflation of ordinary citizens—especially food and fuel inflation that disproportionately affects the poor. The statement glosses over the politics of price stability in a consumption-heavy economy where wages lag price increases.

CEA’s overconfidence masks India’s external vulnerabilities. The CEA’s assurance that the rupee will “come back next year” ignores the deeper structural imbalance: India imports far more than it exports, and its export basket remains low-value and commodity-sensitive.

Politically, presenting depreciation as harmless allows the government to avoid difficult questions: First – Why has export competitiveness stagnated despite multiple schemes? Why is domestic manufacturing still heavily import-dependent? Why does India still lack resilient supply chains despite a decade of “Make in India”?

CEA’s optimism avoids confronting these fundamental vulnerabilities, which weaken India’s bargaining power in the global economy.

Apart from that CEA by making this statement was shielding Government’s performance narratives. The assertion that “now is the right time” for depreciation subtly shifts the narrative: it frames the rupee’s fall not as a sign of weakness but as a strategic adjustment.

Politically, this serves two purposes: First – Protect the government’s economic image by implying the depreciation is expected and benign; Secondly, Pre-empt criticism from opposition parties who link rupee weakness to poor economic management.

Yet global investors interpret persistent currency depreciation differently—often as a signal of structural weaknesses, rising risk, and poor policy credibility. The CEA’s narrative avoids acknowledging this reputational risk.

CEA’s statement also ignores distributional consequences. It is a well known fact that Depreciation does not hurt all groups equally, and the winners and losers are politically salient. Winners of the fall of rupees would be Exporters (IT, textiles, pharma) and Outsourced-services sector. Losers will be Import-dependent SMEs, Consumers, Students studying abroad, Oil-dependent sectors (aviation, transport), and State governments facing higher subsidy burdens. By declaring the depreciation harmless, the CEA sidesteps the uneven burden it places on different segments of society. This is a political issue—not a purely macroeconomic one.

When we consider rupee depreciation as a substitute for structural reform, we have also a different picture. The government has often relied on rupee depreciation to create artificial export competitiveness instead of undertaking hard reforms, such as improving logistics, reducing compliance burdens, deepening labour reforms, supporting technology upgrades, and energising manufacturing R&D.

Depreciation offers a temporary illusion of competitiveness, but it does nothing to fix structural inefficiencies. Therefore, the CEA’s statement implicitly reinforces this complacency.

Economists inside the government often portray shocks as manageable to maintain public confidence. However, when the rupee loses value, external debt becomes costlier, inflation passes through supply chains, people do not care about macroeconomic optimism. They care about prices, jobs, and household stability.

The CEA’s tone of “not losing sleep” conveys a detachment from the socioeconomic anxieties of millions of Indians living with high food inflation and stagnant real wages.

In brief, CEA’s statement is politically convenient and economically risky narrative. It can be technically defensible in the immediate term, but in the long term, it is politically and structurally problematic. They underplay the risk of imported inflation, ignore India’s weak export diversification, dismiss real household stresses, provide convenient cover for the government, and reinforce reliance on currency depreciation instead of reform.

He is partly right while asserting the current depreciation is not hurting exports. But has important caveats – merchandise exports have high import content (electronics, chemicals, and engineering goods) which will become costlier and limit gains. Further, if global demand slows (e.g., US/EU slowdown), a weaker rupee won’t automatically boost exports.

Rupee’s depreciation is not hurting inflation is true only in short term. However, in medium term it is more uncertain. From a macroeconomic perspective, “right time for depreciation” is defendable, which economists call a “controlled, timed flexibility” approach, but “rupee will come back next year” is speculative, since it will depend on several factors such as – US Fed rate cycle, crude oil prices, global risk sentiment, India’s trade deficit, and FPI flows. Therefore, recovery is extremely uncertain.

A wiser stance would combine realism with vigilance—not complacency wrapped in technical language. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

By the Day 9 November 18, the COP30at Belem (Amazonia) under the Brazilian Presidency recorded several achievements, but the two key issues still remain sticking points – financing the climate action, and clear roadmap for phasing out of fossil fuels. We have now three days to go until the last day of the conference on November 21,but great hurdles in the ways that seem to be unsurmountable as of now.

In a new milestone, COP30 has launched an Alliance for the Implementation of National Adaptation Plans(NAPs) on November 18, which is an initiative led by the COP30 Presidency, the United Nations Development Programme, and countries such as Germany and Italy, which aims to promote stronger coordination within the ecosystem that supports and finances adaptation measures.

It is indeed a significant achievement in the backdrop of the estimated investment need. According to a UNDP report, the estimated funds are between eight and fourteen times greater than the government resources allocated for this purpose. However, the problem with the NAPs is that unlike Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), it is focused exclusively on adaptation actions, without addressing mitigation, which is has bee key issue in COPs. Additionally, NAPs submission to the UNFCCC is not mandatory and does not follow a set deadline.

One of the major COP30 decisions is the launch of the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF). Brazil has officially launched the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, a new multilateral financial mechanism to pay countries for preserving their tropical forests. Over US$ 5.5 billion has already been pledged by 53 countries. Norway has committed US$ 3 billion over ten years. Brazil and Indonesia reconfirmed US$ 1 billion each. At least 20% of TFFF’s funds are reserved for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs).The World Bank is acting as trustee and interim secretariat host for the facility. This facility is being seen as a paradigm shift — moving from grant-based funding to a “forest-service payments” model.

Nevertheless, there is a cautious optimism about TFFF. Some believe it a groundbreaking achievement, while several civil society actors emphasize that governance, especially community access, must be strong. Experts generally agree that the TFFF is probably the biggest concrete institutional outcome so far, and if implemented well, it could fundamentally shift how we finance forest conservation – by actually paying for standing forests, not just project-based reforestation.

Belém Health Action Plan (BHAP) is another imported achievement. A major commitment was made to build climate-resilient health systems. Over 35 global philanthropies pledged an initial US$ 300 million to support the BHAP. The plan includes surveillance systems, capacity building, and evidence-based policymaking.

Global Initiative on Jobs & Skills have also been launched bringing together governments, industry, and civil society. It has estimated that 650+ million jobs could be created over the next decade via climate transition, both in mitigation and adaptation. Eight countries, including Brazil, India, Kenya, and South Africa have already committed to work with this initiative.

Under Blue NDC Challenge, 17 countries have joined hands, pledging to integrate ocean-based climate solutions, such as marine conservation and blue energy, into their national climate plans. The One Ocean Partnership was launched to mobilize USD 20 billion by 2030 for a Regenerative Blue Economy. New tools were introduced to help track progress: e.g., an Implementation Dashboard and a Marine Biodiversity & Ocean Health toolkit.

Nevertheless, creation of a clear roadmap to phase out fossil fuels remains a sensitive issue. More than 80 countries, and nearly 20 climate ministers, are pushing for a global “roadmap” for phasing out fossil fuels. This builds on the COP28 commitment to transition away from oil, gas, and coal by 2050.However, there is resistance and some fossil-fuel–dependent countries, e.g., Saudi Arabia and Russia are skeptical. The fossil fuel roadmap is ambitious, but it is not yet binding decision which just reflect the political complexity on the issue.

As far as India’s position, the country has emphasized that equitable, predictable, concessional climate finance is non-negotiable. It calls for unfettered access to clean technologies, criticizing barriers like high cost or IP restrictions. Nevertheless, India has joined the TFFF as an observer. The country also pushed back on the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), calling it protectionist and against the spirit of the UN climate convention.

There has been strong debate on climate finance. Developing countries are pushing hard for more, especially for adaptation and loss &damage. The principle of just transition is being emphasized. The dominant narrative is that climate action must safeguard jobs, support vulnerable communities, and respect development needs.

The Belém 4X Pledge on sustainable fuels, which is part of COP30, is now criticised by several expert groups. Climate Action Network, an NGO, has said that it is pushing “dubious” bioenergy and synthetic fuels, warning of risks to ecosystems and communities.

Finance remains a major sticking point. There are fears that the required money isn’t flowing fast and safely enough. There is a deep divide among the parties. While developing countries demanding more predictable, concessional support to climate action, the developed countries seem wary or slow. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Ban order on caste based political rallies issued by the Uttar Pradesh government on September 21, 2025 has significantly raised the political heat in the state, since it is likely to impact all political parties and political alliances,.. Nevertheless, the BJP led government under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has opted for defining caste based political rallies as a threat to “public order” and “national unity”, which has a special connotation more serious than the simple violation of “law and order”.

The order has been issued at a time when political parties in opposition have already started their outreach programmes to various social groups and communities in the wake of forthcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly election to be held in 2027. It should be noted that the state has not yet issued similar orders for religion based political rallies, the reason of which is quite known. Glorification and denigration of castes have been banned under this order but similar order does on apply to religion-based politics.

The ban order has been issued under the name and seal of the Officiating Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh Deepak Kumar, purportedly in the light of a September 16 Allahabad High Court order, that had directed the State’s Department of Home and the DGP to frame and implement standard operating procedures by amending police manuals or regulations, if necessary, to prohibit caste disclosure in all police documents barring cases lodged under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities), Act 1989.

Adityanath led BJP government in the state made use of this order to issue the 10 point ban order chiefly targeting political parties like Samajwadi Party and BSP, since they have large support among Yadavas and Jatavas respectively. Samajwadi Party has been doing politics on PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) slogan while BSP chiefly does Dalit politics. Both the parties have also been engaged in reaching other castes too, such as SP has been trying to reach non-Yadava communities while BSP to non-Jatava communities.

BJP has also been indulging in caste politics especially among caste Hindus – such as Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and several non-Yadava and non-Jatava communities. It has also been outreaching to various castes, and its leaders have been participating in caste based political rallies. BJP has alliance partners in NDA, such as Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), NISHAD party, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, and Apna Dal, that have been in the caste politics in the state.

Not only that, even ministries and party tickets are being given on the basis of castes is a fact in Indian politics apart from the religion based politics on communal lines. No wonder, the issuance of the ban order has raised the political heat in the state – both within the NDA and INDIA bloc, and also BSP. BJP chiefly does religion based politics and hence it believes that the party can derive advantage by banning caste based politics in the state. All non-BJP political parties have criticized the move of the Yogi Adityanath government.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav asked five questions to the UP government. He asked, “What will be done to remove the caste discrimination that has been ingrained in our minds for 5,000 years and what will be done to eradicate caste discrimination arising from caste-display through clothing, costumes and symbols?”

SP spokesperson Rajkumar Bhati has sharply attacked the state government and said that the BJP is afraid of the rising political consciousness among the various castes including the Gurjar community that has planned a rally, which is now banned under the new direction. He alleged, “Previously, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) itself had been organising caste rallies and conferences.”

Bhati said, Before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, meetings of various castes were held continuously for a month at the BJP’s office in Lucknow. The BJP also posted a sign in Lucknow announcing the number of ministers from each caste appointed by its government. Yogi Adityanath held a road show during the Ghaziabad assembly by-election. During the one-kilometre road show, welcome platforms for ten castes were set up, with the names of the different castes written on them.”

UP Congress leader Anil Yadav said, “Baba Saheb Ambedkar called for an equal society based on the concept of justice. The point is that injustice, unfairness, bias, and prejudice based on caste ended in Uttar Pradesh; the clear answer is no, those in power discriminate against downtrodden, Dalits, backwards and minorities based on identity through multiple ways, from fake encounters to bias in appointment. This decision to ban caste-based references or mobilisation will further embolden the forces of injustice and ultimately target social community-based groups who fight against discrimination.” He said that the decision is dangerous and is intended to silence the voices of Dalits, backwards and marginalised communities. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

As far as outcome is concerned, the month-long Monsoon Session of the Parliament of India that concluded on August 21, 2025, can be termed as near washout. Nevertheless, the symptoms it manifested signalled India’s great struggle ahead. The opposition battled for saving the Constitution and the democracy throughout the session, causing disruption and walkouts in both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, while the ruling establishment tried their best to take advantage of the absence of the opposition to introduce and pass certain legislations, which in itself was mockery of democracy. One of the legislations is relating to removal of PM, CM, and Ministers, has not even an iota of justice within it, since it seeks their removal even without chargesheet, merely after being arrested for 30 days.

Therefore, any review of the Monsoon session, needs not only to be done on the basis of the outcome of the session, but also on the basis of the issues that was fought within both the Houses of the Parliament of India, and the things that the ruling establishment tried their best to push through, which included several legislations. The ruling NDA did not allow the issues to be discussed which the opposition wanted to discuss, barring the Operation Sindoor that the government agreed to discuss after a great struggle of the INDIA bloc. Due to disruption, the Lok Sabha could function for only 29% of its scheduled time, while the Rajya Sabha for only 34%. Question Hour functioned for 23% of scheduled time in the Lok Sabha and for 6% in the Rajya Sabha.

It is ominous that the parliament did not discuss the legislations thoroughly. There were Limited Discussion on Bills before passing within few minutes. About 27% of Bills introduced in the Lok Sabha have been referred to Committees. No Bills have been referred to Departmentally Related Standing Committees. About 50 per cent of Lok Sabha functioning time was spent on discussing Operation Sindoor. No private members’ business taken up in either House. And how serious the ruling establishment is on proper conduction of the Lok Sabha proceedings can be imagined by the fact that there has not been Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha since June 2019.

Opposition protests over Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Electoral Roll in Bihar and ruckus over the Pahalgam attack and the subsequent development including Operation Sindoor and repeated claim of playing role in stopping the war between India and Pakistan disrupted the proceedings. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla expressed his disappointment over the reduced productivity of the House. Union government’s refusal to allow discussion on SIR has chiefly contributed in the disruption in both the Houses, on daily basis. Om Birla blamed only the opposition and labelled it “organised disruptions.”

On the very first day of the session, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar had to resign, which was enforced on him by the ruling establishment, since he had accepted the opposition motion for removal of a judge for consideration. PM Narendra Modi led government could not accept such a move by the Vice President, and he was given enough hint – either resign of face impeachment. Dhankhar, who have criticized the government on several issues, including the issue of the farmers, had to opt for resignation. Nevertheless, a motion to impeach Justice Yashwant Varma (currently a judge of the Allahabad High Court) was admitted by the Lok Sabha Speaker. A three-member committee has been constituted to examine the issue.

Opposition was seen aggressive both inside and outside the parliament on the issue of SIR. For them it was the most important issues since the way the Election Commission of India was conducting it smacked its being aligning with the Centre led by PM Narendra Modi. Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi had demonstrated how Election Commission connived with Modi government in voter list manipulation, and alleged ‘vote theft’ during the Lok Sabha Election 2024, and subsequent Vidhan Sabha election in Haryana, Maharashtra, and Delhi.

