UPSC/KPSC Current Affairs: 12th November 2025

• Panel on prison security fifth in decade

Context: Most of the recommendations of previous four committees have not been implemented; Hitendra Committee, the latest, was formed.

• In just over a decade, the Karnataka government has formed five committees to recommend measures to tighten security at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison- four under the Congress regime and one under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime.
• The latest was formed, led by R. Hitendra, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order). Just like the previous four times, this committee was also formed in response to a recent expose of inmates at the prison having access to television, mobile phones, and alcohol, even as most of the recommendations made by the previous four committees are gathering dust.
• “The State government has been indulging in a knee-jerk reaction every time there is an expose of inmates accessing some banned items. Most of these committees have only bought time and created an impression that action was being taken, without addressing basic issues in the prison like overcrowding, large vacancies, removing subjectivity from processes in the prison, which most of these reports have flagged,” said a senior official, who did not wish to be named.

‘Fence eating the crop’

• “The problem at the prison is mostly a case of collusion of officers, fence eating the crop. Suspensions of lower rank officers won’t help. In bad cases, officers need to be sternly dealt with, including dismissals from service, to instill discipline in the rest. We need to send prison staff for regular in-service training, which is a rarity now,” a senior officer said.
• However, he said that the persistent problems of overcrowding at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison and large-scale vacancies, nearly 40%, which are the fundamental issues, remain unaddressed. Splitting the jail and building a new jail was an absolute necessity, another officer said.
• One of the major recommendations of all the four committees has been to work towards removing subjectivity from various processes in the prison.
• For instance, two reports have recommended that the number of CCTV cameras in the prison should not only be increased, but the command centre analysing this live feed must be manned by a third party agency and not the Department of Prisons and Correctional Services. In fact, one report has suggested that the feed from the prison’s command centre be linked to the Bengaluru City Police’s Command Centre for a live review. Home Minister G. Parameshwara on Monday ordered such a Command Centre to be set up in the prison in the next two weeks, but there was no clarity on who would monitor the live feed and raise alarms over violations.

Use of bodycams

• One of the committee reports has recommended that all prison personnel – from a sentry to the jail superintendent – must mandatorily be made to wear bodycams, but it has not been implemented yet.
• The reports have recommended that any supply of food or other material coming from outside should be thoroughly checked, videographed, and then only sent in. This was also not being followed thoroughly, sources said.
• This was often the channel for contraband to enter the prison, the sources said.  At least two committee reports have recommended that separation of inmates is a must.

Allocation of barracks

• Moreover, subjectivity needs to be removed in even allotment of barracks. A round robin system should be followed to allot barracks and every month the system needs to be overhauled again, one of the reports recommends.
• One of the reports said that medical officers should not be posted at the prison for over a year.
• Most of the illegal activities happen during night time, and no senior prison staff are usually present. A recent report has recommended that a superintendent rank officer should be on duty in the prison during night time so that there is accountability.

• CM inaugurates Kalaloka store at KIA

Context: The Kalaloka store, which will showcase and sell Karnataka’s traditional and GI-certified products to both domestic and international travellers at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), was inaugurated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

• The Kalaloka store, which has been aesthetically designed to reflect the State’s culture and heritage, has been set up by the Department of Industries at the Terminal 2.
• “This is a moment of joy in the industrial map of Karnataka. The KIA ranks third in the country in terms of passenger traffic.
• The Kalaloka store has been established to give visitors an immediate glimpse of Karnataka’s pride and cultural essence as soon as they arrive. Through this initiative, our State’s distinguished products will receive global recognition, branding, and market reach,” the Chief Minister said.

• Minister for Large and Medium Industries M.B. Patil said that the Kalaloka store, located near Terminal 2, features Karnataka’s traditional products such as Mysore Sandal Soap, sandalwood oil, incense sticks, Mysuru Silk, Channapatna toys, LIDKAR leather goods, aromatic coffee powders and beverages, handloom products, Ilkal sarees, Lambani garments, sandalwood artefacts, Bidriware, and Mysore-style paintings.

• “In total, 45 GI-certified products from Karnataka will be showcased and sold here,” he said.

• ISRO conducts crucial safety tests on main parachutes for Gaganyaan crew

Context: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently conducted an important test on main parachutes for the Gaganyaan Crew Module.

• The test was conducted at the Babina Field Firing Range (BFFR) in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi on November 3 as part of the ongoing series of Integrated Main Parachute Airdrop Tests (IMAT) for the qualification of parachute system for Gaganyaan mission.
• For the Gaganyaan Crew Module, the parachute system comprises a total of 10 parachutes of four types. The descent sequence begins with two apex cover separation parachutes that remove the protective cover of the parachute compartment, followed by two drogue parachutes that stabilise and decelerate the module.
• “Upon release of the drogues, three pilot parachutes are deployed to extract three main parachutes, which further slow down the Crew Module to ensure a safe touchdown. The system is designed with redundancy — two of the three main parachutes are sufficient to achieve a safe landing,” the space agency said.
• The main parachutes of the Gaganyaan mission deploy through a step-by-step process known as reefed inflation. “In this process, the parachute first opens partially, which is called reefing, and then fully opens after a predetermined period of time, known as disreefing.
• This process is carried out using a pyro device,” it added. In the recent test, ISRO demonstrated one of the extreme scenarios — delay in the disreefing between the two main parachutes successfully, thereby validating the system for its maximum design conditions.
• The test evaluated the system’s structural integrity and load distribution under asymmetric disreefing conditions, which is one of the most critical load scenarios expected during actual mission descent.
• A simulated mass equivalent to the Crew Module was dropped from an altitude of 2.5 km using the Indian Air Force’s IL-76 aircraft. The parachute system deployed as planned and the sequence was executed flawlessly, and the test article achieved a stable descent and soft landing, validating the robustness of the parachute design.

• State ranks fourth in country in terms of adoption numbers

Context: Maharashtra tops the list; despite growing interest, Karnataka faces a shortage of adoptable children.

• Karnataka ranks fourth in the country in terms of adoption numbers, following Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal, according to data shared by officials from the Directorate of Child Protection.
• While 306 children were adopted in 2024–25, and 190 so far in 2025–26, officials said the State faces a shortage of legally adoptable children despite a steady rise in the number of prospective parents.
• Data showed that Maharashtra recorded the highest number of adoptions in 2024–25 at around 800, followed by Tamil Nadu (600), West Bengal (315), and Karnataka (306). From 2020–21 up to October 2025–26, Karnataka has facilitated 1,540 adoptions, including 1,385 in-country and 155 inter-country, through 45 specialised adoption agencies — 21 government-run and 24 privately managed.

Year-wise

• Karnataka recorded 256 adoptions in 2020–21, including 223 in-country and 33 inter-country adoptions. The number rose to 281 in 2021–22, with 239 domestic and 42 inter-country adoptions.
• In 2022–23, the State saw a dip with 223 adoptions — 188 in-country and 35 inter-country — but the trend picked up in 2023–24, when 284 children were adopted, including 263 within India and 21 abroad.
• The highest number of adoptions in recent years was recorded in 2024–25, with 306 children finding families — 293 in-country and 13 inter-country. In the ongoing financial year 2025–26, up to October, 190 children have been adopted so far, including 179 in-country and 11 inter-country adoptions.
• Arundathi T.S., Deputy Director (State Adoption Resource Agency – SARA), Directorate of Child Protection, that 2,271 registered prospective adoptive parents are waiting for adoption as of November 11, 2025. “However, only 79 children are currently available for adoption. Of these, 55 are children with special needs and 29 are normal,” she said.
• “Many children who are otherwise eligible (orphans, abandoned or surrendered)  cannot be placed for adoption because their legal guardians are unwilling to give consent. When we approach them for consent, they refuse stating that they will take them away once they turn 18,” she said.
• The official attributed the low availability of adoptable children to successful efforts to trace families. “When infants below two are abandoned, efforts are made to trace parents within two months, while for older children the tracing period extends to four months,” she said.
• Children surrendered by parents are given a 60-day window for reclamation, after which the adoption process can proceed. A majority of these cases involve unwed mothers and teenage pregnancies, including those registered under the POCSO Act, she pointed out.
• The adoption process has become more transparent and accountable after being brought online under Mission Vatsalya. Aadhaar enrolment is being done for children entering the adoption system to ensure identification and safety, the official said.

Bengaluru Urban

• In Bengaluru Urban district, which has six recognised adoption agencies, 283 children have been adopted in the last five years —  265 within India and 18 inter-country. This year alone, 36 children have been legally adopted.
• The District Child Protection Unit (East Division), established in June 2022, oversees two agencies —  Shishu Mandir and St. Michael Home. Since its inception, 142 children have been adopted under its jurisdiction, including seven inter-country adoptions. Two inter-country adoptions from St. Michael Home are currently under process, officials said.

• Don’t use COP30 to change Paris deal ‘architecture’: India

Context: Country says the parties ‘must remain committed to and guided by equity’; it urges the Brazil COP Presidency to make a special call to the Parties to submit their National Adaptation Plan.

COP 30

• India made its opening statement at COP30 in Belem, Brazil, underlining that the climate conference ought to be stressing “adaptation”, and the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015, should not be used to “change the architecture” of that consensus.
• This “architecture” refers to the agreed-upon principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR)”, which means that all countries must do their bit to curb fossil fuel emissions but without compromising on national economic-development priorities.

Dwindling finance

• With the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement and developed countries agreeing to mobilise only $300 billion — and not the demanded $1.35 trillion annually — by 2035 as “climate finance” (to cope with unfolding climate disasters as well as move away from fossil fuels), developing countries, including India, saw this as a reneging on agreed commitments.
• “We must remain committed to and guided by equity and common but differentiated responsibilities. The cornerstone principles of the Convention and its Paris Agreement signed all of us to the CBDR in Brazil back in 1992. We must reaffirm our strongest commitment to the principles here, not attempt to sideline and ignore them,” India delegation member Suman Chandra said as part of a collective of Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC).
• “Over the next two weeks, we must stay true to the cause and advance adaptation, which is among the most important issues for us. The [Brazil COP] Presidency must make a special call to the Parties to submit their National Adaptation Plan in line with national priorities and progress,” she added.
• The LMDC is a large collective that represents nearly half of the world’s population, and consists of China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Cuba, Egypt and several others.
• India is yet to submit its National Adaptation Plan and the updated Nationally Determined Contribution, which specifies steps to curb fossil fuel emission by 2035, to the United Nations.
• “We are not here to point fingers, but the facts speak for themselves. We cannot simply bypass the roadblocks and the impediments to implementation,” Ms. Chandra added.
• “Developed countries need to reach net zero much earlier than projected. They should invest significantly more in negative emission technologies,” Tanmay Kumar, Secretary, Environment Ministry and part of the India delegation, said on behalf of a joint statement by another grouping called BASIC (Brazil India China South Africa).
• The LMDC had pushed for including a discussion on the responsibility of developed countries on the COP30 agenda but in the larger spirit of “consensus” was moved to a separate negotiating track by COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago.

• SC judge: imported ideas may not save endangered species

Context: Supreme Court judge Justice P.S. Narasimha said many environmental law principles imported from the West such as “inter-generational equity” are anthropocentric and would hardly be of any assistance in protecting an endangered species from extinction.

Great Indian Bustard

• Justice Narasimha made these oral observations while hearing a petition filed by M.K. Ranjitsinh on the conservation of the dying species of the Great Indian Bustard, which is being bred in captivity, and the Lesser Florican.
• Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the petitioner, said there were 70 bustards in captivity and 150 in the wild. Lesser Floricans number 70.
• “That is all… Captive breeding may be successful with the Great Indian Bustard, but it is not showing success with the Lesser Florican. Extinction is not an option for these two species,” he said.

‘Biblical roots’

• Justice Narasimha said principles such as inter-generational equity had “Biblical” roots, with humans at the top.
• The judge referred to how, 13 years ago, a amicus curiae in the red sanders conservation case, had urged the Supreme Court to consider the “intrinsic worth” of an endangered species rather than its “instrumental value to human beings”.
• He criticised principles such as inter-generational equity which “pre-supposes the higher needs of human beings and lays down that exploitation of natural resources must be equitably distributed between the present and future generation”. The judge said the court, in its judgment in the red sanders case, had accepted his submissions on the need to take an ecocentric approach, which “obliges every citizen to have compassion for all living creatures”, in biodiversity law.

• Net direct tax collections grow 7% as refunds fall sharply

Context: Net direct tax collections grew by 7% in this financial year up to November 10, largely driven by a significant contraction in the refunds paid out by the Income Tax Department during this period, official data shows.

