Does the new global pandemic treaty have enough teeth?

• Following more than three years of arduous negotiations, member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) last week agreed on a draft of a legally binding treaty designed to tackle future pandemics better. The deal is expected to be ratified at the World Health Assembly in May.
• The pandemic treaty, which was agreed upon without the United States, is the only the second legally binding accord in the WHO’s 75-year history, the first being the 2003 tobacco control treaty.
• WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the deal as “a significant milestone in our shared journey towards a safer world”.
• Here is a look at what the treaty comprises, and if it is strong enough.

But first, why was there a need for a global pandemic treaty?

• The negotiations for a global pandemic treaty began in December 2021, at a time when the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 was spreading across the world and producing a massive new surge of COVID-19. By then, countries that were manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines had hoarded millions of doses, leaving those with no vaccine plants often with no access to the shots.
• A 2022 study published revealed that more than one million lives could have been saved if COVID-19 vaccines had been shared more equitably with lower-income countries — the virus had claimed more than seven million lives across the world.
• A 2021 report published by the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response said, “The combination of poor strategic choices, unwillingness to tackle inequalities, and an uncoordinated system created a toxic cocktail which allowed the pandemic to turn into a catastrophic human crisis.”
• In a bid to prevent loss of human life, and disruption to households and societies at large – as it happened due to the COVID-19 pandemic — during future pandemics, WHO member states got together and began to iron out a treaty. It took nearly three-and-a-half years and 13 rounds of meetings to reach the deal.

What does the pandemic treaty say?

• One of the key elements of the draft agreement is a “pathogen access and benefit sharing” system, which gives pharmaceutical companies access to scientific data such as pathogen samples and genomic sequences in return for more equitable sharing of drugs, vaccines and diagnostics during a pandemic, according to a report in Nature.
• The draft treaty says participating manufacturers will have to allocate 10% of their production of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics to the WHO. Another 10% will then be supplied at “affordable prices”.
• Also, member states should “promote and otherwise facilitate or incentivise” the exchange of technology and know-how to help manufacturers in developing nations make their own drugs and vaccines, the draft agreement says.
• Countries also need to develop national policies for putting conditions on research into drugs and vaccines that they fund — given either to universities or companies — to guarantee “timely and equitable access” to resulting drugs or diagnostics during pandemics.
• Michelle Childs, policy advocacy director at the non-profit organisation Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative in Geneva, told Nature, “Concretely, this means that when the next pandemic hits and a life-saving medicine developed thanks to taxpayer funding is unaffordable or unavailable, a government will be able to intervene for the benefit of its citizens and people in need around the world.”

 How strong is the global pandemic treaty?

• Although the agreement on the draft treaty has been hailed as groundbreaking and historic, several experts have said that it has a limited scope.
• For instance, the agreement does not give the WHO powers over individual states.
• Clause 24, paragraph three states, “Nothing in the WHO Pandemic Agreement shall be interpreted as providing the WHO Secretariat, including the WHO Director-General, any authority to direct, order, alter, or otherwise prescribe the national and/or domestic laws, as appropriate, or policies of any Party.”
• The draft treaty also says that the WHO does not have the power to mandate or otherwise impose any requirements such as “ban or accept travellers, impose vaccination mandates or therapeutic or diagnostic measures, or implement lockdown”.
• This means that in a situation like the fierce competition for COVID-19 vaccines, the WHO would have no way to ensure countries adhere to the terms to which they had agreed. As a result, pharmaceutical companies may hesitate to commit resources to developing medical solutions for emerging pathogens.
• Dr David Reddy, Director General of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, told “Intellectual property protection and legal certainty are essential for the innovative-based pharmaceutical industry to invest in high-risk research and development and enable voluntary partnerships that we will need in the next pandemic. We hope that in subsequent negotiations Member States maintain the conditions for the private sector to continue innovating against pathogens of pandemic potential.”
• Also, currently, there is no clarity on how the pathogen access and benefit sharing system will work.
• Notably, the draft treaty has been agreed upon without the US. The country withdrew from negotiations after President Donald Trump came back to the White House in January, and announced his plans of withdrawing the US from the WHO. Therefore, it is unlikely that the US will ratify the treaty.
• Given the dominance of the country in the drug, vaccine, and diagnostics manufacturing industries, its absence will weaken the agreement, according to experts.