It was alleged that large ECI allowed large number of fraudulent voters who tilted the balance in favour of the BJP, of which PM Narendra Modi was direct beneficiary. In the forthcoming Bihar election, ECI came out with such provisions that threatened large number of deletion of voters, allegedly to help BJP win the election. ECI then expressed their intention of conducting SIR across the country, which alarmed all the political parties in opposition. No wonder the SIR issue strongly united the INDIA bloc. They have committed themselves to defeat the allegedly unholy alliance of PM Narendra Modi and the ECI, and protested in the parliament causing daily disruption.

The ruling establishment then came out with a surprise legislation – the Constitution 130th amendment Bill, 2025, that made the opposition unity even stronger. Union Home Minister Amit Shah introduced this bill along with two others on August 20, which were ultimately referred to the joint parliamentary committees amidst uproar in the House. The Constitution 130th Amendment Bill 2025, proposes automatic removal of election officials – Prime Minister, Chief Ministers, and Union Ministers – if they are arrested and detained for 30 consecutive days on serious criminal charges.

The Opposition views it threat to their existence, another attack on the Constitution and the democracy in the country. They have already been alleging that Modi government has been implicating the leaders of the opposition in criminal cases under draconian laws, and unleased central investigation agencies like CBI, ED, NIA, Income Tax Department against them. Several of them were arrested and languished in jail without trial and chargesheets.

Introduction of such a bill indicates that the Union Government led by PM Narendra Modi is working towards authoritarian regime threatening the very justice, democracy, and constitutional values, alleged the INDIA bloc parties while committing themselves to even stronger battle to save them in the coming months, both inside and outside the parliament. They have made their point by fielding their Vice President candidate Balakrishna Sudershan Reddy who according to them symbolises the Constitutional values and democracy. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

As Election Commission of India (ECI) was busy in giving final shape to the Draft Revised Electoral Roll of Bihar to be published on August 1, an oral direction of the Supreme Court to ECI on July 28 to proceed with accepting Aadhaar and Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) has made ECI’s task challenging. First, because it is not physically possible to implement the direction within the limited time available, and secondly because its own insistence that they can’t accept Aadhaar, EPIC, and ration cards as proof of citizenship.

Moreover, the bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, in the brief hearing on July 28, has said that in case of mass exclusion of voters from the Draft Revised Electoral Roll, the Court will step in. On July 29, the bench has listed the case for final hearing on August 12 and 13.

In its last hearing the bench had urged the ECI to consider Aadhaar card, EPIC, and Ration Card as proof of identity, which ECI did not accept giving its reason that they don’t constitute citizenship, and they can be forged. Until the last date of submission of the elector form and documents on July 25, ECI did not accept the Supreme Court suggestion and insisted on the 11 other documents. The bench had pointed out that it was ridiculous since several of the documents the ECI was accepting could be obtained on the basis of Aadhaar card. It had also pointed out that any document can be forged, therefore it can’t be made basis of refusing acceptance of Aadhaar and EPIC.

On July 28, the Supreme Court has given oral direction to the ECI to proceed accepting Aadhaar and EPIC, since there is a “presumption of correctness” in the case of these 2 documents. The bench has made it clear that the January 2025 list of voters is the starting point if there was no SIR. The bench said to the petitioners challenging the SIR, “Don’t undermine the power of the court. Trust us,” adding that if court was in agreement with the submissions and if any illegality was found, everything would be quashed “there and then”.

This tone of the Supreme Court bench has put the ECI under tremendous pressure. They are weighing the pros and cons of the oral direction of the bench to accept Aadhaar and EPIC, but has not decided to accept those documents yet. They are being still refused at the ground level in Bihar, and the officials are asking for the 11 documents as per the June 14 order for the ECI for conduction SIR in the state.

ECI has made itself a laughing stock by insisting on the 11 documents while telling the court that forged Aadhaar, EPIC, and Ration cards are there and hence they can’t accept them. One of the JD(U) MP has rightly said that ECI don’t know about the ground reality, and SIR are just enforced upon them. And he is right.

Though ECI has flagged forgeries of Aadhaar, EPIC and Ration cards, it failed to flag forgeries f the 11 documents it insists on them. Two recent examples can be cited here. A residence certificate has been issued for a dog with dog’s photo, name – Dago Bagu, father’s name ‘Kutta Babu’, and the mother’s name ‘Kuttiya Devi.” It is a case from Masaurhi near the Patna, the capital city of Bihar. In a second case, just two weeks earlier, a certificate was issued in Munger with photo of Sonalika tractor, name Sonalika Kumar, daughter of father “Begusarai Chaudhari” and mother “Baliya Devi”.

These examples expose the flimsy ground of the ECI that on account of Aadhaar, EPIC and Ration cards can be forges, they can’t be accepted as identity proof of citizens, while they are accepting the 11 documents, and many of them may be forged, or grossly incorrect.

When the Dog’s residence certificate became viral, opposition ridiculed the government and the ECI. Swaraj India member Yogendra Yadav said that this is the same certificate that is being considered for SIR “while Aadhar and ration cards are being called fake”.

Congress wrote in its post, “The dog will appear and vote for BJP. Perhaps they’ll make Dog Babu candidate also all BJP Karyakartas will vote for him. This is naked manipulation of the electoral system by BJP with an unscrupulous @ECISVEEP which is working as a criminal syndicate. The courts are by-standers and blessing the carnage of democracy with their silence.”

ECI has in its affidavit submitted in the Supreme Court has said that it began the SIR “to restore public confidence in the integrity of the electoral roll. Justifying its SIR order, it said “…several recognised political parties across the spectrum have raised serious concerns with the Commission regarding inaccuracies in the electoral rolls — citing the inclusion of ineligible and deceased individuals and exclusion of eligible voters. These concerns arise from the limitations of the summary revision process which does not require fresh preparation of electoral rolls.”

Opposition has challenged the ECI order to have SIR of Electoral Roll in Bihar without giving enough time to the electors to submit their documents. ECI is demanding those documents that people do not have, while refusing the documents which they have such as Aadhaar, EPIC and ration card. Opposition has alleged electoral roll manipulation in favour of the BJP.

The issue has also rocked the Parliament of India – both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha – causing disruption and adjournments. Legislative Assembly of Bihar also witnessed chaos.

The petitioners challenging the SIR exercise has said that 65 lakh names are to be deleted from the revised Electoral Roll in Bihar. They have been demanding that Aadhaar, EPIC and ration card be accepted as proof of identity, which ECI did not accept.

In its rejoinder to the ECI’s affidavit, ADR has alleged that the manner and the hurry with which SIR is being conducted is a “grave fraud” on the state’s voters.

In any case, ECI will be publishing Draft Revised Electoral Roll on August 1, which has been almost prepared without accepting Aadhaar and EPIC, and will hide itself behind a provision that there is a window for objection and correction until September 1. Since final hearing will start from August 12, the people of Bihar who have only Aadhaar and EPIC are hopeful of some relief, while ECI will have challenging time to defend itself if it continues to decide not to accept them as proof of identity of citizenship. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

It is ridiculous. Union Government of India is still hiding behind a questionable extrapolation on employment based on Reserve Bank of India’s KLEMS (Capital, Labour, Energy, Materials, and services) database, and informed the Lok Sabha on July 24 that India added 17 crore jobs between 2017-18 and 2023-24.

The Centre led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been peddling this false narrative right from the Lok Sabha election campaign in 2024, which is still going on. The Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Shobha Karandlaje in a written reply has provided a camouflage of data based on KLEMS, Union Government’s PLFS data, and ILO outlook of 2024 and claimed that those data indicated “improvements signalling higher engagement of the working-age population in productive employment” rejecting claims of joblessness, especially among India’s youth.

The reply of the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment has come just a day after it had rebutted a media report questioning the credibility of India’s unemployment figures. The ministry had defended its Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) calling it “globally recognized” and aligned with international standards such as those set by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

It is to be noted here, that PLFS has recently transitioned into a new methodology and periodicity, and has started monthly reports on employment and unemployment since April 2025, the first report of which came in May. It included both rural and urban data. PLFS has replaced the old Labour Survey on Employment and Unemployment since 2017-18, and has started giving yearly data for rural areas and quarterly data for urban areas with a delay of at least three months. The new methodology of PLFS has warned that it is not comparable with the old data. Nevertheless, the Minister has compared the old PLFS data and the new PLFS data.

In absence of the realtime data from the government, people had to depend on the private data, such as one from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). The unemployment data from CMIE has been always much above the official PLFS data. Government has been campaigning against the private data and urging people not to believe them. They have urged the people to believe on official PLFS data, the reliability of which has always been questioned and considered stale.

Irony is that the Union government, including the Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not believe the PLFS data, and therefore they have been relentlessly quoting the extrapolated data from the RBI’s KLEMS database. They why should people believe the PLFS data?

The new monthly PLFS data on employment and unemployment is also not generally believed, both by the common people and experts.

Only a few days ago the Reuters poll of independent economists has said that the Indian government’s data is inaccurate and masks the severity of joblessness and underemployment. Several of the experts said that the true jobless rate is around twice the official figure. Over 70 per cent of independent economists polled, 37 out of 50, said that the official unemployment rate at 5.6 per cent in June, is inaccurate.

It was on this report, the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment, said on July 23 that Reuters poll relied on “unverifiable perceptions” adding that while “expert opinion can offer valuable insights, it cannot be a substitute for large-scale, representative, and methodologically robust surveys.”

In the parliament, the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment has said, that the number of employed people in the country rose to 64.33 crore in 2023-24 from 47.5 crore in 2017-18. Since it is based on extrapolation from the RBI’s KLEMS data, it is worth visiting the KLEMS data to know the falsehood that is being played though the false narrative of the government. Earlier, government has given this data even in the Rajya Sabha.

First thing to note the Government’s official PLFS data does not given the employment figures at the level of the extrapolation from the RBI’s KLEMS data. It is the reason because of which Centre has been repeatedly quoting KLEMS to show high employment figures, while PLFS shows low employment figures.

RBI’s data shows that in 2014- 15 we had 471.46 million employed persons, which rose to 472.04 million in 2015-16. For the year 2016-17, when millions of MSMEs were closed and most of them reduced their operation up to 75 per cent after the demonization in November 2016, and millions of workers lost their jobs, the RBI data showed 1.2 per cent increase in employment which increased to 473.2 million.

For the year, 2017-18, when even NSSO data showed 45 years high unemployment rate at 6.1 per cent, the RBI data showed that employment increased by 1.8 per cent to 475 million. For the year 2018-19, RBI data on employment showed a jump of 17.6 per cent to 492.6 million. In 2019-20, RBI data showed a jump in employment be 41.8 per cent that rose to 534.4 million.

The more mysterious RBI data came for 2020-21, the year of the lockdown and COVID-19 crisis when the entire economy came to a halt. RBI data said that employment jumped to 31.2 per cent for that year and it reached to 565.6 million. The next COVID-19 crisis year was 2021-22, and the RBI data showed 11.9 per cent jump in employment which reached to 577.5 million. It should be noted that when India’s GDP growth rate turned negative about (-6 per cent) in 2020-21 due to lockdown of the economy, RBI’s data show jump in employment. For 2022-23 the data showed 19.2 per cent jump to 596.7 million, and for 2023-24 the jump was 46.7 per cent to 643.3 million.

It is strange that the Union Government still quoting this RBI data which are questionable. The reality is that government employment data is inflated. Unpaid household helpers are counted as employed, and also persons who got 1 hour of work. Own account workers, that are self-employed, are on the rise, and earning very low below the survival level. About 90 per cent of the employment are informal, and lack social security. Underemployment is rampant.

The Union Minister of State for Labour and employment has given the record employment figure from RBI’s data base for the year 2023-24.However, PLFS data shows that a total of 58.4 per cent of the total employed people in 2023-24 were self-employed. The percentage of self employed has risen from 55.8 per cent in 2021-22 and 57.3 per cent in 2022-23. It is indicative of the declining job opportunities in the labour market which enforcing people to become either helping hand in household enterprises or own account worker so that they can survive amidst lack of social security coverage. Regular wage and salaried jobs have been almost stagnant, the PLFS 2023-24 shows. It was 21.5 per cent in 2021-22, declined to 20.9 per cent in 2022- 23, and reached 21.7 per cent in 2023-24. Share of casual labour in the work force was also declining which was 19.8 per cent in 2023- 24, but was 21.8 per cent in 2022- 23 and 22.7 per cent in 2021-22. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Health issue is the officially stated reason for the Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar’s resignation, but it has a political context. It was only in December 2024, Dhankhar had rebuked its own government led by PM Narendra Modi over not talking to agitating farmers of Punjab. He had said that a nation that tested the patience of farmers paid a “heavy price”. Now his resignation is seen as the “heavy price” he had to pay for going against his own government.

The Vice President Dhankhar had sought to know on stage in a Mumbai event from the Union Minister of Agriculture Shivraj Singh Chouhan preset there as the why the Centre was not holding a dialogue with the protesting farmers. Dhankhar had said “every moment is critical for you. I urge you, and as the person holding the second-highest constitutional position in India, I request you to please tell me, was any promise made to the farmer, and why has it not been fulfilled? What are we doing to fulfil the promise? There was an agitation last year, and there is one this year as well, and time is passing, but we are doing nothing.” It was a direct indictment of the PM Narendra Modi led Centre, that has not yet accepted the farmers’ demand for the legal guarantee for MSP for their crops.

Dhankhar took over as Vice President of on August 11, 2022 and resigned on July 21, 2025. He is the third Vice President of India after VV Giri and R Venkataraman to resign before completing his term, with only difference that Giri and Venkataraman had stepped down to contest presidential election, but Dhankhar has resigned stating “health concerns and the need to follow medical advice” and his intent to “prioritise health care”.

In the power corridor in New Delhi, people believe that “health issues” may be only one of the reasons, that too a superficial one, behind his resignation. He was seen in good health and vigour on the first day of the Monsoon session of the Parliament. He presided over the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha and addressed the issues relating to the opposition motions and opposition’s demand for a statement of Prime Minister and discussion on Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor, and ensuing events including Trump’s claims.

Dhankhar had convened the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of the Rajya Sabha at 12:30 PM, which was also attended by Union Ministers J P Nadda and Kiren Rijiju. However, discussions remained incomplete which made him reconvene the meeting at 4:30 PM. Nadda and Rijiju were absent, and the government was represented by the Union Minister L Murugan. It was the first time Dhankhar was seen visibly unhappy, and then he rescheduled the meeting for July 22 at 1 PM.

