9 March 2026

• Polity: The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill on One Nation One Election faced a fresh challenge as the Kurian Joseph Committee recommended withdrawal.
• Rural employment: The VB-G RAM G Act 2025 (MGNREGA successor) faced an uncertain April 1 rollout. Key rules remain unframed.
• Project Cheetah: Nine new Botswana cheetahs arrived at Kuno. Two first-generation Indian-born cheetahs dispersed 60-70 km to Rajasthan.
• Women in STEM: India leads globally at 43 per cent female STEM graduates but women are only 18 per cent of R&D workforce.
• Cancer drugs: Budget 2026-27 exempted 17 cancer-related drugs from customs duty.

GS area: Polity (elections, federalism)

The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 proposes synchronising all Lok Sabha and state assembly elections into a single cycle. Key facts:

• Proposed Article 82A: Would empower the President to notify an "appointed date" from which all state assemblies would align their terms with the Lok Sabha cycle. Any assembly dissolved early would not be reconstituted for a separate election; a caretaker arrangement or fresh poll at the national cycle would be the only options.
• Kovind Committee (2023-24): The High-Level Committee chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind recommended simultaneous elections. It argued this would reduce election-related expenditure and governance disruption from perpetual model code periods.
• Kurian Joseph Committee (February 2026): A separate expert committee chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice Kurian Joseph recommended withdrawal of the Bill. It found the proposal in conflict with the federal structure and basic structure doctrine.
• S.R. Bommai (1994): This landmark ruling held that federalism is part of the basic structure of the Constitution. Any constitutional amendment that overrides state legislatures' democratic life cycles faces a basic structure challenge.
• Article 356 background: Premature dissolution of state assemblies for synchronisation could effectively replicate President's Rule conditions without the constitutional safeguards.

Static linkage: Federalism, basic structure doctrine, election law (GS II).

GS area: Economy, Governance

The Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission and Guarantee Act, 2025 was passed in December 2025 to replace MGNREGA (2005). Implementation was due April 1, 2026:

• Key change: Raises the annual employment guarantee from 100 days to 125 days per household. This is the headline improvement.
• Cost-sharing change: Under MGNREGA, the Centre bore 100 per cent of wages and 75 per cent of material costs. Under VB-G RAM G, the Centre-state split for wages is 60:40. States must now contribute 40 per cent. This is the most contested change.
• Wage floor concern: MGNREGA had a provision (Section 6(2)) tying wages to state minimum wages through a non-obstante clause. The new Act removes this protection. The Centre retains the power to set wages under Section 6(1), which allows setting wages below state minimums.
• Gram Panchayat categorisation: Panchayats are now categorised A, B, and C based on development metrics, affecting fund allocation.
• Implementation problems: As of March 9, rules under 11 categories of the Act remained unframed. Workers in Bihar and Rajasthan were being denied employment because local officials did not know which rules applied.

Static linkage: Rural employment, labour law, fiscal federalism (GS II, GS III).

GS area: Environment (biodiversity conservation)

Two significant developments in the cheetah reintroduction:

• Botswana batch: Nine new cheetahs arrived at Kuno National Park from Botswana on February 28, 2026. This is in addition to the earlier batches from Namibia (2022) and South Africa (2023).
• Dispersal: KP2 and KP3, the first two cheetahs born to Indian mothers in the reintroduction programme (hence "first-generation Indian-born"), dispersed 60 to 70 km from Kuno NP into Baran district, Rajasthan. NTCA described this as natural territorial behaviour.
• Cumulative count: 29 adult cheetahs translocated; 9 adult deaths; 28 cubs born; about 12 cub deaths.
• Proposed corridor: A 17,000 sq km Kuno-Gandhi Sagar inter-state corridor has been proposed to give cheetahs a viable home range.
• Cheetah facts: Fastest land animal. Historically present in India until the 1940s-50s. The Mughal emperor Akbar reportedly kept 1,000 cheetahs. African cheetahs were brought because the Asiatic cheetah subspecies (Iran) was too rare and genetically depleted to use for reintroduction.

Static linkage: Wildlife conservation, Project Cheetah (GS III, GS I).

GS area: Society, Economy

India paradoxically leads the world in female STEM graduation yet has low female participation in R&D:

• STEM graduates: India has about 43 per cent female STEM graduates at the bachelor's level. This is the world's highest share.
• R&D workforce: Women make up only 18 per cent of India's R&D workforce. The 25-percentage-point gap between graduation and research employment is the "leaky pipeline."
• Time-use data (2024 Survey): Women spend 140 minutes per day on household caregiving. Men spend 74 minutes. The care burden difference explains why women leave the workforce after marriage or childbirth in larger numbers.
• DST's KIRAN scheme: Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing. Provides fellowships and mentoring for women scientists who want to re-enter careers after a break. Named programmes include KIRAN Fellowships and Woman Scientist Schemes (WOS-A, WOS-B, WOS-C).
• Rank comparison: India is 101st of 119 countries in women's advanced STEM participation.

Static linkage: Gender equality, R&D workforce, DST programmes (GS II, GS I).

GS area: Economy (health policy), Governance

The Union Budget 2026-27 exempted 17 cancer-related drugs from basic customs duty:

• Purpose: Reduce out-of-pocket costs for cancer patients. Medicines account for 40 to 50 per cent of total cancer treatment costs in public hospitals.
• India's cancer burden: Incidence rose 26.4 per cent between 1990 and 2023. Public hospital cancer treatment costs 5 times the average hospitalisation cost (₹22,520 versus ₹4,452 per episode).
• Rural burden: At rural public hospitals the multiplier reaches 5.5 times the average hospitalisation cost.
• Jan Aushadhi Kendras: Generic medicine stores that offer 50 to 90 per cent discounts. Not all cancer drugs are available through this channel.
• PM-JAY: Covers up to ₹5 lakh per family per year. Medicines are not always included in the package.

Static linkage: Health policy, customs duty, Jan Aushadhi (GS II, GS III).

GS area: International Relations, Economy

The Terms of Reference signed during Carney's visit have specific energy and mineral dimensions:

• Critical minerals MoU: Lithium, cobalt, rare earths. Canada has significant deposits in northern Quebec and the Northwest Territories.
• Indian dependence: India's EV battery plans require lithium (Bolivia, Argentina, Chile have most reserves; Canada is an alternative). EV transition is creating a new import dependence on critical minerals.
• Uranium deal structure: Via Cameco, not the Canadian government directly. Cameco supplies about 15 per cent of the world's uranium annually from mines in Saskatchewan.
• Trade balance: India-Canada bilateral trade is about $10 billion annually. The CEPA target of $70 billion by 2030 requires a sevenfold increase in seven years.

Static linkage: Critical minerals, India-Canada bilateral (GS II, GS III).

• Energy crisis: LNG prices double: LNG spot prices doubled from ₹12 to ₹24-25 per mmBtu. The government prioritised LNG for power and fertilizer production over industrial users.
• West Bengal SIR controversy: The Special Intensive Revision of West Bengal's electoral rolls produced a gender ratio decline (966 to 956 women per 1,000 men), raising concerns about disproportionate deletion of women voters. Tamil Nadu was the exception: its gender ratio improved from 1,034 to 1,044. The Supreme Court directed special appellate tribunals.