• The direct tax collections data, released by the Income Tax Department on Tuesday, shows that gross collections grew 2.15% to ₹15.35 lakh crore in this financial year up to November 11.
• Within this, gross corporate tax collections grew 4.6% to ₹ 6.9 lakh crore. Gross non-corporate tax — which includes personal income tax — grew 0.5% during this period to ₹ 8.1 lakh crore.
• “The data shows that, remarkably, non-corporate tax collections have kept pace in spite of the very significant rate cut last year,” Rohinton Sidhwa, Partner at Deloitte India said.
• “This is a very good sign showing stronger growth of income levels.” Total refunds were 17.7% lower this year than in the corresponding period of last year.
• According to Mr. Sidhwa, the fact that refunds have fallen significantly could either mean that cash paying tax payers are no longer in the tax net or that the government has “consciously throttled back” on refunds.
• As a result of the drop in refunds, net collections grew 7% to ₹12.9 lakh crore in this financial year up to November 11.

UPSC/KPSC Current Affairs: 11th November 2025

• India and China have goodwill towards us, says Sri Lankan PM

Context: India and China have shown enormous goodwill towards Sri Lanka and recognise the island nation as an important partner, Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya said.

• In an interview to marking one year of the National People’s Power (NPP) government, she said that bringing stability and fostering a new political culture were the government’s biggest successes, even as taking the state machinery along remained a challenge.
• On the ongoing IMF programme and the hardships facing ordinary Sri Lankans since the economic crash three years ago, she said the government could not renegotiate the entire agreement due to the risk of chaos and destabilisation, but had managed to revise certain aspects.
• Weighing in on justice and reconciliation for war-affected Tamils, she stressed the importance of a “home-grown process”, rooted in trust-building, to address wartime human rights violations.
• While economic stability remains a priority the government is also committed to introducing a new Constitution through “a consultative approach”, Ms. Amarasuriya added.

• K-RERA declares BDA a ‘promoter’

Context: The Karnataka Real Estate Regulatory Authority (K-RERA) has held that the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) is a ‘promoter’ under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA).

• In a landmark ruling, the Karnataka Real Estate Regulatory Authority (K-RERA) has held that the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) is a ‘promoter’ under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA).
• In a case against them, the BDA had sought exemption from the jurisdiction of the RERA contending that applying the RERA to its schemes would disrupt its statutory duties and financial structure. But the K-RERA dismissed the plea.
• Further, the authority directed the BDA to register its flagship Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout (NPKL) as a real estate project within two weeks. The authority directed the BDA to upload all project-related documents, including sanctioned plans, layout approvals, progress reports, and financial disclosures, and refrain from any sale, marketing, or creation of third-party interests in the layout until registration is complete.
• The K-RERA also granted the BDA three weeks to explain why penalty proceedings under Section 59(1) should not be initiated for violation of Section 3 of the Act, which mandates project registration before advertisement or sale.
• The Full Bench of the K-RERA, comprising Chairman Rakesh Singh and member G.R. Reddy, delivered the order on November 7, while hearing a batch of complaints filed by allottees alleging serious breaches by the BDA in the development and allotment of sites under the NPKL scheme.
• The complainants, led by Ramachandra Nayak and others, accused the BDA of violating multiple provisions of the RERA Act. They alleged that although the BDA had collected full or substantial payments from allottees between 2015 and 2016, it failed to complete essential infrastructure such as roads, water supply, sewerage, electricity, and parks, rendering the layout uninhabitable. The complainants further stated that despite these lapses, the BDA continued to invite applications for additional sites and levied arbitrary penalties and interest on allottees for delayed payments. They argued that the BDA’s conduct squarely fell within the purview of the RERA and that the authority’s non-registration of the project was unlawful.

BDA’s defence

• In its defence, the BDA argued that it is a statutory authority constituted under the Bangalore Development Authority Act, 1976, which governs urban planning and land development within the city.
• The authority claimed that layout formation and site allotment were part of planned city development and public welfare functions, not commercial real estate activities, and therefore outside the scope of the RERA.
• The BDA maintained that the relationship between the authority and allottees was governed by the BDA (Allotment of Sites) Rules, 1984, and that disputes should be resolved under those rules. It also contended that applying the RERA to its schemes would disrupt its statutory duties and financial structure, as funds from site allotments were used for citywide development and not confined to a single project.

K-RERA’s findings

• However, the K-RERA rejected the BDA’s arguments in totality. The authority held that the definition of ‘promoter’ under Section 2(zk) of the RERA Act explicitly includes any development authority or public body that develops and sells plots or apartments to the public.
• Citing a 2019 clarification from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs which included the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) under the same definition, the K-RERA ruled that the BDA clearly falls within the scope of a promoter.
• The authority clarified that the RERA applies even to government agencies when they engage in real estate transactions. “The purpose of the RERA is transparency, accountability, and consumer protection and not profit control,” the order stated. “Even welfare or non-profit schemes are subject to the RERA when plots or flats are sold to the public.”

• State records 24% drop in maternal deaths

Context: Karnataka has recorded a 24% reduction in maternal deaths this year compared to the corresponding period in 2024.

• While 483 maternal deaths were reported in the first 10 months of 2024, the number reduced to 366.
• Karnataka has recorded a 24% reduction in maternal deaths this year — from January to October —compared to the corresponding period in 2024.
• While 483 maternal deaths were reported in the first 10 months of 2024, the number has come down to 366 in 2025.
• This follows strict monitoring and audit of every maternal death by a State-level committee that was set up in the aftermath of the Ballari maternal deaths in November last year, according to Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao.

Mission zero

• He said to further improve the quality and safety of maternal and newborn care across health facilities, the Health Department had launched the “Mission Zero Preventable Maternal Deaths” initiative.
• As part of this ongoing effort, the State had now issued a new Government Order (GO) to rationalise and optimally deploy key specialists —  obstetricians, anaesthetists, and paediatricians — across Karnataka.
• The move aimed to ensure that every taluk hospital and well-performing community health centre (CHC) provided round the clock comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care (CEmONC) services, Mr. Gundu Rao said.
• According to the GO, all 147 taluk hospitals and 42 well-performing CHCs (those conducting 30 or more deliveries a month) will be strengthened as CEmONC centres.
• Each centre will have two specialists each in obstetrics, anaesthesia, and paediatrics, along with a radiologist and a physician. Remote areas such as M.M. Hills will continue as full CEmONC facilities, given their hard-to-reach terrain and distance from other referral centres.

Tamil Nadu model

• Harsh Gupta, Principal Secretary, Health, said the rationalisation exercise was based on the Tamil Nadu model.
• “The redeployment will be done through counselling. To achieve equitable distribution of specialists, those currently serving in low-performing CHCs will be redeployed to high-delivery-load facilities. The government will also mobilise 404 medical officers from the existing sanctioned posts. Nurses from underperforming 24/7 primary health centres (PHCs) will be reassigned to strengthen delivery points,” he said, adding that Tamil Nadu had been following this model for four years.
• The Minister also said 104 new radiologist posts and 23 physician posts had been created additionally.
• At the district level, 125 super-specialist posts — including cardiologists, neurologists, nephrologists, oncologists, pulmonologists, and critical care specialists — would be created under the Compulsory Medical Service Scheme to manage advanced maternal and newborn complications, he said.
• He said the exercise will be implemented under Rule 15(1)(c) of the Karnataka Civil Services (Regulation of Transfer of Medical Officers and Other Staff) Rules, 2025. The initiative is designed to be budget-neutral, relying on redeployment and transfers from existing sanctioned posts, he said.

• SC says women are the ‘largest minority’, notes their receding presence in Parliament

Context: The Supreme Court has said women are the “largest minority” in India and their presence in Parliament is steadily receding.

• “Why not give women representation even without reservation,” Justice B.V. Nagarathna, the Supreme Court’s sole woman judge heading a two-judge Bench, observed.
• The Bench, including Justice R. Mahadevan, was hearing a petition filed by Jaya Thakur challenging the provisions of the “Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam”, or the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, granting 33% reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and Assemblies.
• The law was assented to by President Droupadi Murmu in September 2023, but is yet to be implemented, senior advocate Shobha Gupta and advocate Varun Thakur, submitted in court.

“Why delay the ‘vandan’,” Ms. Gupta asked.

• “This [the Constitution amendment] was an instance of giving women political justice. Political justice is on par with social and economic justice. Women are the largest minority in the country. Women form 48.44% of the total population,” Justice Nagarathna observed.
• She pointed to Article 15(3) of the Constitution which mandates the State to take affirmative action and make special provisions for the empowerment of women.
• The provisions of the 2023 law would be implemented only after the conduct of the next census and the subsequent delimitation exercise — redrawing of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies — to determine seats to be reserved for women.
• The quota for women in the Lok Sabha and Assemblies would continue for 15 years and Parliament could later extend the benefit period.

‘Long-pending demand’

• “A Constitutional amendment cannot be held back for an uncertain period… For the last 75 years there has been no adequate representation of women in Parliament as well as in the State legislatures. This has been a long-pending demand for decades,” the petition submitted.
• Ms. Gupta said the Act did not give any specific time period about the census or the delimitation exercise.
• Senior counsel echoed the court’s oral observation about the need for census as a pre-condition to reserve seats for women.
• Justice Nagarathna said the census would quantify the population, based on which the seats would be scientifically reserved for women.

• India and Vietnam move to strengthen defence ties

Context: Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh met Vietnam’s Minister of National Defence, General Phan Van Giang, on the sidelines of the 15th India-Vietnam Defence Policy Dialogue in Hanoi.

• He conveyed warm greetings from Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and reaffirmed India’s commitment to further strengthening defence cooperation with Vietnam.
• During the dialogue, co-chaired by Mr. Rajesh Singh and Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of National Defence Senior Lieutenant-General Hoang Xuan Chien, both sides reviewed ongoing defence engagements and explored new areas of collaboration.

MoA signed

• A memorandum of agreement on Mutual Submarine Search and Rescue Support and Cooperation and a letter of intent on Defence Industry Cooperation were signed.
• The discussions underscored that defence partnership continues to be a key pillar of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between India and Vietnam, a press statement said.

• Ministry simplifiesrules to boost cornea transplant services

Context: A notification was issued on Nov. 6 removing mandatory requirement of clinical specular equipment in corneal transplantation centres.

• The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has amended the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (Amendment) Rules, 2025 to boost cornea donation and transplant services across the country. A notification in this regard was issued on November 6 under the under the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994.
• The mandatory requirement of the clinical specular equipment in corneal transplantation centres has now been removed under this amendment. Clinical specular microscopes are used to assess the health and density of corneal endothelial cells.
• “This change has been introduced after careful consideration of expert recommendations and stakeholder consultations,” said a release issued by the Ministry on Monday. It added that the move also aligns with the government’s vision to promote equitable access to organ and tissue transplantation services.
• The amendment strengthens the National Organ Transplant Programme (NOTP) and streamlines functioning of corneal transplantation centres, the Ministry added.
• It said the amendment is expected to ease infrastructure and operational challenges, particularly for smaller eye centres in rural and semi-urban areas. A corneal transplant is a surgical procedure to replace a damaged or diseased cornea with healthy donor tissue to restore vision and reduce pain.
• The cornea is the clear, front part of the eye that helps focus light; when it becomes cloudy or scarred from injury, infection, or certain medical conditions, vision can be significantly impaired. The transplant can involve replacing the entire cornea or just the affected layers.
• As per an article published in the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology, titled Corneal blindness in India: The care gap, corneal blindness has been the second-leading cause of blindness in the over-50 age group in India. It said the country has an estimated 1.2 million corneal blind persons.

• Petition in SC says GenAI may leadto fake case laws

Context: The Supreme Court agreed to list after a fortnight a petition saying indiscriminate use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in judicial work could lead to “hallucinations”, resulting in fictitious judgments and research material, and even perpetuate bias.

• Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai, before whose Bench the case came up, reacted that the judges were aware and vocal about the incursions made by AI in judicial functioning.
• Kartikeya Rawal, an advocate represented by his counsel, Abhinav Shrivastava, urged the top court to formulate a strict policy or, at least, frame guidelines for regulated, transparent, secure and uniform use of GenAI in courts, tribunals and other quasi-judicial bodies until a law was put in place.
• The petition warned the opaque use of AI and Machine Learning technologies in the judicial system and governance would trigger constitutional and human rights concerns. The judiciary must avail only data free from bias, and the ownership of that data must be transparent enough to ensure stakeholders’ liability.
• “The skill of GenAI to leverage advanced neural networks and unsupervised learning to generate new data, uncover hidden patterns, and automate complex processes can lead to ‘hallucinations’, resulting in fake case laws, AI bias, and lengthy observations… This process of hallucinations would mean that GenAI would not be based on precedents but on a law that might not even exist,” the petition submitted.
• GenAI was capable of producing original content based on prompts or query. It could create realistic images, generate content such as graphics and text, answer questions, explain complex concepts, and convert language into code. GenAI algorithms could also “replicate, perpetuate, aggravate” pre-existing biases, discrimination, and stereotypical practices, raising ethicalchallenges, Mr. Rawal said.