Within hours in the late evening the sudden and most unexpected move of resignation came, which surprised most of the leaders including from the BJP, perhaps excepting the political leadership of the ruling establishment in the help of affair. What upset Dhankhar so much prompting him to resign? It remains the matter of speculation. Heath was not immediate concern, but has been a long-term concern for him since March 2025, when he was hospitalized for certain heart problem and was discharged after a few days with advice for rest.

Opposition has linked Dhankhar’s resignation to his being humiliated by the BJP leaders, on at least two occasions in the day. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has said that at 4:30 PM BAC awaited Nadda and Rijiju, who never came. Dhankhar was not personally informed that the two senior Ministers were not attending. He said that something very serious happened yesterday between 1 PM and 4:30 PM to account for the deliberate absence of the ministers. Jairam Ramesh also recalled how Dhankhar fearlessly referred to “ahankara” in public life.

It has been noted by many and highlighted by Congress that JP Nadda had said during the opposition’s protest in the Rajya Sabha, “Nothing will go on record, only what I say will go on record”. There is a speculation that this might have hurt Dhankhar and he was presiding over the Rajya Sabha at that time.

JP Nadda has defended himself and said, “As for what I said in the Rajya Sabha, that whatever I say will go on record, it was directed at the interrupting Opposition MPs, not at the Chair”. On his and Rijiju’s absence, he said, “Kiren Rijiju and I did not attend the meeting called by the Vice President at 4:30 PM because we were occupied with other important parliamentary work, and prior intimation was given to the office of the Honourable Vice President.”

There is another speculation which is related to the opposition’s impeachment motion against Justice Yashwant Varma. There are reports suggesting that there the government was not happy with the way Dhankhar was handling the impeachment motion. Another speculation is about disagreement on the issue of justice S K Yadav’s impeachment whose pro-Hindutva statement made in a VHP event had created great controversy in the past.

The political context, timing, and the way Dhankhar’s resignation has come, are suggestive of some serious differences between the Vice President and the Union government on various issues, and the absolute political control of PM Narendra Modi. Criticising or differing with him will have to be paid by a “heavy price” though officially stated reasons may by different. (IPA Service)

The article Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s Resignation Has A Political Context appeared first on Arabian Post.

By Dr. Gyan Pathak

One day after the “locking down” of the Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir Omar Abdullah, his cabinet ministers, his party National Conference legislators, along with leader from the PDP, People’s Conference, and J&K Apni Party in their homes to prevent them from paying homage to Martyrs of July 13, 1931 on that day, yet another serious incident took place that amounts to attack on democracy. The chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir was manhandled by Central security forces when he, along with others went to pay homage to martyrs at Naqshband Sahib graveyard in the Old City of Srinagar.

The martyrs’ graveyard was heavily barricaded by the Central security forces. Nevertheless, in a defiant step, leaders of the national conference paid floor tribute at the martyrs’ graveyard. CM Omar Abdullah jumped a barricade, scaled the wall, and entered graveyard, followed by other leaders of his party. The graveyard contains dead bodies of 22 Kashmiris who were killed on July 13, 1931.

“These people think that we are their slaves. We are not their slaves; we are the servants of the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” Omar told reporters at the site, adding that attempts were made to block their movement. “Which law allows them to stop elected representatives from paying tribute to martyrs? Is this democracy or dictatorship?” he questioned, asserting “they tried to physically grapple me but I was not going to be stopped.” National Conference later posted on X, “No restrictions can silence us; our democratic rights will prevail. We forever honour the July 13, 1931, martyrs who rose against tyranny.”Omar has also remarked, “Unelected nominees of New Delhi locked up the elected representatives of the people of J&K.”

The question is why the Centre has denied permission to the people of Kashmir to pay homage to their martyrs? Until 2019, July 13 was officially observed as Martyrs’ Day in Jammu and Kashmir in memory of the 22 civilians killed by Dogra forces under Maharaja Hari Singh’s rule in 1931. It was also a holiday in the state.

PM Narendra Modi led government at the Centre had abrogated the Article 370 in August 2019, annulled its special status, ended its statehood, and split it into two Union Territories – Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. Subsequently, the UT was put under administration of Lieutenant Governor, who in 2020, removed the Martyrs’ Day from the list of gazetted holidays.

Elections to the Assembly of the UT was held in September-October 2024, which was won by the INDIA bloc led by National Conference. Omar Abdullah became chief minister, but the state practically remains under the Central administration under Lieutenant Governor. Administration had denied permission to all political parties to visit the graveyard or hold gatherings there, citing security concerns.

Nevertheless, the real concern is the fear of the Centre that giving permission may strengthened the movement of the Kashmiris who are still demanding for restoration of statehood and special status of the state as it existed before abrogation of Article 370, and also restoration of the Article 370 of the Constitution of India which gave it the special status.

The administration had denied permission for the Martyrs’ Day function and warned of strict action against anyone who tried to proceed towards the Martyrs’ Graveyard. Condemning this, Mr Abdullah said, “13th July massacre is our Jallianwala Bagh. The people who laid down their lives did so against the British. Kashmir was being ruled under the British Paramountcy. What a shame that true heroes who fought against British rule in all its forms are today projected as villains only because they were Muslims. We may be denied the opportunity to visit their graves today, but we will not forget their sacrifices.”

The action of the Central administration against an elected chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir has been generally criticized by leaders and people across the country.

Opposing the ‘house arrest’ of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Monday contended that the Union government led by BJP was systematically stripping away the rights of elected State governments. He wrote in a social media post, “At a time when there is a growing demand for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s Statehood, the current events unfolding there are a grim reminder of how far things have deteriorated.”

It was not just about one State or one leader, Mr. Stalin said, “From Tamil Nadu to Kashmir, the Union BJP Government is systematically stripping away the rights of elected State governments.”If this could happen in Kashmir “it can happen anywhere, to any elected representative of the people. Every democratic voice must unequivocally condemn this.”

Expressing shock, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has said that what happened to J&K chief minister is unacceptable.“What is wrong in visiting the graveyard of martyrs? This is not only unfortunate, it also snatches the democratic right of a citizen. What happened this morning to an elected chief minister is unacceptable. Shocking. Shameful,” she wrote on social media post.

PDP has said, “When the elected CM, in manhandled by police, it’s not just an insult to one individual, it’s brutal assault on the very ideal of democracy in J&K. This wasn’t a push, it was a deliberate humiliation of an elected government. The self-respect of the CM, his cabinet, and the mandate of the people has been crushed under the boots of a police state, acting on orders from those who treat J&K like a colony, not a constitutional unit.”

RJD leader Tejashvi Yadav said, “The manner in which the elected CM was ill-treated and manhandled, is an utterly deplorable act and is a blot on Indian democracy. The BJP should remember that they have been outrightly rejected by the people of J&K. They should desist from ruling the state and dictating the elected government through backdoor.”

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said, “If you keep imposing restrictions on every matter like this, then when the regime changes, tell me yourself, which border will you cross to escape?”

CPI leader D Raja condemned Abdullah’s detention as insulting. And the J&K Congress called it a “chilling reminder of how far we’ve drifted from democratic values”.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, “It is reprehensible that the unelected police and unelected administration of Delhi are trying to control an elected Chief Minister. Elected leaders are being put under house arrest… The LG of J&K has accepted that he is taking responsibility for the Pahalgam attack… If he is taking responsibility to save Delhi, to become its shield, then resign… .” (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Though on the eve of the workers’ all India general strike on July 9, 2025, Union Ministry of Labour, Government of India, tried to downplay the strike action by claiming that213 unions had informed of their staying away from the strike, India actually witnessed on Wednesday the largest ever general strike of workers in the history of workers’ strike in the country.

Some reports have estimated the participation of 30 to 40 crore workers breaking the earlier record of about 25 crore workers going on strike on November 26, 2020. Moreover, the latest strike action was not limited to the industrial areas, but escalated into non-industrial areas too acquiring a dimension of Bharat Bandh (Shut India), disrupting routine life of the people across the country.

The unprecedented success of the strike shows the hollowness of the Union Ministry of Labour’s claim about 213 unions not participating in the strike. The BJP and RSS supported Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) was included among non-participant workers’ unions, but it is a significant development within the workers’ struggle in the country that these worker’s unions had actually taken a stand that they would “neither participate nor oppose” the call of general strike.

Moreover, it is worth mentioning here that there are over 16,000 workers’ unions as per the government’s record, out of which 213 is a very small number, and barring the BMS, most of the unions have miniscule membership, and are limited to government and public sector and service unions. Even many among those who did not support the strike came out in favour of workers solidarity and did not work.

The call of general strike was originally given on March 18, 2025 by the National Convention of Workers (NCW) held in New Delhi. The NCW included the joint platform of 10 Central Trade Unions – INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF, and UTUC – and the Independent Sectoral Federations and Associations, including in Bank and Insurance sector, such as AIBEA, AIBOA, BEFI, AIIEA, AILICEF and AINLIEF (INTUC). The farmers unions including the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) also supported the strike and participated in it.

The general strike was originally called for May 20, 2025 on the conclusion of two months of workers’ campaign against anti-labour and pro-corporate policies of the Union Government led by PM Narendra Modi, but was rescheduled for July 9, in the backdrop of Operation Sindoor. Workers 17-point demand include scraping of the four labour codes and stop privatization of public sector enterprises.

Many workers unions who were not participating in this general strike for many reasons, they organized protest demonstration across the country.

Most striking development is the political support of the opposition to the strike. All left political parties have supported the strike and the workers agitation for a long time, but all the parties in INDIA bloc in Bihar joined hands with the workers making the strike a grand success in Bihar. INDIA bloc has joined the issue of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the Electoral Rolls in the state. Bihar development is significant since the state is being under NDA rule.

The impact of the general strike was most felt in the key sector of the Indian economy, such as banking, transport, and power. The state like Gujarat, which is ruled by the BJP, has also been severely impacted by disruption of banking operations, while in another BJP ruled state Uttar Pradesh power sector workers going on strike is also a significant development. Roads and Railways networks have also been impacted in several states across the country. Though the impact of the strike was felt most in the opposition ruled states, from Kerala to West Bengal, BJP ruled states from Gujarat to Assam were also underwent significant disruptions in various operations. Insurance, postal services, coal mining sector were also considerably impacted, while scheme workers in several states such as Anganwadi workers, and also MGNREGA workers also participated in the strike.

Coal mining and factory activities have been either completely halted or considerably slowed down across the country. There were only a very small number of industrial areas where there were limited impact on productions. Though the employees and workers in the Railway and government sector were not on strike, many of their unions had participated in the protest demonstrations across the states impacting services.

The most affected cities and regions were Bengaluru, Kolkata, Gujarat, Odisha (Bhubaneswar), West Bengal (Jadavpur, Siliguri), Kerala (Kottayam), Tamil Nadu (Chennai), and Bihar (Patna).

Kerala witnessed widespread disruption and scattered violence. Public transport suspended and the shops shut down. Many establishments were forced to shut down.

Andhra Pradesh, the state which is ruled by BJP’s ally TDP, also witnessed significant protests and the strike impacted both its industrial areas and towns. It is also an import red signal for the NDA partner, though not so stern as in Bihar’s ally JD(U) where the general strike impacted all towns, industrial areas, roads, railways and many other services.

In Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh, several coal mines also suffered complete shut-down. Disruption in railways and road transport were also impacted at several places in both the states apart from general strike in industrial areas.

The main opposition party Congress, which leads the INDIA bloc at present has said that they will raise the issues of workers and farmers, and other woes of the people such as economic inequality, unemployment, and privatization of the public sector undertakings and handing over them to crony capitalists.

Other non-INDIA bloc parties, such as BRS in Telangana and BJD in Odisha, have also lend their support to the worker’s demand.

In an important development, 3 lakh defence civilian employees staged one-hour nationwide protests across more than 400 Defence establishments in show of unity with the striking workers of the country.

The dimension of the general strike of workers, supported by demonstration by employees and workers or all sectors including power, transport, bank, insurance etc, farmers, farm labours, scheme workers, and opposition political parties, shows the general discounted against the Union Government policies, which the Centre led by PM Narendra Modi must take into consideration to remove the tension that has gripped the industrial relations in the county. It must begin forthwith talks with the striking CTUs and independent federations and association, along with activating the tripartite apex organisation ILC by immediately convening its session which the government has not organized since 2015. (IPA Service)

The article India Witnesses Largest Ever General Strike Of Workers On July 9 appeared first on Arabian Post.

By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Election Commission of India’s order of June 24, 2025 for conducting Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls in Bihar violates its core constitutional responsibility, and is contrary to the well-defined protocol and procedure, and hence whimsical.

In the note explaining the process of annual revision/updation of electoral rolls, the ECI has itself given the details, how to proceed with the procedure, but it is shocking that the constitution body itself acted against the details. It is simply a breach of trust of the citizens of India.

The creation, maintenance, and purification of Electoral Rolls is a core constitutional responsibility of ECI, and for that there has been a well-defined and meticulously followed legacy over the decades, which was not followed by the ECI while notifying its order. The process is ensconced in a watertight statutory scheme which is rule based.

The process of revision of electoral rolls says, “The electoral roll is prepared in accordance with the well-defined protocol &procedure and following the principle of natural justice by providing reasonable opportunity to the electors and all stakeholders, political parties in particular.”

Since, ECI is a constitutional body in a democracy, it is not supposed to change the “well-defined protocol & procedure” all of a sudden without deliberations with the stakeholders. ECI’s order mandating new rule for electors whose names were not in the 22 year old electoral roll of 2003 to prove not only citizenship of their own but also of their parents is a major change in the procedure, and hence it can’t be done violating the principle of natural justice.

India being a democratic country, ECI was supposed to democratically act if it had found the decades of legacy of “well-defined protocol & procedure” wrong. Deliberations with the political parties in a democracy was the minimum need as per the process of the revision of electoral rolls, since the provisions of the process of revision of electoral rolls make the ECI responsible for giving “reasonable opportunity to the electors and all stakeholders” in the process.

In the current instance, the ECI neither gave “reasonable opportunities” to electors nor the stakeholder political parties. One fine morning ECI rises from its sleep, and just makes an order to be followed by political parties and electors, forgetting that the responsibility given to the ECI is not autocratic but democratic, in which every elector and the political party is a participant, not servile ECI. Therefore, the order violates not only the rules of democracy but also the spirit of it. It is also against the “principle of natural justice”.

