Centre says right to vote not same as freedom of voting

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.

Two Census mobile applications, test portal for self-enumeration launched

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.

India to question citizens who worked in Myanmar's cyberscam compounds

Indian citizens who worked in the cyberscam compounds of Myanmar will be "questioned" about their activities during their employment period, official sources said on Thursday as India brought back 270 nationals who had earlier taken refuge in Thailand after fleeing the scam centres of Myawaddy, where the Myanmar military carried out operations in the last week of October.

The second issue

The Supreme Court's recent observations about the legality of going in for surrogacy for the second child has raised the fundamental issue of what a law is meant to regulate. In a petition in the Court, a couple facing secondary infertility sought to use surrogacy, as under the Surrogacy Act, surrogacy cannot be resorted to for the second child. Their advocate argued that the state cannot interfere in the private lives and reproductive choices of citizens. Secondary infertility is when a couple is unable to conceive, or carry a pregnancy to term, though they have previously birthed children naturally. The causes are similar to primary infertility - Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, endometriosis, and lifestyle factors. The petitioners sought an exemption to have a second child through surrogacy, submitting that the definition of 'infertility' in the context of surrogacy, both in the ART and the Surrogacy Acts, was not restricted to only primary infertility. Under Section 4(iii)(C)(II) of India's Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, a couple is elig-ible for surrogacy only if they do not have any surviving child (biological, adopted, or through surrogacy). Exceptions are made only if the existing child is mentally or physically challenged or has a life-threatening disorder. The government submitted arguments supporting the view that surrogacy cannot be deemed a fundamental right, and that it involves the use of another woman's body. While the judge orally remarked that the restriction imposed under the provision was "reasonable", the Court has decided to examine whether a law banning married couples facing secondary infertility from using surrogacy to have a second child amounts to a restriction on the reproductive choices of citizens.

Redraw welfare architecture, place a UBI in the centre

As India's wealth gap stretches to levels unseen since Independence and technology races ahead of policy, we find ourselves hurtling toward a collision of crises, job-shedding automation, gig economy precarity, climate-driven displacement and a mental health time bomb fed by chronic insecurity. At this moment, ideas such as universal basic income (UBI), once dismissed as utopian, deserve a fresh, pragmatic look. A UBI can cushion mass unemployment, restoring consumer demand when machines outnumber workers, rewarding unpaid care that props up the formal economy, and rebuilding a social contract frayed by pandemics and capitalism alike. In India, where welfare systems are often plagued by inefficiencies, exclusions and complex eligibility filters, a UBI offers a radical yet simple proposition: a periodic, unconditional cash transfer to every citizen, irrespective of income or employment status. Re-examining it is no longer an academic indulgence. It is an urgent policy imperative. By embedding dignity, autonomy and simplicity into its design, a UBI challenges us to rethink what a welfare state ought to provide in the 21st century.

Justice in food

By showing that food alone drives five of the six breached planetary boundaries and about 30% of greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide, the new 'EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems' report shows how food systems are at the centre of the overlapping climate, biodiversity, water, and pollution crises. Foods from animals account for most agricultural emissions whereas the grains dominate nitrogen, phosphorus, and water use. Only combined action, including cuts to food loss, enhanced and durable productivity gains, and dietary changes, can reverse these trends. The prediction on biogeochemical flows is stark: current agriculture leaves a global nitrogen surplus more than twice in excess of the safe limit. Efficiency gains left uncorrected by good policy can also spur more output that then erases environmental savings. The Commission is pragmatic, too, acknowledging that a response combining everything from dietary changes to emissions mitigation would still only barely return the world's food systems to safety vis-à-vis the climate and freshwater crises by midcentury; the pressure on nutrient security will remain. It does make one questionable assumption, that GDP will grow 127% in 30 years, whereas policy should focus on lower growth and worse climate shocks.

As the next phase of SIR rolls on, the case of Assam

With the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the midst of a new phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) across multiple States, after its Bihar pilot project, the key allegation that the Opposition has levelled against the ECI has been that the poll body seeks to conduct a "backdoor NRC" - a reference to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) that was prepared in Assam and demanded in other States as well by certain groups.

Are Al-based tools for mental health helpful or harmful?

Last week, Open Al reported that over a million people discuss suicide or self-harm tendencies with ChatGPT every week. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based tools are now being developed to support mental health in India, especially for students in institutions such as IIT Kharagpur and at coaching institutions for engineering and medical entrance exams.

The experience of travelling alone as a woman to cover elections

Years ago, several questions were asked of women reporters in smaller cities and towns, but things seem to be changing slowly.

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.

CAG plans to create two new cadres for more centralisation

The Comptroller and Audi-tor-General (CAG) of India has granted inprinciple 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.

Large bank shareholders' voting cap said to remain

India plans to retain a cap on voting rights for large shareholders in domestic banks, two sources said, signalling New Delhi's attempts to liberalise the financial sector and draw more foreign investment, will stay limited in scope.

Trump's nuclear test threat risks upending global test ban regime

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."