• Centre yet again seeks auto industry inputs on EV import policy

Context: The policy failed to attract bidders before last month’s deadline expired; industry given three weeks’ time to submit its recommendations.

• The government has once again invited suggestions from the auto industry on its electric vehicle (EV) import policy, which offers duty concessions in exchange for local manufacturing commitments, after failing to attract any bidders before last month’s deadline expired.
• In June, the government invited auto players to submit their interest for the Scheme to Promote Manufacturing of Electric Passenger Cars (SPMEPC) in India, which permits automakers to import up to 8,000 EVs at a reduced duty rate of 15%, compared with the current 70-100%, provided they commit to invest ₹4,150 crore in local EV manufacturing.
• However, the deadline for submissions, which ended on October 21, passed without a single applicant. Subsequently, the Ministry of Heavy Industries held a round of consultation with the auto industry in the last week of October, seeking suggestions. “If these suggestions are viable, we may reopen [the application window],” a government official said.
• The industry has been given three weeks to submit recommendations to the policy. To a question on why auto players did not show interest, the official said one of the reasons was the ongoing negotiations for India-EU trade agreement and the import concessions that could be offered under it.
• The government has also received suggestions to include ICE vehicles under the scheme. However, the official said while “minor changes could be made, the fundamentals cannot be altered.”

• E-com sites may have to disclose country of origin of goods sold

Context: A set of draft rules released on Monday by the Union Department of Consumer Affairs has proposed to make it mandatory for e-commerce platforms to provide ‘searchable and sortable filters’ based on the ‘country of origin’ for packaged commodities sold online.

• “This will enhance consumer empowerment and transparency in online shopping,” the government said in a release.
• The Draft Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) (Second) Amendment Rules, 2025, proposes to add in rule 6, in sub-rule (10) of the existing rules that: “Provided that every e-commerce entity selling imported products shall provide a searchable and sortable filter for the country of origin, with their product listings.”
• The release added that the amendment seeks to empower consumers to make informed purchasing decisions by allowing them to easily identify the origin of products while shopping online. “The proposed feature will enable consumers to search and sort products by their country of origin, thereby enhancing transparency and reducing the time required to locate such information across vast product listings,” it said.
• Stakeholders can submit their observations and comment on the draft rules to the government till November 22, 2025. “The amendment directly supports the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Vocal for Local’ initiatives by making ‘Made in India’ products easily discoverable,” the Centre added.

• ISMA welcomes sugar export permit announcement

Context: The government’s decision to permit 15 lakh tonnes of sugar for export during the current sugar season will enable the sugar mills to plan their production in advance and channel surplus sugar into global markets, said the Indian Sugar and Bio-Energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA).

As a long-term measure, the ISMA strongly urged for revision of the minimum selling price (MSP) of sugar, which has remained unchanged for over six years.

• TRAI proposes mandating clearer telco-to-telco calls    

Context: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) proposed an overhaul of the interconnect regulations that govern how different networks connect with and compensate each other for call and data traffic.

Specific mandate

• In a consultation paper on “Review of existing TRAI Regulations on Interconnection matters,” the regulator specifically floats the idea of mandating digital (“all-IP”) interconnection between telcos to boost call quality and reliability of service.
• The main wireless telecom operators — Bharti Airtel Ltd., Vodafone Idea Ltd. and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. — have shifted to at least 4G, if not 5G, technologies, which should enable them to provide high speed internet and high quality calls over technologies like VoLTE (voice over LTE) and VoNR (voice over 5G networks).
• However, telcos largely seem to be using analogue interconnection technologies for calls between their subscribers and people on other networks, leading to a noticeable dip in quality in phone calls outside a telecom firm’s network.

• Rural unemployment down, urban joblessness up, finds government survey

Context: The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted by the Labour Bureau for the July-September 2025 quarter show unemployment rate among persons aged 15 years and above in rural areas declined to 4.4% during the period from 4.8% in the previous quarter.

• The PLFS also showed urban unemployment rate had “edged up slightly”, with rates increasing from 6.1% to 6.2% for males, and from 8.9% to 9.0% for females, during the same period.
• Overall, the unemployment rate among persons aged 15 years and above dropped to 5.2% in July-September, 2025 from 5.4% in the previous quarter, according to the survey.
• Self-employment dominated in rural areas while in urban areas, jobs were based on regular wages or salaried employment. Self-employed persons of age 15 years and above in rural areas increased to 62.8% during July- September, up from 60.7% recorded in the previous quarter of April-June 2025.
• “In urban areas, the share of regular wage/ salaried employment also showed marginal improvement, rising to 49.8% in July-September from 49.4% in April-June, 2025,” the survey found. “On average, 56.2 crore persons (aged 15 years and above) were employed in the country during the quarter of July-September 2025, of which 39.6 crore were male and 16.6 crore were female,” the PLFS stated.
• The rural workforce continued to concentrate in the agriculture sector, and the urban workforce were primarily employed by the tertiary sector. The majority of the rural workers were engaged in the agriculture sector, accounting for 57.7% during the period, up from 53.5% in the previous quarter. “This increase in the share of rural employment in the agriculture sector can be attributed to seasonal agricultural operations. In the urban areas, the tertiary sector remained dominant, engaging 62% of workers during July-September, 2025, slightly higher than 61.7% in April-June, 2025,” the Bureau noted.
• The overall Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) among females of age 15 years and above increased to 33.7% in July-September 2025 from 33.4% in the previous quarter. “This improvement was driven largely by the increase in female LFPR in rural areas from 37% in the quarter April-June 2025 to 37.5% in July-September 2025.

• NPCI arm, BENEFIT sign pact for faster remittances
• NPCI International Payments Ltd. (NIPL) has entered into a tie-up with BENEFIT, Bahrain’s fintech and electronic financial transactions company, to enable real-time cross-border remittances between India and Bahrain.

• What is the role of a pay commission?
• The Central government has constituted the 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC) with retired Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai as the Chairperson. It also consists of Professor Pulak Ghosh, faculty at IIM Bangalore, as a part-time member and Pankaj Jain IAS, Secretary to the government of India, as member-secretary. It will submit its report within 18 months.

What is a pay commission?

• Pay commissions are set up in India by an executive order based on a Cabinet decision.
• The role of the CPC is to go into various issues of salary structures, retirement benefits and other service conditions of Central government employees, including defence personnel, and make suitable recommendations on the changes required. The first CPC was set up in 1946.

What are its terms of reference?

• The Terms of Reference (TOR) of the pay commissions are finalised by the Union Cabinet. The TOR of the 8th CPC requires it to consider certain factors while making its recommendations.
• They include economic conditions of the country and the need for fiscal prudence; need to ensure adequate resources for developmental expenditure and welfare measures; unfunded cost of non-contributory pension schemes; impact of recommendations on State government finances that usually adopt the recommendations of the CPC; and the prevailing emolument structure and working conditions available for central public sector undertakings and private sector employees.

What are the international practices?

• Globally, till the 1970s, the compensation system for the public sector was aimed at achieving equity by benchmarking them with similar roles in the private employment market.
• In the 1980s, efficiency replaced equity as the key principle in determining compensation.
• Starting with the 1990s, performance and incentives became the key principle while balancing them with affordability. At present, public sector compensation systems are evolving to recruit and retain individuals with appropriate competencies and skills, while attempting to contain the total cost to the public exchequer.
• As per global standards the key characteristics of fair compensation in the public sector are clear philosophy, ability to attract talent, internal equity, external competitiveness and clarity. In India while internal equity is given adequate weightage, external competitiveness lags behind when it comes to compensation for top positions.
• It is interesting to note some comparative data for large democracies on certain parameters of public sector employment summarised in Table 1. It can be observed that while the general perception in our country is that public sector employment and wages are gargantuan with limited efficiency, it is lesser in almost all parameters when compared to other major democracies.

What next?

• There are certain key aspects of the TOR that require attention. First, the TOR requires the CPC to compare the pay structure of the public sector with the private sector. This has been addressed even in earlier pay commissions.
• Entry level posts in the public sector have significantly higher salaries than their private counterparts while it is the opposite for higher posts and specialist roles. The compression ratio, that is, the ratio of lowest to highest salaries in the Central government has been fixed at 1:12.5 in the seventh CPC.
• Privileges and perks coupled with job security is a significant intangible that makes up for lower salary packages in top government posts. However, this needs to be revisited with respect to certain top posts and specialist roles in order to attract and retain talent. Second, intangibles like learning and development, training, and work environment including flexible working and health promotion are not part of the TOR. It may be expected that the Commission will address these issues in its final report.
• Finally, the 8th CPC has been mandated to consider economic conditions, need to ensure adequate resources for welfare, and unfunded cost of non-contributory pension schemes. The pension bill for the year 2025-26 is estimated at ₹2.76 lakh crore out of the total revenue expenditure of ₹39.44 lakh crore of the central government.
• The impact of non-contributory pension schemes on the government exchequer needs to be borne in mind while making recommendations. However, welfare measures are political decisions that keep evolving. New schemes are announced by the Centre from time to time.
• Considering these factors, a commission with members from the judiciary, academia and bureaucracy may not be equipped to assess the impact. There may also be a case for broad basing the commission with finance and human resource professionals to bring in diverse opinions.

UPSC/KPSC Current Affairs: 9th & 10th November 2025

Centre rules out Kuki-Zo groups’ demand for U.T.
The demand rose in talks with Home Ministry on Nov. 7; insurgent groups told the officials that coexistence within Manipur was no longer possible; Centre terms the proposal ‘unacceptable’
Kuki-Zo insurgent groups in Manipur on Saturday said that they held talks with the Union Home Ministry this week, “focusing on the core demand for a Union Territory with a Legislative Assembly” for Kuki-Zo areas, insisting that “coexistence” within the State was not possible.

This comes just two months after the groups signed a Suspension of Operations (SoO) pact with the Union and State governments.

However, the Centre’s representative in the talks said it was not possible to accept their demand, according to both the insurgent groups and a Ministry source.

The two umbrella groups — the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and the United People’s Front (UPF) — said the talks were held on November 6 and 7, with the MHA being represented by its Northeast Adviser, A.K. Mishra.

In a statement, the SoO groups said that on November 6, the discussions centred on the implementation of the September 4 tripartite agreement, where they demanded that the administration and governance issues in Kuki-Zo inhabited districts should be addressed. “The second day (November 7) focused on the political demand for U.T. with legislature,” the statement said.

According to the SoO groups, Mr. Mishra reiterated that the current policy does not support creation of new Union Territories. He stressed the need for consultations with other communities in Manipur, they said.

An MHA source said that talks with the insurgent groups will continue, to find a negotiated political solution in consultation with all communities, but the demand for a U.T. with legislature was not possible.

The talks covered issues of land, forests, customs, and development, along with mutual confidence-building measures to be pursued alongside the regular political dialogue, the groups said. They urged the MHA to take concrete steps to protect traditional tribal land rights.

“They also urged Government to remove administrative hurdles related to the succession of village chiefs after their demise, and to simplify procedures for land registration and deed processing, which currently require travel to Imphal—an area that has become inaccessible and unsafe for the Kuki-Zo community since the outbreak of ethnic violence,” the SoO groups said.

On September 4, the MHA had announced that the tripartite pact, in limbo since February 2024, had been signed with renegotiated terms and new ground rules. The new terms said that security forces would conduct verification of cadres, de-list and deport foreign nationals, and the relocation of camps run by the insurgent groups. The September 4 agreement, the latest version of the SoO pact in place since 2008, reiterated the territorial integrity of Manipur but inserted a new clause: “negotiated political settlement within Constitution of India.”

The pact had been periodically extended annually until February 29, 2024 when the Manipur government refused to extend the tripartite pact following the eruption of ethnic violence between the tribal Kuki-Zo and Meitei people on May 3, 2023. Former Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh had claimed that the SoO groups had violated the ground rules of the pact. Before May 3, 2023, the SoO groups had been demanding autonomous territorial councils within Manipur. Post-violence, however, the demands have changed.

On Saturday, the SoO groups said that they had highlighted the historical justifications for their political demand, noting that the Kuki-Zo Hills had never been under the control of the Manipur State Durbar before Independence.

Ahead of COP, India says it will join forest protection initiative
At the Leaders’ Summit in Belem, Brazil, where heads of state have converged ahead of the climate conference beginning Monday, India said it would join the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) as an ‘Observer’.