ECI has arbitrarily given a submission deadline for enumeration form and required documentation by July 25. The one month time is too short, and can’t be considered “reasonable opportunity” because the documents are not ready with crores of electors in the fist place, and then the large part of the state is under flood, farmers and farm labourers are busy because of sowing of Kharif crops, many are not able to move on account of their checked movement due to rains, flooded or disrupted paths and roads, and seasonal illness. It is against natural justice not give enough time to electors. The draft electoral roll will be released around August 1, followed by a claim and objection window until September 1, 2025. The final Revised Electoral Roll will be published on September 30, 2025.

Since electoral roll is part of a live process under the ECI, it is arbitrary to reverse the electoral roll revision date to 2003. The logic to make the electoral roll of 2003 as the basis of the Special Intensive Revision now is illogical, and amounts to creating trouble to electors. Election Commission is given responsibility to facilitate the entire election process and is not supposed to create new troubles, especially when the live electoral roll is there, with summarily revised year after year.

ECI has taken a major decision to reject the live Electoral Roll which remains in a “state of continuous updation” undemocratically without any transparent manner, violating the provision of maintaining “widest possible transparency”. The reason given by the ECI for reverting back to 2003 electoral roll is that there have been large scale additions and deletions to the electoral rolls over the last 20 years due to rapid urbanisation and migration. This has increased the possibility of duplicate entries in the roll.

ECI’s logic is faulty since, merely deletion and addition in electoral roll during continuous updation does not make the like electoral roll invalid. Thus, making the current electoral roll invalid, and making 2003 electoral roll valid is an arbitrary decision. As for the ECI’s cleaning “duplicate entries” logic, it does not require making 22 year old electoral roll valid, but it needs only making officials work to get the duplicate entries removed.

Since free and fair election based on universal adult franchise is the basic, ECI has no power to hijack this basic principle by its arbitrary order purportedly only to delete “duplicate entries” as the ECI has said. Election Commission is not “law unto itself”, as the 1977 Supreme Court judgement in MS Gill vs CEC had observed.

Constitution of India has given the ECI the power of “superintendence, direction and control” only but nowhere it gives it power to decide the citizenship of a person, or to decide which documents amount to proving citizenship and which are not. ECI can’t arbitrarily chose which documents amount to be valid citizenship proof and which are not. There is already a decade old legacy in this regard which the ECI is supposed to follow. ECI can’t create its own rule, and the rules for electors to be imposed on them arbitrarily.

There are many more issues involved in the ECI’s order that has been challenged by many petitioners in the Supreme Court of India. The bunch of petitions against the ECI’s order will be heard by the Supreme Court on July 10.

The petitions were mentioned on July 7 before the Bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymala Bagch on behalf of the Association for Democratic Reforms, People’s Union of Civil Liberties, TMC’s Mahua Moitra, RJD’s Manoj Jha, and activist Yogendra Yadav. There are many more petitioners including K.C. Venugopal of the Congress, Supriya Sule of the Nationalist Congress Party (SP), D. Raja of the Communist Party of India, Harendra Malik of the Samajwadi Party, Arvind Sawant of the Shiv Sena (UBT), Sarfraz Ahmed of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, and Dipankar Bhattacharya of the CPI(ML) Liberation.

Petitioners contended that the ECI’s order is ill timed and hasty; revision is opaque and disproportionately targeting Muslim, Dalit, and poor migrants; violates the provisions of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1950 and Rule 21 A of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960; shifted onus of proving citizenship from the state to citizen; excluded identification documents such as Aadhaar or ration cards which further make marginalised communities and the poor more vulnerable to exclusion from voting; and over three crore voters and more particularly from marginalised communities (such as SCs, STs, and migrant workers) could be excluded.

The entire nation is looking at the outcome of the hearing of petitions in Supreme Court on Thursday. This is just not the question of assembly polls in Bihar, the issue has much bigger dimension about the right to vote of a citizen. If the ECI prodded by the Union Home Ministry achieves success in the apex Court in getting its intensive revision procedures passed, that will endanger the democratic rights of a large number of citizens throughout the country. The two judge bench of the Supreme Court is expected to act as the custodian of the Indian Constitution in rejecting the pleas of the ECI and the Centre in the interests of the transparent functioning of Parliamentary Democracy in the country. (IPA Service)

The article Election Commission Violates Its Core Constitutional Responsibility, Acts Whimsically appeared first on Arabian Post.

By Dr. Gyan Pathak

One decade has passed of the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), yet India is off the track in several of them which require intensified and focused interventions to achieve the targets by 2030. While notable progress has been made in several sectors, significant challenges continue to persist other.

This conclusion has been drawn by the Sustainable Development Goals National Indicator Framework (NIF) Progress Report 2025 released by the National Statistics Office, on the basis of 284 national SDG indicators available in the NIF as on 29th June, 2025.

The first goal SDG 1 was to be achieved was “No Poverty” by 2030. This goal has 7 targets. A total of 13 indicators have been identified at the national level, and data are available for all of them. The document gives progress up to only 2019-21 for the level of poverty. In 2015-16, poverty in India was shown 24.85 per cent which declined to 14.96 per cent in 2019-21. In 2025, 64.3 per cent of the population were under social protection. Institutional assistance was being provided to 1.57 lakh senior citizens in 2023-24. It means, India is going to miss the target of “No Poverty” by 2030.

“Zero Hunger” was the second target (SDG 2). There has been considerable progress in this regard, but considerable challenges remain. The Goal has 8 targets. Ratio of institutional credit to agriculture to the agriculture output was 1.56 per cent in 2023-24. GVA in agriculture was Rs 94,110 per worker in 2024-25.

India seems to be on track on SDG 3 ‘good health and well-being’, but challenges remain. Neonatal mortality rate per 1000 live births were still 19 in 2021.

In SDG 4 quality education to all is lagging behind, though free and compulsory education is provided upto class 8th. Gross enrolment ratio for tertiary education was 29.5 per cent in 2022-23. The proportion of schools having access to in 2023-24: electricity was 91.8 per cent; computers for pedagogical purposes was 57.20 per cent; adapted infrastructure and materials for students with disabilities/disabled friendly ramp 77.1 per cent and toilets 34.4 per cent; basic drinking water to 98.3 per cent; sanitation facilities to girls 97.2 per cent and to boys 95.7 per cent; basic hand washing to 94.7 per cent; and internet facilities to 78.5 per cent.

Under SDG 5 (Gender Equality) female to male labour force participation rate in 15-59 years age group was 0.54 in 2023. Bank linked Self Help Groups (SHGs) were 97.04 per cent in 2023-24.

Under SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) improved drinking water is being supplied to 99.62 per cent of the people in 2024-25. Open defection free target has been achieved 100 per cent by 2024-25, and the proportion of villages having water and sanitation committees was 0.9 in 2024-25.

Under SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) 100 per cent households were electrified by 2021-22. Renewable energy share in the total installed electricity generation was 22.13 per cent in 2024-25.

Under SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) outstanding credit to MSME was Rs 27.2 lakh crore in 2023-24. In that year LFPR was 64.3 per cent. There were 34,293 recognised start-ups in 2024. Per capita fossil fuel consumption was 169.5 kg in 2024-25.

As for Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure under SDG 9, the total carbon dioxide emission of power sector per unit of GDP (in tonne/ Rupee Crore) was 40.52 in 2022-23. Number of researchers per million was 262 in 2020-21. Mobile network coverage in 2024 was 99.06 per cent for 4G.

Under SDG 10 (Reduced Inequality) the data shows Gini coefficient of household expenditure in rural areas in 2023-24 at 0.237 and in urban areas 0.284.

Achievement under SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) shows that 80.7 per cent of wage was being processed in 2024-25.

Ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns under SDG 12, the data shows 3,036 was recycling plants installed in 2024-25. Installed renewal energy generating capacity in watts per capita was 156.31 in 2024-25.

Under SDG 13 (Climate Action) the reduction in emission intensity of GDP in 2020 over 2005 level was 36 per cent. SDG 14 (Life Below Water) data shows India’s sustainable yield in fishing was 5.3 million tonne per year in 2024-25.

Life on Land under SDG 15, India had 5.69 per cent of its geographical area in 2024 as protected. Forest cover has been almost stagnant which was 21.76 per cent in 2023, far below than India’s target of achieving 33 per cent.

Under SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions) the data shows 1.55 judges per lakh population in 2024, and number of courts 1.93.

The last, SDG 17 (Partnership for the Goals) shows total number of internet subscription at 954.4 million in 2024. All 29 states have their monitoring framework in 2024-25.

In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the landmark resolution titled “Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, marking a global commitment to a sustainable, inclusive, and equitable future. At the heart of this agenda are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets, which came into effect on1 January 2016. (IPA Service)

The article India Off The Track In Several SDG Goals, Significant Challenges Persist appeared first on Arabian Post.

By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Government of India led by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is observing June 25, 2025, as the first Savmidhan Hatya Diwas (the Day of Killing the Constitution of India), to remember the day of proclamation of emergency at midnight of June 25, 1975 in the country by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi. It presents an irony – the Constitution of India has always been under threat from the power – whether it was 1975 under PM Indira Gandhi or 50 years later in 2025 under PM Narendra Modi. Hence, it is an occasion to beware of Narendra Modi led government’s Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas, since he represents RSS clan which has a long-cherished dream of killing the Constitution of India by replacing it by Hindu Rashtra.

“Samvidhaan Hatya” is just a hype, since the Constitution of India, has never been killed despite grave violations of its provisions. It was neither killed in 1975, not it was reborn anytime later. Even PM Modi has indirectly accepted when he talked about “BR Ambedkar’s Constitution”. It is under that Constitution, India is still being governed since its adoption on November 26, 1949, and came into effect since January 26, 1950. It is under this Constitution of India, even PM Narendra Modi is Prime minister of India. Is it then not a hype to compare some ‘grave violation’ to ‘killing’ of the Constitution of India. Whence the word ‘killing’ came from? There is a term ‘reverse psychology’, that explains that the word ‘killing’ had come from their own heart, that cherishes a dream to kill the ‘secular democratic federal Constitution of India’ and replace it by ‘Hindutva despotic centralized’ constitution.

It is under this general background, in which the people in power are trying to cloak themselves, and their numerous anti-Constitutional activities under the garb of this observance called Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas, it is a matter of serious concern for the common people. The threat is from the power itself.

Gazette notification to observe Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas was made on July 11, 2024, when Modi government was under serious attack from the entire opposition for causing miscarriage of numerous provisions of the Constitution of India under his rule since 2014. Since, the Congress was leading the INDIA bloc, was in the forefront of the attack on PM Narendra Modi led government, the Modi government decided to observe Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas, to humiliate the current Congress leadership, and to undermine the legacy of Congress, in the freedom movement and development of India after independence of India.

The politics thus goes on, and the hype can be seen even in the gazette notification by the Ministry of Home Affairs. “Whereas, a proclamation of Emergency was made on 25th June, 1975, following which there was gross abuse of power by the Government of the day and people of India were subjected to excesses and atrocities; And whereas, people of India abiding faith in the Constitution of India and the power of India’s resilient democracy; Therefore, Government of India declares 25th June as “Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas” to pay tribute to all those who suffered and fought against the gross abuse of power during the period of Emergency and to recommit the people of India to not support in any manner such gross abuse of power, in future.” One can see in the text that “Samvidhaan Hatya” word is not well supported by the content of the gazette itself. It was an official notification and hence free from use of the word “Congress” or “Indira Gandhi”.

Nevertheless, on the very next day of the notification PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shat spoke on party line. The purpose in the notification was “to commit the people of India to not support in any manner … gross abuse of power, in future”. However, PM’s and HM’s statement indicated the real purpose as “not to support the Congress”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who have a dream of “Congress Mukta Bharat” spilled the bean. He talked about “the excess of the Emergency, a Congress unleashed dark phase of Indian history.” And Union Home Minister said about “the then PM Indira Gandhi, in a brazen display of a dictatorial mindset, strangled the soul of our democracy … Lakhs of people thrown behind bars … and the voice of the media was silenced.”

Therefore, the real purpose of “Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas” is to run political campaign against the Congress. What have been said by the RSS-BJP leaders today during the first observance of the “Samvidhaan Hatay Diwas” were targeted against the Congress implying that people must not support such party that brought emergency in the past.

RSS-BJP leaders have a particular characteristic – they live either in the glory of the ancient past, or live in a dream of the future. For every evil during their rule, they blame the past rulers, while go on whatever they want to do even against the provision of the Constitution of India. There can be numerous examples of that.

Take the example of secularism, enshrined under the Constitution of India. RSS clan talk about Hindutva, and mislead people that secular forces are pseudo-secular, while they are real secular. RSS did not participate even in the Quit India Movement, and when India became independent, even the national flag was not unfurled in the RSS headquarters for most of the years in the independent India. Now they are teaching us what is nationalism, and even they campaigned for “Ghar Ghar Tiranga”. They don’t respect the constitution of India, when they give a call for Hindu Rashtra.

Hate speech is their modus operandi of winning the elections, by polarizing Hindus in their favour. And what about the Election Commission of India? ECI’s autonomy has been compromised through legal interventions and provisions made by the government. Constitutional protection is not given to two of the three Commissioners. Several election process data are not even been shared with the opposition, that led the Leader of the Opposition to allege “match fixing”. Electoral bond implemented by Modi government was found by the Supreme Court of India to be unconstitutional.

Supreme Court of India has criticized Modi government on several occasions for its anti-constitutional behaviour. In case of respecting Constitutional Federalism, and also in case of Governors, the Supreme Court of India found Modi government interfering with elected state governments. It collects GST, but not gives the due share in time to opposition ruled states.

Supreme Court of India has several times criticized the BJP led Central government and state governments for extra judicial killings, illegal arrests, misuse of investigating agencies, and gross misuse of power against opposition leaders or anyone who opposes government’s decisions and policies. Government’s bulldozer justice has also been criticized by the Supreme Court of India.

In reality, PM Narendra Modi led Government of India is in conflict with constitutional values on numerous counts. Opposition political parties have been voicing their concern that Constitution of India is under serious threat under Modi rule since 2014. Congress says it is ‘Undeclared Emergency’. Legislature, Judiciary, and the fourth estate that is media in under threat.

Privacy is fundamental right, as declared by the nine judges Constitutional Bench decision of the Supreme Court in 2017. Nevertheless, India is being turned into a surveillance state, through several laws, policies, and technology. People are paying for exercising their right to free speech. Dissenting voices are being crushed.

It is in this background, the power which is alleged to be behind undermining the Constitutional values in every respect, is observing “Shamvidhan Hatya Diwas” should serve as a wakeup call for citizens, since it is this power lobby from which the Constitution is under threat. (IPA Service)

The article Beware Of Narendra Modi Government’s Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas appeared first on Arabian Post.