Caste census to be held with national Census, Shah calls it historic

• The Centre announced that the forthcoming population census will include a caste census with Union Home Minister Amit Shah describing the move as a “historic decision” by a government “committed to social justice”.
• The decision, which also addresses a key demand of the Congress-led Opposition, was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw said the caste census “will strengthen the social and economic structure of our society while the nation continues to progress”.
• Non-BJP-ruled Telangana and Karnataka had already conducted separate caste surveys after their demand for such a census was rejected by the Centre. Bihar, where Assembly elections are due later this year, had also conducted such a census in 2023 when the JDU was in power with RJD and Congress. The Centre, meanwhile, had largely been silent on the issue — until now.
• It is not yet clear when the next census will be held — it was due in 2021 but could not be conducted due to the Covid pandemic.
• The data collected in Censuses since 1951 include the numbers of individuals belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), and of various religious denominations. But the members of caste groups other than SCs and STs have not been counted.
• The most recent caste data available is from the Census of 1931. The 1941 Census, carried out during the War, collected data on caste, but they were never released.
  Ahead of the first Census of independent India, the government chose to avoid the question of caste. Thereafter, demands for a caste census were repeatedly raised, especially by parties who had a base among Other Backward Classes (OBCs), primarily farming communities and artisans.
• SECC is a study of socio economic status of rural and urban households and allows ranking of households based on predefined parameters. SECC 2011 has three census components which were conducted by three separate authorities but under the overall coordination of Department of Rural Development in the Government of India. Census in Rural Area has been conducted by the Department of Rural Development (DoRD).
• Census in Urban areas is under the administrative jurisdiction of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA). Caste Census is under the administrative control of Ministry of Home Affairs: Registrar General of India (RGI) and Census Commissioner of India.
• The Census Act of 1948 mandates confidentiality for all Census data, while the SECC (Socio-Economic and Caste Census) website states that personal information from the SECC is open for government use in awarding or restricting benefits

SC asks Govt, RBI to update KYC norms for disabled

• Underlining that “right to digital access” is “an instinctive component” of the right to life and liberty, the Supreme Court Wednesday ordered the revision of digital Know Your Customer (KYC) norms to make it accessible to persons with disabilities, particularly those with visual disabilities and facial disfigurement.
• This was part of a series of directions by a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan to the Centre and different public entities, including the RBI, on two writ petitions seeking to make the digital KYC framework inclusive for those with vision impairment or low vision, and acid attack survivors.
• “In the contemporary era, where access to essential services, governance, education, health care and economic opportunities are increasingly mediated through digital platforms, the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution must be re-interpreted in light of these technological realities,” said Justice Mahadevan, writing for the bench.
•  “The digital divide, characterised by unequal access to digital infrastructure, skills and content, continues to perpetuate systematic exclusion not only of persons with disabilities but also of large sections of rural populations, senior citizens, economically weaker communities and linguistic minorities,” the bench said.
• Among other directions, the court asked various ministries to direct all the regulated entities, government or private, to follow accessibility standards and appoint a nodal officer in every department responsible for digital accessibility compliance.
• It said all the regulated entities must mandatorily undergo periodical accessibility audit by certified accessibility professionals and involve persons with blindness in user acceptance testing phase while designing any app or website, or in case a new feature is launched.
•  It also asked the RBI to issue guidelines to all regulated entities to adopt alternative modes for verifying the “liveness” or capturing a “live photograph” of the customers, as mandated under the rules for the purpose of conducting Digital KYC/ e-KYC beyond the traditional “blinking of eyes” to ensure inclusivity and user-convenience.
• One of the petitions, by acid attack victims who suffer from facial disfigurement and severe eye burns, said the current norms require facial movements such as blinking and head tilting, which are impossible for them.