The TFFF is the latest measure drummed up to incentivise global finance to invest in limiting net global carbon emissions. The plan is that countries with tropical forests are paid annually for keeping their forests standing. A secretariat called the TFFF and an investment fund called the Tropical Forest Investment Fund will invest sponsor money in emerging market bonds and avoid fossil fuels, coal, and any sector linked to deforestation.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called on world leaders to establish a road map to end dependence on fossil fuels, and honour international commitments by 2030 to triple renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency.

Dinesh Bhatia, India’s Ambassador to Brazil, called TFFF a “significant step” towards collective global action for the preservation of tropical forests.

The TFFF offers a new, budget-neutral model of nature financing that rewards countries protecting forests yearly with $4 per hectare protected. Investors’ initial contributions are invested by the TFIF, and the returns on those investments are used to pay back the original investors in full.

Brazil, the COP30 host, has announced a $1 billion contribution, and Colombia has pitched in with $250 million. France, China, and the UAE have expressed support but have not made financial commitments.

It is essential for countries to leave Belém with NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions) aligned with the 1.5°C mission committed to in Dubai, Mr. da Silva said.

The Brazilian President also launched the Belém commitment to quadruple the use of sustainable fuels by 2035 and emphasised the need for debt-for-climate swaps to support developing nations.

From 2005 to 2020, India reduced the emission intensity of GDP by 36%, Indian Ambassador Bhatia said.

India had expanded its forest and tree cover, Mr. Bhatia said, and the additional carbon sink of 2.29 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent was created between 2005 and 2021. He reiterated India’s position that affordable finance, technology access, and capacity-building were essential for implementing ambitious climate targets in developing countries.

State to introduce AI as part of reforms for district judiciary
As the use of artificial intelligence (AI) spreads across sectors, the Karnataka government is coming up with a legislation to allow use of AI to streamline the justice delivery system in the district judiciary.

This is expected to enhance speed, accuracy, transparency, accessibility and objectivity in judicial process.

The implementation of AI will be a coordinated effort between the State government and the Karnataka High Court under the proposed “Karnataka District Judiciary Reforms Bill, 2025”, which covers other aspects of judiciary reforms too. The legislation will allow AI to be implemented in case filing and registration, case management, legal research assistance, document processing and predictive analytics for administration.

With fast track courts

The AI-driven measure is proposed along with the proposed establishment of fast track courts. Cases involving farmers, unemployed, job deprived people, agrarian disputes including land, agricultural loans, crop insurance and tenancy issues, is proposed to be transferred to fast track courts that are expected to dispose of cases within 12 months.

“The Bill had come before the Cabinet but had been deferred. The Finance Department is yet to give approval for setting up of proposed fast track courts. It is likely to be tabled in the ensuing Winter Session of the Legislature,” a government source said.

According to sources, the district judiciary reforms had been pending for sometime, and that Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.K. Patil had taken interest by holding consultation before the draft was formulated. “The legislation will be in line with latest technology development, but with enough safeguards,” the source said.

Safeguards

As part of the safeguard against the misuse, the proposed legislation bars district judiciary from using AI system to predict, recommend or influence the outcome of judicial decision and AI inputs cannot be treated as evidence or legal opinion. To ensure data protection and confidentiality, the AI system to be used should comply with standards of data security, privacy and confidentiality that will be prescribed by the High Court. The proposed legislation bars sharing of any personal or sensitive judicial data with any external agency without the High Court’s approval. The AI digital audit trail will be maintained, and the High Court will prepare and lay before the legislature an annual AI utilisation and impact report, the Bill says.

As per the proposed provision, the High Court will constitute an artificial intelligence and judicial innovation committee to oversee deployment, ethical use and periodic auditing of AI tools in the justice delivery system. To impart training, the Karnataka Judicial Academy will have training modules in AI literacy, digital ethics and technology assisted adjudication.

Other reforms

The Bill also seeks to establish Bureau of District Judicial Reforms, a permanent body that will review and recommend reforms in recruitment, training, infrastructure, case management and performance evaluation. Among others, it will recommend integration of technology such as AI assisted screening, to expedite selection of judges, prepare list of vacancy every year and anticipated vacancy for four years.

The Bill also proposes the State government to take up construction of at least 500 new court halls and 300 residential units for judicial officers by 2050 in underserved taluks.

Regulation of adjournments and norms for injunction
The Hindu Bureau Bengaluru
To prevent unnecessary adjournments, Civil Procedure Code Karnataka Amendment Act, 2025, is proposed to be adhered to strictly. As per the provision of the proposed Bill, adjournments must be requested in writing with reasons, and if the reasons are found to be frivolous, the court could impose a minimum fine of ₹5,000. Repeated adjournments will be flagged and annual report on adjournment rates per court will be generated and submitted to the High Court. Judges with low adjournment rate will be eligible for performance incentive.

The Bill also lays down guidelines for passing injunctions and stay orders in cases involving public interest and safety.

PM flags off Vande Bharat trains on four new routes
Modi launches Varanasi-Khajuraho Vande Bharat train in Varanasi, along with three newservices on the Ernakulam-Bengaluru, Lucknow-Saharanpur and Firozpur-Delhi routes
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday flagged off four new Vande Bharat Express services from the Banaras railway station in Varanasi.

Mr. Modi inaugurated the Banaras-Khajuraho Vande Bharat train, and virutally flagged of three services which will operate on the Ernakulam-Bengaluru, Lucknow-Saharanpur, and Firozpur-Delhi routes.

Mr. Modi, who represents the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency, described the new trains as instrumental in regional connectivity, mobility, reducing travel time, and increasing access to economic activities. “These Vande Bharat trains will enhance connectivity and provide greater comfort to citizens. They will reduce travel time, enhance regional mobility, promote tourism, and support economic activity across the country,” the Prime Minister said.

“Every country that has achieved significant progress and development, infrastructure advancement has played a pivotal role. India too is rapidly striding on this path. Trains such as Vande Bharat, Namo Bharat, and Amrit Bharat are laying the foundation for the next generation of Indian Railways. Vande Bharat is a train made by Indians, for Indians, and of Indians, one that fills every Indian with pride,” he added.

The PM said India had embarked on a mission to enhance its resources for a developed India, and these trains were set to become milestones in that journey.

Boost to U.P.’s economy

Mr. Modi touched upon the development in Uttar Pradesh, saying it significantly enhanced pilgrimage. “Developmental initiatives in Uttar Pradesh have significantly enhanced pilgrimage over the past 11 years. In the last year alone, 11 crore devotees travelled to Varanasi for darshan of Baba Vishwanath. Following the establishment of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, more than 6 crore individuals have visited the temple of Ram Lalla,” he said, pointing out that these pilgrims have injected thousands of crores of rupees into Uttar Pradesh’s economy.

“This surge has created ongoing earning opportunities for hotels, traders, transport companies, local artists, and boat operators throughout the State. Consequently, numerous young individuals in Varanasi are now embarking on new business ventures, ranging from transport services to Banarasi sari enterprises,” he said.

U.P. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the Vande Bharat trains would make travel faster with modern facilities. “Under your [PM’s] guidance, Uttar Pradesh is entering a new era of rapid connectivity and cultural unity. This gift you are giving in the form of Vande Bharat trains will make travel faster, modern and comfortable and will also provide an opportunity for cultural exchange,” the Minsiter added.

Centre notifies rules for deep-sea fishing
Rules for sustainable harnessing of fisheries in EEZ aims to give priority to fishermen cooperative societies, fish farmer producer organisations

The Union Government on Saturday notified the rules for ‘Sustainable Harnessing of Fisheries in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)’ to give priority to fishermen cooperative societies and fish farmer producer organisations (FFPOs) for undertaking deep-sea fishing operations and managing technologically advanced vessels. “The EEZ rules will not only facilitate deep-sea fishing but will also contribute to enhancing seafood exports by emphasising value addition, traceability, and certification,” the Union Fisheries Ministry said in a release.

The rules has defined “operator” as an individual or enterprise, or FFPOs or Fisheries Cooperatives (including multi-state cooperatives), that controls the operation or management of a fishing vessel or who has assumed the responsibility for its operation.

The rules added that the Centre would take steps to provide training and capacity-building of traditional and small-scale fishers including fisheries cooperatives, Self Help Groups and FFPOs to enhance skills for deep sea fishing and value-chain efficiencies.

The Ministry said the initiative is expected to open new horizons for the country’s marine fisheries sector through the creation of modern infrastructure and the introduction of the mother-and-child vessel concept, allowing mid-sea transshipment under an effective monitoring mechanism of RBI regulations. “In island regions of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep, which together account for 49% of India’s EEZ area, the use of mother and child vessels will give boost to the export of high-quality fish,” the Ministry said.

A spokesman for the Seafood Exporters Association of India said the rules should define juvenile and illegal fishing and must ensure that a proper catch certification is provided by the Marine Products Export Development Authority. “We need to have a proper catch certification and the country must promote sustainable fishing practices to help us get new markets,” he said.

The rules prescribe that the applications for catch certificate and health certificate shall be submitted through designated online portals of the respective agencies, which shall be duly integrated with the ‘ReALCRaft’ portal for verification and processing of vessel and catch-related information. The Centre said the EEZ Rules take a firm stand against harmful fishing practices such as LED light fishing, pair trawling and bull trawling to protect the marine ecosystem and ensure equitable fishing opportunities.

“To conserve biodiversity, a minimum legal size for fish species will also be prescribed and Fisheries Management Plans will be developed in consultation with stakeholders including State governments to restore declining fish stocks. Mariculture practices such as sea-cage farming and seaweed cultivation will also be promoted as alternate livelihoods in order to reduce fishing pressure in nearshore areas while increasing production without compromising environmental integrity,” it said.

How is AI going to be regulated in India?
What are the government’s India AI Governance Guidelines? Why have guidelines become necessary? What is the key thrust? How do the guidelines look at AI models for Indian circumstances? What are the concerns it raises about AI usage and intellectual property rights?

On November 5, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) unveiled the India AI Governance Guidelines, a 66-page document outlining an approach to regulating and promoting the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies in Indian society. The guidelines’ launch marks one of the many steps the government is taking in the months leading up to the AI Impact Summit 2026, to be hosted by India in New Delhi.

What do the guidelines seek to accomplish?

The guidelines flow from the government’s need to have a consistent way to regulate the AI industry and the use of its tools, especially in the light of their growing usage in India, the world’s second largest user of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT after the U.S. “India’s goal is to harness the transformative potential of AI for inclusive development and global competitiveness, while addressing the risks it may pose to individuals and society,” the guidelines say. In previous multilateral AI summits in Bletchley Park (U.K.), Seoul and Paris, governments have generally agreed on rough starting points to managing the spread of LLMs and AI in their countries: watch out for and classify the risks that can emerge, create policies for who will be responsible when something goes wrong, and conduct safety research among other things.

The guidelines outline a strategy for India to approach this process. An earlier draft framework was prepared by a subcommittee under a Principal Scientific Adviser-led advisory group. These guidelines, however, have been finalised by a committee set up by MeitY in July, separate from that subcommittee. The committee is led by Balaraman Ravindran, who who leads the Centre for Responsible AI (CeRAI) at IIT Madras.

What do the rules recommend?

On the back of principles like people-centricity, accountability, fairness, and understandability (of AI models), the guidelines recommend setting up lines of communication between different parts of the government, like Ministries, sectoral regulators, standards setting agencies, etc. It is recommended that these groups meet often and suggest changes to the law, voluntary commitments, put out standards, and “[i]ncrease access to AI safety tools.” The overarching inter-ministerial body would be the proposed “AI Governance Group”. Beyond the Ministries, the framework recommends the RBI for the financial industry (the RBI has put out its own FREE-AI Committee report for the banking and finance industry in August), bodies like NITI Aayog, and standards organisations like the Bureau of Indian Standards.

The guidelines also include some advice to the private sector, namely to “ensure compliance with all Indian laws; adopt voluntary frameworks; publish transparency reports; provide grievance redressal mechanisms; [and] mitigate risks with techno-legal solutions.” Many of the safety-related recommendations rely on the AI Safety Institute (AISI), a framework that is in place in many countries, including in India; while there is no physical institute, the government has designated a group of academia brought together under the IndiaAI Mission as an online AISI.

A key differentiator from similar AI policies elsewhere is the emphasis the guidelines put on building infrastructure and making it accessible. The policy recommends that State governments “increase AI adoption through initiatives on infrastructure development and increasing access to data and computing resources.” On the other hand, the recommendations join other countries’ concerns around AI and intellectual property, and recommend legal changes in the copyright law to address the issues coming up in that area. The guidelines also reiterate other India-specific priorities that the government has expressed, such as building AI models for Indian languages: one recommendation pushes for the “use of locally relevant datasets to support the creation of culturally representative models and applications”.