By Dr. Gyan Pathak

The most vocal Hindutva face in the North-East India, the chief minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma, having shown penchant for igniting communal fire in the past, now seems to have decided on playing with even more terrible fire of arms conflicts, if his new arms policy in the state is of any indication. The decision of the BJP-led Assam government under his leadership to put more arms into the hands of civilians would only accelerate insurgent and communal violence in the entire North-East, which has already been suffering from such menace for quite some time.

Himanta Biswa Sarma is all for arming indigenous people in the vulnerable border areas near Bangladesh. He clarified on May 29, 2025, that Assam’s new arms licence policy will not apply to areas bordering Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland, because these areas are not considered vulnerable in terms of national security.

Two things emerged from his statement – First, border areas of Assam along Bangladesh are vulnerable; and secondly, the border areas along other North-Eastern states are not vulnerable in terms of national security, though these regions have been historically involved in border disputes and armed conflicts.

No doubt, border areas along the international border with Bangladesh have been vulnerable, and his government seems to suggest it categorically. The question is who is responsible for that? Providing security to life and property of every citizen in the country is guaranteed by the Constitution of India, and the governments take the guarantee. People living in the border areas are vulnerable only because the Centre is failing in its responsibility in protecting the international border, and the government of Assam unable to protect the Indian citizens within its boundary.

BJP government at the centre and in Assam have been always trying to shift their responsibilities of stopping infiltration from Bangladesh on to the opposition, repeatedly telling the country that the opposition political parties have been allowing Muslim infiltrators from Bangladesh, for their vote bank. What the double engine governments of BJP has been doing – in Assam since 2016, and at the Centre since 2014? Why the people living in the areas along the international border with Bangladesh? It is not their failure that people are still vulnerable there?

Protecting the citizen is government’s responsibility. If the governments with its powerful trained army and armed police force can’t give protection, how can civilian protect themselves with just supply of arms? Civilians neither can protect themselves not their arms. We have recently seen it in Manipur, where arms were looted from armed forces by insurgent or militant groups. Chief Minister of Assam, obviously have not taken any lesson from that. That is why the cabinet note said that the policy aims to act as a deterrent to unlawful threats and improve the personal safety and confidence of the indigenous communities. It is a false perception of the government, since we have seen across the country that people with arms have been targeted by militant groups only to snatch arms. After supplying arms who will protect the civilians?

Assam government has indirectly admitted by approving new arms policy that the government’s security forces were unable to give protection to the civilians in the border areas. Sarma himself said, “The indigenous people in these districts live in an atmosphere of insecurity due to recent developments in Bangladesh. They face the threat of attacks from the Bangladesh side and even from within their own villages.”

The new arms policy would be reportedly implemented in a vast area of Assam in the districts of Dhubri, Nagaon, Morigaon, Barpeta, Goalpara, and South Salmara-Mankachar, where the Muslims of Bangladesh origin form the majority and indigenous population are in the minority.

Sarma has said, “The government will be lenient in providing arms licences to eligible people, who must be original habitants and belong to indigenous communities.” What does it mean? Arms would be supplied effectively to non-Muslims, indigenous people and original inhabitants that is to Hindus.

Sarma has stressed that the policy is not aimed at militarizing civilians but to address a long-standing demand since 1985, but no government has dared to take this decision. Though the policy has been brought in the name of border areas, it is likely to be implemented across the state. Here is what Sarma said, “The government will identify the vulnerable areas where we will grant arms licences to the indigenous people in a liberal manner. Areas like Hatigaon in Guwahati may also be marked as vulnerable area.”

There is no doubt that these freely gotten arms may travel to all areas of Assam and also to other states in the North-East especially the bordering states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland. Inter-state border areas would run heightened risks of armed violence, because of border disputes and conflicts. The arms may also fall into the hands of militant groups and insurgents, and in the wrong hands.

Putting arms in the hands of the civilians is thus highly risky which is nothing short of propagation of violence and armed conflicts within the state among various groups of people, and also in the entre North-East, which has already been suffering from ethnic, militant, or insurgent violence.

India has a precedence of supplying arms to civilians in Chhattisgarh to counter Maoist threat, which led to lawlessness in 2000s. Supreme Court of India had to intervene and declare the policy illegal. Chief Minister of Assam perhaps not learned any lesson from that also.

Then there are other issues – such as the heightened risks of communal violence and vigilantism of the armed civilians against others who are not armed. Assam and the North-East is already very sensitive region of the country, as far as communal, ethnic, militant, or insurgent violence are concerned, of which the region has a history.

By arming the specific group of civilians through new arms policy purportedly for self-defence, BJP’s double engine government is trying to abdicate its core responsibility of providing security to citizens, and encouraging people indirectly to take law in their own hands. Centre and the state must enhance its security presence and drop the policy of arming civilians. In absence of government’s security, the idea of arming specific group of civilians is a most dangerous game. (IPA Service)

The article Assam Chief Minister’s Arms Policy May Throw North-East Into Terrible Chaos appeared first on Arabian Post.

By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Centre’s announcement of conducting national level Caste Census along with the forthcoming Census in India has intensified caste politics in Bihar, the first state to go to polls later in 2025, whose Vidhan Sabha’s term is to expire on November 22, this year. Political analysts have already claimed that by announcing the decision, PM Narendra Modi has punctured the core political plank of the INDIA bloc, called Mahagathbandhan in the state. Such a conclusion has obviously ignored the fact that Bihar voters are the most conscious and practical on caste politics in the country, who can’t be easily waylaid by mere promise.

RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha has rightly pointed out that a reluctant government’s agreeing to a caste census is not the destination, but only the beginning, and the opposition is alert, and will watch it closely. His statement has come at a time when there is already a Mahagathbandhan conducted caste census of report of October 2023, which the PM Narendra Modi’s national caste census may supersede. Here lies the real battle line on the ground. BJP has always been opposing the caste census, and in spite of strong opposition by their leadership, JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar led Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar got the caste census done which made Bihar the first state in the country in independent India to conduct caste census.

After the Bihar Caste Census report was out, Nitish Kumar switched over to join BJP. CM Nitish Kumar even said that it was not caste census but merely a caste survey. Therefore, it is obvious that Bihar’s caste survey report would be superseded by National Caste Census. There will be difference between the two, since the list of castes within Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and OBCs differs from state to state. It implies that STs, SCs and OBCs in Bihar may not be the same as the central level caste census. This uncertainty may sharpen the politics around INDIA bloc’s caste census vs BJP’s caste census.

As we know that the Bihar voters are most practical in caste politics, they are likely to stick to their old loyalties with the political parties for now, since BJP’s ruling establishment led caste census results will not be out before the Bihar elections. Centre is yet to announce the modalities of caste headcounts and the time when the Census will be conducted in the country.

There are other issues that may crop up during the Bihar election campaign, one of the most important will be the number of reserved seats for the STs and SCs on the basis of the National Census and the proposed national caste census. Bihar Vidhan Sabha has 243 assembly seats as of now, out of which 2 are reserved for STs, and 38 are reserved for SCs. The impact of national caste census on political reservation of seats is still uncertain, though it is likely to push up the reserved seats for SCs.

Nitish Kumar has been playing Dalit and Mahadalit politics for quite some time, and many of the Dalit communities have been voting in the favour of JD(U). Then there in LJP (RV) led by Chirag Paswan that gets large chunk of Dalit votes. Both are with the BJP, and hence the NDA may gain a little upper hand in Dalit politics in certain pockets.

2024 Lok Sabha election was held after the Bihar caste survey, which had adversely impacted the political fortune of BJP and JD(U), while the Mahagathbandhan that got conducted the caste survey gained. Politically caste conscious voters of Bihar taught a lesion to BJP by reducing its seat by 5, and JD(U) by reducing its seat by 4. NDA’s total loss was 9 seats. Gain for INDIA bloc’s constituent RJD 4, INC 2, and CPI(ML)L 2 seats.

Caste conscious voters did not believe in either Nitish Kumar or PM Narendra Modi. Why? Perhaps because Nitish Kumar joined hands with BJP the opposer of the Bihar Caste survey in January 2024.In November 2023 itself, Gathbandhan government had implemented 65 per cent reservation on the ground of caste survey. Which was stayed by the Patna High court just about a week before Nitish shifted his loyalty to BJP. Both Nitish and BJP became suspect that they did not handle the issue properly, and the Patna High Court ultimately struck it down in June 2024. OBCs were as suspicious of them now, as they were at that time.

As for the OBC politics, the caste census has been a product of the idea of socialist political parties and their leaders. That is why they have been the traditional beneficiaries for almost three decades. BJP has been trying to make up the loss by giving more and more prominence to the OBC leaders in the party and in ministries and other posts of profits. In spite of that, in Bihar politics, there are still socialists who have support of majority of OBCs. While Nitish Kumar has been losing their support fast, the net beneficiary seems to be the RJD and the INDIA bloc. PM Narendra Modi has tried its best to attract the OBCs by announcing caste census at national level, but this promise only may not work. BJP will need much more concrete to do for OBCs on the ground before the Bihar election.

In the meantime, political parties and their leaders in Bihar have intensified their campaign on caste census. INDIA bloc parties, especially the JD(U) and Congress has given credit to itself for the Bihar caste survey of 2023, while emphasizing that it was their campaign for social justice that enforced the hesitant PM Narendra Modi to announce caste census at national level. BJP on the other hand taking credit for announcing caste census at the national level and praising PM Narendra Modi for that.

The campaign and counter campaign of the BJP and INDIA bloc may sharpen the consciousness of the Bihar votes towards caste politics, making the electoral battle difficult for the BJP, as one can see through the caste data revealed in the Bihar caste survey. EBCs are 36.01 per cent, BCs are 27.12 per cent, SCs are 19.65 per cent, Forward castes are 15.52 per cent and Scheduled Tribes are 1.68 per cent. Backward classes are altogether 63.14 per cent whose votes are crucial for winning Bihar.

Waqf Amendment Act of 2025 has antagonised the Muslims who constituted 17.70 per cent of the population of the state, who are likely to support INDIA bloc, and the party like AIMIM may not get much of their votes.

Additionally, Bihar is currently witnessing shifting coalitions and caste equations. Nitish Kumar’s health condition may adversely impact JD(U)’s political fortune. BJP is still suspicious about alliance with Nitish on account of his track record of deserting alliances.

RJD has been successful in breaching Kurmi-Koiri united base of Nitish Kumar, as the 2024 Lok Sabha election shows. RJD’s old MY (Muslim Yadav) has been replaced by MY-BAAP ( Muslim, Yadav, Bahujan, Agda, Aadhi, Abaadi and the Poor. Splinter LJP led by Pashupati Kumar Paras has already left NDA to join INDIA bloc, which will bring a chunk of Dalit votes to INDIA bloc. These are some of the factors that make BJP’s win challenging, and there will be no cake walk for the party on merely a promise of caste census at the national level, which BCs suspect would interfere with Bihar’s own caste survey of 2023. (IPA Service)

The article Influencing Bihar Election Merely On Caste Census Promise Not Possible appeared first on Arabian Post.

By Dr. Gyan Pathak

The game of political hunting, which is typically characterised in India by cases, raids, seizures, and arrests, which generally do not lead to conviction, but enable the government to pin its adversaries down for years without trial in cases registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), seems to be reaching its climax. The latest chargesheet alleging money laundering has been filed by ED against the Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, and the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi the leader of the main opposition Congress, which has triggered a nationwide massive agitation of Congress rank and file outside ED offices on Wednesday April 16 across states terming action against Gandhis as ‘political vendetta’.

How is this game of political hunting being carried on by the ruling establishment led by PM Narendra Modi? By now, the modus operandi is well known. Corruption cases registered by state of UT police are taken up or registered a fresh by CBI. The same cases are taken up by ED on later stages, when political adversaries are likely to get bails in original cases. ED then starts actions – filing cases with new charges, conducting raids, making seizures, and arrests. It cripples the political activities and effectiveness of the opposition leaders, because their physical movement are checked and their money confiscated. ED investigations continue for indefinite period, and the opposition leaders are just pinned down, of even jailed, without trial.

ED is currently responsible for implementing the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA), and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018. On March 18, 2025 in the government reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Choudhary had admitted that out of 193 cases registered by ED against political leaders over the last ten years, only two led to conviction.

Earlier in November 2024, the Supreme Court of India, while hearing a bail plea of a TMC MLA, had questioned how long an accused could be kept undertrial? The court was not satisfied by the ED’s performance in their cases against politicians, in particular and all cases in general. Actually, the Supreme Court has commented on multiple occasions about the low conviction rate in money laundering cases. Earlier the Supreme Court had pointed out that of the 5000 cases filed by ED in the past ten years, only 40 resulted in convictions.

Obviously, ED either fails to collect judicially reliable evidence against the accused political adversaries of the ruling establishments, or the opposition leaders are just implicated for which no evidence can ever be found. In both the cases, such a state of affair is a serious concern for the very survival of the democracy in the country.

The allegation that the Modi government has been intimidating the opposition political parties and their leaders to make them submit to the dominance of the ruling establishment or join them, or align with them. The opposition leaders facing ED or CBI cases, when join the BJP or NDA, their tribulations cease to be, since the cases are either shelved or ED starts going slow in action against them. The opposition call it “Modi Washing Machine” in which all the taints of crime and corruption is cleaned.

PM Narendra Modi has alleged several times that the opposition political parties are only a pack of corrupt politicians, especially who have been associated with INDIA bloc. He has vowed to take action against them. He has actually made a sweeping statement, since a state or its leader is not free to call all politicians in the opposition corrupt without evidence, when we have enough reason to believe that ED had not enough evidence in the cases against politicians in last ten years which led to very low conviction of even less than 1 per cent.

ED actions, omissions and commissions, are thus not entirely the matter of enforcement of law, especially when it involves politicians. We have numerous examples in which the nature of ED actions seen depended on which side the accused politician belonged to – the opposition or the ruling establishment, or which side the accused politicians switched over. ED is seen lenient on accused politicians aligning with the ruling establishment while very harsh on the accused opposition politicians.

Then comes the merit of the cases. The low conviction rate of ED cases against politicians shows that in most of the ED cases, the courts did not find merit. If it is not a game of political hunting, what else it can be, and to conclude it one does not need to go into the merit of every case, which is to be decided by the competent courts.

ED actions have gained new momentum in recent times. In a span of few days, Kerala CM’s daughter, RJD Supremo Lalu Yadav and his family members, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, MP Priyanka Gandhi’s husband Robert Vadra, other Congress leaders in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, AAP and DMK politicians etc have been subjected to fresh ED actions.