Do You Know:

• Digital KYC is a process of verifying a customer’s identity using digital means, like e-documents, biometric data, or Aadhaar authentication, rather than traditional paper-based methods.
• One of the petitions, by acid attack victims who suffer from facial disfigurement and severe eye burns, said the current norms require facial movements such as blinking and head tilting, which are impossible for them.
• The other, by a person suffering from 100% blindness, pointed to barriers in the KYC process, including the inability to take selfies, difficulties with handwritten signatures, and challenges with short OTP durations. These, it said, discriminated against persons with disabilities

Sugar production set to decline, Govt hikes fair price of sugarcane by 4.41%

• Amid a drop in sugar production during the current season (October 2024 to September 2025), the Centre on Wednesday increased the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane by Rs 15 (or 4.41%) to Rs 355 per quintal for the sugar season 2025-26.
• The new FRP — it is the minimum price mandated by the Government that sugar mills are obligated to pay farmers for their produce — will come into effect October 1, 2025.
• “Keeping in view interest of sugarcane farmers, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved FRP of sugarcane for sugar season 2025-26 (October-September) at Rs 355/qtl for a basic recovery rate of 10.25%, providing a premium of Rs 3.46/qtl for each 0.1% increase in recovery over and above 10.25%, & reduction in FRP by Rs 3.46/qtl for every 0.1% decrease in recovery,” according to an official statement issued after the CCEA meeting.
•  “However, the Government with a view to protect the interest of sugarcane farmers has also decided that there shall not be any deduction in case of sugar mills where recovery is below 9.5%. Such farmers will get Rs 329.05/qtl for sugarcane in ensuing sugar season 2025-26,” it said.
•  The FRP hike will encourage sugarcane farmers to plant more when sugar production is seeing a dip. According to Indian Sugar and Bio-Energy Manufacturers Association, as on April 30, estimated sugar production is 257 LMT; and overall production in the whole season is likely to be 264 LMT, which was 319 LMT last year.
• According to the statement, the cost of sugarcane production for the sugar season 2025-26 is Rs 173/qtl. “This FRP of Rs 355/qtl at a recovery rate of 10.25% is higher by 105.2% over production cost. The FRP for 2025-26 is 4.41% higher than current sugar season,” it said.

Do You Know:

• The statutory minimum price (SMP) is announced by the central government based on the cost of cultivation estimated by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). This is the basic price which the sugar mills must pay sugarcane growers. However, citing differences in cost of production, productivity levels and also as a result of pressure from farmers groups, some states (Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand) used to declare state-specific sugarcane prices called State Advised Prices (SAP),usually higher than the SMP.
• These states also argued that SMP was merely the minimum price which could be enhanced to protect farmers interests. Even though the name suggest that SAPs are advisory prices, litigation in courts has established that the mills in these states mandatorily pay SAP to farmers in these states.
•  Unlike the MSP for wheat or paddy announced by the Centre, where the government procures a commodity from farmers directly in case market prices go below the MSP, the government never procures sugarcane from farmers directly. It is only sugar mills or khandsari units that buy it from farmers at the prices which shouldn’t fall below that determined by the government (SMP or SAP)

Appellate courts can modify arbitral awards: Supreme CourT

• In a 4:1 decision, the Supreme Court on Wednesday held that appellate courts can modify arbitral awards while exercising powers under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996
• The majority ruling by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justices B R Gavai, Sanjay Kumar and A G Masih held that courts have “limited power” under Section 34 and 37 of the Act to modify arbitral awards. Justice K V Viswanathan delivered a dissenting opinion, disagreeing with the majority on certain aspects.
• The CJI reading out the conclusions said, “this limited power may be exercised” when the award is severable by separating the invalid portion from the valid portion of the award, to correct any clerical, computational or typographical errors which appear erroneous on the face of the record, to modify post-award interest in some circumstances. The SC may also modify awards by exercising powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the ruling said, adding, it “must be exercised with great care and caution and within the limits of Constitutional power”.
• Section 34 of the Act deals with application for setting aside an arbitral award while Section 37 deals with the circumstances in which an appeal would lie against the order in an arbitral dispute.
• Justice Viswanathan held that “courts exercising powers under Section 34 and the courts hearing appeals therefrom under Section 37 have no power to modify an award”.
• Justice Viswanathan further said that “power to modify is not a lesser power than the power to set aside as the two operate in separate spheres.
• The inherent power under Section 151 CPC cannot be used to modify awards, as it is against the express provision of Section 34. Similarly, there is no scope to invoke the doctrine of implied powers to imply the power to modify the award. Article 142 of the Constitution cannot be exercised to modify an award, as it is well settled that Article 142 cannot be used to go by the substantive statutory provisions”.
• The five judges were answering a reference made by a three-judge bench in February 2024 on the question whether courts can modify arbitral awards.