Are the guidelines consistent with what the government is planning around AI?

The Union government has largely followed a hands-off approach to pre-emptive AI regulation, as is the case in most countries around the world, with one sharp exception: the issue of deepfakes. “Content authentication,” as the guidelines put it, is a pressing issue, the guidelines say. In the weeks leading up to the guidelines, MeitY proposed rules that would require social media companies to label synthetically (AI-generated) images and videos.

There are other parts of the guidelines that are in line with what MeitY has already been doing: for instance, the IndiaAI Mission under the Ministry is already procuring Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) for a common compute facility and sharing access to that compute capacity with researchers and startups.

Another recommendation, to “[s]upport the integration of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) with AI with policy enablers,” also seems in motion: the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which manages Aadhaar, easily India’s most recognisable example of DPI, has formed a committee this month to deliberate how to use AI to add value to the ID number.

While the guidelines are a result of the government’s main AI policymakers’ deliberations (such as Additional Secretary Abhishek Singh), IT Secretary S. Krishnan said at the launch that if evolving circumstances demanded quick action outside the framework envisioned by this document, the government “won’t hesitate” to act quickly, such as by passing a stringent law.

• Ensuring mills pay what is mandated is a tough task

Context: This is owing to the ownership pattern of sugar mills in Karnataka, many of which are owned by powerful families from across the political spectrum, and the prevailing Central laws.

• The Karnataka government managed to mediate and end the nine-day farmers’ protest in the northern districts by announcing an additional ₹100 in the fair and remunerative price (FRP) for sugarcane, which now stands at ₹3,300, including ₹50 each to be contributed by the State government and sugar mills.
• However, given the ownership pattern of sugar mills in the State, with many being owned by powerful families from across the political spectrum, and the prevailing Central laws, the truce looks fragile.
• The order on the revised FRP was issued after over several rounds of discussions with farmers, and the Chief Minister’s meeting with farmers and mill representatives. The farmers had demanded ₹3,500 per tonne apart from cutting and transportation charges.
• The challenge before the State government now is to make the factories pay the mandated price of ₹3,250 per tonne for a sugar recovery rate of 10.25% across the State. The Centre had fixed FRP of ₹3,400 per tonne last year, and the factories paid between ₹2,700 and ₹2,900 per tonne, apart from cutting and transport charges.

Reluctance to pay

• Government sources say that some factory owners, including the Nirani brothers — Murugesh Nirani, former Minister and BJP leader, and Hanumant Nirani, MLC — strongly opposed the Chief Minister’s suggestion. They argued that a ₹50 increase in the base price meant a loss of ₹100 crore and that their conglomerate would not be able to absorb it.

• In Karnataka, of the total 81 sugar mills, one is in the public sector and 11 in the cooperative sector. The rest are in the private sector.

• The Nirani family alone controls around 20 factories in north and south Karnataka. Most of the privately owned/ managed sugar mills are with highly influential political families, either associated with the Congress or the BJP and in some cases both, which has historically prevented governments from taking tough decisions.

2025 FRP

• The 2025 FRP order issued by the Centre considers a basic sugar recovery of 10.25%, up from the 2024 FRP order that fixed 9.5% as the basic recovery rate. The 2025 order asks factories to pay ₹34.6 extra, for every one percent increase in recovery. Factories can deduct a similar amount in case of lower recoveries.

• Recovery is a complex issue and depends on the variety of the crop, the time of harvesting, and use of efficient machinery in the factories.
• Another former Minister and BJP leader Ramesh Jarkiholi, whose family owns or manages a few sugar factories, said that the average recovery in Karnataka is only 10.5%, while the average recovery in Maharashtra is between 11% and 12%.
• “Only factories that get higher recovery of sugar can pay higher prices, which we cannot,’’ he said. His brother Satish Jarkiholi is a Minister in the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government.

What laws regulate

• The guiding laws are another issue. “The sugar mill owners reminded the State government that most laws regulating sugar and sugarcane were Central Acts.
• The policies and executive orders controlling export of sugar and byproducts, and ethanol blending were issued and modified by the Centre, they said.
• A factory owner from Belagavi said that his two units had multi-State licences and were regulated by the Central Sugar Ministry and not the State government,” a senior officer and member of the Karnataka Agricultural Price Commission said.
• This subtly indicated the owners’ stance on the State government’s role in handling sugarcane protest by pointing out at its limited jurisdiction. “Most millers were reluctant to follow the government’s instructions on higher prices,” admitted an official.

Alternative crops

• There have been in recent years some experiments for promoting alternative sugar-yielding crops. Nirani Sugars is encouraging the cultivation of red sorghum, a 90-day crop for sugar production on pilot plots in Bagalkot and Vijayapura.
• This is a short-duration crop compared to the 12-month long sugarcane. It is easier to harvest and the sugar recovery is as good as sugarcane.
• “This may lead to reduced dependence on sugarcane in northern Karnataka districts where rainfall is less than 800 mm,” said an official from the factory in Mudhol in Bagalkot district.

Cost of cultivation

• Two reports submitted by agricultural economists of the University of Agriculture Sciences, Dharwad and Bengaluru, to the Karnataka Agricultural Price Commission put the cost of cultivation of sugarcane at ₹55,000 per acre for own land and ₹80,000 per acre for leased land.
• The Indian Sugar Mills Association has urged the Union government to hike the minimum support price of sugar to ₹40.2 per kg, as the production cost of sugar at the FRP of ₹3,550 per tonne of sugarcane comes to ₹40.2 per kg. They point out that the MSP now stands at ₹31, as last revised in 2019. ISMA members say the cost of producing ethanol from molasses was ₹66 and from sugar was ₹70. These are less than or equal to the procurement prices.

• Schemes for Brahmin community

Context: Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dinesh Gundu Rao has announced new initiatives under the Vipra Self-Employment Direct Loan Scheme during the Acharyatraya Jayanthi celebration held in Bengaluru recently.

• Under this scheme, members of the Brahmin community can avail themselves of loans up to ₹2 lakh to start self-employment ventures. Beneficiaries will receive a 20% subsidy, while the remaining amount is repayable at 4% interest over 34 installments.
• R.V. Deshpande, chairman of the Administrative Reforms Commission, launched the Chanakya Administrative Training Scheme aimed at encouraging Brahmin graduates to prepare for IAS/KAS exams.
• The scheme offers up to ₹1 lakh in fee reimbursement through Direct Benefit Transfer.

• Aditya-L1 gets a close look at eruptions from the sun

Context: Scientists from IIA and NASA study very first spectroscopic observations of coronal mass ejection in the visible wavelength range; the solar observatory is expected to observe more such eruptions.

• Using the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) payload aboard India’s first dedicated space-based solar mission, Aditya-L1, scientists at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), along with NASA, have collaborated to estimate the crucial parameters of a coronal mass ejection (CME), very close to its lift-off from the sun.
• Scientists associated with the project said that these are the very first spectroscopic observations of a CME in the visible wavelength range.
• They said that the unique spectroscopic observations with the VELC has let them study the CMEs very close to the sun’s visible surface itself, for the first time.
• “In addition, it provides a sustained view of the sun for 24 hours every day because of being at the sun-earth Lagrangian L1 location where the sun never sets,” they said.
• Taking advantage of these factors, V. Muthupriyal, VELC project scientist, and her colleagues at the VELC payload operations centre at the IIA estimated the electron density, energy, mass, temperature and speed of a CME very close to the sun.

Vital statistics

• R. Ramesh, senior Professor at the IIA and principal investigator of the VELC project, the observations are by far the closest to the sun where spectroscopic observations of a CME in the visible wavelength range have been obtained with a space coronagraph.
• His team calculated that there are about 370 million electrons per cubic centimetre in the CME observed with the VELC. The corresponding number for the non-CME corona near the sun is much less, in the range 10-100 million electrons per cubic centimetre.
• “The CME energy in the present case is approximately 9.4 * 10^21 joules. The mass in the CME is nearly 270 million tons. For comparison, the mass of the iceberg that sank the Titanic is estimated to be 1.5 million tons. The initial speed of the CME is 264 km/sec. The CME temperature is 1.8 million degrees on the Kelvin scale,” Professor Ramesh said.

More eruptions

• He added that though there are observations of CMEs at comparatively larger distances from the sun, with instruments other than the VELC, an understanding of the parameters of a CME in relation to how much is lost from the sun during a CME per se is crucial, and the unique near-sun spectroscopic observations with the VELC is precisely providing us the necessary data.
• Professor Ramesh added that with the sun nearing the maximum activity phase of the current sunspot cycle 25 and with the VELC now stabilised in its operations, more energetic eruptions from the sun are expected to be observed.

• Transparency must in issues of religious oppression: SC judge

Context: The Supreme Court judge Justice Sanjay Kumar has observed that the state must show obvious transparency and fairness while dealing with issues involving religious oppression and secularism.

• “India has developed its own interpretation of secularism, wherein the state neither supports any religion nor penalises the profession and practice of any faith. This being the ideal, the state machinery must tailor its actions accordingly but the inescapable fact remains that such state machinery ultimately comprises members of different religions and communities.
• Therefore, transparency and fairness in their actions must be manifest in matters even remotely touching upon secularism and religious oppression,” Justice Kumar wrote in a recent order.
• Justice Kumar’s remarks came in his separate opinion rejecting a plea by the Maharashtra government to review a September 2025 judgment of the Supreme Court.
• The judgment had directed the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT), comprising equal parts Muslim and Hindu police officers, to investigate allegations of murder and assault made by a 17-year-old Muslim boy against the backdrop of the Akola riots of 2023.
• Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, the second judge on the Bench, agreed with the State government, and concluded that the judgment required a re-look, thus rendering a split opinion on the review petition.
• The case concerned a complaint made by a teenager, Mohammad Afzal Mohammad Sharif, who allegedly witnessed four men attacking a man in an autorickshaw during riots in May 2023.
• The men assaulted the boy, leaving him with head injuries. But Afzal mustered the courage to go to the police station to file a complaint about the murder and the assault on him. However, the police had taken no notice of him.
• The murder victim was later identified as Vilas Mahadevrao Gaikwad, who had been plying the autorickshaw owned by a Muslim. Afzal had stated that Gaikwad was killed under the mistaken impression that he was a Muslim.

• Assam Bill proposes 7-year jail term for polygamy

Context: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said that the State Cabinet has approved a Bill to ban polygamy, for which convicts may face up to seven years of rigorous imprisonment.

• However, there may be some exceptions for the Sixth Schedule areas.
• Addressing a press conference after a Cabinet meeting here, Mr. Sarma said the government will also create a new fund to compensate the victims of polygamy so that they do not face hardship in continuing with their lives.
• “The Assam Cabinet today approved a Bill to ban polygamy. The Bill will be called ‘The Assam Prohibition of Polygamy Bill, 2025’. It will be tabled in the Assembly on November 25,” he added.
• Climate change, imbalance in fertilizer use impacts soil’s organic carbon: ICAR studyA detailed study conducted by eight scientists of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), including its Director-General, Mangi Lal Jat, has found that the unscientific use of fertilizers and climate change are contributing to degradation of organic carbon in arable areas of the country.
• The study, primarily coordinated by the ICAR’s Indian Institute of Soil Science in Bhopal, has used 2,54,236 soil samples from 620 districts covering 29 States to reach the conclusions. A research paper based on the six-year study started in 2017 has been published now in the England-based international research journal Land Degradation & Development.
• Organic carbon was not only part of the chemistry of the soil, but it covered all the aspects of the physics, chemistry and biology of soil. He said a study published by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation about 25 years ago flagged this issue, but the samples were very low.
• “In this study, we have taken samples extensively, and the sample collection was well designed. We have covered both arable and barren land, mostly arable land,” he said.

Carbon dynamics

• The study has found that if the organic carbon is low, then the deficiency of micronutrients in the soil is high, and if the organic carbon is high, the deficiency is low. The team used an earlier study that said rainfall and temperature determined organic carbon.
• “We correlated this across the country. We found that organic carbon is highly correlated with the elevation. If the elevation of the land is high, then the organic carbon content is high. But if we move from hills to low land, then the organic carbon content is low,” he added.
• Mr. Shukla said organic soil carbon is negatively correlated with temperature. “For example, in Rajasthan and Telangana, the temperature is very high and their organic carbon content is low,” he added.
• The study noted that irrespective of the crops and cropping patterns, temperature, rainfall and elevation are the three important factors which decide the organic carbon concentration in the soil. The team of scientists developed an ‘agri-ecological base’ map to assess the impact of cropping systems and the use of fertilizers on organic carbon.
• The scientists have prepared a map which can help in making policy decisions, particularly for the carbon credit and assessing the land degradation.
• “We found that wherever imbalanced fertilizer application was there, then the organic carbon contained in the soil had declined. Haryana, Punjab, and parts of western Uttar Pradesh have intensified the fertilizer application, skewed towards urea and phosphorus, which was mostly scientific application, and it has negatively impacted organic carbon in the soil,” the scientist added.
• The study noted that climate change also has an impact on organic carbon. “If the temperature is rising, then there are chances that soil organic carbon will decline further in future, and that will not only impact soil health, but will also impact the carbon credit and heat emission from soil.” Mr. Shukla said.