All these are indicative of the approaching climax in the game of political hunting in India. BJP has accused the Congress of intimidating the ED by their protests across the country against ED chargesheet against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, and alleged the Congress party and its leadership corrupt.

Congress on the other hand has criticised the ED chargesheet against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald money laundering case saying it “nothing but the politics of vendetta and intimidation” carried out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and home minister Amit Shah gone “completely berserk”. (IPA Service)

The article Selective Political Witch-Hunting In India Nearing Its Climax appeared first on Arabian Post.

By Dr. Gyan Pathak

8th Delhi Assembly session had tumultuous session on Tuesday, February 25.. The issue of replacement of Dr B R Ambedkar’s portrait with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s in Delhi Chief Minister’s office not only led to ruckus but also expulsion of 12 AAP MLAs. The issue is politically very sensitive and may adversely impact the newly adopted strategy of the BJP to win over Dalits not only in Delhi but also across the country.

Encouraged by winning 4 of the 12 Vidhan Sabha seats reserved for Scheduled Castes, BJP Central leadership had recently decided to make Sant Ravidas Jayanti on February 12, 2025 a holiday. Lieutenant Governor had declared it to be holiday against the earlier practice of observing it as ‘restricted holiday’. The newly crowned Chief Minister of Delhi Rekha Gupta perhaps failed to perceive the signal, and in her enthusiasm to pay respect and as a mark of thanks giving replaced Dr B R Ambedkar’s portrait with PM Narendra Modi.

Delhi Assembly session has been scheduled for three days – February 24, 25 and 27. On the second day BJP government led by CM Rekha Gupta was to table 14 CAG reports highlighting alleged misconduct by the previous AAP government. However, in the very beginning of the second day, amid uproar during LG V K Saxena’s address, AAP MLAs raised the issue of replacing of Dr B R Ambedkar’s portrait in the Chief Minister’s office with PM Narendra Modi.

After that Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijendra Gupta, in a tit-for-tat treatment, got the 12 AAP MLAs thrown out of the House. When Vijendra Gupta was in opposition, he was once marshalled out of the Delhi Assembly when AAP was in power. It is therefore, it is a significant move, which smacks of revenge rather than political wisdom. The MLAs expelled for the day included former chief minister and AAP leader Atishi and a minister Gopal Rai.

Atishi has alleged that the BJP had disrespected Dr B R Ambedkar by removing his portrait from the chief minister’s office. During a press conference after the expulsions, Atishi said, “BJP has shown its true colours by removing Babasaheb Ambedkar’s portrait.”

It should be noted that out of the 12 reserve seats for SCs in Delhi, AAP has been winning all the seats in the last elections, save in recently concluded elections when it lost 4 of them to BJP. AAP has noted this early shift in Dalit votes towards BJP, and hence AAP leaders are not in a position to lose any opportunity to regain the political loss among the Dalit. Dalit politics is also significant in Punjab where AAP is ruling. Declaring Sant Ravidas Jayanti a Holiday was significant mover of the BJP to attract Dalit voters, also in Punjab, Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh where Sant Ravidas has large followings.

Removing Dr B R Ambedkar’s portrait from BJP’s newly crowned chief minister’s office came handy for the AAP leaders and they had no option but to raise the issue. After being suspended from the Delhi Assembly, an AAP MLA Sanjeev Jha said, “The portrait of Dr B R Ambedkar was replaced with PM Modi in the CM office yesterday. When we asked the speaker if PM Modi is bigger than Dr B R Ambedkar, he suspended us from the assembly for raising the issue. They (BJP) hate Dr B R Ambedkar, but the country will not accept this … .”

The issue was ever raised on the first day of the first session on February 24, due to which the session began with stormy note. The leader of opposition, Atishi, had alleged that pictures of Dr B R Ambedkar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh had been removed from the Chief Minister’s Office.

Since her remark was without the permission of the Chair, it resulted in uproar in the House. The AAP MLAs then resorted to sloganeering in the House with BJP members objecting to the charges. Then the speaker had said, “The Opposition is behaving irresponsibly. You will get time. An attempt is being made to hurt the dignity of the House. I urge Opposition members to take their seats and allow the House to function. AAP members have come with an intention to disturb the House. You should not have made it a political platform. The opposition does not want the House to run smoothly.”

“I want to warn the Opposition that they should not try to spread anarchy. They should let the proceedings continue smoothly,” he had said. However, AAP MLAs continued sloganeering, which resulted in adjournment of the House for 15 minutes.

AAP leader Atishi then said in a post on X, “BJP has shown its true anti-Dalit and anti-Sikh face. Photos of Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar and Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh have been removed from the Chief Minister’s Office of Delhi Legislative Assembly.” She also had attached two photos – one of herself as CM which had images of Dr Ambedkar on the wall behind her, and the other of CM Rekha Gupta which had photos of President Draupadi Murmu, Mahatma Gandhi, and PM Narendra Modi.

In another political development, CM Rekha Gupta tabled only one of the 14 CAG reports. Speaker Vijender Gupta said that these CAG documents are extensive and need time to be analysed and discussed. The tabled CAG report on the scraped Liquor Policy says that it caused Rs 2,002 crore loss to the exchequer. BJP hopes to pin down the opposition AAP on the issue of the loss as per the report.

Nevertheless, only time will tell how much political benefit BJP can derive out of the CAG reports, and how much benefit AAP may be able to derive from the issue of removal of portraits of Dr Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh from BJP Chief Minister’s office. (IPA Service)

The article Tumultuous Beginning Of 8th Delhi Assembly Has Political Ramifications appeared first on Arabian Post.

By Dr. Gyan Pathak

BJP led government is now in power in the National Capital Territory Delhi, that has come with too many poll-promises to keep, and a very alert and strong opposition to challenge .It was obvious in the very first cabinet decision of the government led by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, that officially took charge on February 20, and the reaction of the opposition AAP leader and former chief minister Atishi.

While addressing her first press conference, CM Rekha Gupta said that her cabinet had decided in its first meeting to implement the Ayushman Bharat Yojna, and also to table 14 pending Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports in the first Delhi Assembly. When asked about much publicised election campaign and promise of providing Rs2500 per month to women, she said that it was discussed at the cabinet meeting, but they found that more discussions were required for taking a call on category of women to be given the benefit.

BJP has come to power with too many promises given to electorate during the election campaigns and the chief among them was the promise of Rs2500 to every woman in Delhi. Difficulty to keep the promises given was difficult, rather too difficult, as it is reflected in the first cabinet decision of the government.

AAP leader and former chief minister Atishi, after the CM Rekha Gupta’s press conference, accused the BJP-led Delhi government of ‘breaking its promise’, showing alertness of the AAP leadership. It should be noted that AAP had lost the Delhi election to BJP by only a margin of 1.99 per cent of votes, and hence AAP has not been turned into a party of lost hope. The loss has rather made them politically super active, which is reflected in quick comment of Atishi just after the cabinet decision. The BJP has “made up its mind” to “cheat” the people of Delhi.

It is worth recalling that after defeat, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal had said, “We accept people’s mandate with humility … and hope that BJP will fulfil the expectations of the people of Delhi,” adding that AAP would play a role of a constructive opposition and be available to the people of Delhi. Kejriwal has also asked his MLAs to focus on their constituencies and hold BJP accountable for their poll promises like providing Ra2500 to women in Delhi by March 8, continuing free electricity, maintaining quality government schools, and free treatment in Mohalla Clinics and government hospitals. Former chief minister Atishi has also said that AAP will ensure the BJP fulfils these commitments and continues the work done over the past 10 years during AAP regime. Atishi’s sharp attack on the new BJP government’s first cabinet committee meeting outcome should be seen in this backdrop.

CM Rekha Gupta also responded on Friday to the accusation and said, “The Congress ruled for 15 years and the AAP ruled for 13. Instead of looking at what they did, how can they raise questions on one day of ours?… We had a cabinet meeting on day 1, immediately after taking the oath, and we cleared the Ayushman Bharat Yojna, which was blocked by AAP. We gave a benefit of Rs. 10 lakhs to the people of Delhi on the first day.”

There were only two states in the country who had refused to implement PM-ABY (Ayushman Bharat Yojna) and one of them was Delhi under AAP, on the ground that Delhi was giving medical facility of worth Rs1 crore, while PM-ABY was giving only health insurance of merely Rs5 lakh. Delhi cabinet that approved the Ayushman Bharat will have two components Rs5 lakh by the Centre and another Rs5 lakh by Delhi making it Rs10 lakhs.

As for the tabling of CAG reports in the first session of the Delhi Assembly, CM Rekha Gupta has made an attack on AAP claiming that “They are worried that when the CAG report will be tabled in the House, records of a lot of people would be exposed.” Referring to the mission of ‘Vikasit Delhi’, she had said earlier, “We will keep working towards it. We won’t wait even a single day. And we will complete every commitment we had made.”

This shows that BJP government is Delhi will have to face a strong opposition AAP, both in the Vidhan Sabha and out of it in the public political domain in the months to come. BJP leadership will have very busy time ahead.

Nevertheless, BJP has certain advantages that the AAP government did not have. For example, the Delhi government officials were not listening to even AAP ministers, since they were put under direct control of Lieutenant Governor, indirectly the BJP led Union Government of India. The functioning of the AAP led Delhi government was hampered due to that. In the changed scenario, when there is BJP government’s both in Delhi and at the Centre, Lieutenant Governor and the higher government officials have become very active, and now working for Delhi while they were working earlier offering hurdles before the AAP government and their schemes.

For example, Lieutenant Governor has started the cleaning of Yamuna work, even before the BJP government take charge in Delhi. The same Lieutenant Governor have been acting like a party in opposition to AAP government – not only on the issues of Yamuna cleaning but also on the potable drinking water from Yamuna, which had become key political issues during the election campaign in Delhi.

Another example is the promptness of the Delhi officials, who have been earlier creating obstructions before AAP government and its ministers. Even ten days before BJP took oath, the Chief Secretary of Delhi has asked all departments on February 10 to prepare draft cabinet notes based on the BJP’s manifesto, wherever it was required. He had also asked all departments to prepare a “100 days action plan”.

Despite these advantages, BJP will have tough time ahead since the party has too many promises to keep, a lot of development works to be done, and social welfare schemes to be implemented to keep its close political rival AAP subdued. AAP on the other hand has shown on the very first day of the BJP government, that they would be very active to make the BJP government accountable on their promises and governance. (IPA Service)

The article BJP Government In Delhi Has Many Difficult Tasks In Hand appeared first on Arabian Post.

By Dr. Gyan Pathak

With Union Government of India making the appointments of the Chief Election Commissioner of India, and an Election Commissioner under the new law of 2023, while the law itself is pending adjudication in the Supreme Court of India, people’s hopes and fears about independence of Election Commission of India running high.

The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service, and Term of Office) Act of 2023 was challenged in the Supreme Court of India on the ground that it goes against the spirit of the 2022 Constitution Bench verdict which emphasized that the appointment process should be insulated from executive interference so that its functioning will be truly independent.

The Constitution Bench in its verdict had put in place a committee comprising Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, and Chief Justice of India to secure the appointment process democratic in true sense of the term. Nevertheless, PM Modi dispensation came up with the Act of 2023, which not only kept Chief Justice of India out of the appointment process, but also made a provision that Prime Minister and his appointee Union Minister, and the Leader of Opposition would be the members of the appointing committee. The law kept majority of the executive to control the very appointment process to have executive’s wish implemented.

Supreme Court of India did not deliver judgement in time, and under the same controversial law Modi government had appointed the new CEC and an EC on Monday night, February 17, after the meeting of three members – Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister of Home Amit Shah, and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi had wanted that the appointment should postponed since the Supreme Court of India would be hearing the petitions challenging the validity of the new law two days later on Wednesday, February 19, 2025.

It should be noted that the Supreme Court had earlier agreed to hear the matter before the appointment of the new CEC, since the incumbent CEC Rajiv Kumar was to retire, and the Case was posted to February 12. However, the case was not listed on February 12 and got posted to February 19.

A day after the appointment of new CEC Gyanesh Kumar and an EC Vivek Joshi, the petitioners who have challenged the law on the appointment of Election Commissioners requested the Supreme Court on February 18 to hear the matter on top priority on February 19 itself, fearing that the matter may not be heard at all since it was listed as no. 41 item. The request was declined, but Justice Surya Kant who was presiding over the bench, asked the petitioner’s advocate Prashant Bhushan to make a mention on February 19.

Today, when Prashant Bhushan representing the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms mentioned the case before the bench, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta requested an adjournment, citing his appearance before a Constitution Bench on another matter. Opposing the request, Mr. Bhushan argued, “Every matter cannot be adjourned simply because the Solicitor General is engaged elsewhere… they have 17 law officers.” However, Addressing SG Tushar Mehta, Justice Surya Kant remarked, “If you become available, let us know. Otherwise, we will accommodate.” Later, The Supreme Court postponed the hearing to March 19, owing to non-availability of dates in between.

The Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday had asserted that the midnight appointments of CEC and EC was “discourteous and disrespectful” when the process of appointment and the composition of the selection committee itself was being challenged before the Supreme Court.

Now, when the CEC Gyanesh Kumar and EC Vivek Joshi had already joined, people and political parties of the country are looking towards them with much hope and fear regarding independence of the Election Commission of India, irrespective of the final decision of the Supreme Court of India on the validity of the laws itself under which they have been appointed.

Since the term of EC’s under the new law is six year or 65 years of age, Gyanesh Kumar will be retiring in January 2029, just before Lok Sabha election of 2029. Thereafter, Vivek Joshi may become CEC, under whose control Lok Sabha election 2029 will be fought. Under the new law, only CEC has constitutional protection against removal, and ECs do not have any such protection. Their terms will depend on the wish of the CEC and the Government of India.

Gyanesh Kumar had retired as Secretary of the Ministry of Cooperation in January, and was secretary in the Amit Shah led ministry from May 2022. From 2016 to 2018 he was in joint secretary in Union Ministry of Home, and from 2018 to April 2021 he was additional secretary, during which he headed the desk during abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir in August 2019. No doubt he has been a trusted officer for Modi-Shah duo. It is precisely due to this reason people have both hope and fear from him. Only time will tell if he holds the flag of independence of ECI or follow the dictates of their appointers.

The level of hope and fear on Vivek Joshi is much higher that on Gyanesh Kumar since, Lok Sabha Election 2019 would most probably be held under his tenure. The 1989 batch Haryana cadre IAS officer, Vivek Joshi has been much loved by the Union Government is well known, especially after he was made chief secretary in November 2024 despite senior officers from the 1990 batch were waiting for their turn. There were other occasions in the past also when he was preferred by the BJP led governments both at the Centre and states like Uttarakhand.