Do You Know:

• The landmark 2015 amendments were aimed at establishing India as an international arbitration hub. The energy in the legal market, both
  domestic and international, was palpable.
• Until 2018, the market remained upbeat. With minimal judicial interference, India seemed well on its way. However, repeated calls for third-party funding legislation and opening the Indian market to foreign lawyers went unheeded. Legislatively, the baffling regression of reforms was evident with each subsequent amendment in 2018, 2019, and 2021, culminating in the present setback of the 2024 memorandum.
• In 2015, the Supreme Court in a decision recognised the practice of foreign law firms in a very narrow sense. In ‘AK Balaji v Government of India’, the Madras High Court also held that foreign firms cannot practise either on the litigation or non-litigation side unless they meet the requirements and rules laid down by the Advocates Act and the BCI rules.
• Over 32 foreign law firms from the UK, the US, France and Australia had been impleaded as respondents in the case. However, the Madras High Court created an exception. It said that there would be no ban on temporary visits or advising clients on a “fly in and fly out” basis

Potential presence of primitive lunar mantle material at landing site: Study

• “There is an anomalous depletion in sodium and potassium at the site, whereas there is an enrichment in sulphur found in the soils at the highland landing site,” said the study published
• The Shiv Shakti point, where the world’s first lunar landing was facilitated by India’s Chandrayaan 3 in 2023, could hold a promising potential site for scientists to study the most primitive mantle samples on the lunar surface.
• The Shiv Shakti point is located at the southern high-latitude highlands of the nearside of the Moon. Scientists from Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) used data gathered by Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer onboard the Pragyan rover.
• They compared metal remnants and elemental concentrations of sulfur, potassium, sodium among others at the Shiv Shakti point where Chandrayaan 3 landed on August 23, 2023. Sulphur, potassium and sodium can give insights into the mantle composition and chemistry.
• “There is an anomalous depletion in sodium and potassium at the site, whereas there is an enrichment in sulfur found in the soils at the highland landing site,” said the study published in the journal Nature Communications Earth and Environment.
• “There is a potential presence of primitive lunar mantle materials at the landing site, which was excavated during formation of the South Pole-Aitken basin, around 4.3 Ga (billion years) ago and may have got redistributed by subsequent impacts on the SPA basin ejecta. While the primitive mantle contributed to the excess sulfur, it later got mixed up with the materials at the landing site,” the paper noted.
• The South Pole-Aitken basin is one of the largest known impact craters on the lunar surface
• The low levels of sodium and potassium at the Shiv Shakti point, the researchers said, could suggest that these elements may not have originally existed at the place and time of the very formation of the SPA basin.
• According to the PRL team, Chandrayaan 3 data noted the concentration of sulfur to be 300-500 parts per million higher than in soils gathered by the above missions. The Indian team is studying this anomalous difference in the concentrations and trace the causes at the landing site.

Do You Know:

• The Moon is believed to have formed as a result of a collision between a massive asteroid and Earth approximately 4.2 to 4.3 billion years ago.
• The Moon is believed to have been composed of magma during its early life. As it cooled over millions of years, heavier silicon and magnesium-rich minerals such as Olivine and Pyroxene sunk and created the Moon’s interior layers. The outer layer was made up of lighter minerals containing calcium and sodium compounds.
• The Chandrayaan-3 mission was India’s third lunar mission and second attempt to make a soft landing on the surface of the Moon. It was launched by Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM3).
• The propulsion module carried the lander and rover configuration to a 100 km lunar orbit. The propulsion module had a Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to study the spectral and Polari metric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit

Ukraine ready to sign key minerals deal with US in bid to mend ties with Trump

• The pact, known as the United States-Ukraine Reinvestment Fund, marks a significant shift in the economic partnership between the two countries. Though details of the fund’s structure remain sparse, US officials described it as a mechanism that will allow America to tap into Ukraine’s valuable rare earth minerals — including titanium, uranium, and lithium — while also attracting global investment to rebuild the war-torn nation.
• The announcement comes at a critical juncture in the three-year war, as President Donald Trump, who returned to office this year, has expressed growing frustration with the slow progress toward ending the conflict.
• Trump, who has criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for failing to make concessions, said on Wednesday that the new deal ensures the US will “get more from Ukraine than it contributed.”
• Ukraine has rich resources of minerals that are critical in manufacturing a variety of products, from high-end weapon systems to clean energy solutions like Electrical Vehicles to electronic gadgets and semiconductors.
• These minerals are not found widely and are also difficult to extract, making them valuable. What makes them even more important for the US and the West is that China has large sources of them. Mineral resources are part of the reason Trump wants to buy Greenland, too.
• Two classifications are important when talking about these resources — rare earth elements, and critical minerals.
• There are 17 rare earth elements, including 15 Lanthanides (atomic numbers 57 — which is Lanthanum — to 71 in the periodic table), Scandium (atomic number 21) and Yttrium (39).
• Minerals are defined as ‘critical’ by countries based on their needs, broadly using two parameters: their importance for economic development and national security, and their lack of availability. India in 2023 identified 30 critical minerals.
• According to a report by Ukraine’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources and the Ukrainian Geological Survey, “Ukraine holds 22 of the 50 strategic materials identified by the US as critical, and 25 out of the 34 recognised by the EU as critically important. Particularly, Ukraine holds very competitive positions in five key ones: graphite, lithium, titanium, beryllium and uranium.

SC on Pegasus use: No wrong, nation’s security cannot be sacrificed

• Underlining that the security of the nation cannot be compromised or “sacrificed”, the Supreme Court said Tuesday that there is nothing wrong if a country has spyware and employs it for its security, and the only question would be against whom it is used.
• On demands to disclose the report of the Justice R V Raveendran committee, which probed allegations that Pegasus, an Israeli-made spyware, was being used for surveillance of journalists, activists and politicians, Justice Surya Kant said, “Any report which touches the security and sovereignty of the country will not be touched.”
•  “But individuals who want to know whether they are included, that can be informed. Yes, individual apprehension must be addressed but it cannot be made a document for discussion on the streets,” said Justice Kant, presiding over a two-judge bench also comprising Justice N Kotiswar Singh .
• The bench was hearing a clutch of petitions filed in 2021 in the wake of the Pegasus allegations.
• Pegasus aka Q Suite, marketed by the NSO Group aka Q Cyber Technologies as “a world-leading cyber intelligence solution that enables law enforcement and intelligence agencies to remotely and covertly extract” data “from virtually any mobile devices”, was developed by veterans of Israeli intelligence agencies.
• Until early 2018, NSO Group clients primarily relied on SMS and WhatsApp messages to trick targets into opening a malicious link, which would lead to infection of their mobile devices.
• Pegasus brochure described this as Enhanced Social Engineering Message (ESEM). When a malicious link packaged as ESEM is clicked, the phone is directed to a server that checks the operating system and delivers the suitable remote exploit.
• In its October 2019 report, Amnesty International first documented use of ‘network injections’ which enabled attackers to install the spyware “without requiring any interaction by the target”.
• Pegasus can achieve such zero-click installations in various ways. One over-the-air (OTA) option is to send a push message covertly that makes the target device load the spyware, with the target unaware of the installation over which she anyway has no control.
• All devices, practically. iPhones have been widely targeted with Pegasus through Apple’s default iMessage app and the Push Notification Service (APNs) protocol upon which it is based.
• The spyware can impersonate an application downloaded to an iPhone and transmit itself as push notifications via Apple’s server

Caste Census: Legal basis, preparation timeline, and challenges ahead

• The next decennial Census of India is set to break new ground by including a detailed enumeration of caste—something that hasn’t been attempted since the British-era census of 1931. With the Centre indicating its willingness to capture OBC data, this marks a significant policy shift with far-reaching social and political implications.
• But it also raises several legal, procedural, and logistical questions: What legal provisions govern the inclusion of caste in the Census?
• Which list of OBCs will be used? How much preparation is needed before enumeration can begin? And what challenges—both during the data collection and after the publication of results—could lie ahead?

Legal requirements for caste enumeration

• To include caste enumeration in the next Census, the government does not need to amend the Census Act. The Registrar General and Census Commissioner (RG&CC) is already empowered under existing law to design the census proforma — the standardised forms used during the house listing and population enumeration phases to collect information from households and individuals, respectively.
• While finalising the questions for the second phase (population enumeration), the RG&CC can simply add a question that goes beyond the existing categories of General, Scheduled Castes (SC), and Scheduled Tribes (ST) to ask whether a person belongs to the Other Backward Classes (OBC), and if so, which specific class within that category.
• This addition would have to be included in the final proforma, which is notified through a formal gazette notification. “So, an amendment to the Act to include caste as a data collection point is not a prerequisite,” said a former officer associated with census work.