• COP30: beginner’s guide on what to expect from the climate summit

Context: COP30 is being called the ‘Implementation COP’ because it is expected to translate commitments into action. Guided by the Global Stocktake, the summit focuses on energy, industry, and transport transitions; stewardship of forests, oceans, and biodiversity; and transformation of food systems.

• A decade has passed since the member countries of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted the Paris Agreement — a milestone global pact that committed them to keeping the world’s average surface temperature from rising well under 2ºC and striving to limit it to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels.
• However, climate finance has lagged, global emissions continue to rise, and the gap between pledges and practice has only widened since.
• Against the backdrop of record-breaking heat, intensifying climate impacts, and mounting public frustration with global inaction, the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the UNFCCC begins in Belém, Brazil, today.
• It is both symbolic and strategic that COP30 is being hosted in Belém, which is a point of entry to the Amazon rainforest. The Amazon is one of the world’s largest and most important carbon sinks (estimated at 150-200 billion tonnes) and biodiversity reserves on the planet — and it is threatened by deforestation and land conversion to non-forest use. As a result, it is tipping towards irreversible decline.
• Equity and inclusion are central to climate negotiations. But paradoxically, even before the negotiations began, COP30 faced an unexpected test: inclusion. This is because Belém has limited logistical options, leaving hotel room rates to skyrocket and rendering it difficult for representatives from low-income nations and civil society organisations to participate. Such logistical exclusions have, in some ways, undercut the moral weight of the process.

‘Implementation COP’

• For starters, COP30 is being called the ‘Implementation COP’ because it is expected to be a watershed event where commitments are expected to be translated into concrete action. Guided by the Global Stocktake (GST) — which is a mandatory review that countries have to undertake every five years to assess their progress on addressing climate change, identify gaps, and draft plans — COP30 is expected to advance mitigation, adaptation, and means of implementation.
• Its programme will thus focus on six key areas, including energy, industry, and transport transitions; stewardship of forests, oceans, and biodiversity; transformation of food systems; resilience in cities, infrastructure, and water; and human and social development.
• The Baku-to-Belém Roadmap on Climate Finance is a plan led by the COP presidency, developed by Azerbaijan and Brazil under the UNFCCC’s guidance, to show how countries and institutions could scale finance for developing nations to at least $1.3 trillion a year by 2035.
• It’s less a binding pledge and more a menu of actions to inform negotiations after the $300-billion New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) decision at COP29. Now, as the first major stocktake after the Roadmap, participants are looking at COP30 to set a new collective goal for 2035. In addition to revisiting emission reduction and climate finance goals, it’s also expected to reaffirm the fact that protecting forests and indigenous communities is central to global climate resilience.

Ultimately, COP30 will seek to mobilise all actors to accelerate climate action.

Adaptation in negotiations

• Climate adaptation is imperative for the survival of millions of people in the Global South. But because adaptation is context-specific, what works in a coastal delta is unlikely to work in a mountain village. As a result, negotiations surrounding the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) have been difficult. The GGA aims to establish quantifiable goals and metrics for resilience, organise funding that matches the need, and create a system for accounting and quantifying adaptation outcomes. This long-delayed framework is expected to be established at COP30.
• As discussions progress, experts around the world emphasise the need to consider local and indigenous knowledge systems in this process. Across India, for example, traditional seed varieties, water-harvesting structures, and community-based ecosystem restoration efforts offer proven models of resilience.

Finance: the missing piece

• Under the Paris Agreement, economically developed countries pledged $100 billion per year to finance climate action in developing nations. At COP29, a breakthrough agreement called the NCQG on Climate Finance was reached. This target is expected to triple climate finance from $100 billion to $300 billion annually by 2035 and scale up finance from all actors, both public and private, to $1.3 trillion per year by 2035.
• However, it should be noted that the $300 billion is significantly less than the estimated trillions of dollars needed by economically developing countries, with the latter arguing that the use of “all actors” to scale up finance has diluted the common but differentiated responsibilities principle, which also includes historical emissions. “All actors” means every potential source of climate finance, not just developed-country governments. It lumps together public treasuries, multilateral development banks, private investors, philanthropies, sub-national authorities, and even developing countries’ own private sectors.
• The Loss and Damage Fund, set up in COP28, is also grossly underfunded, receiving less than a billion dollars against an annual need running into hundreds of billions of dollars. For developing countries, this finance is an enabler of ambition, enhancing preparedness for extreme climate events, expanding climate-resilient agriculture, and accelerating the adoption of renewable energy.
• COP30 is expected to finalise the reporting requirements and financing arrangements under the NCQG. One looming question at Belém is: will a credible pathway emerge for moving from the $300 billion to the $1.3 trillion target and build confidence in developing countries? And will Belém also finalise the modalities of finance: who will pay, who will gain, and how it will be accounted for?

Transition and ambition

• Transitions must be fair as economies move towards net zero (i.e. that humans add no net greenhouse gases to the atmosphere over a period; emissions are reduced almost to zero, and any residual sources are balanced by removals, e.g. restoring forests and carbon capture) — and transformation can’t be fuelled solely by finance. Access to reasonably priced technology and capacity building are equally important for many developing countries, be it efficient water systems, resilient crops, or clean energy, which are frequently hindered by high costs or intellectual property issues.
• Beyond promises, COP30 should lead to North-South collaborations for training, innovation, and technology sharing. Otherwise, climate transition runs the risk of becoming yet another area of inequality. In countries like India, investments in low-carbon manufacturing, renewable energy, ecosystem restoration, green skills development, small businesses, and alternative livelihoods must all be part of a “just transition.”
• Countries were expected to update their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) through 2035 and submit them by February 2025. However, according to Climate Action Tracker, many countries are yet to submit their reports. The ones submitted so far account for only 19% of global emissions.
• Negotiations at COP30 are expected to address the insufficient ambition of climate targets and reveal whether countries are prepared to put aside rhetoric and match science and ambition, a significant challenge in the absence of climate finance.

Climate-nature nexus

• A key spotlight of Belém is the long-overdue integration of climate and biodiversity agendas. Brazil is pushing for an innovative financing model for conservation, known as the ‘Tropical Forest Forever Facility’. The proposal aims to compensate more than 70 developing countries with tropical forests for their efforts to preserve them.
• This growing recognition that climate and biodiversity crises are interlinked could make climate finance more effective, directing funds to ecosystem restoration, agroforestry, and community-led conservation.

India at COP30

• At Belém, India will be championing climate justice and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, urging developed nations to take the lead in emission cuts and financial support. In fact, at the mid-year climate talks in Bonn, India played a pivotal role in coordinating the G77+China bloc of developing countries to advocate for a fair and predictable finance goal under the NCQG framework.
• This positioning reinforces India’s role as both a responsible power and a representative of broader southern concerns while serving as a bridge between the Global North and South.
• However, while India’s domestic targets are ambitious, efforts in the institutional landscape remain a work in progress, as reflected in initiatives such as green budgeting, sovereign green bonds, and the proposed national carbon market expected by 2026.
• This gap must be viewed in the context of India’s developmental realities, which continue to shape its climate choices and actions.
• The stakes could not be higher at COP30. The Amazon setting underscores the urgency of protecting the world’s ecosystems while tackling emissions. For India, it is a moment to shape the conversation, striking a balance between domestic imperatives and global responsibilities.
• What unfolds in Belém will go a long way towards determining whether the international community can still bend the curve of emissions and whether emerging economies, such as India, can secure the space and support they need for economic growth that is resilient to climate change.

UPSC/KPSC Current Affairs: 8th November 2025

State enhances sugarcane FRP by ₹100; farmers call off strike

Context: Farmers will now get ₹3,300 per tonne, excluding harvesting and transportation cost, against the FRP of ₹3,200 fixed by the Centre. State government and sugar mills will contribute ₹50 each.

• The Karnataka government announced an enhancement in the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for sugarcane by ₹100 per tonne. Following this, farmers withdrew their protest.

• The farmers will now get ₹3,300 per tonne (excluding harvesting and transportation cost) as against the FRP of ₹3,200 per tonne that has been fixed by the Centre.
• In the increased amount, the State government and the sugar mills will contribute ₹50 each.

All-party delegation

• The State government also decided to take an all-party delegation, which will also include farmers and sugar mill representatives, to the Centre to press for increasing the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for sugar, the FRP for sugarcane, the limit for export of sugar and ethanol production and distribution.
• The farmers have been protesting since October 30 seeking an increase in the FRP across sugarcane growing districts of Belagavi, Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Haveri, and Kalaburagi.

• In May, the Centre announced a FRP of ₹3,550 per tonne at the sugar recovery rate of 10.5%.

• As many as 81 mills operate in Karnataka, of which one is in the public sector, while 11 are in the cooperative sector, and the rest are in the private sector.
• The State government estimates that about 6 crore tonnes of cane will be crushed this year as against the 5.6 crore tonnes last year.
• “Both farmer leaders and sugar mill representatives have explained their problem owing to the Centre’s policy.
• The farmers are opposed to the FRP fixed at ₹3,100 for sugar recovery rate at 10.25% and ₹3,200 at the rate of 11.25%. We have decided to take a delegation to the Centre to discuss the issue.
• Though the sugarcane yield differs from district to district, the ₹100 hike per tonne will be implemented uniformly,” the Chief Minister told presspersons.

• The sugar mills have agreed to pay ₹3,250 per tonne as the FRP, and that the government will contribute another ₹50 per tonne. “Based on recovery rate, the FRP will be fixed in different districts.
• The sugar mills have asked the government to revisit the proposal to impose 60 paise tax per unit on the power being sold by them, and will consider it.
• Farmers have urged the government to open a laboratory to check the recovery rate in front of sugar mills.
• They have also pointed out dues towards farmers by some factories.

Comparison Table: MSP vs FRP vs SAP

‘T.N.’s vision for inclusive economywill make blueprint for nation’

Context: In 2047, when India marks its centenary year of Independence, Tamil Nadu’s vision for sustainability and an inclusive economy will also become the blueprint for the nation.

• The State has been at the forefront of renewable energy for many years. “At present, its third in terms of the total renewable energy [capacity] in the country.
• The State is first in terms of wind capacity. It could continue to focus on this sector, and this will [benefit] the manufacturing ecosystem,”.
• Southern States are advancing in tandem. “We can make significant progress by working on sustainability and towards enabling future growth. Sustainability is a profitable venture, something that is not spoken about,”.

10 Bills reserved for President, 170 granted assent: Raj Bhavan

Context: Clarification seeks to counter ‘unfounded and factually incorrect’ claims that the Tamil Nadu Governor has been delaying assent to Bills passed by State Assembly.

• The Raj Bhavan said Governor R.N. Ravi had reserved 10 Bills for consideration by the President, as they were contrary to the provisions of the University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations framed under an Act of Parliament. They were “considered beyond the remit of the State Legislature”.
• The Governor had granted assent to 81% of the 211 Bills received as of October 31, 2025.
• The 10 Bills were initially withheld by the Governor, and the decisions were conveyed to the State government. However, they were adopted again by the Assembly and submitted to the Governor.
• The clarification was issued after “certain unfounded and factually incorrect allegations” were made in the public domain that the Governor was delaying assent to Bills passed by the Assembly.
• Between September 18, 2021, and October 31, 2025, a total of 211 Bills were received by the Governor, of which 170 were granted assent, while 27 were reserved for the President’s consideration.
• Of the 27 Bills, 16 were reserved for the President’s consideration “at the request of the State government”. While four Bills were returned, two were withdrawn by the government.

• Of the 170 Bills cleared, 73 were granted assent within a week; 61 within a month; 27 within three months; and nine after three months. Eight Bills were received in the last week of October this year, and they were under consideration, the Raj Bhavan said.
• The Governor had examined every Bill with due diligence to uphold the rule of law and protect the interests of the people of Tamil Nadu, the Raj Bhavan said. He had always acted in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, and had been performing his constitutional duties with “utmost sincerity, transparency, and commitment, and with complete fairness, diligence, and respect for democratic processes”, it added.

Trump hints at possible India visit next year, calls Modi a ‘great man’

Quad summit: India will host leaders from Australia, Japan, and the United States for the Quad summit in New Delhi after the 2024 summit was held in the U.S. However, the dates for the summit are yet to be announced.