It is in this backdrop, pro-BJP people and politicians hope much from both the newly appointed CEC and EC, while they are feared by anti-BJP people and politicians. In this situation both the officers will have greater responsibility to work without malice or favour. They must uphold the flag of independence of the Election Commission of India for free and fair election in the country.

In the meantime, all eyes are also on the Supreme Court of India, where the new law is pending for adjudication. Supreme Court is expected not to delay the decision for a very long time. (IPA Service)

The article Hopes And Fears About Independence Of Election Commission Of India appeared first on Arabian Post.

By Dr. Gyan Pathak

The data that PM Narendra Modi government has been churning out since 2014 have always been a suspect. Now, by no less a person than PM Narendra Modi’s own Economic Advisor has indicated that many of the data earlier produced even under the Modi regime were “influenced” while chiefly targeting the Congress for that, as PM Narendra Modi and BJP does. He indirectly and unwittingly contradicts Modi government’s claim on reliability of their high-quality data sets, giving rise to the question – Are Modi government’s data reliable? It is a question whose answer India needs.

For example, in a reply to a question related to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has informed the Rajya Sabha on August 2, 2022 that the “NFHS provides high quality, reliable and comparable data”. The Modi Government’s claim in the Rajya Sabha was made after NFHS-5 report were out, especially to eulogize the government’s achievements. However, PM Modi’s economic advisor Sanjeev Sanyal’s latest claim that “USAID effectively ran India’s National Family Health Survey (NFHS) from the 1990s” till it was stopped two years ago in 2022 by PM Modi’s dispensation, alleging that United States Agency of International Development (USAID) paved way for designing surveys and analyses to support certain social narratives. It makes the entire government data’s credibility questionable, though Modi government had claimed the data was of high quality.

Sanyal has been a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-OM) since February 2022. Union Minister of Health Mansukh Mandaviya had released NFHS-5 report on May 5, 2022. The report has since been frequently used to push two different kinds of narratives. Modi government used the data to push the growth narrative, while the opposition used the same data to point out stark reality of government failure.

The narrative about which Sanyal has now implied the second kind of narrative that goes against the government’s narrative, while putting light on the surreptitious role of the United States’s Agency USAID in shaping India’s medical and social policies, besides meddling with the Indian elections.

“Those concerned about USAID’s interference in Indian elections should be equally concerned about USAID’s tentacles in India’s medical system and social policies. USAID effectively ran India’s National Family Health Survey (NFHS) from the 1990s till it was stopped two years ago,” Sanyal had written on social media platform X.

Former Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi has already rejected the report that US agency funding was used for raising voter turnout in India when he headed the poll body. His reaction has come after the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by billionaire Elon Musk announced a series of expenditure cuts, including $21 million allocated for “voter turnout in India”. Nevertheless, BJP is using this report targeting Congress for allowing such foreign interferences in India’s domestic affairs.

By bringing NFHS into the controversy, PM Modi’s Economic Advisor Sanyal has just been trying to push the BJP’s narrative against the Congress, as well as BJP’s narrative of wonderful achievements under PM Narendra Modi, indirectly saying that what went against the Modi government’s narrative in the NFHS data were influenced by foreign interference only to malign or discredit Modi Government.

USAID was kicked out from the NFHS and NFHS-6 was conducted during 2023-24 solely by International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), the result of which is yet to be published. Only after the publication of the NFHS-6 report the country will know the pure Modi Government’s narrative.

What led to great controversy when NFHS-5 report was released in May 2022 was the certain data set that were very inconvenient to the Modi government’s narrative of growth. For example, PM Modi and BJP has been telling the country how poverty has been drastically declined under his rule, while the health data of mortality, anaemia, wasting and stunting just contradicted the government claim. Modi government was totally exposed by the data set.

Modi government finally suspended the Director of IIPS K S James in July 2023. He was compelled to resign thereafter in October 2023.

Sanyal’s allegation should be viewed in this backdrop when he says that “by allowing them (USAID) to design surveys and direct analysis, we were letting them influence our national health responses. Equally worryingly, much of the NFHS questionnaire was deliberately skewed to support social narratives. The questionnaire for men, for instance, is only 29 pages but that for women is 94 pages.” He added, “A lot of the additional questions are deliberately worded to elicit a narrative of intra-family violence against India women. Must say, very slyly done.”

Though Sanyal has admitted that Modi government took eight long years to discontinue USAID influence in NFHS, he left many questions unanswered, the chief among them is – how fare the data Modi government has been churning out since 2014, and the claims based on that are reliable? Are the government surveys are not designed to push Modi government narrative? Are the data produced the by the government are neutral?

Such questions need urgent answer in the given background and track record of the government. We can cite several examples apart from suspension and enforced resignation of the Director of IIPS. For example, during the first term of Modi government, it had discarded its own Consumption Expenditure Survey data, since it brought inconvenient results. By the end of 1019, government suppressed unemployment data of NSSO which was leaked revealing unemployment at 45 years high, which was followed by several resignation of National Statistical Commission including its acting chairman P C Mohanan. Government has been manipulating data on employment, by even including unpaid persons as employed, to show high employment rate and reduced unemployment rate in the country.

Modi’s Economic Advisor Sanyal does not talk about how data have been churning out to push the government narrative only, while the narrative talking about the stark reality on the ground are suppressed.

Take another example even from NFHS-6, the result of which is being keenly awaited. The survey has dropped even questions on disability and biomarker data on anaemia. It should be noted that high prevalence of anaemia was interpreted as people are not getting enough food to eat which contradicts Modi’s claim that poverty has declined below 5 per cent of the population. NFHS-5 revealed that in 2019-21, 57 per cent of women aged 15-49 and 25 per cent of men aged in the same age group had anaemia. In Children aged 6-59 months, 67.1 per cent had anaemia. Among adolescent 56 per cent girls and 30 per cent boys had anaemia, and among pregnant women half were suffering from anaemia.

Modi government has therefore just discontinued collecting data on anaemia under NFHS-6. Why? Does it not amount to influencing narratives in favour of the government? What should be the credibility of the data Modi government has been producing? Sanyal must push for neutral data production rather than pushing the government narrative and decrying all who talk about people’s narrative of the ground level reality. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

In pursuance of Equality of opportunity and treatment, an ILO Committee of Experts has asked India again to amend the definition of wage, ensure job evaluation, equal remuneration for the same job to male and female workers, and end discrimination on religious or caste basis especially for Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians. The Committee has also pointed out several lacunae in the new Labour Codes that India intends to implement in the next financial year 2025-26.

Though India has ratified the Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 in 1958, it is yet to amend the definition of “wages” as required in order to include any additional emoluments whatsoever. Government’s reply referred to yet to be implemented Code of Wages, which provides that the annual minimum bonus will be calculated at the rate of eight and one-third per cent of the wages earned by the employee irrespective of their gender. Government also recalled that the Code on Social Security also provides pensions and provident funds contribution as well as the payment of gratuity which are based on the rate of wages drawn and does not discriminate between employees based on their gender. The Government therefore considered that the definition of “wages” taken together with the other provisions mentioned, which regulate other benefits, in broad enough to be in line with the Convention.

However, as per the Report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendation, prepared for the 113th Session of the International Labour Conference scheduled to be held on 2-13 June 2025, the Committee asks the Government to indicate how, in practice, it in ensured that the principle of the Convention covers also any additional emoluments whatsoever arising out of the worker’s employment, notable the emoluments excluded by the definition of wages pursuant to section 2(y) of the Code on Wages, including bonuses beyond the annual minimum and pensions, including supplementary pensions, among others.

Noting that the Code on Wages has not yet come into effect, the Committee also again urges the Government to consider amending the definition of wages in section 2(y) of the Code on Wages to take into account expressly any additional emoluments whatsoever, as provided for in Article 1(a) of the Convention, with a view also to ensuring greater clarity and legal certainty and enhancing access to justice in case of violations of the principle of the Convention.

As for equal remuneration for work of equal value, the Committee again urged the Government to take the necessary steps to ensure that the Code on Wages is amended to give full expression to the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value as enshrined in the Convention; and it is not restricted to workers within the same workplace but applies across different enterprises and sectors. It also asks the Government to indicate the authority, which is competent to handle disputes under section 4, once they come into effect; and provide information on the application in practice of section 3 of the Code on Wages.

As for objective job evaluation, the Committee notes that the Government’s information about various digital initiatives which however focus on job search and matching, rather than the objective evaluation of jobs for the purpose of ensuring equal remuneration for work for equal value. The Committee has been raising the issue of objective job evaluation since 2012, but India has no appropriated techniques for this in place. Hence, the Committee has urged the Government again to take proactive steps, in cooperation with workers’ and employers’ organizations, to develop technical tools for the objective evaluation of jobs with a view to the effective application of the principle of the Convention and to provide information in this respect. The Committee reminds the Government of the possibility of availing itself of ILO technical assistance in this regard.

As for the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958, which India had ratified in 1960, the Committee has urged the Government for effective implementation of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act 2013. The committee has also asked the government to adopt measures to prevent sexual harassment at work occurring, particularly towards workers in the informal economy.

The Committee also reiterated its request to the Government to review the impact of section 14of the Act (action against malicious or false complaints or false evidence) on the willingness of women and other persons to file complaints of sexual harassment without fear of reprisals. This should also include information on reprisals and efforts to prevent reprisals at workplaces employing fewer than ten employees and in agricultural workplaces.

On Measures to address discrimination based on social origin, the Committee regretted the absence of specific information in response to its previous observation, and asked the Government again to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the progress made to date in addressing caste-based discrimination in employment and occupation.

Noting the Government’s indication that a Commission has been established to study the possibility of granting scheduled caste status to Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians, the Committee asks the Government to provide information on any developments in this respect. It should be noted that the Commission was initially given two years deadline to submit report by October 10, 2024, but it has been extended till October 10, 2025. The delay was primarily due to Government’s inability to provide logistics to the Commission, which included lack of office, address, adequate staff support. Consequently, gathering of data was postponed until August 2023.

The Committee has also requested the Government to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the impact of the various measures taken in favour of women and girls to promote equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation. This should include an assessment of efforts to address barriers hindering access to and participation in employment and occupation, to overcome occupational gender segregation in the formal and informal economy and to promote equality in the rural and private sectors. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Despite political setback in Delhi Vidhan Sabha election and loss of power to BJP, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will remain a political force of reckoning. AAP’s huge voter support base is intact, and election result shows that the BJP could win by only about a small margin of about 2.26 per cent of votes, which will keep AAP’s local and national ambitions alive. The political analysts predicting uncertain political future of AAP and its supremo Arvind Kejriwal, loss of their political credibility among electorates and within INDIA bloc, and their national ambition shattered, are perhaps overstatements.

The provisional data of votes counted by 4 PM show that AAP was able to bag 43.62 per cent of votes as against BJP’s 45.88 per cent. This loss by a small margin of about only 2.26 per cent, shows that AAP could perform wonderfully well despite being fallen in BJP’s very powerful political and administrative trap.

During the election campaigns, AAP have been alleging that their rank and file were being intimidated by Delhi police and BJP’s hooligans, Central investigating agencies targeting them, Lieutenant Governor and officials of Delhi Government working against them, and the election machinery has been targeting them, and so on, which are still matters of investigation.

AAP, its supremo Arvind Kejriwal and several leaders of the party were earlier arrested on corruption charges, though all of them were on bail. Not only the BJP leadership including PM Narendra Modi and Union Minister of Home Amit Shah, but also the Congress leaders, even Rahul Gandhi, targeted Kejriwal and his party calling them corrupt. AAP survived the political attacks, if the share of votes is of any indication.

Despite losing election, Kejriwal has still saved his status as a political hero in Delhi who gave a very tough electoral fight to the BJP leadership especially PM Narendra Modi, who have been campaigning against Kejriwal and AAP.

As for the Congress is concerned, it could bag only about 6.36 per cent of votes, which is a small increase of about two per cent, compared to what the party got in the Delhi Vidhan Sabha election 2020. Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi’s influence in Delhi remains insignificant.

Delhi election result thus shows that AAP and Kejriwal are still the greatest secular political force, and the chief opposition to the BJP rule and its communal political agenda. Therefore, in a secular democratic federal politics of the country, AAP is going to stay locally and nationally, a significant political force.

The very big vote share of the AAP also shows that Kejriwal political stance of people’s welfare was in the right direction, and unwavering. BJP has, in fact, followed the AAP’s line of giving promises in regard to social welfare schemes. BJP promised more than AAP, and also continuance of AAP’s all welfare programmes being implemented in Delhi.

It will continue to attract common people, and non-BJP political parties towards AAP, across all states in the country. In the states like Punjab, Goa, and Gujarat, non-BJP voters will have no options, but to support the AAP. AAP’s national aspirations will thus not be affected on account of loss of power in Delhi.

AAP’s national aspirations will rather become stronger on account of political loss of Congress. The party lost in almost all states where it was in direct battle with BJP. The key states where party lost were Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Haryana. In the recent election in Maharashtra and Delhi, Congress’s performance remained miserable. The bitterness with which Congress and AAP fought Delhi election would prevent them to join hands in the near future. AAP will try its best to concentrate in the states where Congress has been declining political force. Congress is not in a position to reverse its political fortune in Delhi and Punjab. AAP has every possibility to rebound in Delhi while retaining upper hand in Punjab.

As for INDIA bloc, the key non-Congress allies like Samajwadi Party and Trinamool Congress was supporting AAP. In fact, no political party in the country can afford to ignore AAP and Kejriwal in Delhi or in Punjab. In both the states, AAP to retain its upper hand over the Congress. In Delhi, as chief opposition the BJP, AAP’s relevance is intact.

Nevertheless, Delhi election result has a potential to trigger a realignment of political forces within INDIA bloc. It is to be seen, if INDIA bloc survives, with or without the Congress or AAP. There was already a demand of leadership change in INDIA bloc, while AAP has been demanding ouster of Congress from INDIA bloc.

Defeat in Delhi election has certainly increased the political challenges lying before the AAP and its leadership, especially Kejriwal, but his remaining huge support base will keep their hope and aspirations alive. BJP and its leadership will have a hard time ahead, even when they have been able to come to power in Delhi after a long gap since 1998, with a strong foothold. The very small margin by which they won this election will keep them politically active as a ruling party in the symbolically important National Capital Territory of Delhi. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman has emphasized on 100 per cent skilled labour with meaningful employment; 100 per cent quality, good school education; and access to quality, affordable and comprehensive healthcare as part of Vikasit Bharat initiative in her speech while presenting Union Budget 2025-26 on February 1. However, the initiatives and funding level provided therein are too little to fulfil the dream of such ambitious programme.