Which list will be used for OBC enumeration?

• The most crucial question the government must now address — and one that will ultimately be a political call, much like the decision to enumerate caste itself — is which list to use while enumerating OBCs.
• In the last Census, for SCs and STs, the proforma relied on the official lists notified under the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, and the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950. These lists — currently comprising 1,170 castes under SC and 890 communities under ST — are periodically updated through amendments passed by Parliament.
• However, for OBCs, there is no single, consolidated list. A central list maintained by the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) is used for reservations in central government jobs and educational institutions. Separately, each state maintains its own OBC list, which often differs from the central list — and in many cases, includes many more communities.
• The key decision now before the government is whether to rely solely on the central list, which currently includes 2,650 communities, or to merge it with the various state lists, thereby significantly expanding the scope of enumeration. Either way, the choice is likely to be politically sensitive.

Preparation timeline

• So, how much time will the RG&CC’s office need to prepare for the enumeration, given the addition of caste data?
• The process is expected to mirror the preparation undertaken ahead of the 2020 Census, which was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Taken together, and by conservative estimates, the government will need at least six months of preparation before it can begin enumeration.
• The first step is for the Central government to issue a notification in the Official Gazette declaring its intent to conduct a Census. This must then be followed by similar notifications from all state governments — a process that could take up to two months. Once these are in place, the proforma for the house listing and population enumeration phases will have to be formally notified.
• The original 2021 Census was set to be the first to use digital enumeration, with enumerators collecting data via an electronic form rather than pen and paper. With the inclusion of caste data, the software will now need to be updated to include a new field for OBCs, along with a drop-down menu of sub-categories.
• Enumerators will also need to be retrained, especially since many of those identified for the postponed 2020 exercise may have moved on or retired. Training alone typically takes up to two months.
• In addition, the RG&CC’s office will need to conduct a pilot exercise — like the one conducted prior to 2020 — to ensure there are no glitches in the updated software.
• “Unlike past Censuses, this time around, nearly 80% of the work will have to be done during the preparation phase, and only 20% after data collection,” said a former officer. “The adoption of technology will significantly reduce the manual effort required to tabulate data, which earlier took months—sometimes years.”

Challenges ahead

• The challenges now facing the government are both political and procedural.
• On the ground, enumerators may face difficulties with new technology, but these can be addressed through proper training and rigorous piloting. However, a far bigger concern is the environment in which this Census will be conducted.
•  “There’s little an enumerator can do in the face of a viral message falsely claiming they are fraudsters collecting personal data. This could seriously undermine the enumeration process. The only way to counter it is through robust public outreach and awareness campaigns.”
• On the political front, the first decision is which list to use for OBC enumeration. But the far more consequential challenge will emerge after the data is published. Until now, reservation policies have relied on projections and estimates from the last caste census in 1931. The upcoming Census will offer the first accurate estimate of India’s caste composition in nearly a century. This data is expected to prompt demands for recalibrating reservation quotas in proportion to the actual OBC population—and could even fuel calls to lift the 51% cap on total reservations, set by the Supreme Court

What is India’s share in rare earth elements, the backbone of modern technologies?

• Amid the ongoing US-China trade war, Beijing has suspended exports of rare earth elements (REEs). These elements are critical for technologies ranging from smartphones, semiconductor fabrication and defence equipment.
• But what are REEs? What are their geographical hotspots? Why are they called ‘seeds of technology’? What is India’s share in global REE reserves and production? 

What are rare earth elements?

• Rare Earth Elements (RREs), as defined by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) in 2005, are a group of 17 elements. These elements share similar properties such as high density and high conductivity. The 17 elements include 15 lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium (See table below). 
• The main sources of REEs are minerals such as bastnasite, loparite and monazite. Based on their atomic numbers, they are divided into two groups: the light group, also known as the Cerium group (light REE), and the heavy group, also known as the Yttrium group (heavy REE). 
• Despite the name – rare earth elements – these elements are not so rare. They are found in abundance in the Earth’s crust. However, they’re rarely found in concentrations that are economically viable for mining.
• Therefore, extracting and processing REEs is complex and expensive, requiring high-end techniques and specialised labour to isolate and purify them. 
• This has been the reason for the significant difference between global reserves and the actual amount of production of the REEs in different countries. 