• Meanwhile, President Trump once again claimed that India has stopped buying from Russia.
• Mr. Trump imposed 25% reciprocal tariffs and an additional 25% levies for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, bringing the total duties imposed on India to 50%. India had described the U.S. action as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.
• Mr. Trump also reiterated his claim that he stopped the war between India and Pakistan in May using trade.

HAL inks $1-billion deal with GE Aerospace for 113 fighter jet engines

Context: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) sealed a $1-billion deal with American defence major GE Aerospace to procure 113 jet engines for its Tejas light combat aircraft programme.

• The firming up of the deal came notwithstanding a downturn in India-U.S. relations after the Trump administration slapped a 50% tariff on Indian goods.
• Under the deal, the delivery of the F404-GE-IN20 engines will begin from 2027 and the supplies will have to be completed by 2032.
• The size of the deal is learnt to be close to $1 billion (approximately ₹8,870 crore). HAL said it has entered into an agreement with General Electric Company to acquire the engines and support package for execution of 97 Light Combat Aircraft Mk1A programme.
• The Defence Ministry in September had finalised a ₹62,370-crore deal with the state-owned aerospace major to procure 97 Tejas MK-1A light combat aircraft for the Indian Air Force.

UPSC/KPSC Current Affairs: 7th November 2025

Centre says right to vote different from freedom of voting

Context: The Centre has argued in the Supreme Court that the ‘right to vote’ in an election is different from the ‘freedom of voting’, and while one is a mere statutory right, the second is a part of the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression.

• The Centre in respons to a petition seeking to declare Section 53(2) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and Rule 11 read with Forms 21 and 21B of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, which apply to ‘uncontested elections’, ultra vires the Constitution for violating freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a). Section 53(2) kicks in when the number of candidates equals the number of seats to be filled in an Assembly or Lok Sabha election.
• In such cases, the provision instructs a Returning Officer (RO) to declare all such candidates as duly elected by filling in Form 21 (in case of a general election) or Form 21B (in case of an election to fill a casual vacancy).

Prevents voters’ right to exercise NOTA

• The petitioners, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, represented by advocate Harsh Parashar, and the Association for Democratic Reforms, through advocates Prashant Bhushan and Neha Rathi, submitted that the RO’s declaration without conducting a poll prevented citizens from expressing their right to vote the ‘None of the Above’ or the NOTA option and voice their dissatisfaction about the contesting candidate.
• Both the government and the Election Commission of India have responded to whether declaration of a sole candidate without taking any poll was a violation of the electors’ right to express their unhappiness by voting NOTA.
• The Centre’s affidavit in court began with a fundamental lesson on the difference between ‘right to vote’ and the ‘freedom of voting’. It said the ‘right to vote’ was only a statutory right conferred by Section 62 of the Representation of the People Act of 1951, and subject to the limitations given in the statute. Freedom of voting, on the other hand, was a “species of the right to expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution”.

CM writes to PM seeking meet to address FRP concerns

Context: As the sugarcane growers’ protest demanding a Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of ₹3,500 per tonne in the Karnataka State’s northern sugar bowl turned the heat on the government, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking an urgent meeting with him to address the issues.

• In the letter that was released to the press, the Chief Minister sought to draw the Prime Minister’s attention to the ongoing agitation by sugarcane farmers in North Karnataka, particularly in Belagavi, Bagalkote, Vijayapura, Vijayanagara, Bidar, Gadag, Hubli-Dharwad and Haveri districts.
• He pointed out that the FRP fixed by the Central government for the 2025-26 season stands at ₹3,550 per tonne for a basic recovery rate of 10.25%.
• “However, after deducting the mandatory harvesting and transport (H & T) costs, which range between ₹800 and ₹900 per tonne, the effective payment reaching the farmer is only about ₹2,600 to ₹3,000 per tonne.
• But due to sharp increases in fertilizer, labour, irrigation and transport costs, this pricing structure has rendered sugarcane cultivation economically unsustainable,” he said.
• He argued that the root of the problem is the Central policy levers, the FRP formula, the stagnating Minimum Support Price (MSP) for sugar, export curbs on sugar and the under-utilised ethanol offtake from sugar-based feedstock.
• Pointing out that it was the Centre that had the authority to revise the FRP, he argued that the State only had the powers to ensure that the sugar factories adhered to the FRP norms.
• “To respond constructively, we request that the Union government should immediately enable a central notification to allow States to fix or endorse a net price to farmers after H&T or mandate that mills absorb H&T so that ₹3,500/tonne net becomes feasible,” he said.
• The letter also sought recalibration of the recovery rate linked calculation of FRP, revision of sugar MSP above ₹31 per kg, export window to relieve mills of unsold stocks, increased ethanol allocation and assured procurement from Karnataka’s sugar-based capacity.
• The decision to write to the Prime Minister was taken at the State Cabinet meeting. The Ministers and district officials had managed to convince the sugar factories to offer an FRP of ₹3,200 per tonne at sugar recovery percentage of 11.25, and ₹3,100 at sugar recovery percentage of 10.25, he said.
• He expressed concern that the Centre had increased the sugar recovery percentage to 10.25 from the level of 9.5 during the erstwhile NDA regime for determining the FRP. This would affect States that had low sugar recovery percentages, he said.
• He alleged that though Karnataka was producing 271 crore litres of ethanol a year, the Centre had given permission for the oil companies to buy only 47 crore litres from the State.

NITI Aayog member advocates for Unified Water Reuse Standards

Context: Vinod K. Paul, a member of NITI Aayog, said that India needs a unified national standard to assure the public about the quality and safety of treated water.

• ‘Reuse of treated water’, Dr. Paul mentioned that deliberations are under way to formulate an integrated policy at the national-level for this purpose.
• Jointly organised by the State government and the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), the workshop spotlighted the critical decline in India’s per capita water availability, now below 1,400 cubic metres, and the pressing need for a unified national framework to promote water reuse.
• Dr. Paul called for ambitious national targets: 50% reuse by 2030 and full reuse by 2045.
• Currently, only 11 States have formal reuse policies, highlighting the urgency for a comprehensive national strategy.
• Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh showcased Bengaluru’s efforts, including the rejuvenation of 110 lakes and a goal to achieve 100% water reuse and rainwater harvesting by 2028.
• The BWSSB, which supplies 2,225 million litres of water daily, treats 1,350 MLD through 34 sewage treatment plants (STPs), with 12 more under construction, she said.

Tenth-century inscription dating to Ganga dynasty reign found on outskirts of Mysuru

Context: A 10th-century inscription from the Ganga dynasty reign has been found inside the ​Mahalingeshwara Temple at Nadanahalli on the outskirts of Mysuru.

• The inscription, dating back to the time of Butuga II, a ruler from the dynasty, was discovered on the wall to the right and faces east inside the temple.
• The six-line inscription was carved on white granite which is two feet wide and two-and-a-half feet tall.
• “This inscription, dated 948 A.D., is inscribed in the Kannada script.
• It is believed that during the reign of Butuga II, his bodyguard, Maremma, may have donated the garden to the temple tax-free and entrusted its management to the village chief Vijaketa Gavunda.
• The full text of the inscription cannot be stated as it is corrupted. However, since the inscription references ‘Vijaketa Gavunda Dise’, it can be inferred that the management of the garden was entrusted to Vijaketa Gavunda, the chief of the village,” said a statement here.
• Further, the embossed painting of the temple is symbolically engraved on the inscription, confirming that it was a donation related to the temple, the statement added.
• “Since the Shiva Linga in the Mahalingeshwara Temple, where the inscription was found, is in the Ganga architectural style and the inscription is from the Ganga period, it can be understood that this donation is related to the Mahalingeshwara temple,” the statement further said.
• An embossed sculpture of a cow feeding its calf is also carved at the end of the inscription, which is 1,076 years old.

Cabinet approves policy to help set up 25,000 start-ups in five years

Context: Policy aims to ensure that at least 10,000 of the targeted 25,000 start-ups are set up outside Bengaluru.

• The Karnataka Cabinet approved the Karnataka Startup Policy 2025-30 that seeks to develop the State as a global innovation centre and help set up an additional 25,000 start-ups.
• The policy seeks to set aside a budget of ₹518.27 crore over the next five years to offer financial support to start-ups.
• The policy aims to ensure that at least 10,000 of the targeted 25,000 start-ups are set up outside.
• The policy will seek to create an appropriate ecosystem and work towards building the necessary infrastructure and ensure the availability of the required skilled manpower.
• The Cabinet also approved a proposal to modify the composition of the INDIRA (Integrated Nutrition and Dietary Initiative for Revitalising Anna Bhagya Beneficiaries) food kit under the Anna Bhagya scheme to provide additional quantum of toor dal in proportionate to the cost of the earlier proposed green gram.

Two Census apps, test portal for self-enumeration go live

Context: Enumerators have been trained to use apps to help in digital collection and faster processingof Census data; self-enumeration portal is open to the public in pre-test areas till today.

• The Registrar-General and Census Commissioner of India launched two mobile applications this week in preparation for the trial phase of the country’s first digital Census in 2027.
• The pre-test for the first phase, House Listing and Housing Operations (HLO), when a total of 30 questions on housing amenities will be asked, will be held in select areas across the country from November 10 to 30.
• The enumerators, including block development officials, revenue officials, and government schoolteachers, have been trained to collect data on the two applications available on Google Play Store: Digital Layout Map (DLM) and Census 2027 – Houselist. The apps are compatible with both Android and Apple phones, and can only be downloaded by authorised personnel.

Public participation

• The self-enumeration portal is available for testing from November 1 to 7.
• “To encourage public participation, a Self-Enumeration facility will be made available through the Census Portal from 1st to 7th November 2025, allowing individuals residing in the areas selected for Pre-Test to submit their details online through the website https://test.census.gov.in/se, prior to field visits by enumerators,” a government statement said.

Digital mode

• The DLM app’s description explains the evolution of India’s Census, the world’s largest data collection exercise, into a digital operation.
• “Until the 2011 Census, data was collected on paper schedules, with layout map sketches prepared manually. These paper records were later digitised through scanning, a process that was both time-consuming and prone to inconsistencies.
• With the upcoming 16th Census of India, a historic transformation is taking place. For the first time, Census operations are being carried out in digital mode, ensuring improved accuracy, faster data availability, and enhanced monitoring. A crucial part of this transition is the preparation of Digital Layout Maps and the geo-tagging of all buildings within each Houselisting Block (HLB),” it says.
• It adds that the DLM app replicates the traditional methodology followed by supervisors and enumerators for drawing notional sketches for houselisting blocks, the primary unit for data collection, while introducing digital efficiency, accuracy, and real-time monitoring capabilities.
• The app will record building coordinates (latitude and longitude for each structure), the names of localities, roads or streets, building numbers (if available; otherwise, temporary Census house numbers will be assigned by enumerators), building names (if available), building type (pucca or kutcha), building use (residential, partly residential, and non-residential), landmarks (mandatory), number of floors, and number of Census houses.
• The description emphasised that “no personal information of the residents/ occupants of the buildings are collected through this app.”
• The description for the House Listing Operation app says it was developed as part of the Census of India 2027 to modernise and streamline the data collection process. Both phases of the Census — houselisting and population enumeration — will be completed between April 1, 2026 and February 28, 2027.

CAG plans to create two new cadres for more centralisation

Context: The Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) of India has granted in-principle approval for the creation of two new specialised cadres for more centralisation.

• These cadres are within its Indian Audit and Accounts Department, and they will be called the Central Revenue Audit (CRA) Cadre and the Central Expenditure Audit (CEA) Cadre.
• Explaining the benefits of centralisation, K. Subramaniam, Deputy Auditor General (Human Resources, Industrial Relations, Content Delivery Network), said specialisation in the cadre of the CRA and the CEA will lead to deeper domain expertise in revenue and expenditure audits.
• “This reform, which will come into effect from 1st January 2026, aims to build deeper professional expertise and further improve the quality of audit of Central Government finances,”by CAG.
• At present, the audit of Central receipts and expenditure is undertaken by multiple offices with cadre control dispersed across multiple State Civil Audit offices leading to fragmentation.
• The new cadres will consolidate over 4,000 audit professionals out of the total strength of the CAG at 42,000. This measure will also help reduce dependence on deployment and manage manpower in a more flexible manner.

Talks on with RBI, lenders for big, world class banks, says FM

Context: The Centre is holding discussions with the lenders and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for creating a ‘lot of big and world-class banks.’