As resource were estimated for the budget at the nominal GDP growth rate of 10.1 per cent for 2025-26. It was 9.7 per cent in 2024-25 at current prices, but the real GDP was only 6.4 per cent as compared to 8.2 per cent in 2023-24. Obviously, the economy is set to decelerate, which is going to make new job generation a difficult task.

Outlays for the major schemes of the Centre for 2025-26 clearly shows that workers and people of the country can’t hope for major improvement in their current status due to low funding. On Education, Budget estimate for 2025-26 is Rs 1,28,650 crore as against Rs 1,25,638 crore for 2024-25 in BE which was revised downward to Rs1,14,054 crore. Health sector is also not getting much since it is being provided Rs 98,311 crore for 2025-26 as against Rs 89287 (BE) for 2024-25 which was downward revised to Rs 88,032 crore. It shows that the actual expenditure may be downwardly revised over the current allotment shown presently in the Union Budget 2025-26, especially in the event of economic slowdown as it happened in the current year.

Another example can be taken from the expenditure budget for the Central Sector schemes. The glaring case in point is India’s only employment guarantee scheme under MGNREGA for rural areas, which got the same amount Rs 86,000 crore for 2025-26 as it was for 2024-25 RE and BE. However, the expenditure was Rs 89,154 crore in 2023-24.

As for social welfare, a provision of Rs 60,052 crore is made for 2025-26 as against Rs 56,501 crore (BE) for 2024-25, which has been downwardly revised to Rs 46,482 crore. Which means government did not provide the money it allocated to social welfare, or did not spend the available amount. If this is the practice, people can’t hope much relief from the meagre amount of social welfare programmes.

Nevertheless, Ms Sitharaman has made numerous vague promises in her budget speech saying this budget continues efforts to accelerate growth, secure inclusive development, invigorate private sector investments, uplift household sentiments, and enhance spending power of India’s rising middle class. There is no clear roadmap supported by enough fund.

A comprehensive multi-sectoral ‘Rural Prosperity and Resilience’ programme will be launched in partnership with states, she said. This aims to address under-employment in agriculture through skilling, investment, technology, and invigorating the rural economy. The goal is to generate ample opportunity in rural areas so that migration is an option, but not a necessity. Obviously, much will depend on how the States and the Centre, collaborate to make it realise, and how the schemes are really funded and spend.

Classification for MSMEs is to be revised. There are over 1 crore registered MSMEs in the country employing 7.5 crore people. The purported aim of revising classification is to help them achieve higher efficiencies of scale, technological upgradation and better access to capital. For this the investment and turnover limits will be enhanced to 2.5 and 2 times respectively. The government thinks that it would given them confidence to grow and generate employment for our youth. Credit guarantee cover will be enhanced, customised Credit Cards with Rs 5 lakh limit for micro-enterprises will be introduced, a new Fund of Funds, with expanded scope and fresh contribution of another Rs 10,000 crore will be set up, a new scheme will be launched for first-time entrepreneurs, are among chief initiatives apart from promise for measures for labour-intensive sectors.

A National Manufacturing Mission covering small, medium and large industries for furthering “Make in India” will be set up by providing policy support, execution roadmaps, governance and monitoring framework for central ministries and states.

The budget talks about investing in people, in economy, and innovation, though decelerating economy has already have limited its scope. It talks about Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 and promised enhancement in cost norms for the nutritional support appropriately. Fifty thousand Atal Tinkering Labs will be set up in government schools in the next 5 year to cultivate the spirit of curiosity and innovation, and foster a scientific temper among young minds. Broadband connectivity will be provided to all government secondary schools and primary health centres in rural areas under the Bharatnet project.

Budget has proposed to implement a Bharatiya Bhasha Pustak Scheme to provide digital-form Indian language books for school and higher education.

Building on the initiative announced in the July 2024 Budget, five National Centres of Excellence for skilling will be set up with global expertise and partnerships to equip our youth with the skills required for “Make for India, Make for the World” manufacturing. The partnerships will cover curriculum design, training of trainers, a skills certification framework, and periodic reviews.

Capacity for IITs will be expanded, and a Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence for education will be set up with a total outlay of Rs500crore.In the next year,10,000 additional seats will be added in medical colleges and hospitals, towards the goal of adding 75,000 seats in the next 5 years.

Government will facilitate setting up of Day Care Cancer Centres in all district hospitals in the next 3 years. 200 Centres will be established in2025-26.

A scheme for socio-economic upliftment of urban workers will be implemented to help them improve their incomes, have sustainable livelihoods and a better quality of life.PM SVANidhi will be revamped with enhanced loans from banks, UPI-linked credit cards with Rs30,000 limit, and capacity building support.

Gig workers will be given identity cards and healthcare under PM Jan Arogya Yojna, which may assist nearly 1 crore gig-workers.

There is obviously very wide gap between what is required for our workforce, job generation, social sectors including social welfare, education, and health, and what is provided in the Union Budget 2025-26. Moreover, there is total mismatch between the actual provisions and the dream projected for the people of India under Vikasit Bharat. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Is it not a joke to expect a Member of Parliament to read, understand, give a considered view with qualitative comment on 655-pages-long final draft report on an important legislative amendment bill, such as the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, within a few hours, which was circulated to members less than 24 hours before the final meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC)?

The leaders of opposition have said that the draft report on the Waqf Bill was sent to them in evening of January 28, 2025 and were asked to give their comments by 10 AM on January 29, 2025. The final draft report was then put to vote on January 29, and it was adopted by a reported majority of 16:11 in a 31-member JPC on Waqf Bill. Thereafter, the opposition MPs were given time till 4 PM the same day to submit their dissent notes. The manner of adoption makes the entire process a farce, giving weightage to the brute majority of the ruling establishment over the spirit of meaningful discussion and subsequent outcome for which the Bill was sent to the JPC.

The 31-member JPC on Waqf Bill has 16 members from the ruling NDA (12 from BJP). The opposition political parties have 13 members. One member is from YSRCP, and one member is nominated. On January 27, the JPC had approved 14 amendments proposed by BJP MPs and its allies in ruling NDA, while it had rejected 44 suggested amendments by the Opposition MPs, who were against the Bill seeking amendment to the Waqf Act, 1995 (as amended in 2013). In other words, the ruling establishment has successfully got done through the JPC mask what they really had wanted to do.

JPC on Waqf Bill was constituted in August 2024 to review the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, with BJP MP Jagadambika Pal as its chairman. Opposition members have always complained that chairman have never been listening to them and behaved in autocratic way, therefore there had never been proper atmosphere for any meaningful discussion on the concerns raised by the opposition members and the Muslim community representative at large.

The latest example was suspension of 10 opposition MPs during the meeting on January 24, 2025, after ruckus in the meeting over accusation on the chair of autocratic behaviour. Earlier also in October, JPC meeting witnessed a scuffle between the opposition and the ruling MPs.

Nevertheless, since August, a total of 38 meetings of the committee were held, which include the final meeting on January 29, 2025, that approved the draft report on Waqf Bill.

When the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024, was tabled in the Parliament on August 8, 2024, it was strongly opposed not only by the opposition, but NDA allies such JD(U) and TDP had also reservations on several provisions of the proposed changes in the law. Initially, BJP’s allies in NDA – JD(U), TDP and LJP (Ram Vilas) has supposedly taken a “neutral” stand. JD(U) and TDP had even expressed their concerns and wanted that the Union Government address the genuine concerns of the Muslims represented though Muslim organisations.

However, voting on the adoption of draft report shows that all these NDA allies are with the BJP. The members of JD(U) and TDP have also proposed some amendments to the proposed changes in the Bill. Now they have voted in favour of the amendments which the BJP has brought. BJP has ultimately succeeded keeping NDA united on Waqf (Amendment) Bill and the party will comfortably get the amended Bill passed in the Parliament, which is likely to be tabled in the forthcoming budget session.

Some of the opposition MPs who have already submitted their dissent notes alleged that the whole exercise was undemocratic, and they were given little time to study the final draft report and frame their dissent notes. All opposition MPs are expected to submit their dissents, since the entire opposition MPs present during voting has voted against the amendments adopted by the JPC.

The chief among the accepted amendments included: Two Muslim women will continue to be included as member of the State Waqf Boards and the Central Waqf Council; State Waqf Boards will now include one member from the Muslim OBC; State Governments may establish separate Waqf Boards for Aghakhani and Bohra; A Waqif can dedicate property only after ensuring rightful share to females; Limitation Act will apply to all Waqf-related cases; Online registration will be introduced; Muslim trusts will be excluded from Waqf Act; and finality of tribunal decisions has been removed.

The other amendments included replacing the district collector with a state government official to be the arbiter on Waqf property or government land, and to having one member in the Waqf tribunal with “knowledge of Muslim law and jurisprudence”.

The manner of adoption of the Waqf Bill amendments made by BJP and NDA allies, and rejection of the amendments suggested by the Opposition parties, is being criticises as killing of the democratic spirit in recommending a legislation. The opposition has slammed its provisions as “unconstitutional” alleging that it will destroy the Waqf board by allowing the government’s interference in the Muslim’s religious matters.

Chairman Jagadambika Pal, on the other hand, has claimed that may of the amendments approved have addressed several concerns of the opposition. The final report will be submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker on January 30, 2025.

Nevertheless, the next battle on Waqf Bill will be fought in the Parliament of India. DMK has even said that they would challenge the proposed law in the Supreme Court of India if the ruling establishment gets the legislation passed in the Parliament by its majority strength. (IPA Service)

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By Dr. Gyan Pathak

January 16, 2025 was celebrated by Union Government of India as National Startup Day, which was followed by a boasting that India with more than 1.59 lakh startups has now firmly established itself as the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world. The claim was on the rise of numbers, while in quality where India’s startup ecosystem stands? Very low on the ladder as per the Global Startup Ecosystem Index Report 2024.

Nevertheless, in its vanity show the Union Government said that the occasion celebrates the nation’s strides in fostering a robust and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem. Launched as a flagship initiative of the Government of India, Startup India aimed to nurture innovation and catalyse the growth of startups across the country.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has recognised 1.59 lakh startups in the country as on January 15, 2025. Centre has claimed that the vibrant ecosystem, driven by over 100 unicorns, continues to redefine innovation and entrepreneurship on the global stage. Major hubs like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Delhi-NCR have led this transformation, while smaller cities have increasingly contributed to the nation’s entrepreneurial momentum.

The key milestones of Startup India programme were enumerated on this occasion. It was said that the number of DPIIT-recognised startups has grown from around 500 in 2016 to 1,59,157 as of January 15, 2025.As of October 31, 2024, a total of 73,151 recognised startups include at least one woman director, showcasing the rise of women entrepreneurs in India. From 2016 to October 31, 2024, recognised startups have reportedly created over 16.6 lakh direct jobs, significantly contributing to employment generation.

Core features of the startup India initiatives were – Ease of Doing Business; Tax Benefits; Funding support from the Rs 10,000 crore Fund of Funds; and Sector-specific Policies. Government said that as of October 31, 2024, DPIIT-recognised startups have created over 16.6 lakh direct jobs across various sectors, significantly contributing to employment generation. The IT Services industry leads with 2.04 lakh jobs, followed by Healthcare & Lifesciences with 1.47 lakh jobs, and Professional & Commercial Services with around 94,000 jobs. These contributions highlight the role of startups in driving economic growth and creating diverse employment opportunities across industries.

Three flagship schemes were implemented under Startup India. The Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) was launched for four-years period starting from 2021-22 with a corpus of Rs945 crore. The scheme supports startups in areas like proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry, and commercialisation. As of October 31, 2024, the EAC has approved 213 incubators, which have in turn selected 2,490 startups for a total approved funding of Rs 454.04 crore. The performance is obviously very dismal.

As for the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS), only Rs 555.24 crore in loans were guaranteed to 235 startups, including Rs 24.60 crore to 18 women-led startups as of October 31, 2024. It is also not a satisfactory level of performance.

Under the Fund of Funds Startups (FFS) scheme, by 2024 since 2016, Rs 11,148 crore was committed, catalysing investments of Rs 21,221.36 crore in 1165 startups. The speed of work is obviously slow.

To understand all these, including the deceptive ranking of India being the third largest startup ecosystem of the world we need to look into The Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER) 2024. It identified top 40 global ecosystems. No startup ecosystem of India figures in even top 20. Bengaluru-Karnataka’s rank was 21 (tied) while Delhi ranked 24. Mumbai ranked 37. That is all. Only three startup ecosystem figured in top 40 in the world.

Now let us see how the three top Indian startups at Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai were performing on the scale of 10. Bengaluru’s performance score is just 5, funding score is 9, talent and experience is 2, market reach is 5 and knowledge is 3. Delhi’s performance score is 7, funding 7, talent and experience 3, market reach 5, and knowledge 1. Mumbai’s performance score was 4, funding score is3, talent and experience 1, market reach 1 and knowledge score 1.

How bad the performance score of the top three startup ecosystems in India is can be imagined even by common people, if we compare these with the top performers. Let us take example of the top three startup ecosystem of the world – Silicon Valley, London, and New York City. Silicon Valley scored 10 in all counts but knowledge in which it scored 9. London scored 10 in all counts. New York City scored 10 in all counts but in knowledge in which it scored 8.

These are the success factor highlights. Take the example of Mumbai startup ecosystem, which experienced sharp ranking decline as per the GSER 2024. It fell six spots to 37 in 2023. In 2021, Mumbai’s seven large exits were 6th among Asian ecosystems; however, in2022, this number dropped to three, and in 2023, zero. Unfortunately, early-stage deals have followed a similar trajectory.

While Mumbai startups secured 31 Series A deals in 2021, 9th among Asian ecosystems, there were just 11 deals in 2023, tied for 17th. Mumbai still has many strengths it can leverage. Because of its market size, B2C startups that achieve product-market fit have tremendous scaling opportunities. The grocery delivery startup Zepto, based in Mumbai, became a unicorn in 2023 following its $200M Series E round. Zepto will undoubtedly be a large exit candidate soon, recycling that much-needed capital and managerial talent into the ecosystem. Mintifi, a Fintech startup focused on small business lending, raised $160 between Series C and D rounds in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

It shows that India needs to stop boasting and work hard for startups to survive and prosper. Rise in numbers is not so important as their survival, prosperity, and the quality of their performance. Vanity on the basis of deceptive ranking would not pay. (IPA Service)

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