REEs, seeds of technology

• Since their discovery in 1788, REEs have steadily become part of human life. The first commercial use was in an incandescent lamp mantle, which is composed of 99% thorium oxide and 1% cerium oxide. The first successful technical use was in Sunglasses (Neophan). For a very long time, REEs have also been used in scientific research to study the geological origin and formation of rocks. 
• However, in the last three decades, there has been a surge in the use of REEs in diverse sectors, driven by technological advancement. They are considered as ‘seeds of modern technology’.
• Right from their use in consumer electronics such as smartphones, computer screens, and televisions to their application in medical devices such as x-ray machines, MRI agents and cancer treatment applications, REEs are ubiquitous in our tech-driven lives.
• REEs have also become essential for the defence sector as they are used in critical technologies such as lasers, avionics, radar, precision-guided munitions, aircraft engines. Moreover, due to their unique magnetic property, REEs are also used in green technologies like wind turbines, electric vehicles, and smart batteries. With the global shift towards clean energy, digitalisation, and advanced defence systems, the demand for REEs is poised to surge in the near future, reinforcing their status as the backbone of modern and emerging technologies.

Geographical hotspots 

• REEs are unevenly dispersed across the globe, with some specific regions being prominent hotspots. China has the largest share of the world’s reserve of RREs – 44 million metric tons, with production of 2,70,000 metric tons annually. According to the United States Geological Survey (2025), China accounted for over one-third of the world’s total REE production – 3,90,000 metric tons. 
• The extensive reserves in the Bayan Obo deposit in Inner Mongolia have enabled China to maintain its dominant position in the global supply of REEs since the 1990s.
• After China, Brazil has the largest reserves – 21 million metric tons. 
• The US holds 1.9 million metric tons of reserves. Due to its substantial reserves in California and the adoption of advanced extraction and refining technologies, the country emerged as the leading global producer of rare earth during the 1970s and early 1980s. However, this dominance collapsed in the 1990s due to environmental and political factors. 
• Between 1985 and 1995, China’s rare earth production surged from 8,500 to nearly 50,000 metric tonnes, boosting its global market share from 21% to 60%.
•  It monopolised the global rare earth market by leveraging low production costs and advanced, efficient technology. It has strategically exploited this monopoly to exert pressure on countries like Japan in 2010 and recently on the US.  

Where does India stand? 

• India has the third largest reserves of REEs, estimated at 6.9 million metric tons, largely in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, and Kerala. The monazite sands in Kerala are particularly rich in REEs. Monazite – a mineral mainly containing rare earths and thorium – is India’s principal source of rare earths.
• As of March 2021, the estimated monazite resources in India stand at 12.73 million tonnes, according to the Indian Mineral Yearbook (2023), with Andhra Pradesh having the highest reserve of 3.78 million tons followed by other coastal states of Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
• Most of the REEs available in India are light REEs such as Lanthanum, Cerium, Samarium, which already have large-scale availability. However, heavy REEs like Dysprosium, Terbium have supply constraints. China has a monopoly over the world market regarding heavy rare earth production. 
• Despite having large reserves of REEs, India produces less than one per cent of the total world share. There are numerous reasons behind this. The primary being the negligible involvement of the private sector in the mining of REEs. IREL (India) Ltd (the erstwhile Indian Rare Earths Limited or IREL) has been the primary entity involved in the mining and processing of Rare Earth. However, recently, the government has opened up REE exploration for private entities
• The next barrier to the low production of REEs is limited technological and infrastructural capability. Similarly, adverse environmental and health effects have been the major concerns. Monazite, the primary source of REEs in India, contains a high level of thorium, which is a radioactive material. Its extraction and processing are subject to strict regulatory control. 
• However, considering the significance of REEs, the government has taken several steps to enhance the domestic production of REEs.
• In 2023, the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, was amended, and Minerals of the “rare earths” group were classified as Critical Minerals. In 2025, the government launched the National Critical Mineral mission with the objective of securing the critical mineral supply. India has also entered into agreements with countries such as Australia and the US to enhance partnerships on critical minerals.