• “We will have to sit and talk with the Reserve Bank and also with the banks themselves to see how they want to take it forward and also discuss with the RBI about how they have an idea of taking or idea of building larger banks,” she said at an event.
• “That work has already commenced. We are discussing with RBI, we are discussing with banks.”
• “It is not by creating from among those which exist today just by amalgamation, that can also be one of the ways but you need an ecosystem and also an environment in which more banks can operate and operate to grow,” she emphasised.
• “So, that environment is actually well established in India but I need it to be a bit more timely. So, some work is happening on it.”
• Since 2017, the government had been facilitating merger of public sector banks to become stronger and further consolidation is on. Under regulatory supervision, private lenders are being strengthened and foreign banks are being encouraged to invest in Indian banks to improve capital base as well as bring in higher levels of corporate governance and financial prudence into the banking ecosystem.

India is capable

• To another question on the impact of global uncertainties and protectionism by way of tariffs on India, she said “I do not want to sound too ambitious or give a statement of overconfidence but I can very clearly see India has shown its capability. In spite of global uncertainties, people of India have responded to next generation GST reforms and every sector saw it even on the first day [September 22, 2025].
• Earlier, she told the gathering the world was today facing slower globalisation, fragile supply chains and rising climate transition costs.
• “These external shocks test the resilience of our economy and underline the need for stronger domestic capabilities and diversified trade partnerships.
• “To sustain high growth, we must invest in people. Our workforce needs continuous upskilling and reskilling to meet the demands of emerging technologies and global competitiveness, ensuring higher labour productivity and better-quality jobs,” the Finance Minister said.

• India to unveil SAF national policy: Naidu

Context: The Centre will soon release a national policy on Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), Minister for Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu said, as he emphasised on India’s unique position as an agriculture powerhouse to cater to the rising global demand for the fuel.

• SAF refers to aviation fuel derived from non-fossil sources.
• At a FICCI event, he said the global need for SAF was 2 million tonne which by 2040 would rise to 183 million tonne. “As an agricultural powerhouse with over 750 million tonne of available biomass, India has the capacity to become the global leader in SAF production”.
• India has a surplus of 213 million tonne of agricultural residue along with adequate manufacturing capacity, he said.
• To achieve 1% blending of SAF by 2027, India will require 30 million litre, while the 2% target for 2028 translates to 62 million litre. Local oil makers collectively have an annual production capacity of 70 million litre. “We are well on course to meet the domestic demand and even emerge as a global production player in SAF”.

• Trump’s nuclear test threat risks upending global test ban regime

Context: On October 29, just minutes before his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. would “start testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis with other nations”. Back in the U.S., Mr. Trump repeated his claims in an interview. “Russia is testing; China is testing, but they don’t talk about it… And certainly North Korea has been testing. Pakistan has been testing.”.

• Mr. Trump is correct about North Korea, which has tested multiple nuclear weapons in the new century. But other nuclear powers, including the U.S., China and Russia, have maintained a moratorium on weapons testing since the 1990s. They, however, have tested weapons that can carry nuclear warheads.
• Mr. Trump’s announcement came immediately after Russia announced that it successfully tested a nuclear-powered cruise missile (Burevestnik) and an undersea torpedo (Poseidon). Both are designed to overcome American missile defence systems and can carry nuclear warheads. But those were not nuclear detonation tests.
• The last time Russia tested a nuclear weapon was in 1990, when the Soviet Union was still alive. The last American nuclear bomb test was held in 1992, and the last Chinese test was in 1996.
• In 1996, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) banned all nuclear tests, but it never came into force as the required number of countries did not ratify it. The U.S. and China have signed the treaty but never ratified it. Russia had signed and ratified it, but in 2023, amid mounting tensions with the U.S., it decided to de-ratify it.

Debate in the U.S.

• Russia remains the world’s largest nuclear power with an inventory of 4,309 warheads, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
• The U.S. comes second with 3,700 weapons, while China is believed to have more than 1,000 warheads.
• Historically, the U.S. has carried out the most number of nuclear tests — 1,030 detonations, followed by the Soviet Union (715) and the French (210). China has conducted more than 45 nuclear tests. In total, there have been 2,056 nuclear tests since ‘Trinity’, the first nuclear detonation by the U.S.
• In the U.S., the debate on whether the country should resume nuclear tests has been raging for some time. Those who support tests argue that it is important to bolster the country’s nuclear deterrent — tests can prove that nuclear arsenals actually work, and provide critical data allowing countries to build more powerful, compact and specialised warheads.
• On November 2, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said the U.S. would not resume nuclear weapons tests but would conduct “subcritical tests”. A subcritical test uses conventional explosives to compress fissile material (Plutonium 239), without triggering nuclear chain reaction or explosion. But Mr. Trump, in another interview, clearly said, “We are going to test nuclear weapons like other countries do.”

Devastating effects

• The 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty, signed by the Soviet Union, the U.S. and the U.K., banned all nuclear test detonations in the atmosphere, outer space and underwater. Since then most tests were conducted underground. Even subterranean tests, experts say, could cause devastating environmental damages, including total destruction of ecosystems at test sites and contamination of soil, air and water.
• If the U.S. starts testing weapons, it could cause a domino effect on other nuclear powers. There were reports that China had made preparations at Lop Nur, where Mao detonated China’s first bomb in 1964, in case it decides to resume testing. Russia was unambiguous in its reaction. “If they begin testing, naturally we will do the same,” Russia’s Security Council chief Sergey Shoygu said on October 31.
• If the U.S. and Russia resume tests, China could do the same. And if China does it, India will come under internal pressure to start testing its weapons. Then Pakistan may not stand out. A new phase of nuclear arms race would begin, with long-term consequences for humanity.

• Why the nomination process needs reform
• The Representation of the People Act (RP), 1951 mandates that only qualified candidates can contest an election. However, the process of verifying said qualifications has accumulated complexity over the years, with too much importance being laid on procedural technicalities than actual ‘defects of a substantial character’

Kannan Gopinathan

• A young woman from Dadra and Nagar Haveli called last week about the recent municipal council elections. This is a district in which I once served as Collector and Returning Officer. Her father’s nomination for municipal councillor had been rejected with no hearing or chance at verification. She asked, “Sir, is this how elections work?” The honest answer is yes. And that is the problem.
• One often hears about how nominations of candidates contesting elections are rejected over technicalities without any chance for clarification. However, the fact of that matter is that such rejections are lawful. The most undemocratic part of India’s electoral process occurs before a single vote is cast — at the stage of nomination scrutiny.

The politics of procedure

• India’s electoral nomination process vests extraordinary discretion in a single official — the Returning Officer (RO).
• The Representation of the People Act (RP), 1951, particularly Sections 33 to 36, and the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, govern the nomination process. Section 36 authorises the RO to scrutinise nominations and reject those deemed invalid.
• The RO’s power under Section 36(2) to conduct a “summary inquiry” and to reject nominations for “defects of a substantial character” is extraordinarily wide, and largely un-reviewable before polling, since Article 329 (b) bars courts from interfering mid-election. The law says no nomination should be rejected for defects not of a substantial character.
• But there are no written guidelines on what is substantial. And the only remedy to protest it is an election petition after the polls, when the damage is irreversible. In a democracy, this absolutism dressed in legal language has the potential to become a tool of political exclusion.
• In Bihar this year, a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate’s nomination was rejected for leaving some fields blank. Last year in Surat, Opposition candidates were eliminated after proposers denied signatures, delivering a Lok Sabha seat unopposed. In the 2019 elections in Varanasi, decorated BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav was rejected because he could not obtain an Election Commission certificate overnight. In Birbhum, former IPS officer Debasish Dhar was kept off the ballot when his no-dues certificate from the government was delayed. Yet, there is no publicly available consolidated dataset on rejection grounds, patterns, or party-wise breakdowns. This opacity shields the weaponisation of procedure.

Procedural traps

• Section 36 of the RP Act mandates that only qualified candidates can contest. However, the process of verifying qualification has accumulated complexity over the years. Well-intended judicial interventions have paradoxically worsened the problem. Supreme Court directions mandating detailed affidavits on assets, liabilities, and criminal cases were meant to ensure transparency, yet each new disclosure requirement added another opportunity for technical rejection. For example, in Resurgence India versus Election Commission (2013), the Supreme Court held that false declarations lead to prosecution but don’t invalidate nominations, only incomplete ones do. This means that a candidate who lies but fills all columns stays on the ballot, and one who makes a good-faith error can be rejected. The system now punishes incomplete declarations more harshly than dishonest ones.
• A missing signature, a mismatched electoral number, a form filed at 3:05 PM instead of 3:00 PM, a blank column in an affidavit, a delayed oath, a missing no-dues certificate — any of these can end a candidacy. The burden of proof thus lies entirely on the citizen seeking to exercise a legal right, and not on the official denying it. This is constitutionally backwards. The right to be voted for is the necessary twin of the right to vote. Without candidates to choose from, the ballot is ritual without substance. The first principle must be that every qualified citizen has a presumptive right to contest. That right can be denied only when the RO establishes, with clear evidence, a substantive constitutional or statutory disqualification. Technical paperwork errors cannot be a reason for disqualification.

Some of the common procedural technicalities on which nominations are rejected include:

• The oath trap: Every candidate must take an oath before a specified authority after filing nomination but before scrutiny. If its too early, it’s invalid, and if too late, the nomination is rejected. Moreover, if it is not before the specified authority, your form is again bound to be rejected.
• The notarisation trap: Every Form 26 affidavit (an affidavit which needs to be filed by the candidate along with nomination papers) must be notarised by a specified authority. Not having done so can result in rejection of the nomination.
• The certificate trap: Along with nomination papers, the candidate is liable to submit no-dues certificates from municipal bodies, electricity boards, or other government departments; clearance certificates from the Election Commission for government servants; and various other bureaucratic attestations, each of them a veto point when it comes to the time of scrutiny. Thus, each issuing office becomes a potential chokepoint where deliberate delay can eliminate a candidacy.
• These procedures, once designed as safeguards, have turned into potential opportunities for delay and manipulation.
• Here, bureaucratic compliance is being rewarded over democratic legitimacy.

Facilitation, not filtration

• Other democracies show a different approach. In the U.K., ROs help candidates fix errors before deadlines. Canada mandates a 48-hour correction period. Germany requires written notice of problems, time to remedy them, and multiple appeal layers. Australia encourages early submission to allow corrections. The common idea being that officials are facilitators, not sentinels.
• India also has a checklist system. The RO Handbook instructs ROs to point out defects at the time of filing and record them in a checklist. But this checklist has no legal standing. The Handbook itself clarifies that the checklist “will not prevent the Returning Officer from pointing out other defects, if any, discovered later during scrutiny.” A nomination can be marked defect-free at filing, yet rejected at scrutiny for defects the RO discovers later. The candidate has no right to rely on the checklist, and the RO faces no legal obligation to honour it. The checklist thus remains as an illusion of transparency without offering any real protection to the candidate.
• The RO’s role must shift from discretion to duty. When a deficiency exists, the RO must issue a detailed written notice specifying the exact error, the legal provision violated, and the correction needed. Candidates must get a guaranteed 48-hour window to fix it after receiving this notice.
• The law must thus classify deficiencies into three categories: (1) technical or paperwork defects such as missing signatures, blank affidavit columns, clerical errors, no-dues certificates etc. These cannot justify rejection; (2) matters requiring verification of authenticity such as disputed signatures, challenged documents etc. These require investigations before rejection; and (3) constitutional and statutory bars. These should lead to immediate and absolute disqualification. Moreover, every rejection order must be reasoned. The RO must specify which exact requirement was not met, which provision of law was violated, what evidence supports the finding, and why the defect is substantial enough to justify rejection.

A digital solution

• The Election Commission of India (EC) can build a nomination system that is digital-by-default; one that doesn’t depend on excessive paperwork. This is not to argue for a digital-only framework, but a digital-by-default framework that can eliminate disqualifications based on blank columns and misspelt names or typos. The entire nomination process could move to an integrated online portal linked with the electoral roll. The system could automatically validate voter ID, age, and constituency details. Oath, affidavit submission, proposer verification, and deposit payment could all be digital. Moreover, every nomination’s progress such as when it was filed, verified, deficiency notified, corrected, accepted or rejected, should be visible on a public dashboard with timestamps and reasons.

Upholding democracy

• When a nomination is rejected arbitrarily, two rights are violated: the candidate’s right to contest and the voters’ right to choose. The world’s largest democracy deserves a nomination process that is modern, fair, and inclusive, where the burden of proof is on the state to justify exclusion, not on citizens to prove their right to participate.
• The EC should work towards a citizen-friendly nomination process that would end the bureaucratic red tape around disqualifications for blank columns, wrong payment modes, misplaced signatures, misspelt names and typos, no dues certificates or a delayed oath. It should work towards a simplified process that removes the possibility of using procedure as politics.