Challenges and way forward

• Despite their use in cleaner technology, the production of REEs is not so clean. It generates massive pollution, including dust, wastewater, and radioactive waste. It has a serious impact on the local environment and human health.
•  Moreover, the intensifying global competition for REEs has raised concerns over resource nationalism and supply chain disruptions. 
• Considering this, it is crucial for the world to innovate sustainable mining practices and foster international partnerships.
• It also presents opportunities for India to accelerate its domestic production of REEs and to support its aspiration for energy security, technological innovation, and strategic autonomy in critical sectors. Practices like recycling electronic waste can provide an answer to issues like the demand-supply gap and reduce pressure on natural resources.

Seventeen REEs: 15 lanthanides plus scandium (Sc) and Yttrium (Y)

 Pak national claims to have voted in India: What are the rules for obtaining a voter ID?

• Following a government order in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, hundreds of Pakistani nationals have left India this week. However, many of the deportees have claimed that they have valid Aadhaar cards, ration cards and even Voter IDs.
• One such deportee was Osama, who, in a video recorded by news agency ANI, claimed to have moved to Uri in Jammu & Kashmir’s Baramulla district from Rawalpindi in 2008. He also said that he had voted in India despite holding the citizenship of Pakistan. On April 30, an FIR was filed regarding the matter on the orders of Baramulla’s District Election Officer (DEO).

What are the rules regarding voter IDs?

• Article 326 of the Constitution states that every Indian citizen aged 18 years or above has the right to vote in elections to the Lok Sabha and state/Union Territory Assemblies.
• Section 16 of the Representation of the People (RP) Act, 1950, expands on this, giving the reasons for which a person can be disqualified for registration in an electoral roll. The disqualification can happen if a person “is not a citizen of India”, if she is “of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent court”, or if she “is for the time being disqualified from voting under the provisions of any law relating to corrupt practices and other offences in connection with elections.”
• The Form 6 — the Election Commission of India’s (ECI’s) form for registering new electors — requires the applicant to provide self-attested copies of age proof and address proof.
• Although the applicant does not need to present citizenship proof, the form includes a declaration of citizenship which needs to be signed by the applicant. In case the declaration is found to be false, the applicant can face action as per Section 31 of the RP Act which provides for a punishment with imprisonment of up to one year or a fine or both.
• Once the completed form is received, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) is expected to enquire into the claims and objections, issue notices of hearing where required, and take a final decision on the same. The Booth Level Officers (BLOs) appointed by the ERO are required to collect the claims and objections on behalf of the ERO or assistant ERO.

 How is citizenship determined?

• According to the ECI’s manual on electoral rolls, the ERO is responsible for making sure that no ineligible person is added to the electoral roll. However, usually, if there is no objection to a new elector’s applicant, the check for citizenship does not come up.
• The manual says when a claim is presented before the ERO, the officer has to “satisfy himself that the applicant is, inter alia, a citizen of India”. The ERO must consider all evidence the person concerned may tender in the course of the inquiry. The manual stresses that EROs must apply their minds independently, “without being influenced by extraneous considerations”.
• “It must be remembered that there is a provision for appeal against the decision of the Electoral Registration Officer… The onus of proof of citizenship shall initially lie on the applicant who applies for inclusion of his name for the first time,” the manual states.
• In the case of migrants from other parts of India, the ERO has to cross-check with the DEO of the district where the claimants have migrated from.
• In the case of married women, who have changed their address as a result of marriage, and who cannot produce documentary evidence as proof of citizenship, the ERO can rely on proof of being registered as a voter as an unmarried person. In such cases, the ERO can also rely on proof of marriage or certificates issued by headmen of both villages where the woman lived before marriage and after.
• In case there is an objection filed against an applicant for not being a citizen, the onus of providing the proof is on the objector, according to the manual. Here, the ERO “would be justified in requiring the person concerned to show evidence that he is a citizen of India”.

Have cases of non-citizens getting voter IDs emerged before?

• ECI sources say cases of non-citizens getting voter IDs have been found in the past as well. Whenever the objections are found to be true, the electors concerned are struck off the rolls and action has been initiated against them.
• Notably, the ECI is currently in the process of linking Aadhaar with Voter IDs to ensure that only Indian citizens get the right to vote. However, in the case of non-citizens who have Aadhaar, that would not be enough to identify ineligible electors